Wrath of the Net - talk about Ouch!

[Alex Snyder]

The power of the Internet is being felt by the Husker Automotive Group at their BMW of Lincoln store.  Before we get into the details of this debacle, we want you to know it was debated as to whether this should be posted on Dealer Refresh or not.  At the end of the debate, the spirit of teaching other dealers a lesson from this mistake won out over just pointing a finger.  We don't strive to kick people when they're down.

Anyway, this all started on March 20th, 2008 when this eBay auction ended:
click for actual listing.  There was only a single bidder and he won the auction for $60,000 on a brand new 2008 BMW M3 Sedan with a MSRP above $70,000.  Obviously BMW of Lincoln was not watching the listing close enough, and they also forgot to set a reserve (mistake #1).

When the auction ended the winner was contacted, by email, with the statement "Congratulations" - according to the winning bidder.  Then that email was followed by a second email and phone call stating the listing was an error (mistake #2).  After some dispute over things, the winning bidder started a thread on one of the M3 forums:
click here for that thread.

Two days later, AutoBlog picked the story up:
click here for that article.  Since AutoBlog put it out, the story has traveled across every automotive forum we've seen.

Remember lightsabre boy, the lol'd owls, and the chubby-cheeked Asian boy?  Well, we can now add the General Manager of BMW of Lincoln to that list.  His photo was found here: Husker BMW staff.  Now he is the latest Photoshop child of the Internet.  Since his Internet popularity took off, he sent an email to the winning bidder asking him to stop all the things happening around the Internet (mistake #3), as if the winning bidder can do anything about it.  But the winning bidder has been posting all the email communications from BMW of Lincoln, and now the General Manager is a YouTube hit:

Upon further debate, we decided to take the video down.  Even though the video is technically hosted on YouTube (not Dealer Refresh) we decided it was not compliant with Dealer Refresh site rules.  We must admit we were caught up in the hysteria and were not thinking things all the way through when we linked that video to this post.  We would like to apologize to the people who have been targeted in this whole mess, and let those people know we sympathize - this must be an incredibly difficult time.  Just remember:  "this too shall pass."  We would also like to put on the record that we have a lot of admiration for the larger dealer group encompassing Husker BMW.  We started this post on the notion that it will help other dealers be cognizant of reputation management (a hot topic in the dealer world right now).  We would also like to extend an invitation to any representative of Husker BMW, or the larger group, to participate in the comment thread attached to this post.  We welcome any insight you can give, and hope you'll take this opportunity to help your cause.

Sincerely,

Jeff & Alex

"These bloggers out there, they have lots of time on their hands to do this." ...one of the salesmanagers.

"Did it ever occur to the dealership that they created a situation that compelled complete strangers to MAKE time?"....the winning bidder.

It only takes 1 person, 1 posting to really screw things up.

There is a lot to learn from BMW of Lincoln's mistakes.  Let's recap those:

1. Put a reserve on your eBay auctions or make the opening bid something you can do.
   
2. Don't assume your customers are dumb.  Don't tell someone putting a car on eBay was a mistake when you've obviously taken the time to make a decent listing.
   
3. Don't email an upset customer anything they can hold against you publicly.
   
4. Know when you've lost and make things right.  Admit your mistake and move on, no matter how much it costs because the penalties are far worse.

We're sorry this happened to you BMW of Lincoln, but you really did it to yourselves.  Hopefully you'll do the right thing, and have learned the power of the Internet!
Co-authored by Jeff & Alex

 

[Eric]

So, did they sell the guy his BMW?

 

[Ace]

This is known as "AMC" or "All Mistakes Combined". As valuable as the web can work for a dealer it can certainly work against one if the hand of cards dealt is not properly played.

 

[Brian in Etown]

So is ebay worth the trouble? From personal experience I think the number is higher on the flipside, buyers not paying for the car they won on ebay vs the screwup @ cornville BMW. Looks like a quick risk vs reward assessment will show that ebay is no place to play, I am taking my ball and going home. This is also a very good example of why a strong online reputation is very important and not to be taken lightly.

 

[Brian in Etown]

by the way I see why you guys were torn about making this post, I thought about the same thing before my post but I think you all put together a classy post that shows your true intention of learning from another dealers mistake.

 

[Alex Snyder (blog)]

Eric - from what I can tell, on that the M3 forum, there was some legal muscle flexing that enticed BMW of Lincoln to honor the price. It sounds like another BMW store stepped up to the plate to help with the delivery closer to the winning bidder's home!

Brian - thanks. I wouldn't let this little thing upset your eBay plans. Just be careful when you list a car - learn from their mistake.

 

[Mark Bonfigli]

Very interesting post Alex and Jeff.
I think the lesson is a simple one and that is that sometimes no matter how upset you are with a customer wanting to hold you to a misprint or erroneously posted price, you need to consider what the ramifications are to the dealership reputation and future sales (or lost sales for that matter)

I wrote an article a few months back on "releasing the ego" to win more sales and this is exactly one such case. Dealers need to become smarter at their internal marketing and they need to better understand that customers have unlimited ability to expose situations now more than ever before. This applies to not only internet postings or advertising in papers and TV it but also their behavior at the store on the showroom floor. Consumers are now more inclined to "tell the world" about a bad experience since they know it costs them nothing and gives them a sense of "equalizing" the playing field.

This also relates to reputation management and dealers are going to have to be paying attention to it more and more since one bad experience can quickly get out of control like the one you have posted.

It may also come down to communicating with your customer and understanding both sides better. This customer put a lot of effort into making that video and I'm sure they would have loved an excuse not to have had to do that.

Mark Bonfigli
President, CEO
Dealer.com, Inc

 

[Doug in Michigan]

Classy handling of a touchy subject. Good job.

I'll add a fifth item to your list of do-not's:

5) Do not leave voice mails bragging that you will prevail because
you are part of a multi-billion dollar dealer group. Leave only
your name, company name, date, time & contact info.

 

[Lao Shi]

Well done Jeff and Alex, you have opened a closet door that needed to be open to fresh air and sunshine. When we can expose and bring to light these practices, police our industry and work to make it known not all industry members practice these devious methods our industry will have a better reputation.

Is this new? Reputation management, dealer management/principals, dealers are going to have to be paying attention to it more and more. What is this statement telling us? I thought that reputation management was something we all do to the best of our ability. Something we were taught by our parents as children. I guess the reverse is also true some children were taught to take advantage and mislead people to have the edge.

Reminds me of the Father in the movie Matilda, my daughter and I saw this together. At 7 years of age she could see the “slime” in the characters of the “dirt ball” parents. She looked up at me and said do people really act that way dad?

There will always be extenuating circumstances however even then we need to do what we need to do to make it right. There is a Chinese saying "if you always do what you always did you will always get what you always got."

A customer wanting to hold you to a misprint or erroneously posted price is a case by case issue the dealer or business must address. However when it is blatant and happens consistently (BBB Files) over time there is an underlying issue that needs to be addressed. BMW Corporate should be more diligent.

One of the reasons for eBay’s success up to this point is they have tried to be diligent on maintaining their reputation as a safe, reputable market place to do business for both sellers and buyers.

This one case made the Internet as all the planets were lined up properly. This issue in various ways comes up often every day across the country and this is a reason many consumers are wary of dealing with dealerships and they have the reputation they have.

I remember calling a dealer in Rhode Island, ordering a vehicle for a client in November of 2007. He did not have his new inventory on line and I went to the OEM site, punched in the zip code and viewed the information, there were three dealers within the area. I called from out of state the 800 number which did not work from out of state and there was no other contact number. I created a yahoo email account and sent in the VIN # and made an offer based on my knowledge of the prices, cash deal, no trade. I received 6 emails, none of which acknowledged my offer the first day, 2nd day I received 8 more. All emails sending me information on warranty deals, insurance, walk-arounds, etc etc; basically junk. I found the local number via Google and called the manager and asked what in the world he was doing. He claimed he did not know where the emails were coming from and expressed ignorance, ok your ignorant of what is going on what are you going to do?

I placed a call into the OEM Corporate Office and spoke with the manager of the NE dealers, explained the issue. To his credit he contacted the dealer and CC’d me. I ordered the vehicle for my client from a competitor of his with an explanation of why he was getting the business and CC’d my client on all the correspondence.

We should encourage more customers in the industry to post the negative experiences as well as encourage them to post the great experiences they have. Each OEM should have a site where the consumers can post their experiences on dealerships they deal with. Encourage them to go to properly monitored sites and express their thoughts and views. Like BBB and CR this will give consumers a chance to work with legitimate business that believe and practice “reputation management.”

 

[Doug in Michigan]

I am unfamiliar with the nuances of posting eBay auctions; so this
may be an uninformed question. Please be gentle. I am trying to
learn from their mistake.

In reviewing Husker's ad, it seems that they listed the M3 in
"BMW Other" Correct? Incorrect? If I am correct; it strikes me as
an odd listing choice for a high-demand, boutique vehicle.

Unless the screen-shot on M3 has been faked, doing it as a No
Reserve auction is certainly outside my comfort envelope - but
certainly a way to spark attention. Bragging about "NO RESERVE"
on the [Buy It Now] button certainly complicates the "mistake"
defense.

I hope my assumptions are faulty. Anyone able to explain the
nuances of eBay posting to the uninitated?