Today,
I was shocked what happened to me and 2 friends at an aution today.
After arriving at 10am and bidding on a few cars one I was after for a member of staff from my workplace, another for the friends i took along with me; a member of the deleted floor staff (around 12.30) apporached my friend (female) and asked her if she would leave the site.
I turned round and again he asked me and her partner to leave the site. At first I considered him to be joking with her (obvious she was an auction novice) and turned to the car i was looking at and continued to look around it.
Again he was persistent and after a short while a colleuge joined him.
The said a regular customer had reported 'us' and pointed us out for 'keying cars' - when i heard this i laughed and told the chap he must have the worng perportraitors and carried on.
He was admittent, so i question further - he pointed me in the direction of the security hut to speak to the security manager.
Anyhow, I apporached the hut' knocked, entered and spoke to the security manager.
He said - a regular customer who he said 'word held more trust than mine' had reported and pointed me out for keying cars - a charge which infuruated me and i adimmetnly denied.
Anyhow - he was unwilling to discuss further the matter and said he was going to call the police to remove me from site.
I argued more, pleading me and my friends innocence making him aware that the couple (2 christian evangelicals) where more liley to pray for the car than scratcxh it in any way.
He refused to be moved. So i made him aware I was a regular visitor with colleuges and I offered to get a member of staf who is a personal friend to come over or ring the hut to confirm my validity as a honest and decent chap.
Again he refuses, however he took my number and where I had travelled, and said the 'manager' would call me when he had a chance!
I asked for the managers name and number - he refused! said he was to busy today, he will call you.
I went to reception to get the managers name- no luck, apparently he was conducting a sale.
I reapproached the security hatch to pleade with the chap (as travelling 60 miles to an auction to be wrongfully thrown out is very annoying and a huge timewaste)
- again, all he said was the manager would ring me this week - and say if i am allowed back to the auction again!
My friend requested if they had any cctv footage to prove our innocence - No was the reply.
I am shocked, angry, humiliated and have wasted alot of petrol, time and money today because a customer apparently seen a member of my party 'key a car'.
the place ws not busy at all, it is unlikely we could have been wrongfully identified.
What is my best course of action?
what are deleted customer services like?
has anyone else had similar experience at an auction centre?
why would anyone ever make such a stupid claim?
i totally agree and would myself report anyone I seen vandalising or causing damage to a vehicle - however, I can swear i have never done so much as scratch a car in all my life, was dress well and have been a regualr attender.
to same i am upset by the affair is an understatement.
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Perhaps you were eying up a car or cars he had his eye on and it was his way of getting rid of the competition.
I would write a letter of complaint (calm & reasoned)to the site manager and a copy to their head office asking for an explanation and some evidence of their defamatory stetements.
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I don't get this????
IF someone HAD seen YOU (or anyone) damage A car, the car would have some apparent damage....Did anyone show you this damage????
So, if a car HAS been 'keyed', I would expect the auction security to call the Police & let THEM sort it. do have a policy of prosecution towards theft & such like.Even what may be considered minor thefts, wheel trims & the like, have resulted in account customers being banned,from the sites, in the not too distant past!!
A letter of explanation should come from them - they do invite you onto their property, after all.
VB
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Initially I would be tempted to write in complaining and see where you get. Airing the complaint in public (should you want to pusue it to an amicable agreement) may not help.
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And you having a word with the manager about a security guard 'keying' a car would be taken just a seriously...yeah, right it would. Sorry, being sarcastic now!
What a load of tosh! So a large auction house is going to deal with criminal damage (keying a car=new respray=£1000? £2000?) by way of telling you to leave the site? If it were true you would never take your motor to such an uncaring business. But it isn't so that makes it equally worse.
Jobsworth!
Keep us up to date on how you get on....I'm sure the local rag would like to hear....
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All reference to the company names removed. No Naming / Shaming - thankyou.
The only reason I've locked this thread and not deleted it is so that you can see Pugugly's comment "Airing the complaint in public (should you want to pusue it to an amicable agreement) may not help."
DD. BR Moderator.
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Locked or not, I can reply !
An appalling experience, I agree.
First task;
Decide what you want -
If you want to rant and rave, then send a nasty letter, telphone them and generally have a go. You'll not get anywhere, but you may feel a lot better.
If you want to cause them trouble, then add in letter to the local rag, state you're going to your solicitor, exagerate the impact on your reputation with your work colleagues.
If you want to prevent something similar happening to you or someone else, you want them to acknowledge what occurred, and you want them to apologise, then write a calm letter stating the facts. Explain how this was most certainly not you or your colleagues, explain the religion bit, perhaps an aside that you can only imagine the accusation was malicious since it is difficult to see how an error could have occurred, state that you were discourteously treated, threatened with the police, refused access to anyone in authority, etc. etc.
Explain that you know that they have to protect their cars and that in the event of a "keying" taking place, you would have reported it yourself. I'd also mention that either there was no keying, in which case nothign should have been done, or there was a keying in which case the police should have been called, not this messy half-way house.
Detail the difficulty and expense the day caused you and the embarassement with work colleagues. All calm, objective and polite.
Finish with a statement that you are sure that they are normally reasonable and rational people and that they are as disturbed by this as you are. However, you would like to know what they are going to do to resolve this and, state firmly, you would like their written response within 15 days.
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I have opened this thread again. Don't embarass me by everybody getting all vindictive and emotional because if you do not only will I have to lock the thread again, I'll also have to e-mail Dave and grovellingly admit he was right to lock it in the first place.
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I think you can obtain a Dscolusure order from a court to make the company disclose who has made these allegations, you can then sue them for defamtion and losses. Speak to a solicitor.
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defamtion and losses
How much would you quantify these at Schnitzel? Would you expect the solicitor's costs a. to exceed these and b. to be recoverable?
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...especially if they all turn around and say "Sorry, honest mistake, guv".
Be real. If you handle it right you will probably get a nice apology and a free bacon roll. I don't fancy your chances of getting much else.
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the yorkshire post newsdesk have recieved an e-mail.
a letter to the company concerned is being written by my solicitor.
he will not charge me a fee for sueing so we are currently taking a statement of each of us before he decides on what course of action to take.
We will also give them a reasonable time period to respond satifactory.
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If it is going legal this thread should be closed, after all many will have seen the company in question's details before the post was edited.
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yes - i will keep the moderators informed.
Can i make people aware, my intention is not to hurt or 'win' against the group - I have had many good dealings with them; I wish to recieve a proper apology and some kind of compensation for the discomfort and costs i occured.
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Davey,
Good on you for taking this further. A totally curious incident for which there seems no rational explanation other than..... snip sigh.
What is for certain is that the response from the auction personnel is completely wrong from all angles. If you had been keying cars then I have no doubt that the response would have been much more aggressive than merely asking you to leave. If you weren't then your removal is outrageous. May I suggest that....[snip. Nope. Sorry. Mark.]
Give 'em hell!
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Look guys, I think this thread is useful. Hwoever, there is a limit to how much effort I am prepared to put into it and if the effort becomes too much, I shall simply remove it - and that won't help Davey at all.
NO naming/identification of the company
NO accusations or suggestions of illegal behaviour
NO emotive "hang 'em high" stuff
In fact nothing other than objective discussion and suggestions.
If you can't cope with that on your own, then I'll delete the thread to help you cope. Clear ?
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Mark, as I said before if it is going legal this thread should be closed (though not necessarily deleted). Any public comment DaveyK makes from now on (and this forum is public) could prejudice his case, there is a clear link to the company in question's becuase the details were there for all to see before the post was edited.
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PLEASE REMOVE THE THREAD.
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How could I refuse a nice polite request like that ??
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