Firstly my appologies for not having introduced myself properly before jumping on the forum and asking for advice.

 

I'll post a complete introduction thread with pics shortly, showing where I am with my own personal ride (Z32 TT) as well as the other projects that I'm running with (Help For Heroes charity Z32-Z31 hybrid and three Z31's - NA's & Turbo) more details to follow:

 

I'm a bit stuck now as to where to go with a legal battle that I've been trying to sort out over the last year or so.

 

Back in Dec '06 (Christmas day in fact), I was seriously injured in Iraq and was casevac'd back to the UK.

To cut a long story short, 13 months after being injured I was awarded a sum of money from the personal injury insurance company.

I was left with enough money to buy a new car; I had been searching for a while for something special (more as a pick me up than anything else if I'm honest).

 

I found the car that I had been looking for in the form of a highly modified and very expensive example of a '600BHP 1995 Mazda RX7' that had been built in Japan and was ready to be shipped, .

I spotted the initial advert on PISTONHEADS advertised by a well known company in Japan.

However I found the same car (identical adverts - but for one or two additional pieces of information) for sale on ebay, by a local UK importer.

I was told by the owner of the UK company that he was the only guy who was authorised to import the car from Japan.

I met the guy in person at his company's premises and handed over payment in the form of a cheque in person.

I was told that this is how importing was done (ie. the customer pays up front for the car and settles shipping and on the road costs on delivery-delivery time including de-registration & registration would be 6 weeks).

Shipping and on the road costs would be an additional one thousand pounds.

I was contacted a day or so later and offered carbon parts at additional cost and requested a set of leather seats be fitted; these again I paid for in person.

However after a few months and a lot of Bull S*&t excuses later, I began to get a bit concerned.

I was told on a number of occasions that the parts had been fitted and that the car had been shipped, only to be told the same thing a few weeks later!

Eventually '7 months' later I recieved a phone call to say that the car had arrived.

Naturally I jumped in the car with the wife and children to take the family to see daddy's new car.

 

I was horrified to find that the car that had been delivered was 3 years older than the one that I had paid for, the engine was different (luckily I kept all pictures, copies of both adverts, all e-mails and correspondence to and from the company), the front bumper was damaged and not fitted properly, the paint work (which was supposed to have been freshly done in Japan) was bubbling and chipped, the rear windscreen was cracked and the doors wouldn't close properly.

The car was supposed to be running 600BHP (even quoted in one e-mail as 700BHP) but was; according to DRAGON PERFORMANCE (who tuned the car in the UK) running at about 400-450BHP!

 

There was a lot of fraudulent activity surrounding the other company in Japan, with a lot of inferior copies of original cars being sold to UK customers.

The guy in Japan was actually called a 'conman' (quote from an e-mail) by the UK importer, only to make a comment a few months later in an e-mail that the very same company were prepping the car for shipping.

 

Needless to say, I refused the car and asked for my money back.

 

The guy refused and told me that there was nothing wrong with the car (I took numerous pictures of the damage and bodywork of the delivered car that prove otherwise, not to mention the small issue of the '3 year' age difference!)

I was told that I would have to speak to his solicitor.

 

I sought legal advice and was basically told that it was a clear case, the guy didn't have a leg to stand on.

My solicitor asked for a total refund on my behalf; this was refused.

It's been 10 months now and the guy has tried all delaying tactics possible and my legal bills have escalated (now touching 4k).

The car cost just shy of 15k in total (this is how much I paid up front), so my family are currently almost 19 thousand pounds out of pocket, with more legal cost to come just to get the guy into court.

 

The guy has since re-sold the car and when I asked him again for my money he said that he couldn't be bothered to discuss it, he claims that he only got 5 thousand pounds for the car when he re-sold it and randomly 'because the paint was so bad on the R7, it needed to be re-sprayed' therefore there was no money left!!!

(so much for nothing wrong with the car)

The thing is, he actually states this on several other adverts when trying to re-sell the car!!

 

The guy is a crook but he's well known on the DRIFTWORKS forum as a 'genuine guy'.

I'm sorry but I beg to differ. Maybe I'm missing something here but I don't believe that I am.

 

I have proof of all of this and am now thinking of starting a thread on DRIFTWORKS forum and posting everything that I have, but I'm not sure if that would effect my legal standing in court.

I've been assured that it can't be slander as I have physical proof and it's all 100% truthfull on my part.

I have all e-mails, pics and basically everything that has gone on and just want to expose him for the thief that he is and to stop him from doing this to anybody else.

 

Again I'm really sorry for laying this all out there but I'm at the end of my tether now.

I'm a genuine, hard working guy, who just so happens to loves cars.

 

My 'Zed' is my passion, despite my initial wish to sample the dark side of rotary power (my wife would definately agree on that one) but unfortunately I maybe a bit naive.

 

If somebody could offer some advice I'd really appreciate it.

 

My personal thread will follow soon and hopefully we can bounce some ideas around to see how best to tackle the Help For Heroes disability track car project; that is coming along quite nicely I might add.

 

Thankyou all and it's a pleasure to be part of such a genuine forum

 

Tony

Why not run it past your solicitor first and if he thinks it is OK then post up on the DRIFTWORKS forum. You can also issue a County Court summons now up to the value of £15K and if he fails to respond, you can send the bailiffs round. I don't know how long this has been going on but time has made this guy think that you are not going to do anything, so no more threats, take legal action.

Really sorry to hear this.

Court proceedings on this should have started a long time ago mate.

 

What was 4k or solicitors fees for ?. He should have issued a court cummons a long time ago to stop wasting your money.

 

Get the ball rolling now. Phone citizens advise and listen to the automated proceedures about mechanics and car traders and your next steps forward.

That sucks dude, what the hell is wrong with people! I hope you get it sorted

Firstly welcome mate to the club and as for your ordeal with buying an import from Japan I dont see why you havent got a full refund the car imported is not the one you seen advertised and if it is the year and discription was wrong your solictor should have the importer in court for full refound and expensives plus I would name and shame his ass all over the fourms as he is not the type of person you would want to do business with and as you have all the details he can not take you up for slander. Hope you get it sorted it has gone on for to long.

Sorry to hear this mate, some people are just scum.

 

I agree with old Z, CCJ then bailiffs, my guess is that when the turn up he'll have a pile of expensive metal sitting on his drive and they have the power to seize them. It's up to him to prove they don't belong to him.

 

p.s big respect for you guys over in the sand, I'm assuming you where in Basra

WTF is your solicitor doing. My couz is a solicitor and cant see how this has not been sorted by now. My first job would be to get down to him and find out what your 4k has done for you. He sounds just as bad as the guy you got the car from. By the sounds of it that guy hasnt a leg to stand on so if should have been in court and settled by now. As said contract citizens advice and see what they say.

scum is about right.

 

I figured that the legal route was the best bet (not my first instinct if I'm completely honest) but definately the most sensible, level headed option; all too easy to get hot headed and do something stupid.

 

I'll leave it to my legal team to get a result, was just wondering if anybody here had, had a similar experience.

 

RE: Sand, yeah not my favourite place in the world but it pays the bills.

lol....Just noticed your location, you wouldn't happen to wear a sand coloured beret by any chance

Interesting read, legal action is the route to take, just make sure you have all the details readily available and in chronological order. I wish you every success as there appear to be many of these cowboys operating on the Internet.

 

Good Luck.

Good luck matey, Sounds like that importer needs a swift keep in the balls.

Sorry to hear about that buddy, whay dont you get your self and some mates round thaer and make him give you the money back and if he still wont do 15 grands worth of damage to his shop. that would be money well spent and god you would feel good after.