why are some people just so dishonest?

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SilverSaloon

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 16, 2004
Messages
7,758
Car
1994 W124 E300D Estate, 1985 R107 280SL
a bit of a rant!

i scrapped a w124 estate the other week. scrapper guy collected it and he was to return the wheels and bolts next day as part of the deal. he was as friendly as anything,chatting away for about 30 mins..... anyway next day came, no wheels. a few calls to him and he tells me he will drop them round in a few days when he is in the area.... few days came, no wheels. aother call and he never answers... few days later i try on a different phone number, straight answer, and tells me he will drop them off again. never happened. another attempts to phone, and no answer... new phone number, answer straight away.... tell him i will come and get the wheels myself as i'm fed up now. he gives me an address.... i go back to my computer and look on google maps.... no scrap yard there - just a housing estate. so i call him (on yet another number!) and no answer. 30 mins later he phones back saying he had a miscall. as soon as he heard its me, he hung up.

i would name & shame but (a) it would be pointless and (b) these cowboys are probably not the sort of characters you want to get on the wrong side of.

next time - i follow the towtruck and take the wheels immediatly myself. lesson learn - you cant trust people these days i'm afraid.... if you value something, dont entrust it with someone you dont know, however good their credentials appear to be.

i now need to source some more wheels for my winter tyres. i believe the scrapper guy may be a banker or even a bar steward in his spare time

cheers

Derek
 
Have you asked the Police to check if the wheels are on Dale Farm? ;)
 
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Good luck getting them back. I guess it is a lesson learned, sometimes people can be very deceiving even if you think you are a good judge of character.

Why don't you try getting someone else to give him a ring from another number so he doesn't recognise your voice, get them to tell him they have a scrap car to collect from a different address and then have a "rendez vous" with mr scrap man.

I have a feeling they will have either been sold on or melted down by now though.
 
So - you took a pikey at his word? :rolleyes:

Sounds like the wheels were perhaps the only bits of the car he was interested in in the first place. I assume the numbers are only ever mobile numbers?

His name/address etc should be on the V5 tear-off slip though. You did complete that in his presence, didn't you? If not, I foresee the potential for further problems ahead - like VED/SORN demands from DVLA for a car they still think is yours. And fines for not completing documentation as per requirements, as you can't now prove who's got it or where it is.

Hope that's not the case.
 
a tell him i will come and get the wheels myself as i'm fed up now. he gives me an address.... i go back to my computer and look on google maps.... no scrap yard there - just a housing estate.

Most scrapmen are just either:

a) Pikeys

b) Someone from a council estate with a transit bevertail and a winch

The days of small car breakers/scrapyards are long over, most cars get taken straight to be weighed in/decontamminated/shredded.

I suppose your wheel theif saw the alloys as an extra £30, I assume he paid for the car?
 
I expect they were weighed in and not given a 2nd thought. You could try going round yourself to local scrap yards. Explain a ' local scrap dealer' may have just forgot etc etc. And ask if they have any similar. Take a look on their racks.
Unless they were special Id kiss them good by and say you're a very luck person.
Lucky to have got off so lightly, and lucky to have had such a sheltered life, you didnt know not to ever deal with those sorts of scum.
Dishonest is not even rubbing the surface of describing these people.
 
i've already kissed the wheels goodbye.

they were just old steelies but were perfect for my winter tyres to go on.

£140 paid for the carcass of the old w124 which i had previously stripped and made over 1k on in parts, however that isnt the point.

£120 was offered by a more genuine scrap yard (maybe!) and this guy simply saw the car on the driveway and knocked on the door and we struck a deal at £140. both offers included me keeping the wheels but the 1st guy was going to let me take them off once on his low loader... the guy who took them said he would return them next day.

i'd of been better of taking the £120 as it will cost me more than £20 to find alternative wheels.

already had paperwork back from DVLA (which i posted off myself) saying i no longer own the car. the address he gave me was very vague.

no intentions on trying to meet the guy - i could i guess but they obviously are gone/stolen so all i'd end up with is maybe a black eye or worse.

lesson learnt (not to trust anyone nowadays i'm afraid!!) and i'll move on.... but feel better for the rant!
 
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Knock knock on door

"Can I sell you....." or "Can I buy......."

Close door

End of.

Works well for me
 
Did he offer a good price to do your driveway ?
 
How's your roof? Was driving by and saw a few loose tiles guv.
 
Dad had the same on an old banger we had.Brand new tyres which he wanted to keep for the trailer,guy said he'd drop them back,never did and we couldn't get hold of him again.I did think Dad was being a little unrealistic at the time.
 
Derek, I have a set of steel wheels for a 124 with budget tyres on them. If you want to arrange a courier to collect you are more than welcome to them if it gets you out of a hole. I will check the sizes and ET in a while and post back.

Tyre sizes are 195/65/15
Wheel sizes are 6.5J X 15 ET49
 
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Thanks EDZ649 - you have PM! :thumb:

Usually I do just say no to cold callers, as i like to investigate prices myself, however i had already done that and he was offering £20 more than i could get elsewhere and was willing to take it next day, which was ideal for me as i needed it shifted as the house is on sale as the last thing i need is a dismantled car sitting on the driveway with a tarpaulin over it ;). i just wish i had taken the wheels off - as 2 of them even had half decent tyres on aswell.
 
Surely you asked for ID from him - driving licence for sure.

Filling out the form for the DVLA etc.

A vague address sounds well dodgy.
 
Surely you asked for ID from him - driving licence for sure.

Filling out the form for the DVLA etc.

A vague address sounds well dodgy.

Why would I need to do that? aslong as i send the logbook away to say its not mine anymore then that should be that shoulnt it?
 
I will side with you on that one though, Derek. :)

You are under no obligation by anyone at DVLA or anywhere else to check the validity of the information written on the documents at exchange time, whether that be a new owner or a scrap man. How could you verify it anyway?

I let a car go to a bunch of semi-legit pikeys a few months ago, in return for a load of work in our garden. A deal was agreed beforehand, and the car went with them as soon as I had agreed with them that all the work ewas done to my satisfaction. The paperwork was completed and it was a little difficult to make out the address details given. Not my problem though! The DVLA wrote to me several weeks later asking for the address details of the new owner, so I replied that they had as much information as I had - i.e. the V5 slip - and what else I am supposed to do about it? Nothing else has been heard... :rolleyes:
 
I know this is not what you want to hear, but I have built up a good relationship with my local, reputable, long-established breaker's yard. I recently stripped a W201 for spares and did a deal with the breaker. I took everything I wanted from the car (which was a lot) whilst it was on my drive. In return for collecting the car for free, they removed the four springs, the rear subframe (inc ASD diff) and the alloys. They delivered me back the subframe, springs and propshafts the next day, but forgot the alloys. When I called in to see them, they apologised for forgetting the alloys, which were stacked and ready for me to collect. As the tyres were worthless, they removed them from the rims at no charge, so I could refurb them. I didn't have the facilities to remove the difficult and heavy parts, so as far as I was concerned it was a good deal for both parties. I got the parts I wanted and I was happy to give them the scrap value of the metal. More to the point, no-one got hurt, we're still on very good terms and I would be very happy to use them again at any time.

Whilst the car was being stripped on the drive I had a couple of enquiries from "interested parties" in white transits with mesh cages on the back but I politely turned them away. I guess the lesson is to know who you're dealing with.
 

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