Sunday, July 03, 2005
Warning: Beware!!!
Hello Everyone
Would like to share a personal experience with all of you & hope you will not be a victim yourself.
About 2 weeks ago, I rented a car from a private owner name Michael who lives around Jurong East. It was advertised in Yahoo Auction as "1.6GLXi Lancer Auto with Mivec kit for rent. Car as good as new, 16' sport rims, car lowed, leather seats, new paint, mono steering, with sunroof, private plate"
During negotiation on the car rental details, it was agreed upon as I would rent it from Thursday night to Monday night at S$200 nett with another S$50 refundable deposit. He said that he would refund me the deposit 3 days after I returned the car.
After he handed the car over to me, I drove it to the petrol kiosk to top up some petrol and also ask the pump attendant to help do some routine check for the engine oil, battery water, etc. As expected, the attendant told me that the engine oil is running low and need refill. So I called him up to seek his approval on the purchase and he also agreed to reimburse me upon return of the car and of course with the proof of purchase.
I checked the car thoroughly before I return on the day to ensure there are no scratches etc & even took some pics (Luckily I did). When I met him, I passed him the receipt too. He told me 3 days later he will refund me the deposit together with this S$8 for the engine oil.
The next morning, he actually called me up saying he found scratches on the car. Well.....the day before when I return the car, why didn't he say so? He waits till the next day then come tell me such thing. I told him I remembered I handled the car carefully & scratch free. He then said he will get back to me again. I even informed him that I have taken some picture of the car before returning. So if necessary, I will send them to him. Thereafter I heard no news from him.
3 days passed and I still hear no news from him. After calling him 3 times and sent him 4 messages, I got NO reply till now. And I could not believe he even go to point of avoiding my call. This is what I get for trusting him too much in the first place. I've got no documents to verify on the earlier agreements & he is now missing in action.
I checked Yahoo Auction & he still have the nerve to post an advertisement on the web despite cheating me of my deposit. Such people are so irresponsible. There's nothing much I can do now except to warn all of you to prevent being cheated by him too.
So just be more careful if anyone want to rent car from private owners in future, don't end up like me. The cause of this mail was not due to the money that he promised to return. Instead, it is the trust and the promises he did not keep that have made me very disappointed.
^ Gerald ^
`[7/03/2005 04:44:00 PM]
