Source One Services

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/07/22) */
July 22, 2014
Case # XXXXXXXX
Subject: [redacted]
Dear Revdex.com,
In response to the letter I received from you on July 22, 2014 I would like to respond with some facts along with the resolution I saw being proper and professional...

for this client. I have been a certified classic car appraiser for over 14 years and now approaching 1000 vehicles appraised along with court room appearances as an expert witness. To date I have never had a complaint like this and if there were some mistakes in my reports, I simply corrected them without any issues. I'm a sole proprietor and my reputation is all I have and with this my referrals are paramount to my success. In the case of Mr. [redacted] we had numerous phone calls about a subject that his car was lightly damaged by a body shop and he wanted me to create a document attesting to a loss of value to this car. I advised him that it would be frivolous and a waste of time and money, but by that time I had already sensed an owner who thought very highly of his car and perhaps had a replacement value in his mind. I was ordered to do an appraisal in any case so he could get insurance coverage. On November 16, 2013 I traveled to a body shop where the vehicle was being stored and preceded with my observations and pictures. Mr. [redacted] never requested that he be there, but in this case may have averted much of this as I only had some conversation with him on the phone. I took the vehicle at face value and did the best I could. It is worth mentioning that there is a company that acquired the entire factory data on all Pontiacs from the 70's (PHS) he never provided me this document which lists all the original equipment as it was built in 1969. (Please see my attached letter to Mr. [redacted] addressing this.) I received certified mail on June 24, 2014. In it was the complete appraisal I did on February 10, 2014 with numerous notes he highlighted and some were things I could have never known. After receiving this, I redid the entire document correcting the VIN numbers and model year of the car. It was a glitch in my software which again I corrected and also added the options and notes he saw as important. What I will not do is increase the value of this automobile as my due diligence as an appraiser is to give an opinion based facts and comps. The $125.000.00 on this 1969 Pontiac GTO was generous and I believe this is the bottom line here, his belief that his car is worth more. I will never compromise my license or reputation to satisfy a client by randomly giving a high figure. On July 12, 2014 I mailed a certified package with an amended appraisal with all the corrections he requested along with my apologies. (see letter). To this date I have not yet received the receipt from the post office?
In closing an appraisal holds no guarantees of value or changes in the market, but simply a value based on the current data. I feel I responded in a timely and professional manner and he now has what he's paid for. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me any time.
Yours very truly
[redacted] Inc.
XXX-XXX-XXXX
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/07/23) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Dear Revdex.com:
My response to the above letter is to look at the facts of what an appraisal of an classic car should have, not his ideas:
1. not 5 incorrect vin numbers.
2. not incorrect mileage or XXXXX based on a photo showing the correct mileage 3147.
3. incorrect year for the car, it is a 1969 not 1967.
4. color of car is Madador Red , not Maroon.
5. rear end is posi unit, air conditioned cars require a single unit rear end. Besides, the only way you can check that is by looking at the code on the unit, or having the tires off the ground to spin the unit to see only one wheel spins. His pictures show the car on the ground.
6. no documentation on the cars he submitted.
7. 3 months to submit the report.
8. I called to see if he wanted the PHS Report for his records, as well as the codes on the car, and he refused to meet me at the body shop.See below
[redacted] Insurance in his report said the car was worth $1XXXXX.00, while my [redacted] policy has it at $159,000.00 from an appraisal from 3 years ago. If you want a copy, I will mail you a copy. What about the [redacted] he said was 113,600.00, while a report dated June 17, 2014 states it is worth $1XXXXX.00. You have a copy of this in my letter to you.
10. Review page 4 of his report, since there are to many to list.
11. He states he has been in business for 14 years, my record is as follows:
A. I have been in the GTO hobby since XXXX XX years.
B. Co-founder of the largest GTO Club in the
nation in XXXX XX years.
C. A concourse judge on the 1969 Judge for 6 years at the Pontiac GTO national meets. I can send you a judging guide we use for correctness.
12. What I told Mr. [redacted] was an appraisal of the car, and how correct the car was in the beginning so that the buyer would know how correct the car was in his report. Going back to the part where he never asked for PHS, reports, or to meet so I could point them out to him. The reason is that there are a lot of people selling cars that they say are a GTO Judge, but are not a real Judge. We call them clones. My point being is what if you bought my car at $1XXXXX.00, his value of the car for reference only , and found out it was not a Judge, not even a GTO, not even a Lemans, but a Tempest worth about $10000.00. The question is, how would you feel you got taken for $115,000.00. That is what I was looking to have in a professional report saying it was what it is I representing. This report with the vin number wrong 5 TIMES, and if a buyer went to get a PHS report on the vin number of my car, the number Mr. [redacted] had in his report would have come up as a fraud, and it is against the law to miss represent a titled car. In his corrected second report he did not send any Judges for sale that where really a GTO JUDGE for reference, interesting.
In closing, I received a corrected report with all his mistakes corrected from Mr [redacted] and
the date of the report was not changed to July, but still at February. Also, the picture on one page had my written corrections on it, and he did not even submit a new photo. This report is not worth anything in giving to a future buyer. I had to move on, and not use this report because it is incorrect, and wrong in several areas. This is a student who got an F on his final exam, when went to the professor and got the correct answers, turned in the final exam with the correct answers to get an A for the course. I do not think so, and that is what I will say in my letter to Mr. [redacted] today when I return his whatever via certified mail and my $300.00 to be returned to me.
The bottom line is he took 3 months, did not proof read his report for all his serious mistakes before mailing it out, sends a corrected report with my facts, and wants me to pay myself for this report for something he is CERTIFIED. I would love to hear what the associations he belongs to would say about this report.
Let me know the address to mail the report from Mr. [redacted] to you, and any reports of the car you want for your decision.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 13, 2014/08/11) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I'm just returning a defective product for full credit period. The second attempt showed my hand writing about the wheels, he did even try to fix the picture. He also left out the other 1969 GTO Judge comparsions and their information that backs it up as he did in the first report
Final Business Response /* (4000, 15, 2014/08/21) */
After my repeated attempts to reach out to Mr. [redacted] on this complaint, it's become apparent he never had any intention of settling this matter regardless of what I've tried to do. The amended appraisal was my attempt to show my efforts to make the appraisal to his satisfaction. Having the picture with his notes on it had no bearing on the final product as it was again for his review. I would have added or deleted items to redo it to his approval. I still believe the bottom line is that he wanted a higher figure for his vehicle and this I cannot do with the current market on these vehicles. I have offered to reimburse Mr. [redacted] more than half of the fee for the appraisal and I sincerely believe this to be a fair settlement after so much effort and correspondence. I have never received one single complaint my 15 years in business so it appears I have integrity and a commitment to all my clients and was hoping Mr. [redacted] would have been reasonable.