A waste of bits and bandwidth

I found Thomas on Craigslist and spent four days trying to get him to meet with me so that I could look at his car. By now, I’m prepared to move if the car is right as I’ve come to realize that shopping for a car is like shopping for a new cell phone but thousands of times more painful.

Now Thomas always sounded a bit ‘off’ whenever I talked to him on the phone. I would describe him as being self-absorbed and dripping with moist sensitivity. Sort of like a new grad who thinks the work he’s doing in social networking and new media actually is changing the world.

Eventually, I managed to get Thomas and his wife came to my office so that I could take the car for a quick test drive. Not before he insists on emailing me a photo of a faint scrape on the fender “in the interests of full disclosure…” I think this odd at the time but now realize he was hoping I would find this turn of events unacceptable and bail.

I go out to meet them and watch as they circle the block twice, oblivious to my waving at them from the sidewalk. They head down the alley and Thomas hops out while she goes around the block a third time. When Thomas and I finally see each other, he shakes my hand and then runs blindly out onto Melville to direct his wife to one of the half dozen empty spots on the street.

This results in the wife missing him by inches as she doesn’t agree with his choice in parking spots and drives off to park way down the block… Without a word of exaggeration, she came within inches of driving over her husband.

They seemed unfazed by this near miss as we exchange pleasantries on the sidewalk. I slip into the driver seat and we set off down Melville as Thomas begins… “I hope you don’t think we are wasting your time.”

I think to myself that whatever Thomas is about to say, I don’t want to hear it. This idiot is about to tell me that he’s wasting my time and I haven’t driven the car 20 feet. “There is another person interested in the car and he’s arranging financing now.”

I’m not sure of how to respond so I stare straight ahead as I contemplate rear ending the cab in front of us. I decide it’s best to not to give any indication that this is the last f***ing straw and I’m at the end of my rope with him. I do allow myself to briefly fantasize about hitting him square in the face with a dried up ball of play-doh.

Regaining my composure, I realize that this could just be a ploy to get me to offer more money or maybe Thomas really is an idiot and thinks the other guy is a certainty to close. In any event, I don’t have a dried up ball of play-doh handy…

I take the first available right and spin around the block completing the worlds shortest test drive. I park the car in front of the office and look at him; “I have cash, let me know how it turns out with the other guy.” With that, I got out of the car and went back to work figuring that I’ll never hear from Thomas again.

thomas ✆ to Mark 01/08/10

Mark,

I just spoke with the other buyer and he has finalized the deal so I guess it is going to proceed with him. Thank you for your interest and again, I hope we didn’t waste your time.

cheers, thomas

Mark ✆ to thomas 01/08/10

Thomas,

Thank you for letting me know. I get that you just wanted to sell your car. I will no doubt find another car as a Mazda 3 is neither rare, nor difficult to find.

I am however, frustrated that I have spent since Sunday trying to arrange a meeting with you only to find that you were well down the road with another purchaser.

Should I ever find myself needing to define ‘wasting someone’s time’, I will recall this experience.

Mark

thomas ✆ to Mark 01/08/10 (Actual response, edited for brevity)

Mark,

My sincere apologies. …In the future, I will definitely be more forthright… …I guess I had become cynical and lost faith in people, which I will try not to do in the future. Again, that is my fault. Good luck on finding another car…

thomas

After we test drove the co-workers car, we decided to go to Metrotown to look at another car. The car was at a dealer of well known Japanese cars, not some shady front for a money laundering operation. It’s mid-December so we figure they’ll be motivated to move another car this close to Christmas.

The car was a 2008 and had a few more features than the co-workers but nothing special. It was however, a few thousand dollars more expensive than some other comparables we had seen.

We arrive and begin to walk the lot before a salesman approaches us. I told him which car we were here to see and he took us over to it. The car seemed nice enough and he asked if we’d like to take it for a drive.

Me: “Yeah sure”
Greasy used car salesman: “Let me photocopy your license, we’ll go for a drive and then write it up!”
Me: “…”

We go for a drive over some of the worst roads in South Burnaby (his choice) and he guides us back to the dealership. Not wanting to give Mihwa and I anytime to talk, he drags us into his office and starts writing up the invoice. We sit there and don’t say anything; might as well see where this goes.

Said agreement is written for the asking price and includes a $590 documentation fee.

Me: “What is this documentation fee?”
Greasy used car salesman: “See? Right here…” He points helpfully at the word Documentation on the invoice.
Me: “We’re not paying you $600 to fill out a transfer form”

He ignores my protests and asks what we would like to pay.

Me: “What is your best cash price?”
Greasy used car salesman: “You give me a number and we’ll see what we can do”
Me: “I take it you don’t want to go first…”
Greasy used car salesman: “What do you think it’s worth?”
Me: “Alright. Christmas is in just over a week and you’re coming up to your month, quarter and year end. If you don’t want to negotiate, we’re going to lowball you to get this going.”
Greasy used car salesman: “OK”

We lob the lowball knowing it’s too low but feeling it’s within a realistic range to start negotiations. The greasy used car salesman goes to ‘talk to the manager’. For a few moments we actually allowed ourselves to worry that they might accept it. He returns with a counter offer $200 less than the asking price. My jaw dropped and Mihwa laughed out loud.

The greasy sales manager now shows up and says that he can’t take us seriously. I told him that I didn’t expect him to accept it but to counter with something he felt more realistic. I believe it’s called negotiation…

Me: “Dropping the price $200 is insulting.” At that point we got up and left the dealership. The greasy salesman followed us out the door, clearly not ready to see us go yet.
Greasy used car salesman: “It’s hard for him to take your offer seriously but he might drop it another $200″
Me: “Thanks but we aren’t interested in doing business with you”
Greasy used car salesman: “Here’s my card”

Within fours days, they had dropped the asking price $1000. That would have been in the ballpark…

The co-worker is unaware that I know them at this point. It wouldn’t make any difference in the end…

Mark ✆ to Co-Worker 11/20/09
Hi [Co-Worker],

One last question, does the car have an automatic transmission?

Please let me know about the anti-starter/disabler as I wasn’t aware that this was an option.

My wife and I will discuss the car tonight and will call you soon.

Thanks, Mark

Co-Worker ✆ to Mark 11/20/09
I will call dealership

Mark ✆ to Ricky 11/15/09
Hi, is your Mazda 3 a GX, GS or GT? sunroof? leather? heated seats? cruise? what are you asking?

Thanks, Mark

Ricky ✆ to Mark 11/16/09
Hello Mark

Thank you for contacting [dealer]. My name is Ricky [deleted] and I’m the General Manager of [dealer]. The Mazda 3 is still available. We are having a Huge Sale this week and I am willing to sell some vehicles at wholesale.

This Mazda 3 is a fully equipped GT, with leather and sunroof. the car has only 32000 km.

I have some exciting news and pricing on this GT and I will personally work with you on the best price. Feel free to contact me direct at 604-xxx-3456.

If you are from out of town, we ship vehicles all over Western Canada on an almost daily basis. I would be happy to discuss these options with you.

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely, Ricky

Mark ✆ to Ricky 11/16/09

Hi Ricky,

I have no doubt that the car is still available; there are over a hundred Mazda 3′s on Autotrader alone and it appears that not many are moving. I have cash, I know what I am looking for and I’m willing to buy if the right vehicle comes along.

I’m not interested in playing email tag with you. What are you asking for the car?

Thanks. Mark

Ricky ✆ to Mark 11/16/09

Hello Mark

the car is priced for the sale at $18,800

As promised, Google Docs has rolled out the Upload any file feature that lets you store files up to 250MB in size in Docs. Everyone gets up to 1GB for free and $0.25 per extra GB. $5 gets you 20GB and $20, 80GB which is shared across gmail, docs and photos.

I’ve been checking my account frequently all week and finally saw the link near the Upload button explaining the new capability. Coupled with the ability to share folders, this can easily be used to share any kind of file. I’m not sure why I would want to share any files apart from some pictures.

I haven’t renewed my Flickr account because I’ve been waiting to decide if I should go with this option. Google is more flexible, way less expensive and allows me to store all kinds of files. I could post all the photos that no one is looking at on Picasaweb.

At $28, Flickr isn’t expensive but these are tough times right? That’s what I keep reading anyway…