On the 26th of July I posted an article called Life Lesson Well Leant about the trials and tribulations of doing business with the most unethical car dealership I have ever encountered. With thousands of readers per week I had hoped to prevent anyone else from being conned by these miscreant charlatans.
Other web and social media sites also ran red hot with complaints.
Product Review was the first one I stumbled across. 71 out of 91 reviewers have slammed this company, and rightly so.
Stuff Review begins their appraisal with the elegant one-liner “What a bunch of shit.” I couldn’t agree more. So prolific were the responses that they created a FaceBook page on the 25th July to make it easier for people to engage with them and vent their frustrations.
Even A Current Affair got involved with a little expose. Unfortunately their follow up has been a little… lets say quiet 😉
The comments kept coming in thick, fast and vitriolic.
On the 27th July Mr. Jeremy Herbert, the Head of Global Rollout for webuyanycar.com contacted me with the following statement, which I ran on my site:
Hi Matt – we feel your pain. I represent webuyanycar.com (not webuyanycar.com.au) who have been established since 2006 and have 150+ branches in Europe and the United States. We’ve bought cars from hundreds of thousands of customers and we have a very high customer satisfaction rating.
We’ve been reading the complaints about webuyanycar.com.au with increasing concern. They are not related to our business in any way yet we’ve heard from many people who have mistakenly thought they were part of our business and have experienced service that is simply unacceptable. We’ve also offered advice and assistance to customers who have been left waiting for payment. When we buy a car, we either pay the customer immediately by cheque (in the United States) or by secure bank transfer and the transaction is always backed up by cleared funds. As the World’s biggest specialist car buyer we know that a fast and hassle-free transaction is important to our customers. We have our lawyers working on the brand confusion problem.
Hope you have a good outcome from your transaction and please feel free to contact me personally if you need any help with this matter.
Once again to reiterate, webuyanycar.com.au is not part of webuyanycar.com, is not a franchise of webuyanycar.com and not connected in any way to webuyanycar.com.
Mr. Herbert was quick to distance himself from the corrupt shenanigans of webuyanycar.com.au and I must say, I cannot blame him. Their brand has been damaged, many Australians lives have been ruined.
On the 30th July, after hearing a rumour that the company had been shut down, I checked the forums. People had said that webuyanycar.com.au was in liquidation and that the firm responsible for managing the wind up was Worrells Solvency and Forensic Accountants. I tried calling but received no joy so I loaded their website and found the following press release:
KAR LAND PTY LTD TRADING AS ‘WE BUY ANY CAR’ – IN LIQUIDATION
Released: 30.07.2012
URGENT NOTICE – ALL CREDITORS AND INTERESTED PARTIES
Worrells Solvency & Forensic Accountants have been appointed as liquidators to ‘Kar Land Pty Ltd trading as ‘We Buy Any Car’.
The matter is in its infancy and we are process of collating all relevant information.
We ask for your patience during this period. Our office is currently being inundated with calls, we only have limited information to pass on at this time.
Information regarding this business will be posted on our website as and when it becomes available.
Please refer to this section ‘Press Releases’ for full information.
1. Customers – who have sold cars to the company
We understand that there are a number of people who have sold cars to the company and have not been paid. With the liquidation of the company, your claim will be a ‘unsecured debt’ in the company. Please note that regrettably you do not have the right to reclaim your car, only an entitlement to a dividend in the liquidation. This process will take some time, therefore we request your patience in the matter. In the meantime, customers are asked to provide us details of their claim, so that they can be added to our reporting database. You will be able to lodge this information via our homepage shortly.
2. Employees
With the cessation of the business, prior to our appointment, again regrettably employment arrangements have been terminated. We understand that there would be entitlements owing to you. Unfortunately the company doesn’t have funds to pay these entitlements. However we would like to inform you that your entitlements do have full priority (except for superannuation) and would be paid under the GEERS scheme (Government Employee Entitlement Redundancy Scheme). We are in the process of getting all the employee details and we will be writing to you in regards to your claims.
3. Creditors
Please note that the company has ceased trading, therefore you should not be making any supplies to the company. In the meantime, you are asked to provide us details of their claim, so that they can be added to our reporting database. You will be able to lodge this information via our homepage shortly.
The Australian company We Buy Any Car with the annoying jingle and immoral mismanagement had made the lives of its customers, employees and creditors miserable. Some people, like myself, managed to get our money. This was achieved through sheer determination, dogged persistence and the fortunate timing of our sale. For those that are still owed, get in touch with Worrells and lodge your claim as soon as possible.
Good luck.
—
Matthew