**UPDATE** To my HLPAG woes

[AirborneSilva]

Finally heard back from the AG today, well we actually called them, and all I can say is THE AG IS A F*CKING JOKE!!  what a waste of time, energy and agravation that was, they are nothing more then a bureacracy to collect our tax dollars.  Here is the letter they faxed us today.

"Dear Mrs. Silva:

I have reviewed all of the information and correspondence concerning your complaint.  The matter has not been resolved and attempts at informal mediation have failed.  Since formal enforcement action by this office is not warranted, we are closing your file at this time.  Your file will be retained by this office.  One of the most valuable ways we can learn of problems existing in the market place is by receiving complaints from concerned citizens. 

If you wish to pursue this matter further, the following alternatives are suggested:
a)  Discuss the matter with a private attorney.
b)  Taking the matter to small claims court.

Thank you for taking the time to express your concerns."

What a joke!  they are worthless!  HLPAG said that they would allow us to order parts through them and pay their cost for the part plus shipping, that is their offer to make things right - another joke.  They (HLPAG) further said that they sold the car as is and that it is a 30 year old car and that I knew it would need restoring - yeah no shit, but IT DID NOT MATCH THE DESCRIPTION THEY POSTED ON E-BAY!!!

Here is a link to my original posting about my charger I bought from them...

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,3692.0.html

thanks for your time and allowing me to vent - I feel like twisting someones head off right about now 

[RD]

dude i feel for you...  so what is your next move?

[AirborneSilva]

We are trying to figure that out now.  It seems as though if we hire and attorney it would be throwing good money after bad, so we are not sure - I am up for suggestions here 

[Brock Samson]

 Understood.  

[Darkness]

I would go civil and get extra money from them. Sorry to hear of this and I wish you the best.

[Bandit72]

lets go set them on fire....  hahaha

later 

[6pkrunner]

Sorry to say but when you involve lawyers for a case like this, when the dust settles you will be out more than the cost of the car in legal fees and no guarantee that you will win. The "trunk cut out and typical rust in quarters" is open to interpetation to different people. Yes all us here know exactly what it should be, but the courts will go to the broadest and easiest to understand for the most amount of  average people. And in that vein it is completely subjective and you could lose there but be stuck with the bill.
I'm not trying to throw rocks at you, just be aware hat the courts don't always work in a logical manner. The trunk is gone and there is rust in the quarters. This is a 30 plus year old car. That's the facts they will work with. See if you can get an attorney to give you advise on the case before the meter starts running.

[terrible one]

We are trying to figure that out now.  It seems as though if we hire and attorney it would be throwing good money after bad, so we are not sure - I am up for suggestions here 

And sadly, that is one of the reasons HLPAG hasn't been taken down yet. You are probably right.

If you decide not to take any further action, I would suggest parting this car out, and then buying another in much better, restorable condition.

[bull]

The only way they can be taken down is by entrapment, for lack of a better word. They need to be set up. Someone needs to hire an attorney and figure out all the angles beforehand, then buy a car from them and document every step of the process with the intention of catching them breaking the law.

[472 R/T SE]

You have other choices.

Bad publicity is gonna hurt their pocket book.  Build a website.  HLPAGSUCKS.com or something detailing your problems and other people's experiences.  You know they sell a lot of stuff sight unseen over the 'net.  You'd think a person doing that, might search their reputation on the 'net as well?  It couldn't hurt!
IMO, you have to think long term and what you can do to make their life miserable.

[AirborneSilva]

You have other choices.

Bad publicity is gonna hurt their pocket book.  Build a website.  HLPAGSUCKS.com or something detailing your problems and other people's experiences.  You know they sell a lot of stuff sight unseen over the 'net.  You'd think a person doing that, might search their reputation on the 'net as well?  It couldn't hurt!
IMO, you have to think long term and what you can do to make their life miserable.

Trust me, I am thinking, or trying to think, of ways to screw them over.  I have thought of selling on e-bay (for $.01), info on how they screwed me over but I don't think e-bay would like that too much and would shut me down.  A website might get me sued if I don't do that right but it is a good idea.   

[bullit68]

thats really too bad.i dont think that it makes financial sense to go through the courts.i think your best bet is to learn to weld,or part it out and move on.its sad to see a charger in this shape.just think,this was somebodies brand new charger at one time.such a sad life it led.

[Blown70]

Airborne,

Sadly, I would say consult with an lawyer.  I will say though by the time you get to court.  Well time money and effort are wasted on this.  What is posted in the add as said prior would be left to interpretation.

Now, if you want to toy with them.  Sure file a suit in small claims and go after what you can.  Cost of the car. Reasonable amount to bring the car to what the standard of the add on ebay was.  NOT excessive.  Most small claims have a limit of $3,000 or $5,000.  Spend the $80 have them served with papers.  That ought to get them in a tiff.   However, do not ask for more than resonable.  Judges can be pricks.  Get some estimates of parts,  Rear frame rails in writing, cost of replacement.  State that you understood the need for 1/4 pannel replacement conceede that.   Just state facts.

Anyway best of luck with what ever you do.  AGAIN as said before do not let good money chase after bad.

Tom

[Iceyone]

Wow that sure sucks. Up until two weeks ago, I was stationed at Great Lakes Naval Base which is only about 20 minutes away from HLPAG; I could have easily warned anyone about the real condition of any of his cars. I've seen his ads and then went and looked at the actual cars. I can tell you that they only post a shot of the car from the best angle. Any of his 5000 dollar cars are pretty well trashed and his 20,000 dollar cars have crappy paint jobs and are always missing lots of parts.

[TheGhost]

dude i feel for you...  so what is your next move?

Firebombing their main office comes to mind...  Unfortunatly, that's out of the question.

Frankly, I'd contact a lawyer, AND, at the same time, due everything possible to drive their business down.  Hit them in the only place that they feel pain:  Their pocket books.  When you spot an ebay auction of theirs, warn any and all bidders about them, linking them to your threads, and other threads about them.  The website idea is also a pretty good one, I know I'd be willing to carry the link to that website in my signature on every forum I'm a member of.  And, I don't see any way that you could be sued by halpag for creating that website, if you ONLY state facts.  It's not defemation of charactor, nor is it slander, if it's true.

[AirborneSilva]

thats really too bad.i dont think that it makes financial sense to go through the courts.i think your best bet is to learn to weld,or part it out and move on.its sad to see a charger in this shape.just think,this was somebodies brand new charger at one time.such a sad life it led.

I have a welder and have always planned on doing my own work on it, but I did not plan on such a large expensive job. 

[4402tuff4u]

You have other choices.

Bad publicity is gonna hurt their pocket book.  Build a website.  HLPAGSUCKS.com or something detailing your problems and other people's experiences.  You know they sell a lot of stuff sight unseen over the 'net.  You'd think a person doing that, might search their reputation on the 'net as well?  It couldn't hurt!
IMO, you have to think long term and what you can do to make their life miserable.

Be careful if you go this route with a possible "slandering and commercial assault" law suit from HLPAG to you. They could tie you up in a law suit demanding loss of business and livelihood - big $$$, especially if HLPAG gets a hold of a letter floating around from the AG stating that the case has no further warrant and your actions can be interpret by a court as simply doing this to be vindictive and cause damage. Your better alternative that I would choose would be to tie them up in small claims court. I don't believe you need a lawyer and you are basically becoming a pain in the ass and a thorn of their back to them. Use the small court system and legal system to your advantage - think with your brain and not your emotions. I would be extremely pissed like you (probably more) but the only way I see that you can beat them is with the system on your side. 

[AirborneSilva]

We will be filling a complaint with the better business bureua, not that it will do any good but it will give them a black mark incase anyone checks with the BBB prior to buying one of their junk cars.  We will also be looking into filling a small claims case against them.  At this point I think that is the only thing we can do.

[TruckDriver]

You have other choices.

Bad publicity is gonna hurt their pocket book.  Build a website.  HLPAGSUCKS.com or something detailing your problems and other people's experiences.  You know they sell a lot of stuff sight unseen over the 'net.  You'd think a person doing that, might search their reputation on the 'net as well?  It couldn't hurt!
IMO, you have to think long term and what you can do to make their life miserable.

Trust me, I am thinking, or trying to think, of ways to screw them over.  I have thought of selling on e-bay (for $.01), info on how they screwed me over but I don't think e-bay would like that too much and would shut me down.  A website might get me sued if I don't do that right but it is a good idea.   

I think a website like that would get you sued. They would call it slander. Your best bet is to get 4 or 5 or more people that are not happy with Halpeg, and then you all go in on one law suit together.  That will get more attention if there are several sueing them. What happened to the lady on here that got burned by them?

[dodgecharger-fan]

Airborne,

Sadly, I would say consult with an lawyer.  I will say though by the time you get to court.  Well time money and effort are wasted on this.  What is posted in the add as said prior would be left to interpretation.

Now, if you want to toy with them.  Sure file a suit in small claims and go after what you can.  Cost of the car. Reasonable amount to bring the car to what the standard of the add on ebay was.  NOT excessive.  Most small claims have a limit of $3,000 or $5,000.  Spend the $80 have them served with papers.  That ought to get them in a tiff.   However, do not ask for more than resonable.  Judges can be pricks.  Get some estimates of parts,  Rear frame rails in writing, cost of replacement.  State that you understood the need for 1/4 pannel replacement conceede that.   Just state facts.

Anyway best of luck with what ever you do.  AGAIN as said before do not let good money chase after bad.

Tom

This advice makes lots of sense. It's a relatively inexpensize way to get your situation recorded. It causes them to give up some of their time and that will cost them one way or another.
In the end, if you get something out of the process, consider it a win.

Document everything that you've done with regards to this matter, but keep expenses separate from the amounts that are part of the original transaction.
Have it all organized. Have a TON of information but don't just haul in a wheelbarrow and dump it and say, Here. You fogure it out." (I'm sure you know this, I'm just trying to get my thoughts into words here.)
If you just ask for a big lump sum, the judge will get pissed. If you ask for X dollars in reparqations and X dollars in expenses, you have set things up for discussion. The judge might not reward every last bit, but if you state that you were not sure what needed to be itmeized, so you covereed everything and have good organized docs to back it up, it might help.
Make his job easy.
He doesn't really give a crap about what you've gone through. He working his way through a list of cases to get to the end of his day.

The AG may not see enough of a case to do anything now, but if HLPAG racks up a few small claims, BBB reports, and other complaints to the AG, the AG may come back to you sometime in the future.
Unfortunately, I think the AG is likely looking for one of two things in a case: easy win or politically charged. Either of those makes then look good. A tough fight for something with no public interest is a waste of time in their mind. That's my opinion, anyway.

It sucks that you have to deal with this at all. If you ever do end up working on the car, I think I offered my lower fender patches to you before. That offer still stands. I have some other parts that I won't need too, but nothing of great significance I think. Still, if I have it and I don't need it but you do, it's yours.

Best of luck and keep us posted.

[Bluestar]

I had to have a lawyer review an employment contract and since I didn't know how to pick one, I call the Massachusetts BAR association and they referred me to a lawyer.  Because I got a referral from the Mass. BAR Assoc., the lawyer could only charge me a nominal fee for the initial consultation which was like $25 or $50.  See if your Stat has any program like that, at least you could find out your options for a small charge that way.

[472 R/T SE]

Why is it that it's OK for the PAYPALSUCKS.com variety of sites then?  There's other websites out there doing just this. 

I wouldn't suggest it if I hadn't already seen other people doing it. 

[BigBlockSam]

well, the good news is that charger prices have gone way up on ebay, even rusty ones.Rene

[Carlwalski]

Man, where to start....that fcuken rips MY undies. HLPAG are shlte, absolute scum of the earth. What comes around goes around so I hope when they get their own it's with baseball bats, a BIG trunk, river stones and a lone country river. 

What else can we do? www.antihlpag.com ? 


Wingnut, plonker rednecks......... Hope it works out for you mate, keep us posted. 

[Steve P.]

I may be barking up the wrong tree here, but,,,, I don't think anyone in this country can go after someone in another country for slander.  You follow?? Lets say someone in Mexico starts a anti-HLPAG site. I'm not sure, but I don't think anyone from the U.S. is going down there to twist any arms!!

Ever since my first screwing on Ebay I Google search every name before I think about buying a damn thing.. Can you imagine what would come up if someone started a (ADD YOUR NAME TO THE LIST OF SCREWED CUSTOMERS HERE) site??

HLPAG.WOES.COM   Add your name and terror story HERE .