Ok here is the settlement...
Posted by g-man_ae on 12/3/2001
A SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION HAS BEEN REACHED
The meeting
My attorney, Mitch White, and I met Jimmy Ellis, COO of the Jim Ellis corporation, and the company\'s attorney, Doug Hassinger to resolve the situation between myself, VWvortex, and Jim Ellis - Marietta and its General Manager, William Farmer. The meeting took place at 3 PM on Friday, November 30 in Mr. Ellis\' conference room in the Ellis Porsche dealership in Chamblee.
Mr. Ellis was quite approachable and most open to discuss the situation, beginning with an apology that this meeting wasn\'t taking place back in July. Right away, he set the tone for the meeting by asking the attorneys to step out, indicating that this wasn\'t a legal meeting. Rather, it was a meeting between him and I to determine, "Where do we go from here?" citing this whole turn of events as a "costly lesson about the Internet."
He indicated that he was aware of the situation - the service visit, the "banishment," and subsequent posting thereof (of which he complimented me for being well-written and able to explain myself well). He informed me that he feels Jim Ellis\' dealerships are good, but can be better, and he\'s interested in seeing that improvement take place.
He repeated throughout the meeting that the actions of William Farmer and his employees were rooted in fear and emotion. Emotion, as irked by my post, and fear, due to the dangerous nature of the car business (there\'ve been a number of threats from disgruntled customers through the years, across many dealerships). I\'ll pause at this point to mention to all of you that there have been a number of threatening messages, both on VWvortex and e-mailed directly to Mr. Farmer. Understand that I *never* advocated such actions, as they solve nothing and lead only to loss
I thus explained that I had no intention of seeing these vents come this far, let alone be resolved in violence. I then conveyed to Mr. Ellis my feelings on the entire situation. How I tried to be patient during my service visits. How frustrated I was to get no help from the dealership\'s staff, nor from VWoA or the BBB. How I turned to posting to the Vortex as a last resort. How if only Mr. Farmer (now receiving "additional training") had contacted me directly to resolve my service issues before the situation escalated to its recent state! And how unhappy I was that my fiancée got dragged into this.
Mr. Ellis apologized to me personally, for the actions of this dealership\'s employees, and later contacted my fiancée to apologize to her for her treatment. "It was a very bad call to involve an innocent third party," he stated.
He outright stated his intention to open the lines of communication between their dealerships and their customers, so that customers\' issues can be resolved amicably and quickly. As such, he\'s instructing his Webmaster to make evident this renewed commitment and provide on-line feedback "straight to the top." This he reiterated to me many times, and I offered in exchange to include this in setting up the new dealer-customer web site (see end of this post)
At this point, I mentioned that in order to move forward, I need to be compensated for the past. Thus, Jimmy Ellis has agreed to
Apologize to me and my fiancée (done, at meeting/in person)
Publicly state the successful resolution of this situation, and with it, the renewed commitment to customer care
Dismiss the temporary restraining order against me
Reimburse the $75 I paid for my CD player installation
Pay Mitch\'s bill (which Mitch can simply send to Mr. Ellis)
With an agreement that all situations should be solved this rationally (again, WITHOUT threats of violence), this concluded the meeting.
To the Vortex Moderators
There have been a number of posts of questionable taste in this thread, including those advocating the use of violence, particularly in this situation. There are also those who have resort to personal insults. For the sake of the JE staff, and the "nobler" of the members here, I ask that you please remove any such offensive posts from this thread.
Thank-you\'s
First and foremost, to the hundreds (if not thousands) of auto-enthusiast board members - both on VWvortex and elsewhere - for their TREMENDOUS support, regarding my service issues, the resulting lawsuit, and its conclusion. I might have "given up" if not for all of you... And of course, to my family and friends, both at Georgia Tech (particularly the readers of git.talk.cars) and elsewhere.
Second, to the VWvortex itself and its staff. They provide us - for free! - the means to share our own VW-owning experiences. And they stood by me in keeping this thread alive and accessible. Let\'s never forget the service they\'re providing us, and how it benefits us.
Third, to my attorney, Mitch White, for his understanding and patient guidance through the entire legal action. I can\'t emphasize enough how important it is, not only to have legal representation in any legal action, but to be represented by someone who truly understands your case and takes a personal interest in its successful outcome. Mitch is once such attorney - the ONLY one I found, after some dissatisfying prior consultations with other attorneys.
Finally, to Mr. Jimmy Ellis, the "cooler head" that realized that negative customer experiences are opportunities to create positive customer experiences.
What now?
I direct all of you to the Dealer Consumer Reports Program thread on VWvortex, located at
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=165787. With that, I think we can put this thread to rest, and get on with being VW enthusiasts!
I STILL WANT TO KNOW WHAT HE DID WITH ALL THAT MONEY!!!!
