False Advertising

On the 4 February 2022 I bought a VW Polo on auction via their online platform. I bought a vehicle on auction online at Auction Nation. The vehicle is advertised as a 2017 Volkwagen VW 250-Polo, Location Centurion. The Vehicle is advertised with 13 863KM on the Odometer and that the vehicle starts. Now when bidding on a vehicle online especially when the vehicle is in another province, one takes note of the damage of the body as too attain the repair cost and the mileage when low means that the interior would be well maintained. In other words low mileage means no repair costs to seats and dashboard. So taking all this info into account, you would bid on the vehicle knowing what your expense would be once you won the bid. On the 4th of February 2022 I ended up winning the bid on the car at R70k plus the costs of auction and vat it came to R87 244.75. I only went this high on the vehicle due to the low mileage advertised, knowing that I could sell the vehicle easily once repaired. I payed the full total and received my invoice and release documents on the 7th of February 2022. I then contacted AMR Towing to bring the car down from Centurion to Cape Town at the cost of R4 000. The Vehicle was delivered to me by AMR Towing on the 11th of February. I inspected the vehicle and saw that the mileage on the odometer was not 13 863 but 138636. On further inspection the interior was in very poor condition and the seats were torn. I then called Auction Nation Centurion and spoke to their Branch Manager Lebeau Strydom. I explained to him that the vehicles mileage was incorrect and not what was advertised on the auction. He told me that he will refund me but that the funds would take 7 to 10 days to clear in my account. I asked about the transportation costs that I incurred from Centurion to Cape Town and he said they will cover all costs. I then asked him to just credit my account as I buy cars from them on a regular basis. He then said I need to return the car to their Cape Town Branch, once the car is in their possession and mileage confirmed he would have my account credited with the full amount. As it was almost end of business day on the 18th, I told him that I would return the car on Monday 21st February which I did and the towing cost came to R650.00. I handed the car over to the Cape Town branch manager Marnus De Goede and left. I tried calling Lebeau 2 days later but could not get hold of him.

I eventually got through to him the following week after trying more than a 100 times. He then told me that he would speak to accounts about my refund, I then told him again not to refund me but credit my account as I will be buying something else on auction. I then bought 2 vehicles on Auction and their value came close to what I had spent on the Polo. I then called Lebeau and told him that I had purchased 2 other vehicles and that my account has not been credited as yet, if he can please speed up the matter with accounts so I could get an amount of the difference to pay in. So after 2 weeks and hundreds of calls Lebeau told me that they could not refund me as they already made payment to the insurance company that the vehicle belonged to and that they would now have to re auction the polo. By this point I was fuming with rage and payed for the other 2 vehicles from my own account. Lebeau had the one vehicle transported from Centurion where I bought it to Cape Town covering the cost that I incurred from the polo. We are now in July and the polo has not been sold. The car has gone on Auction a few times and was sold but the client who bought the vehicle would not accept it as it was not starting. Yet it was advertised as a Starting Vehicle. We are now in July and I have not been refunded as yet.....