SMD is miserable and needs to be looked into.

On the 28th Nov later on the day I spotted quite a looking Suzuki Baleno 1.4 GLX 2022. The pictures on the web are appealing and I contacted their offices about additional info about the asset but they suggested I be transferred to the respective branch which never picks the line. The Bid was closing on the 30th Nov at 09:00am. I decided to bid not having viewed the physical asset with fresh eyes but re**** on their uploaded pictures 🙈🙈.

30th Nov at around 10:30 I received a communication saying I was the highest bidder so I’ve won the bid but the asset value and the bidding amount were far apart but that wasn’t the breaker. I’m based at the cape and the asset is In Boksburg, I made a few calls before paying the invoice which was wise because what they found about the asset is what SMD hides. I asked about the details of the vehicle but everyone kept sending me from pillar to post but I to make a decision on a bid as time was counting down, I trusted the brand to not mislead me😏😏.

What they found; The car was repaired by amateurs, the engine was once worked on and they used silicone to seal it, the bumper was repainted to look proper for picture taking, the airbags are all off and the speedometers cover isn’t replaced properly because of the previous crash and this is a 2022 model with 26k kilometres on the clock.

I wrote an email the same day they sent me the invoice because no one at the branch is ever available to take calls, I expressed my interests to withdraw from the bid stating to them that this was false advertising but they said viewing the asset physically was encouraged. I asked them if viewing the asset is the best form to confirm the assets condition do they agree that they deliberately falsely advertise because their clientele isn’t clients within a reason radius to their branch because since they are advertising online far too well than pushing branch advertising.

Apart from this, what I came to realise is that their business isn’t making money out of selling these assets to happy clients but they are reaping customer deposits from their misleading advertising. Let me break it down; they say if you don’t settle the proforma invoice you’ll be liable for 5% of whatever or your entire bidding deposit. This means even if they had misled you to bidding or you have viewed the car before bidding, if when you’ve won the bid come for the car and find it missing one wheel they won’t be responsible because if you check their regulations it states there that you take the risk of buying the asset at their yard in whatever condition it’s in. So if I view yesterday, bid today and come tomorrow to settle and collect but find it different I can’t back out because they are entitled to the deposit ✌️✌️✌️✌️. Wow

The competitions office needs to look this way also