Horror story ... It could happen to all of us .

[BASSETHOUNDS]

I got a message in from a person today , that reminded me of mail I received of him about 6 months ago . This friend ( well known car dealer around the Sintra area ) of mine from when I was living in Portugal up till about 8 years ago ,got in touch with me to find out if I had a contact number or adress of a mutual friend . As it was me who introduced this particular person to the car dealer . At that time my friend bought a car from that dealer and paid partially with a BNIB YG diamond bezel ladies DD w.papers the lot . All seemed well till about 6 months ago when the watch was taken in for service to the Rolex AD where it initially came from . Horror and stupefaction when they found out that the watch was going to be held as it was never paid for . This friend of mine had very good contacts with wealthy people and used to take high end watches from that AD to show to potential clients and got a commission when he sold . I found out that about 6 watches from Rolex to IWC and P.Patek were sold but the AD never saw the money . The Rolex is still at the AD today and it looks that it is going to be a long legal battle to recuperate the watch ( As of course the dealer cannot really prove that he paid for the watch as part of the deal with the car ) I haven't heard from that friend for over 6 years now and I suppose that I never will again . He seemed such a nice guy to me , I even bought my mum's SS DJ trough him in 1999 , but that one is not on the wanted list . So , goes to show ... you never know .

[Alan111]

I don't understand, so the AD just 'gave' him the watch without demanding payment before handing it over to him?

[GerardoG]

Wow, never heard of that; thank you for sharing.

[Dr.B]

“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.”
....William Shakespeare

[BASSETHOUNDS]

Originally Posted by Alan111

I don't understand, so the AD just 'gave' him the watch without demanding payment before handing it over to him?

Yes , the AD entrusted him with watches out of his stock and acted as his "ambulant agent " , to show to potential clients . I of course do not know the details , but I personally know of about 10 people that bought watches of him and all seems ok . You must also understand that back then in Portugal , credit was usually given "private" in form of several pre dated checks. As the penal status of checks were so that you would get very easily jail sentences for bouncing one . It was only when the euro got introduced that the Portuguese government change the penal code on cheques , under the banks pressure , just to curb this "underground paralel " credit facility . those days you could buy a car from a dealer , give him 12 personal cheques over a year for the total and drive away from the lot with it .
I can understand that this is difficult concept to grasp in the US , I remember that when I opened my bank account in the us , I received a box with 100 cheques through the post . In Portugal you only received a cheque book when you had a good income , and sometimes only 5 to 10 ar the time .

[MortgageGuy]

OUCH!!! That is terrible, glad your mother's is not on the list