Beware all car brokers in Brisbane, QLD, Russell Gilder Cars, particularly. They advertise in local classified ad papers like The Post.
I tried another broker first but found nothing at Brisbane Car Auction. Then Gilder returns my phone call. I told him I found nothing at the Auction, the same place he wanted to take me, but he insisted that he could find me a great deal, and he insisted on picking me up and taking me there. He portrayed himself as my best buddy in QLD. He "doesn't sell cars for the money, just because of my love of cars and to help people."
During the drive to the Auction he was almost non-stop talking about what a great help he is to people in the market for cars. So we get there and I quickly learn that not only is he the fattest damned liar in Brisbane, but also is very stupid about cars.
I was looking for a Corolla, and he walks past a large group of them, dismissing them as Camrys and saying I couldn't buy from that group anyhow. As we walk about, he tries to interest me in other cars he thinks he can sell me. After finding a few straggler Corollas, he eventually gravitates back to the group of them he dismissed before. BTW, he also told me the other broker I was with the previous day pads his prices by $1,000.
Here we go over the prices he can get for me, and after adding his fee, which he refused to talk about during the drive to the Auction, I saw that his prices were more expensive than I could have got at a Toyota dealer in Brisbane.
Now here begins the fun part. After I tell him this, "my best buddy in QLD" starts getting mad, and the longer he talks the madder he gets. He asks me "What the f* do you want? Is it my fee?" I calmly reply that no, it's not his fee, it's just that I can get a better price at the dealer.
Now he's really mad. I actually was prepared for him to throw a punch. He starts screaming (I'm sure everyone in the building could hear him) that I could go to the dealer (spit, spit); that I wasted my time and his time after he was kind enough to drive me all the way here; that I could "go to the dealer and f* off! F* off! Do you hear me? F* off!" Then he turned and stomped away in the direction of the snack area, probably gloating that now I would have to walk back to my point of origin.
Hey, Russ, why didn't you just drive me to a remote location, pull a gun, and take my wallet? Why waste the time with the theatrics? Was this act worth the thousands of dollars in fees you could have obtained from customers who I would have recommended you to?
Note how incredibly stupid and lying he is. He insisted on trying to do business with me after I told him I found nothing at the same location. He insisted on picking me up at my point of origin. Yet I took advantage of him, and wasted his time! He never once thought about the bad word-of-mouth advertising I would and did spread about him, potentially losing him customers. If he had just let me go quietly and said "sorry I couldn't help you, mate, " I would have given him good word-of-mouth advertising. Lastly, leaving me without a ride meant nothing, for the previous day I walked twice that distance.
Summary: stay away from car brokers in Brisbane, QLD!
0 comments