Dear sale-688017106@craigslist.org:
Hi. I would like to buy one of your Italjet Dragster motor scooters.
What’s that you say? You don’t have any? THEN STOP SPAMMING CRAIGSLIST WITH BIKES THAT DON’T EXIST.
Oh, and thanks for blatantly lying about parking and license requirements, too. You’re making scooter dealers everywhere proud.
Love, Bryan
P.S. Steve/Mathu/Diamo/LS, is this the kind of behavior you encourage in your dealers? Spamming, bait-and-switching, and lying on Craigslist? Great.
I love that PDF from the state. When I first read it I thought, ‘wow, they are really taking this more seriously for the better’. But by the end I was more confused. Way to go elected officials and bureaucrats! Take the vague, define it and then make it confusing! Maybe I’ll take a ride up to Osseo to see the new dragster and report back.
Hehe. Encouraging? You’re joking, right B?
Eh, either way, it’s a laugh.
steve
There’s also a dealer in Houston who keeps listing a dragster 250 on Cycle Trader. When I called to ask about it they claimed that it was a demo and the dealer had asked for it back and they need to take down the ad. Then two days later they had renewed it.
Steve, encouraging may be a bit presumptuous. A word like “condoning” may even be too far. But would “allowed” be accurate? What are the consequences of dealers misrepresenting your product? Do you call them up and ask them to stop? Is there a clause in the dealer contract regarding ethical conduct? Will Italjet America/LS/Diamo/Fischer come out and make a statement on the issue of the practice of product misrepresentation? Ya’ll probably have the rights to that photo they are using.
That said, I hear Marty at Go Moto is a very nice fellow.
Hi Brooke!
This is the first time hearing about this. I only clicked on it because it said something about Dragster. Do I like it? No, I don’t.
I’ve got a “to do” list that says, “suggest Marty reconsider this ‘craigslist campaign’ idea”. A shopkeeper needs to know what this sort of thing can do to damage their reputation and the reputation of the brands they represent.
I haven’t met Marty in person, but I know when I call the shop everyone there is as nice and polite as they can be.
I think this little snafu can be chalked up as “a misinformed marketing plan” for GoMoto. I don’t like Craigslist spam any more than the next guy/gal. Outside of this I’d say GoMoto must be doing alright. I haven’t read any complaints about them and I know that Marty rode a scooter through the hell that’s Sierra Tarahumara Mexico just to prove that it could be done. I dig that.
Oops. Left this part out.
As for “allowing” this to happen. Frankly, I’m uncertain as of this moment what sort of recourse we can have. I haven’t run into this situation before, but also have it on my “to do” list to review the dealer agreement (very lengthly document) and to discuss with the bossman. I know it makes provisions to discontinue a dealer agreement for owner misconduct, so something like this aught to be covered.
I’m pretty sure Marty will see that Craiglist is probably not the best marketing arena for a shop selling new products, especially considering it’s against the usage terms of Craigslist and could be easily buried with a Spam Flag.
When I clicked on the link, I got a page saying the original post had been flagged for removal…
Good for you, Steve. May your to do list get shorter by the day. Mine never seems to.