Horrible Experience with Norwood Autocraft! Beware of Bob Norwood

Okay, the car is sold to a new buyer, according to Mr. Norwood.

So it's time to refund the first potential buyer his $2k. Or, if you insist on keeping the deposit, which is designed to hold the car (not to compensate you for the effort involved in selling it,) ensure you have his permission to release his interest in the vehicle.

Or...accept that this thread will, in fact, live for a very long time in the "search" function of Ferrarichat, and will, in fact, damage Norwood's reputation.

 

FIFY.

D

 

Indeed. Especially if you add "complaints" to the company name, as I often do when researching an organization.
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Interesting. I always knew DW had been in RE and a reversal of business fortune led to his GTO etc. going to RL.
Never knew the specifics. Thanks for the link.

 

If that's the case and Mr. Norwood is all of that and a bag of chips ,then the 2000$ is " tip money " for Mr. Norwood. The smart move here is to refund the money. Also I wanna join the "furry community" . Where do I send my deposit ?

 

Count me in.. Always been curious about Norwood Products, not anymore.

 

It would be great to see a thread on this. Perhaps that falls to the buyer but I know a lot of people would be interested to learn more about the history as it relates to the development of the 288.

 

Bad mouthing a Ferrari institution at post #2. Smells like goof ball to me.

 

I just read this whole thread over from start to finish. It's hard to believe that after reading 5 pages of reply's, Bob thinks that this saga has a happy ending and Big Red is still sticking to his guns! YOU GUYS JUST DON'T GET IT!

I tell you what...I will NEVER EVER do business with either one of you, and I'm sure that allot of people here won't either.

 

I agree with post 40 and that guy is a lawyer. I would also say 1st rule of business, "don't forget what made you successful." This incident surely will not. Time and The TimeS can change a business. No business lasts forever without an always diligent captain at the helm.

 

Looks like someone needs the $2000 more than someone else.

What a shame.

 

Just give the guy his money back, he got cold feet because the car was not advertised properly, its value was in the body etc, if that had turned out later to be reproduction like the wheels then all he was left with was a $20k kitcar.

We have all had failed sales in life and lost time as a result, its all part of selling.

This thread will still be live in years to come if the matter is not resolved, and cost far more than the $2k in lost revenue.

Suck it up, pay him back and let the matter die a natural death, the car has now been sold and no doubt a decent profit made anyway.

 

I don't care if the seller gives the deposit back or not but if it is true this story then consider this the seller has more or less admitted they have a deal with the deposit buyer now in writing due to this very thread. NOw fast forward say 5 years and all of a sudden a massive value has been discovered about the car and it becomes worth 500k or more we know this because it just went threw an auction on national TV and sold for 500 or 1mm or what have you in the mean time the deposit buyer had discussed this case with attorneys or maybe sells his position to someone else just to get his deposit back ... then an injunction gets filed the sale gets pulled at the last minute so title cannot get transferred now law suits fly etc...
THink this is crazy well very similar situations have happened in the last few years .. and yes everyone loses well maybe everyone ...
SO if it were me after this thread I would give the deposit buyer the 2K back and get it in writing

 

The impression I am left with is that Mr. Norwood doesn't consider any transaction of less than $200k worthy of his time, courtesy or factual representation. What also seems clearly evident is a level of arrogance on the sellers part, and Lord don't we Americans love to bring people like this to their knees. Would suggest you not underestimate the reach of this community or the repercussions this will have on your business.

You have just become the lightning rod for every car guy that has been screwed over by unethical sellers.

 

If the intention is to get half-assed quai-legal opinions that are all over the map from folks not even subscribed to FerrariChat then, yes, mission accomplished.

Matt

 

Years ago he made a post in the 550 section regarding throttle bodies and their effectiveness. I heard the Norwood name plenty of times before, but that post made me laugh so hard about his lack of knowledge I was surprised to hear that he was known as some sort of engine master/guru whatever.

There was always a small thought in my head that account was a fake, turned out it wasn't.

+1

 

Good point. I amend my $1,000 compromise suggestion and go for the full $2,000 deposit return, and especially documented to a "T".

As LarryH has pointed out, there have been several threads on here where ownership of "rare" Ferraris has been challenged years later. Anything with "288" on it is a candidate for such a situation in the future, even if still remotely in the hypothetical at the present time.

 

This thread illustrates everything you do not do as a vendor in the Internet age.

The man whose name is sullied in the title posts for the first time in 8 years, specifically to tell a buyer he found another buyer in their transaction, and his assistant tells the buyer they are keeping his deposit.

When the consensus is that this is unethical, the response is silence.

 

Besides all the drama and bad karma in this thread, what I keep thinking about is that CAR.

Imagine giving Bob Norwood another $90k or so on top of the $110k purchase price to totally restore it.
I'd put the 288 wheels on it.
Maybe a 308 GTB black leather interior.
Beautiful new red paint job.
Tune the engine for some real healthy hp and torque.

I can just imagine this thing in its finished state.

You'd have maybe a total of $200k in a car that would turn heads everywhere.
How cool would it be to own a Norwood creation that was a 288 GTO / 308 GTB offspring?

Would it be worth as much as a 288 GTO? No, of course not.
Would it be a great car for an enthusiast? Yep, and people would know it as "that Norwood car".

Some may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.

.

 

Or, he's standing on principle not to be bullied by an unsatisfied buyer via the Internet? I'm sure there more to the story than you're reading here.

As I posted before, I had an excellent buying experience with Bob Norwood of several thousands of dollars. He was as honest and forthright as the day is long.

IMHO, Internet bullies have legal remedies and get no sympathy from me. Not saying the OP is a bully.



Sent by itsy bitsy electrons

 

Al,

I dunno. Generally, I'd agree that using the internet to solve a business problem isn't a first/best choice. But the $2K is problematic. Too little for a lawyer, too much to ignore, and tough to deal with in small claims, there are multiple jurisdictions, right?

If nothing else, we've gotten some insight into the folks at Norwood that we might not otherwise have seen. I think I would have kept my yap shut, let the OP get it out of his system, and continue about my business, buy Bob's guy decided to engage, so all bets are off.

In this case, I think we have a clearer picture than usual, given that both parties have several posts in the thread. We can all draw our own conclusions. This may be an isolated event. It could be common business practice for Norwood, there's really no way for us to know. But the tone of this particular exchange is clear, and it's not very flattering for Norwood.

D

 

I hear you, but not a fan of this exchange or using the Internet to tear apart a reputation that takes decades to build. You may as well just get a gun and load it. There has to be a better way.

I had a rather pleasant biz dealing with Bob. I'll just leave it there.


Sent by itsy bitsy electrons

 

lol. Not sure everyone gets that one!

 

This is an excellent real time example of how to commit reputational suicide in the digital era. Even googling the name Bob Norwood in the UK brings this thread up on page one.

Hard to quantify the reputational loss, but maybe someone legal can give us an idea of the damages payable, had this thread been entirely invented and defamatory (which appears not to be the case as both sides seem to agree on the facts). I'd guess that if you're a business with a ten million dollar turnover, and this story appears on page one of your Google, it's worth five percent of your turnover at least.

All for the sake of $2k!

 

Norwood PR dept. brings the finesse game ...