Complaint Review: Europa Online

I am filling this complaint in name of my father, a retired professional, head of family, and a passionate Mercedes-Benz aficionado. After many months of meditation, he decided to look for an antique Mercedes-Benz, a 500SLC 5.0 to be specific. Rare vehicle, it was very difficult to find, until we found a "garage-kept" example in "good-condition". With my father, we went over all of the photos for a long time, we would send it to friends, family and members of the Antique and Classic Car Club in our country, the Dominican Republic. Everyone loved the vehicle and waited for its arrival with anxiety. 

During the transaction, Dave, one of the members of the Europa-Online team, was through us the entire time. He paid attention to our requirements, would answer phone calls, emails, and would respond in no time. The transaction was completed in a very smooth way, and as soon as we were told the vehicle had been shipped, we had one final call, thanking Dave for his services, and to express how anxious we were.

The car arrives to the Dominican Republic and we arrive to the Port of Haina, in our capital city of Santo Domingo. From away, it was the same vehicle in the photos given by Europa-Online. However, as we got closer, the sensation of being scammed would increase. The vehicle was pure rust, with a deteriorating paint job, and useless crystals. Please understand how surprise we were, as Europa-Online described the vehicle as "without any ding or dent or any rust!". Disappointed but excited, my father grabbed the car keys with the hope of a good, working engine, as Europa-Online described it as of "a new car". After 5 kilometers, the engined stopped working and the car had to be towed to out residence. 

In our home, we decided to spend some time to write down the problems the vehicle had. We thought it would be a matter of minutes, given the positive references of Europa-Online on Ebay. Unfortunately, it took us hours to develop a list of problems. Among the principal, we found that the paint was in terrible condition, the car was rusty, all five tires had to be replaced immediatly to avoid an accident if they were in use, the air conditioning did not work (AlthoughEuropa-Online said that "the A/C works and blows cold air", back crystal in terrible condition, plastic parts of interior broken or missing, damaged engine battery and radiator, and useless transmission. Eventually, we had to change the engine of the vehicle.

We would email and call Dave with all this information, given that it was an evident scam. He refused to answer our phone calls and emails. He once answered us, telling us we had to talk to "Chris", who seemed to be his superior. Months after, including dozens of emails and phone calls, Chris has not appeared.

Their references on Ebay were very good, but of course, as buyers. As selles, they were a disaster. Chris and Dave never appeared. We are still not done repairing the vehicle, months after getting it. It is an expensive process that has to be added to the value we paid for the car, the overseas shipping and the taxes to get it to our country. It is important to note that we could never make a claim on Ebay as these scammers took down the transcation and any information of the purchase from the site, as they knew they had scammed us. They did it without asking us, we never knew about it until it was too late, and we had been tricked.

Having known the vehicle was in such conditions, we would not had taken it, even as a gift. It is very unfortunate that there are "professionals" out there, who do not care about the satisfaction of the consumer or their reputation as long as they produce money. 

We hope our testimony is useful you, and advice you not to do any deals with Europa-Online.