FW: Bad Brad Noe (OT Scirocco)

[roccoguy@mac.com (Jeremy Salda)]

Figured you guys might like to read this one. This is the same dealer that I
drove almost 2 hours to buy an '01 Jetta from because I thought the local
dealer was a bunch of pricks. I guess this one is a piece of work also.

jeremy


Worker's spin in customer's car turns into wreck
BRIAN BARBER World Staff Writer
02/08/2002
Tina and Ryan Willick want out of the lease for their 2000 Volkswagen Jetta,
which was wrecked by a dealership's service manager who allegedly had been
drinking and intentionally ran into another man.
KELLY KERR / Tulsa World

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A Tulsa man said he was shocked to learn that the service manager at Brad
Noe Autoplex took his vehicle out for a spin while it was at the dealership
for repairs and allegedly hit a pedestrian with it on purpose.

"I never thought that their employees would have that kind of freedom with
my car," said 30-year-old Ryan Willick, who wants out of his lease for the
2000 Volkswagen Jetta. "It's (allegedly) been used to commit a crime. It's
still damaged, and I don't want it anymore."

Brad Noe Autoplex general manager Greg Hart would not comment on the
specifics of Willick's accusations.

"I can say that we've made every attempt to remedy the situation," he said,
adding that recent attempts to communicate with Willick have been ignored.

"We always try to do the right thing by our customers -- especially when one
of our employees has made a mistake," he said.

The service manager, Richard Frank Ascherl, who had worked at the dealership
at 4240 S. Memorial Drive about six months, was fired because of the
situation, Hart said.

Ascherl, 55, has been charged in Tulsa County District Court with a felony
count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. His preliminary
hearing is set for Feb. 19.

Ascherl was driving Willick's Jetta in the 5600 block of South Madison
Avenue shortly after midnight Jan. 7, when he spotted Shamar Kennedy and hit
him with the vehicle, according to police reports.

Kennedy reportedly was treated at a hospital for his injuries.

The two apparently were engaged in a dispute over a woman, Officer Lucky
Lamons said. When officers responded, Ascherl allegedly told them "that he
did not slow down or stop because he wanted to hit the victim," police
reports show.

Ascherl tested positive for alcohol consumption, Lamons said, but he was not
legally drunk at the time of the alleged crime. His phone has been
disconnected, and he could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Willick, who recently moved from California to work as an engineer for
Aeromet, said he dropped off his leased Jetta VR6 at the dealership Dec. 30
for repairs that were covered under his warranty.

He said he didn't hear from Brad Noe officials about the car's status until
two weeks later, when he called and was told it had been involved in an
accident during a road test but that all the repairs had been made.

The service technician who took his call also told him that about 250 miles
had been put on the car in order to diagnose its problems, Willick said.

"I was suspicious," he said. "I didn't know why I hadn't been immediately
informed of the accident or why someone had even taken the car from the
dealership."

Willick said he contacted Hart, who Willick said told him it was the
dealership's policy to allow service technicians to drive customer's cars to
their homes to help diagnose problems and that the accident was not the
employee's fault.

Although Hart would not com ment about many aspects of the case, he disputed
Willick's description of their conversation.

Willick ended up going to the Tulsa Police Department to get a report of the
incident.

"When I found out that this had happened in the middle of the night after a
Sunday, I was floored," he said.

Willick noticed two cracks in the front bumper and paint flecks and
scratches on the hood and the roof, where he believes work was done to cover
up the severity of what happened. He said he had been told by dealership
officials that all they had to do was replace the broken windshield.

He took the vehicle to an independent body shop, Accurate Autobody, which
gave him a nearly $4,000 estimate for dam age that was still evident,
records provided to the Tulsa World show.

Willick also said he and his wife, Tina, turned on the windshield defroster
shortly after picking up the car and were sprayed with bits of glass that
required both of them to be treated at a hospital for cuts to their eyes.

A copy of his St. Francis Hospital emergency room treatment report was
obtained by the Tulsa World and confirmed his account of their injuries.

At first, Willick said, he tried to negotiate with Hart for a new Jetta with
the same features to finish out his lease, which has about two years left on
it.

The dealership officials refused, saying he was "being unreasonable,"
Willick said.

Now, he said, he wants out of the lease completely, as well as compensation
for the work he has missed and medical bills he has accrued as a result of
the situation. He said he will likely pursue the matter in civil court.

"I bought this car brand-new off the showroom floor," he said. "It was the
best one that they had on the lot, and now it's spoiled."

Willick said he is not only un satisfied with the car because it is damaged,
but he also doesn't feel comfortable driving it.

"If he hit someone with my car, there's no telling what else he might have
done with it," Willick said. "I'm afraid of some sort of retaliation."

Willick has complained about the situation to officials at the Better
Business Bureau of Tulsa, the state Attorney General's Office, the Tulsa
Chamber of Commerce and the Motor Vehicle Commission.

The Motor Vehicle Commission's director, Charles Eckenrode, said Willick is
free to request a hearing through his organization to determine whether the
dealership should be fined or have its license suspended.

To his knowledge, Eckenrode said, the commission has never investigated a
complaint against the Brad Noe dealership.

Eckenrode said he has heard that service technicians at car dealerships will
take cars home in the process of diagnosing problems, but "I'm not saying
it's common practice."


Brian Barber, World staff writer, can be reached at 581-8322 or via e-mail
at brian.barber@tulsaworld.com.