₦airaland Forum

GoodMorning Nairalanders,


i am here to defend the allegation laid against me by of my clients, Mr Lawrence.

Our discussion started from Febuary this year, Mr lawrence wanted to ship 2012 Benz GL450 to Nigeria and he contacted me and we agreed on a price.

Mr Lawrence said he will ship the car the following month, which is March. when i asked him about the shipping, he told me that he was having issue with the car in USA. He later told me that he want to ship it via Air cargo, from Air cargo to RORo, from RoRO to Container. He eventually ship this said vehicle on April via Container and we are expecting the vehicle to arrive Cotonuo' port on the 4th of May.

On the 22nd of April, Mr Lawrence called me that he was in Lagos and we should make an arrangement to see each other one on one and talk more better. i invited him to

badagry but he told me that he cant make it to badagry. on the 25th, I met Mr Lawrence at Lagos airport (MM1)around 8am in the morning and we talked about the way forward.


He gave me money for registration of the car that day at the airport to commence the registration of the car because he wants to insure the car before it arrives

Nigeria.i gave him my business card and sent him a mail that i received so so amount of money from him and the purpose for the money.

We agreed that day that we meet at badagry on the 6th of May so that we will go to Cotonuo's ship side to check the car and start the clearing process.I mailed Mr

lawrence on the 7th of May and he replied me that he will let me know when he will becoming to Lagos with the bill of lading. Even before the arrival of the said Vehicle, I have done the Valuation of the car at Nigerian and I have the value with me because we agent are having issues with Nigerian Custom service. I mailed Mr lawrence again on 8th and he replied me again that he will let me know when he will be coming and also promised to call me before he leaves USA to Lagos. On 10th april,around 8am in the morning, Mr lawrence called me that he is in Lagos and he will soon start coming to SEME border to meet me.Mr lawrence got to SEME border around past 2pm and he came directly to my office with one of my boy. we talked and he told me and also promised to call before he fly down to Lagos but i didnt hear from him which he apologized and I told him instantly that I have received Value for his car since last week but I have used it for another car because I taught that he cant make it to Lagos again this week again.We went to check the car at Cotonuo port side together and we commenced Cotonuo clearing instantly around 3:30pm. I left one of my boy to handle the job at cotonuo and I and Mr lawrence left cotonuo to Seme border.When we get to Seme border, i told Mr lawrence that there is issue on ground at both Tincan and Seme border. any car from 2010 model and above, there is a way we do it. if we want to pay normal duty that govt ordered us to pay, nobody can afford it but we have an agreement with NCS. If we are to pay normal duty for 2012 GL50, the bank payment alone is 3.3m NGN but there is way we do it here. Mr lawrence want to give the whole payment but i told him to wait because with the present situation on ground, I cant assured him of the exact payment until i Valued the vehicle. mr Lawrence gave me 90% of the initial agreed price and left Seme to VI in the evening and told me to let him know the Value when i have it.



I do all my paper work and eventually I was able to get the reasonable Value for the car that same day. I called Mr Lawrence around 9pm in the evening to explain the whole issues to him. Initially, there is something we called short payment, for instance, we can pay value of 2004 model vehicle for 2007 model and the car will not have issue at all on the road but with the present situation at the two border, there is a limit now and we are still fighting with NCS to return the payment to the initial Value. Mr lawrence told me that he want his car out by all means and I gave him 4 options because there is a limit in what i can do. Govt is involved and I cant risk my license because of his car.

The options I gave Mr lawrence

1, I told him that when the car arrive Seme border, I will park his car at a very secured and govt approved park. when the issues at border is calm, i will process his car document for him and bring in the vehicle to Lagos for him. He saw lots of big cars that we parked at the place waiting for clearing and he can testify to this.More than 40 cars from 2010 upwards.


2, When the car arrived border, lets fly the car to your house in Lagos and when we resolve the issue at the border, I will process your document and send it to you. flying of cars simply means bringing in the car to nigeria without custom papers and I assured him that he will seat inside the car when i will fly it in for him to be rest assured that his car did not pass through bush. its normal settlement on the road.

3, we pay the Value I have which is still reasonable and affordable compares to the normal payment. the Value was 1.6m NGN


4, its the normal duty payment of 3.3m NGN which i know that its outrageous and that is why we are dialoging with NCS. Mr lawrence saw all the big cars vehicle that was delayed because of the increment in tariff by govt.


Mr lawrence called me on 11th of May, around 10am and told me that he is coming down to Seme border to meet me. Mr lawrence got to my office around 12;30pm and he told me to refund him that he is no longer interested in doing business with me. I gave him is balance back instantly. I think when I balanced him, he was confused and calm. we have a long chat and he decided to go for the first options and we agreed.


The vehicle arrived Seme border on Monday and I called Mr Lawrence to come and see were i want to park the vehicle so that he will have rest of mind. Around 7:30pm, Mr Lawrence agreed to make payment for the custom papers the following day and we agreed but I was surprised when I received a call that Mr Lawrence came with another agent to move the car out of the park without telling me.When the vehicle arrived border, i told Mr lawrence that if he is not comfortable with me, that he should try another agent. I opened up the whole process to him. I even educate him on how to make the payment to govt account and every other things. I don't need to be telling him all these as an agent but I just want transparency and for him not to feel cheated. I made him realized that my License is at stake and I cant go against govt order until the issue was resolved. this is govt decision not my personal decision and I cant go against govt decision because i want to please him. Till date Mr lawrence did not pick my call and neither did he reply my text. I am not after your car neither am i after your money, i was just trying to please him and i gave him options. I advised him to even try another agent but I was surprised that mr Lawrence moved the car without my consent. I took him has my brother not a client. even when he was crossing the car to Nigeria at Seme border with his new agent and benin police stopped them, i sent one of my boy to go and assist him before he got there,they had release them, he may think that am not happy about his steps. when he had issue at some custom check point, i made some calls to assist. when the agent was about to hand over the car at Okoko to another driver, i called Mr Lawrence to congratulate him but till now he did not pick my call. I even text him that am not angry at him, I just want to greet him, no response.


As they normally say, Customer is always right, I agreed but in cases like this, customer too should have human feeling. All the stress I pass through because of Mr Lawrence job, I ignored most of my jobs because I want to please, I took some risky steps putting my License at stake because of Mr lawrence car, i bear some losses because of his car, normally cars dont leave Cotonuo to Lagos on Monday and everybody are aware of this but I risked everything to bring Mr Lawrence car to Seme border on MONDAY just to please him. Mr Lawrence, what else do you expect from me, should I kill myself because I want to satisfy you.?


The so called agent that he used to fly the car, I know how much the guy collected from you but I want to fly the car to Lagos for you with my personal money and do the papers for you when we resolved the issue on ground here. Seven different agent came to meet me in my office concerning your job but I did not let you know, that is why I always tell you on phone that if you exposed the Vehicle that you are going to pay normal payment. i am aware of most of your steps but I played along because your job is realy giving me headache and i just wanted it to go. i told you stylishly, that if you are to clear your car geniunly at Seme border, that i will know cos we agent know ourselves. but you dont understand me, I dont want to mentioned names of agents you called concerning the cars, even you so called agent that eventually fly, i know him very and we have been communicating on phone till your car get to Okoko. am just after the safety of the car because if I look at your dubious attitude, the car will be impounded and nothing you can do about it, but will I gain from that. ? in everything we do, we must have fear of God in mind because we are nothing before Him. If i wicked you today, am adding to my problem because what goes around comes around.


Nairalanders have been a great people to do business with. I have done businesses with lots of Nairalanders, people from PH, Calabar, Abuja, Lagos and so on. though it not all transaction that work out well perfectly, at times we have issues and we settle it. we must have issues in business because we are same people but from different environment, different ideology, different background and different mindset. Communication, transparency, commitment and maturity builds business. we are humans and the way we reason differs. Nobody is perfect, we learn everyday, if i have done you wrong Mr Lawrence, there are many ways to talk to me as your brother not trying to tarnish my image on internet. Do you know the implication of this at all, this is wicked. You have done your worst but I want to remind you that we assumed that we are brothers and you don't know the next step i may take on this issue if I want to pay you back but what will It profit me.





All in all, I accept that CUSTOMERS ARE ALWAYS RIGHT, I TENDER MY APOLOGY. MR LAWRENCE, am very sorry for the inconvenience i might have caused you, when agents were having issues with govt, things like this occurs but i tried all my possible best to assist but it seems you don't appreciate my effort. but you should have used a suitable topic for your thread because the whole transaction was done in your presence and i did not attempt to scam you neither do i take any decision without your approval. there was transparency during the transaction. I was still surprised why you tagged me as fraudster on NL.You know my office and virtually everything about me, if you have issue with me you should have come to my office and lets resolve it.


Cheers

We are here to serve you better

We are here to serve you better

Good morning nairalander

Good morning nairalander

We are here to serve you better

We are here to serve you better

Good morning nairalander

Good morning nairalander

Please Direct all your inquiries concerning purchasing OR clearing of cars at cotonu to the below contacts


fagliku@yahoo.com


08034750652, 07025153788

Your satisfaction is our target

Please Direct all your inquiries concerning purchasing OR clearing of cars at cotonu to the below contacts


fagliku@yahoo.com


08034750652, 07025153788

Your satisfaction is our target

We are here to serve you better

We are here to serve you better

Good morning nairalander

Good morning nairalander

Good morning nairalanders

Good morning nairalanders

Please Direct all your inquiries concerning purchasing OR clearing of cars at cotonu to the below contacts


fagliku@yahoo.com


08034750652, 07025153788

Your satisfaction is our target

Please Direct all your inquiries concerning purchasing OR clearing of cars at cotonu to the below contacts


fagliku@yahoo.com


08034750652, 07025153788

Your satisfaction is our target

Good morning nairalanders

Good morning nairalanders

We are at your service

We are at your service

Good morning nairalander