₦airaland Forum

tempex88:
For the car to drive from kaduna to Lagos, it's not as bad as u described.

The car was sold to u for 1.4m. Highlander with three rolls. Shouldn't that raise ur eyebrow.?

I will advice u fix the issues and move on

memeluv:
We tried exploring this option but there are no vehicles in his stand. He brings a car to the stand, take a picture and drop it back to their owners. What we could find were only accident-ed craps and loads of keke-napep. I have spent almost 1/2 the amount I bought this lemon in logistics and other trial and error attempts. And wanted oga cityhood to just bring any solution at-all (willing to give him real money for Toks, provided he'll deduct the price of this from it) up-to the point of asking him to sell it to any other dealer at any price at all for me to get something, but to no avail.

So what more? I moved on because my mind can now focus on important things and I can walk into reputable outlets to get something that's worth it.

Thanks for all the sane contribution from N/Ds

GAZZUZZ:
Going by this info, I can tell you why the car performs poorly.


The engine advertised judging by the plastic cover is a 3.3liter 3mz engine, engine is sold for over 350k at the moment.

www.nairaland.com/attachments/3886844_img20160624102836_jpegcdb26be902a7f00c2c5cd5625ab22b34

Engine. In the bay is a 2.5liter 2mz-fe engine without a VVTI system. (Variable valve timing) this engine is sold for about 70-100k for a toks, but will not function properly because of the deference in design.

In my line of work I have seen this happen several times, and have advised buyers to stay clear. Unfortunately a few of you fall prey to this and ultimately have to replace the engine to the original spec to get the desire result. A few wires have to be returned back to factory spec too as the 2mz-fe comes with just 1 cam shaft sensor while the 3mz come with 2.

As per the transmission, a few of these highlanders come with the legendary 13pin trannys, and they are a pain in the neck when they develop faults, replacement is also very expensive and could go for over 300k for the Front wheel drive and more than 350k for the 4wheel drive tranny.
In several cases the 10pin gear which is about 100k is modified and installed in place of the 13pin.

Other problems mentioned like the leaking roof and windows are easily fixable, but full disclosure would have enabled the buyer make an informed decision.

Moral of the story before you buy it, get someone to look at it.


I would expect Mr cityhood to address compensation for the OP so we can put this behind us and move on.

Link to vehicle. https://www.nairaland.com/3188191/highlander-jeep-just-1.150#46932154

memeluv:
.

N/B Audio, screenshot and sundry available on request. I'm very sorry for the long article, just that I wouldn't want another nairalander scammed by the sweet-talking cityhood. Thanks again.

taketime2019:
Cityhood is a thief. This idiot nearly caught my interest to travel to Kaduna to buy one of his cars. The only thing that saved me was the distance. If not, cityhood would have fried me like chicken. Nairalanders please if you are in Lagos always buy your cars in Lagos. If you are in Portharcourt , always buy your cars in Portharcourt. If you are in Enugu, please buy your cars in Enugu. If you are in Aba, please buy your cars in Aba. But if you are so much interested in crossing the boundaries to buy your cars, please make sure you report to the police in the area you have travelled for buying the car. When you arrive in the location where the car is parked for sale, please look for the nearest police to report the purpose of your visit in the area. After reporting to the police, then you have gotten their back up, so you can go ahead to inspect the car before payment. If anything goes wrong, you can go back to the police to report the problem and you are safe at least you can get a refund at all costs. Please always inspect the cars before payment. Do not hesitate to inspect the cars first and do not hesitate to involve the police when buying a used or tokunbo car. Cityhood is a thief for doing this to someone.

memeluv:
We tried exploring this option but there are no vehicles in his stand. He brings a car to the stand, take a picture and drop it back to their owners. What we could find were only accident-ed craps and loads of keke-napep. I have spent almost 1/2 the amount I bought this lemon in logistics and other trial and error attempts. And wanted oga cityhood to just bring any solution at-all (willing to give him real money for Toks, provided he'll deduct the price of this from it) up-to the point of asking him to sell it to any other dealer at any price at all for me to get something, but to no avail.

So what more? I moved on because my mind can now focus on important things and I can walk into reputable outlets to get something that's worth it.

Thanks for all the sane contribution from N/Ds

memeluv:
We tried exploring this option but there are no vehicles in his stand. He brings a car to the stand, take a picture and drop it back to their owners. What we could find were only accident-ed craps and loads of keke-napep. I have spent almost 1/2 the amount I bought this lemon in logistics and other trial and error attempts. And wanted oga cityhood to just bring any solution at-all (willing to give him real money for Toks, provided he'll deduct the price of this from it) up-to the point of asking him to sell it to any other dealer at any price at all for me to get something, but to no avail.

So what more? I moved on because my mind can now focus on important things and I can walk into reputable outlets to get something that's worth it.

Thanks for all the sane contribution from N/Ds

ehissi:
Please, stop all these gbegboru system of government before I ban you for the next 1000years........

So if OP no create thread, you no go talk ba?

So that Cityhood will come and sell me one dead Convertible too..........

Oya, kia-kia, go and open one thread loaded with pictures and tell us how E take chop ya money, before e go sell seun the motor what wan close Nairaland so..

crestedaguiyi:
https://www.nairaland.com/3429445/neat-honda-odyssy-spacebus-full

That's the thread to the Honda I talked about. Still at the mechanic shop from the date it was delivered till date.

Took 6 days for it to get to phc from zaria

MsDelilah:
[s]I don't feel the slightest bit sorry for the OP[/s]. Learn from people's mistakes. How many times have people created threads to post their ordeals of being scammed online?

Still, you carried your two left legs and paid for a vehicle you hadn't physically seen and inspected. You even paid extra. Too much money.

You've made your bed. Lie in it.

MsDelilah:
I don't feel the slightest bit sorry for the OP. Learn from people's mistakes. How many times have people created threads to post their ordeals of being scammed online?

Still, you carried your two left legs and paid for a vehicle you hadn't physically seen and inspected. You even paid extra. Too much money.

You've made your bed. Lie in it.

Mimzyy:
Are you that stone hearted? This is quite insensitive of you babe. Memeluv has spent about 2.2m going by his analysis and the best you can say is that you don't feel any pity for him and you know how hard times are.

The dude stated that he trusted the positive reviews here and that was his greatest undoing. If the same thing happens to your brother, I'm sure you will be the first person to start raising tantrums.
folds.

MsDelilah:
Madam, let's assume I have a brother. I'm sure he won't be stupid enough to pay FULLY for a car he hasn't seen and inspected.

You just said these are hard times. Then OBVIOUSLY, one should think properly before throwing money away in the name of trust.

I'm stone hearted? I'm just being realistic!

tay0:
cityhood buzz off you lack integrity and professionalism you have just lost another deal, Thank God I saw this

OPUSDEI1:
I am obliged to comment on this post for two reasons:
1- I was once close to buying a vehicle from cityhood.
2- The "Highlander" has been to my workshop for assessment as the OP was referred to me by GAZZUZZ.

The Op obviously has learnt his lesson and is making his experience public for others to learn.

The vehicle in question came with a non-highlander (2MZ-FE) engine amidst so many other issues as stated by the op and will cost a fortune for proper restoration. I wish the mechanic that delivered the vehicle was here to tell us how the journey was.

Subscribing to a Pre-Purchase Inspection is highly recommended for a used car purchase and also the integrity of a dealer especially on a forum like this is necessary for continued patronage.

@Cityhood, find a way to resolve your issue with the young man amicably.

ehissi:
Hmmmmmmm............

So cityhood has finally join bad gang?

Recession no good Oooh.....

If you know as you take Mess up, you will just jejely gather the boys money and return it or give him a wahala free highlander as you promised.

If Cityhood can do this one, na E be say all Car dealers on Nairaland na scam, second Buhari, except for Gazzuzz whey dey seriously try that year........

Hmmmmmmmm......na waoh.....

MsDelilah:
Madam, let's assume I have a brother. I'm sure he won't be stupid enough to pay FULLY for a car he hasn't seen and inspected.

You just said these are hard times. Then OBVIOUSLY, one should think properly before throwing money away in the name of trust.

I'm stone hearted? I'm just being realistic!

chidi4sam:
For me, I was a victim too. It am too busy now to open a tread on how I was given a dead 2003 highlander by citihood. I paid 1.8M to citihood to deliver a car he claimed was almost toks only to be disappointed by what he delivered. I have never read any negative news here on NL about citihood and that's why I had the trust and confidence he would deliver as promised. The mileage he claimed was 146 was way far above it. The whole electrical components were not working. Fuel pump was bad. I paid him for tracking he never did it and has refused to refund me. He registered th car wrongly without engine number. In FRSC data base, the plate no is given to a V/wagen saloon car and had expired since 2013. Well, by next week I shall bring to light my whole dealings with citihood. I don't regret ever dealing with him but I want others to learn from me. I had trust on him but he disappointed.

chidi4sam:
For me, I was a victim too. It am too busy now to open a tread on how I was given a dead 2003 highlander by citihood. I paid 1.8M to citihood to deliver a car he claimed was almost toks only to be disappointed by what he delivered. I have never read any negative news here on NL about citihood and that's why I had the trust and confidence he would deliver as promised. The mileage he claimed was 146 was way far above it. The whole electrical components were not working. Fuel pump was bad. I paid him for tracking he never did it and has refused to refund me. He registered th car wrongly without engine number. In FRSC data base, the plate no is given to a V/wagen saloon car and had expired since 2013. Well, by next week I shall bring to light my whole dealings with citihood. I don't regret ever dealing with him but I want others to learn from me. I had trust on him but he disappointed.

crestedaguiyi:
The guy sells lemon

He also sold me a dead Honda.

Am already preparing his case file at the efcc here in ph.

He is sweet mouthed

MsDelilah:
I don't feel the slightest bit sorry for the OP. Learn from people's mistakes. How many times have people created threads to post their ordeals of being scammed online?

Still, you carried your two left legs and paid for a vehicle you hadn't physically seen and inspected. You even paid extra. Too much money.

You've made your bed. Lie in it.

memeluv:
tl;dr

Today is a very sad day for me as all efforts to recover even a kobo from the dead SUV Mr. CityHood of Dada Motors Nig. Enterprise sold to me fell through.

I'm sharing this, not because I am going to get a headway or anything short of his rhetoric, but to advice someone else to always inspect any car he's to buy irrespective of the seller's pedigree.

The summary

I lost way-over a million plus to CityHood Scam-deal for trusting the reviews I saw on this platform and for his professional sweet-talking and hoodwinking mastery.

The Lessons

I thought I was already an expert with detecting online scam-deals, but got trapped because of the reviews.
I searched for such things as:


- is Cityhood a scammer?
- ever scammed by Cityhood?
- is Dada motors Nigeria Enterprise a scam outlet?
- ever scammed by 08169446319, 07030066180 scammed me, 08038211465 didn't deliver a product I bought

And many other search terms without seeing a red flag.
This gave me a strong conviction that someone selling for this long without defrauding his clients can't be bad to deal with after-all, little did I know he creates some of the praise-pages himself.

So in all, I learn that:


- Cityhood (Dada Olawale Joseph) and Dada Motors is a middle-man that helps sell dead vehicles and not a legit auto-sales outlet
- Vehicles sold by him are just random pictures snapped from various parks and willing-to-sale car owners.
- CityHood is good at taking great pictures from best angles and never at doing pre-sale maintenance on the goods.
- I was wrong to assume I was dealing with an auto-shop ('the many good-looking cars in picture & sign post did') and not our regular car-picture hustlers.

The Deal & Experiences

Few days to my birthday I contacted Mr. CityHood about a Toyota highlander he 'published for sales' to know if it's in 100% working condition as I wouldn't wanna rely on photos alone.

https://i68.tinypic.com/2j4su8k.png

He affirmed it was in 100% shape and so we concluded on price.

https://i68.tinypic.com/29vdiwy.png
https://i67.tinypic.com/ix5pit.png

On seeing the mileage sitting at above 200k, I asked if he has a car of exact spec but lower mileage, even if it means paying more. Being a master in photography, he sent another pics that looked better.

We concluded on phone, But I insisted that he explain to me if there's anything 'at-all' to be fixed.

https://i65.tinypic.com/ayv8fb.jpg

We concluded in the price. I paid him the complete amount plus extra 160K~ for delivery, painting, features and sundry expenses. He started a self-praise thread on the deal and forgot to fix even the deadliest of issues on the cartoon he delivered as a SUV to me.


The Deal-Breaker

While waiting in anticipation for the almighty SUV, I got a call from the mechanic (that's to deliver the car) that he's arrived my locale.

On sighting the fragile, leaking-roof and Nigerian-mechanics-modified SUV, I got furious and contacted Mr. CityHood that claimed to be very busy and never attended to any of my concerns.

I pleaded with the mechanic to go back with the product, that I was going to discuss with Mr. cityhood later on. He declined, citing that it is Mr. Cityhood I am dealing with and not him.

The mirrors were gone, AC bad, Roof leaking, belt screaming, shock chattering, tapping-glass-rear switches 'non-existent' and worst of all is that some of the documents got soaked (almost destroyed) as a result of the leaking roof and sides.

I pleaded with the mechanic to move it from the park where we met to a place where they can at least fix the mirrors which he agreed on, but told me he isn't got any more time- citing the long distance he's to travel.

So the SUV was literally delivered by a mechanic from the north to a mechanic workshop down here.

When CityHood Finally Picked my call, after his mechanic is left, I pleaded with him to tell the young man to come back and pick the vehicle, but he claimed the man's line were dead and that the only option to get back my money is for him to re-list the vehicle for sale.

https://i65.tinypic.com/2li7cly.pnghttps://i68.tinypic.com/11kgk89.pnghttps://i64.tinypic.com/14ta80i.png

I accepted his offer in ecstasy but pleaded with him to make it faster, even if it's only the invoice amount. I explained to him how much useless the so-called decorations were as the vehicle can't even start without pushing the throttle multiple times (he taught me this).

The Distractions

Instead of working out my money fast as he promised, he started sending pictures of other cars to me. This was a bit strange as he wasn't looking for immediate resolve expected of a supposed honest dealer.

https://i63.tinypic.com/2r3gk86.png https://i67.tinypic.com/2rzey38.png

Hours passed without a head-way and I have but few days to travel for my birthday, I called CityHood again, but instead of sounding cool, he's like using some demeaning words on me; Asking if this was my first car? And If I'm expecting it to come as flawless after the long distance travel.

Here again, I choose the part of patience, Since I thought I was dealing with a straight-forward dude (CEO of the auto-sales outlet). I figured it's wise to do some maintenance and see if I could travel with it while waiting for him to either send a driver (to pick it) or my money (from another buyer, as he proposed).

I took the vehicle to a competent mechanic and then met the biggest shock. There's serious oil leakage from the gear-box (manageable) and power steering hose (very serious).

I asked he change the hose (the long curvy metal hose) for the power steering and call me an electrician to fix the switches (rear engine whiner was already dead), AC and other electrical issues. Changed the battery to a working one (he delivered with bad 45aH instead of 75) and etc.

To cut the long story short, I keep going from one of his distractions to another until he gave me the assurance that someone is going to pay the money to my account in November so they'll come pick the mole.

The Excuses

When the delay-tactics was getting too obvious, I contacted Oga Gazzus to see if there's a competent hand here in south/east that can put life into the carton.

He linked me to a great guy that scanned the car into-to (can attach the diagnosis on-request) and found the car is been severely modified by them. A non-highlander engine (he guessed lexus) was constructed into it which will need a brain-box change.

He also opined that a gearbox change might be required as well. He did his best for me, after which I decided it was best to keep waiting for Cityhood, not knowing that I've been scammed already.

More
I updated Mr. Cityhood on the expenses I have made trying to see if the dump will work. Viz; Brain-box change, fly-wheel, power steering pump and etc. change to see if he can help make a cut-price-deal and get me any money back. This was my last resort as I need get something out of it and forge ahead.

November is already gone and no alert yet. I started pestering Mr. Cityhood to proffer any solution, just any! He told me there's already a buyer in his stand, but the vehicles needs come there before he'll pay.

I pleaded with him to settle the driver come pick it (his opinion was I send money first), so he can deduct the money from the sales. He assured me I was gonna get my money once the car comes that he isn't got a penny on him to help out with.

So again, I sent him 40K which he actually divided to the driver that prompted the man ask me for extra 10k when he came to pick the vehicle.

To cut the long story short again, I never got a kobo alert. I sent a friend whom cityhood actually embarrassed and told him I was enjoying the SUV for two months and only woke up one morning to say I'm returning a product I already used for months.

So the tide was turned against me. He assumed I was comfortable with the car and only woke up to beg him to help me sale the car again. He over-powered the man as there was no physical agreement written and signed before sending the car back to him.

I tried exploring every possible option, including selling it at what-ever-rate but non worked. That's how I got scammed. He practically ruined my birthday and Christmas all in a year.

The Red Flags

There were many red flags along the line, but I had to play along. Just to see if I can recover anything from it.

1. He tried to persuade me into looking into other vehicles and rejected every exchange deal I suggested.
2. He claimed to be broke, while using his psychological advantage to work on my brain until I can forget everything for him or so. I didn't get the 10k from him till date.

https://i67.tinypic.com/34oomq0.jpghttps://i68.tinypic.com/w7j13t.jpg
3. The car was seized at the first inter-state travel attempt. While going for my birthday, the vehicle was seized and cityhood practically push the blame on his non-existent servant. The papers weren't bearing the engine number and so was thought by them a stolen one. He asked them to take some money from me and release the vehicle. This was obviously a flag as no honest dealer cuts corner when his client is paying the right amount for papers.
4. He practically told me that he couldn't find a driver that would deliver for less (when sending back the vehicle) but paid the driver less, assuring him that I was going to fill the tank for him.
5. Someone that's willing to help in an issue like this will not be re-listing the vehicle for ridiculous amount (above 500k profit) when his clients needs his money urgently to forge ahead.
6. The 'straw that broke the camel back' is CITYHOOD trying to use parts from the vehicle he promised to service properly and get me back my money for his personal use.
7. What Mr. Cityhood delivered was a 2004 Toyota highlander and never a 2005 ad advertised.
8. No dealer sales no car for no profit. https://i64.tinypic.com/140ddzt.jpg

My friend that went to see to the car found out that, over there, there are no real vehicles except for few accident-ed ones and tricycles. And that the bonnet hook-stand, battery were tampered with, Mr. Cityhood practically had no answer to these. Its surprising what he'll be doing with insignificant things as these when there's lots of vehicles to attend to.

My Decision

Move on. Lesson learnt! Don't trust every review you see on a public platform. My mistake was believing Dada Motors (Cityhood) and not making a provision for inspection, even when I have friends up there.

N/B Audio, screenshot and sundry available on request. I'm very sorry for the long article, just that I wouldn't want another nairalander scammed by the sweet-talking cityhood. Thanks again.

crestedaguiyi:
https://www.nairaland.com/3429445/neat-honda-odyssy-spacebus-full

That's the thread to the Honda I talked about. Still at the mechanic shop from the date it was delivered till date.

Took 6 days for it to get to phc from zaria