Saturday, December 15, 2007

The price is wrong Bob. Winner claims car she won was used and wrecked

In a very interesting article. A winner on "The Price is Right" has filed suit against the show, CBS, the selling dealer and the transport company. Donna Tillman claims that the 2004 Pontiac GTO that she won on "The Price is Right" was given to her under the pretense that it was a brand new car. The car she received was in fact used and wrecked, according to Tillman.

When she took the car in for servicing was when she was notified of the damage to the front end of the car. The car was blatantly damaged and repaired. The owner of Thorson Pontiac GMC is of course stating that he knows nothing about this. Of course being the good dealer that he is, is trying to cover his rear. There's a good chance that he didn't in fact know anything about the car being damaged. Though the odds are also highly favorable that he did know. And used selling the car to CBS as a way to make the "problem" go away. We may never though. But this is certainly an interesting article.

Full Article:
The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES -- The price was right but the car was wrong, according to a lawsuit filed this week in Los Angeles Superior Court. In June 2004, a contestant on "The Price is Right" guessed that a sports car was worth $33,495 and left the stage thinking she had just won a new 2004 Pontiac GTO Coupe.

Donna Tillman on Thursday filed suit against the game show, CBS Broadcasting, the auto dealership that provided the vehicle and the transportation company that delivered it. Tillman alleges the GTO Coupe she received was not new, as she had been promised, and had been in an accident.

Tillman competed on the popular game show on June 28, 2004. Thorson GMC Pontiac and Precise Auto Transport delivered the car to her home in Washington state on September 13, 2004, according to the lawsuit.

When Tillman took the car in for service the next year, she was told that it had suffered structural damage to the frame and front end, "but the repair work was such that an obvious effort had been made to conceal or hide the damage," the suit alleges.

Tillman is suing for breach of contract and negligence, and is seeking damages of more than $25,000, plus attorneys fees.

Tom George, the owner of Thorson GMC Pontiac in Pasadena, Calif., said that according to his dealership's records, the car was not in any accident and was sent to Tillman brand new.

"I don't know what this lady is talking about," George said Friday. "I certainly wouldn't sell a car with prior damage."

A spokeswoman for CBS declined to comment on the lawsuit.