There has been a bad atmosphere between the chairman of the ice hockey club KSV and an Opel dealer or the Stellantis company for a year and a half. Because shortly after arrival the team bus broke down again. That was two years ago. The automaker still has not taken the vehicle back. A bitter legal dispute broke out.
The leased electric bus costing 60,000 euros would actually regularly take the players of the Kapfenberg ice hockey club back and forth between the competition and training facilities. But: the car is crazy!
KSV chairman Franz Gärtner fumes: “The car had a range of 350 kilometers. In fact, my players had to do it from Vienna to Kapfenberg without heating and sit inside with a winter coat, so they only covered 120 kilometers with normal driving. Shortly after purchase, it broke down at an intersection with a 30 percent battery charge and could no longer be moved even when stationary.”
That was in early December 2022. Since then, the vehicle has been at a dealership and has even been disassembled and reassembled several times by an expert from Paris. But nothing moves.
Lawyer considers criminal charges
Three months later the club withdrew from the lease contract, but this was ignored by the leasing bank. However, the club was stuck with the costs incurred so far (leasing, hull insurance, costs for a replacement vehicle) which amounted to several thousand.
Gärtner therefore engaged lawyer Christian Fauland. Even for him, the car giant’s lawsuit is inexplicable, as Gärtner is a loyal, long-standing customer. Some letters simply went unanswered, Fauland says. “In other words, we are getting very unsatisfactory answers.”
The story has now become a matter for the court. “In my opinion, Opel and the Stellantis Group are mainly to blame. “It is inexplicable to me how a company can exhibit such massive anti-customer behavior,” the lawyer says angrily. A request from “Krone” to the company also remained unanswered.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
