Housekeeping: The Ethics Of Undercover Snooping

Since it seems to be Housekeeping Day, here an email from someone who hides behind a Gmail address, who does not sign his mail, and who calls us unethical . Mr Anonymous writes: "I'm writing this in response to Mr.Derek Kreindler method of acquiring the Aston Martin V8 Vantage for his recent review. Mr.Kreindler stated while he was at the dealership, he pretended to be a well to do business man so that he can get his hand on the vehicle for a test drive. I won't have a problem with this if he was actually comparing vehicles for his purchase. That's how car buying goes, if you don't like it, you don't buy it. It's quite obvious that this is not the case. I know people do this all the time, but I don't expect an editor from TTAC to do so. What he did is basically stealing a salesman time and hope. The time that he could have spent on other customers, and the hope of making a living. I just need to ask TTAC one question, how would you like it if you were the salesman? The fact that this article was published tells me that TTAC have no ethical standard in this arena. Perhaps, you might think that I'm a salesman myself and took this personally. I have never been in the sales business, but I will call out an unethical conduct when I see one. " Dear Mr. Anonymous: I don't call that unethical, I call that showing initiative. When I was young, I was in the investigative reporting business, and I operated as ethically as an undercover cop. Compared to that, what Derek did was benign. If not buying a car after a test drive is stealing a salesman's time and hope, then some 70 percent of people who ask for a test drive would be criminals. Last I looked, wasting someone's time and robbing someone's hope was not against the law. I wish it were, I could launch thousands of lawsuits. I see huge class action suits against politicians, corporations, presumptive employers, alleged lovers. The concept would make divorce proceedings very interesting: "You cheated!" "You wasted 25 years of my time and stole my hope for happiness. Let's call it quits." I tell you what is unethical: Giving ringers to journalists. Carmakers who insist that only official press cars should be tested often have something to hide. A car for a test drive should show the best sides of the car. Having said that, our first approach will always be to get a press car. If we don't get one, dealers, friends, rental car agencies are fair game. from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com

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