Planet Wheels I
14 February 2010
In these tough economic times, many are forced to sell their vehicles and go for something cheaper. Some dealers are willing to take your pride and joy off your hands - but beware. As many viewers have discovered, selling your car on consignment through a dealer can leave you out of pocket for much longer than you expect.
Producer: Kate Barry
Presenter: Derek Watts
Planet Wheels II
7 March 2010
Two weeks ago we brought you the story of Planet Wheels and its owner. She had many unhappy clients who complained she owed them money, often for cars already sold. Now there are a lot more unhappy clients, particularly as the business has been liquidated. Carte Blanche brings you the latest in a saga of wheeling and dealing.
Presenter: Derek Watts
Producer: Kate Barry
Journalist: Wynand Grobler
Planet Wheels III [Transcript]
Five months ago we exposed wheeling and dealing at a used car dealership in Johannesburg. Complaints about Planet Wheels indicated that owner Lynne Schreiber was rolling over payments. Reports were that she was leading a quality lifestyle, but seldom reimbursing her clients. Shortly after our first story, the business was liquidated, leaving many out of pocket and with no wheels. What's happened since? Carte Blanche Consumer catches up with still car-less clients, finds out what Lynne's been up to and locates her former partner John Griffin, who hangs out in Durban.
In February this year we exposed wheeling and dealing at a used car dealer in Johannesburg. Planet Wheels sold cars on consignment to new buyers, but the sellers were paid only months later. When we confronted Planet Wheels owner, Lynne Schreiber, she admitted that she'd been rolling over payments
Carte Blanche 14 February 2010] Lynne Schreiber (Owner: Planet Wheels): I'm paying the clients as I can, yes. Let me say this: I don't think anybody could find any client that I have not paid in full.'
Carte Blanche 14 February 2010] Derek Watts (Carte Blanche presenter): 'Eventually?'
Lynne: 'Eventually.'But that's not the case now. Ten days after our story, Planet Wheels brought an application to be liquidated and locked its doors - leaving lots of disappointed clients without their cars or their money.
Mpho Sethaba (BMW owner): 'I had to make peace with it otherwise I was going to go crazy because I have been fighting with those people ever since they took my car and it was just too much for me.'
Mpho Sethaba from Pretoria now uses public transport to get around because his BMW was sold by Planet Wheels. He never received the R40 000 outstanding after the bank had been paid.
Derek: 'How does this make you feel?'
Mpho: 'Angry, firstly. Very upset. There was a point where I was feeling [like] just going in, storming in that place and just shouting at them. And they are really not good people.'
Planet Wheels had spotted Mpho's car for sale in a newspaper advert and promised to sell it at almost no cost. But it took months to find a buyer and he was asked to reduce his price from R145 000 to R100 000. It was only after the transaction had been completed that he stumbled across a litany of complaints online about Planet Wheels.
Mpho: 'Then I started panicking and then I called this lady Oriana and I said: 'Oriana, what is this?' And then she said that is nothing, people will always complain, but I promise you we are very good, we always pay our customers and everything and all that. That was it.'
Richard Venter is in an even worse position.
Derek: 'So Richard, this [Bobcat] is your only means of transport?'
Richard Venter (Ford Ranger owner): '(laughs) At the moment, yes!'
Derek: 'A Bobcat?'
Richard: 'That's correct.'
Derek: 'But Richard, really it is not a laughing matter. You have lost a lot of money.'
Richard: 'I spoke to Stannic... Standard Bank about it and they put me in touch with their lawyers, which are... we are trying to locate the vehicle. But because it is still registered on my name it's kind of difficult to track down the [new] owner of the vehicle.'
Planet Wheels knocked down Richard's asking price for his Ford Ranger to R85 000 [from R100 000], but has yet to settle the finance with Stannic, or pay him the balance. He's still forking out his monthly instalment of R5000 and can't afford another car.
Derek: 'But now the buyer's lawyers are asking you for the registration papers?'
Richard: 'The guy who apparently bought the car, his lawyer contacted me and said to me that he is going to summons me for the papers. I said to him, 'That is fine, I haven't received the money for the vehicle, so you will have to summons Standard Bank because the vehicle still belongs to them.''
While Planet Wheels clients are lamenting the loss of their money and vehicles, Lynne Schreiber and her partners have vanished.
Derek: 'Some of the Planet Wheels victims are hoping that not all of their money has disappeared into a big black hole; that the liquidators will emerge with a little good news.'
Appointed liquidator Richard Pollock says there is not much hope. The Planet Wheels estate has assets of less than R1.2-million and liabilities of more than R19-million.
Richard Pollock (Liquidator): 'We are aware of a shortfall of about R6-million due to these individuals who have sold vehicles. If there is a concurrent creditor base of R6-million and we have a million rand to distribute they each get one sixth, and it is just done pro rata on their claim. So, if you owed R600 000, you will get a R100 000; if you are owed R60 000, you will get R10 000.'
Derek: 'You never met Lynne Schreiber?'
Mpho: 'No, I haven't. Apparently she is quite wealthy, which is upsetting because I am thinking, 'If she is so wealthy and with all the properties that she has, she can simply sell one and pay all the people that she is owing and make peace with herself.' I don't know, I wonder how she makes peace with herself with all the people that she has wronged.'
Lynne in fact owns four properties - this house in Germiston, a house in Helderkruin, a farm in KwaZulu-Natal, and a guest house in Durban called Ocean's Rest. In March this year she still owed R7-million on these properties - a bond repayment of R80 000 a month.
Planet Wheels also has an R11-million loan from FNB - with a monthly payment of R132 000.
We went to Oceans Rest to look for Lynne, but ran into her father, Errol.
Errol: 'She is not here, no, she is in Jo'burg... I don't know if Heather told you... was she... were you inside?'
Derek: 'No, we didn't go inside.'
Errol: 'She is in Jo'burg.'
Derek: 'And this is on the market now?’
Errol: 'Yes, I believe so.'
Derek: 'This guest house, Oceans Rest, with 11 luxury suites, is just one of the properties owned by Lynne Schreiber. Three of them have been signed over as security for the R11-million loan from FNB and Oceans Rest is on the market for a mere R9-million.'
We then went to look for Lynne at her Helderkruin house and found it is also on the market. We weren't invited in.
Journalist: 'Are you at your house?'
[On phone] Lynne: 'What do you want from me? You know, you f***** up my life, and now you expect me to be nice to you. You f***** me over, you f***** the only person who could help me with that and now you want me to turn round and tell you, 'Fine, I'll give you a story'?'
We'd hoped Lynne could explain to us why her credit profile indicates that she's been employed at Wesbank since May this year.
Although Wesbank had extensive business dealings with Planet Wheels, they broke off all ties at the end of last year because of their dubious business practices.
Wesbank's Chris de Kock was astonished when we showed him the profile document.
Chris de Kock (Wesbank): 'Westbank, 13th of May 2010. No, that is not correct, that is not impossible.'
Derek: 'Information coming through to our <a href=http://www.carteblanche.co.za>website</a> indicates that the mastermind behind the Planet Wheels empire is the man who signed for these premises but who otherwise has kept a very low profile, a Mr John Griffin.'
In February when we went to Planet Wheels to confront Lynne, John Griffin beat a hasty retreat.
[Carte Blanche 7 March 2010] Sharon Beux (Former employee): 'Lynne was the dealer principal, but John was the person who would perpetrate most of the decisions and things like that, because obviously he had most of the experience in the industry.'
[Carte Blanche 7 March 2010] John Griffin sold Burchmores in 1989, before opening John Griffin Auctioneers. In the '90s he declared himself insolvent, but continued trading in the car business under Lynne's name. They were engaged for many years and lived in this house [on screen] in Germiston.
[Carte Blanche 7 March 2010] Sharon: 'He is not creditworthy, and a lot of people are looking for him so everything is in Lynne's name.'
In 2005 and 2006 the court ordered John Griffin to pay SARS outstanding taxes of more than R1.2-million.
Richard: 'He hasn't featured in the liquidation. His name has been mentioned a lot and his name is on a lot of the documentation that is around Planet Wheels. He certainly seems to be the mysterious man in the background.'
Derek: 'Not on the letterheads?'
Richard: 'No.'
We went in search of the mystery man at his new wife's health shop on the Bluff.
Derek: 'I just want to chat to you about Planet Wheels.'
John Griffin: 'I'm afraid you can't.'
Derek: 'Why not?'
John: 'Because I am in a different business here, Derek. Come, do me a favour...'
Derek: 'Are you saying you weren't involved with Planet Wheels?'
John: 'Derek, leave me alone.'
Derek: 'There are 67 people who haven't got cars.'<br><br>John: 'I was not involved... I used to consult.'
Derek: 'You were consultant?'
John: 'Yes.'
Derek: 'So is that your story?'
John: 'Yes.'
Derek: 'Well, we got all the proof that you are involved and you don't want to talk about it?'
John: 'I am not involved.'
If John Griffin isn't involved it's strange that he has a personal loan from Planet Wheels to the tune of R258 000 and that he bought cars for Planet Wheels from an auctioneer in Durban on a regular basis. Documents, now part of the liquidation, indicate that Planet Wheels made regular payments on John Griffin's behalf to a third party of between two and ten thousand rand.
John: 'You guys are full of stories; you cause so much trouble for...'
Derek: 'Trouble?'
John: '...for innocent people.'
Derek: 'Innocent people?'
John: 'Yes.'
Derek: 'People without cars... and you are not willing to talk about it?'
John: 'I am not, nothing.'
John: 'You know, you are a big mouth, you are nothing else but a big mouth.'
Derek: 'John... at least I want to tell the story.'
John: 'You don't want to tell the story, you just want to...'
Derek: 'There are so many people without cars?'
John: 'I am not interested in what you are talking about, I am not interested. I don't want to talk about my involvement.'
Derek: 'But first you say you are not involved?'
John: 'I am not involved. What's involvement? That's the same thing.'
Derek: 'It is not the first time your businesses have gone down John?'
John: 'Derek, do me a favour, just f*** off out of this business because now you are aggravating me.'
Derek: 'So you are saying, 'No comment'?'
John: 'No comment, nothing! Just get out of the business, you are causing s*** in someone else's business. Get out!'
The liquidation process can take more than a year and it's likely that Lynne Schreiber will be sequestrated as well. Clients who lost their cars are last in a long line of creditors who hope to gain something from the Planet Wheels estate. As well as laying criminal charges, former clients can pursue other actions.
Richard: 'If they perceive that there was reckless trading, negligent trading or fraudulent trading, they can peruse them in terms of the [Companies] Act.'
Derek: 'Who would be in the firing line, Lynne Schreiber?'
Richard: 'Certainly the member as an obvious, but it is not just restricted to members. It is restricted to anybody who was actively involved in the running of the company. It could include John Griffin, it could include anybody that was actively knowingly part of the activities which you are looking to challenge.'
PLANET WHEELS UPDATE
In February 2010 Derek Watts tackled Lynne Schreiber, owner of Planet Wheels, in the Johannesburg suburb of Victory Park. Schreiber and her partner John Griffin had taken motor vehicles for sale on consignment. She paid the sellers from time to time when pressure was brought to bear on her. In the end she left, in her wake, a trail of hapless owners – and finance houses.
She had acquired a R7-million property portfolio which was costing her R80,000 per month in mortgage payments. She conceded to Derek that she was borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. Not long after our exposé, all four of her businesses went into liquidation, the Gauteng properties were sold, as was the guest house.
The Hawks initially investigated her business activities, but their enthusiasm appears to have waned.
The crown jewel in Lynne’s property portfolio was a guesthouse on the bluff in Durban called Ocean’s Rest. We phoned the number this week and found that it had been disconnected.