What happened
Giacomelli made an online inquiry about selling his X3 back to the dealership that sold it to him, then exchanged text messages with “Quinn”. He did not know Quinn was an AI agent.
Quinn offered C$27,162.79, matching his loan payoff, and scheduled a same-day appointment to finalize. A dealership employee then called to say the offer was invalid and that the dealer would pay about C$20,000.
Sales manager Scott Shadbolt told CBC that a human employee miscommunicated the amount owed and the agent treated that figure as the dealership’s offer.
What happened next
After CBC contacted the dealership, BMW Toronto reinstated the C$27,162.79 offer to “do right” by Giacomelli, who accepted. The dealership said only human employees will present buyback offers from now on.
Legal or regulatory result
No ruling. A lawyer consulted by CBC said an agreement may have existed because the agent proposed meeting to lock in the deal that day.
What would have stopped it
- Generate buyback and trade-in offers only from an appraisal tool, and block any figure copied from a loan payoff or other non-valuation field.
- Require a human sign-off before an agent sends a purchase offer or books an appointment to finalize one.
- Disclose at the start of a text conversation that the customer is talking to an AI agent.
Attack families
Sources
- CBC News: AI chatbot offers customer thousands more than dealership intended
- Carscoops: BMW dealer honors AI chatbot offer
- The Drive: BMW dealer forced to pay extra for used X3 over AI chatbot error
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