Alzheimer Victim to Get Refund in Car Sale

Weldon Beezley is getting his money back, and the Escondido auto dealership that sold the Alzheimer’s victim a car 13 days ago hopes its phones will stop ringing off the hook with angry calls.

Beezley, 80, bought the used car May 7, after first calling a salesman to pick him up, show him a car, take him to the bank to withdraw his money, then drive him--and his new 1988 Buick--back to his home in Lake San Marcos.

That’s when his son, Brian Beezley, hit the roof. His father cannot drive and has been deemed by a doctor as incompetent, because of the dementia associated with his illness, to have bought the car in the first place.

The son protested to the dealership, wrote letters, hired an attorney, picketed the business and finally, with apparently no resolution in sight, contacted The Times, which on Tuesday published his complaints.

Tuesday afternoon, the dealership--Murray Buick-Oldsmobile-Volkswagen--announced that it would refund Beezley the $9,567.01 purchase price and send a tow truck over to pick up the vehicle.

General Manager Bob Bedolla said it wasn’t until Monday that he received the necessary documentation--from Beezley’s doctor, banker and lawyer--that convinced him the sale should be rescinded.

Brian Beezley insisted he delivered the documents last Thursday, and Bedolla conceded that some of them might have been misplaced at the dealership before he finally reviewed them all Monday.

In any event, on Tuesday--the day the story hit the paper--Bedolla said he was satisfied that Beezley should be refunded his money.

“You know, his father never called to ask for his money back,” Bedolla said. Brian Beezley “could have brought his father in and said, ‘Hey, Bob, take a look at him.’ But instead, he threatened (with publicity), and that’s not proper either.”

For his part, Brian Beezley said he was satisfied that the matter is now concluded, but said he was still “mildly disgusted that this ever had to take place.”

Bedolla said the negative publicity about the case made Tuesday an unpleasant time for his employees, as the media besieged his business and angry calls hit the switchboard.

“I had to gather everyone together in the dealership this morning to tell them how to handle all the calls we were getting,” he said. “We got a lot of calls from people who totally abused the switchboard girls--20-year-olds who people were blasting with obscenities and then hanging up.

“It was like a feeding frenzy,” Bedolla said. “People smelled blood and started circling.”