Ouch! That does sound like a bad experience. And yes, I'd say that this time you're right about a statement being racist.
Reminds me of being 'gazumped' in the UK when buying a house - you can have agreed a price with the seller, sorted out your mortgage, paid a solicitor to do all the necessary work, but right up until the moment you exchange contracts the seller can still accept a higher bid from someone else.
As for your previous comment about how you went about purchasing cars, I think it kind of just reinforces to me that this is a cultural difference. Where I come from, if you see something second-hand for sale there's an automatic assumption that there's room for negotiation. Emailing with an offer, as you did in some cases, would make sense to me, whereas just asking for the last price doesn't.
I'm sure there's a book out there entitled something like "Negotiating habits around the world". Perhaps I should find a copy.
Ouch! That does sound like a bad experience. And yes, I'd say that this time you're right about a statement being racist.
Reminds me of being 'gazumped' in the UK when buying a house - you can have agreed a price with the seller, sorted out your mortgage, paid a solicitor to do all the necessary work, but right up until the moment you exchange contracts the seller can still accept a higher bid from someone else.
As for your previous comment about how you went about purchasing cars, I think it kind of just reinforces to me that this is a cultural difference. Where I come from, if you see something second-hand for sale there's an automatic assumption that there's room for negotiation. Emailing with an offer, as you did in some cases, would make sense to me, whereas just asking for the last price doesn't.
I'm sure there's a book out there entitled something like "Negotiating habits around the world". Perhaps I should find a copy.