Stay Well Clear

I called to speak to the garage about a potential purchase of a car. The description sounded right but the staff did not instill me with confidence. I asked about the condition of the tyres and I was told that it had an MOT 2 months ago and no advisories were found. I asked again how much tread there was on the tyres and I was told that they were all fine. During the purchase of a vehicle from this dealer I saw it had an illegal tyre fitted. I asked for this to be changed and was told no. I had to push to get it changed so I would be able to legally drive the car on the road. Following the purchase of a car from this company, I arrived home to find that the vehicle had a fuel leak (there was a puddle on the floor of about 1lt) and diesel fumes had been coming into the car on the ventilation system. If I had known the vehicle had a defect such as this I would never had brought it. I called the company and they said they would sort it and for me to take it to my nearest garage to look at. I called them form the garage to tell the quote to rectify the problem. The member of staffed laughed at me telling me that was ridiculous. I was told I would have to take it all the way back to them for them to fix. They said they would get the part off a scrapped car to put on there. The garage told me from looking at the engine that the fault had been there for some time, yet the dealer kept claiming it must have occurred on the return journey after leaving the forecourt. Over the following days the communication from the dealer was most unhelpful and belligerent, refusing to help me get the car back to the garage despite it leaking fuel. I ended up having to drive the vehicle back to the garage at my expense. All the time with diesel fumes coming into the car and it leaking fuel. During the return journey a number of other faults were identified with the car. When I got to the garage I told them I did not feel the car was of satisfactory quality, it was not safe or roadworthy and that I wanted a full refund. This was declined, I was told that 'I had to give them the opportunity to fix the vehicle first'. When I challenged this as per Sale of Good Act the member of staff just argued with me. I was told that if I wanted to speak to someone about a refund I would have to speak to the boss on Monday morning. I left the car at the garage with all the paperwork. I tried 6 to 7 times on the Monday to speak to the boss and every time he was 'out of the office'. I left a couple of messages for him to call me back. I didn't receive any call. That day I sent a letter recorded delivery stating my rights for the refund, the letter was received and still no contact from the garage. It has now been a week since I reported the problem to the garage and I have had no word from them, or no refund. I fail to see how this garage can stay in business when they claim on their website to 'believe that if you treat people the way you would like to be treated yourself'. This is not how I would want to be treated myself that's for sure. To be listed as a company that you can buy with confidence from is a joke. The reviews I have subsequently found on Google also reflect this terrible business with people being dealt with in the same manner as myself. At this time I am still waiting for contact from the garage to receive my refund.

Steve Renton - 23/07/2015 | report this review