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Hello, I can't believe I am here again but you were really helpful when we had a car less than 6 months after purchase that needed repairs (that one is now in motion with small claims).
Anyway having learned our lesson we researched dealers carefully, bought a newer (and more expensive) car thinking surely we would be lucky this time. Anyway after two weeks we noticed it was leaking coolant (I mean really badly), and the heating and de-mister not working so we contacted the dealer. We asked them if they would carry out a repair rather than rejecting the car, and they agreed (reluctantly) to come and collect the car to take it back for repairs. They then went quiet and we struggled to get hold of them, nobody answering the phone, then sales manager not being available to return our calls etc, so we posted on facebook to ask them to contact us - they removed our posts straightaway.
When we finally heard from them they said that the car was repaired BUT that they did not want to release it to us "because they didn't like the way we had handled it" including the fact that we had posted (tried to post) on social media and that we had said that we had legal rights under the CRA 2015. My husband and son (legal owner) drove down to the garage to see if this could be resolved with someone more senior, and they refused to give him the car. They then said they had an invoice for us for £200 for them collecting the car, even though we had obviously never agreed to any kind of charge (and this was also the first they had mentioned of this). After a very ugly conversation, where they shouted insults at my husband (all video recorded, which we told them and did openly), they said they would refund us the cost price and the cost of the warranty (£400) which is obviously now useless as they won't give us back the car. They said they couldn't do the refund then as they were about to close for the day (4.45, even though their advertised closing time is 5.30).
Having accepted that we aren't going to get our car back (and to be honest realising that if we have any other problems they are not going to be helpful) we then emailed the next day and they said they would process the refund once we returned the V5. We asked for confirmation that this would be for the full amount (the car plus warranty) and to agree a time on Monday where we could bring the V5 and they could process the refund at the same time. And now the sales manager has just emailed to say he is away on leave next week and nobody else can process a refund... and by the way have we paid the invoice for collecting the car? They have also made up a spurious charge of "storage" for our car of £20 per day because they can't sell it (the one THEY are refusing to give back to us).
So, I am not really sure what to do? I am not sure where we stand legally about the warranty and the "collection charge"? Should we return the V5 (and fulfil our side) and then pursue the money, or try to agree a new date where we do a swap of V5 for refund (ie does giving up the V5 leave us in a worse position re getting our money back)? Or do we just ring the police and say they have stolen our car?? As at the moment this is what it feels like - that they have deceived us into believing they were trying to resolve it. In the meantime we have had to add our son onto our car using temporary insurance (expensive) as we live somewhere rural and he needs to get to school every day. I feel totally out of my depth and don't really really want to go to small claims again if we can avoid it. Is there a neat email we can send them in relation to any of this? It is not the same as an ordinary rejection because we opted for a repair, but they won't give the car back and are trying to add on random charges
Anyway having learned our lesson we researched dealers carefully, bought a newer (and more expensive) car thinking surely we would be lucky this time. Anyway after two weeks we noticed it was leaking coolant (I mean really badly), and the heating and de-mister not working so we contacted the dealer. We asked them if they would carry out a repair rather than rejecting the car, and they agreed (reluctantly) to come and collect the car to take it back for repairs. They then went quiet and we struggled to get hold of them, nobody answering the phone, then sales manager not being available to return our calls etc, so we posted on facebook to ask them to contact us - they removed our posts straightaway.
When we finally heard from them they said that the car was repaired BUT that they did not want to release it to us "because they didn't like the way we had handled it" including the fact that we had posted (tried to post) on social media and that we had said that we had legal rights under the CRA 2015. My husband and son (legal owner) drove down to the garage to see if this could be resolved with someone more senior, and they refused to give him the car. They then said they had an invoice for us for £200 for them collecting the car, even though we had obviously never agreed to any kind of charge (and this was also the first they had mentioned of this). After a very ugly conversation, where they shouted insults at my husband (all video recorded, which we told them and did openly), they said they would refund us the cost price and the cost of the warranty (£400) which is obviously now useless as they won't give us back the car. They said they couldn't do the refund then as they were about to close for the day (4.45, even though their advertised closing time is 5.30).
Having accepted that we aren't going to get our car back (and to be honest realising that if we have any other problems they are not going to be helpful) we then emailed the next day and they said they would process the refund once we returned the V5. We asked for confirmation that this would be for the full amount (the car plus warranty) and to agree a time on Monday where we could bring the V5 and they could process the refund at the same time. And now the sales manager has just emailed to say he is away on leave next week and nobody else can process a refund... and by the way have we paid the invoice for collecting the car? They have also made up a spurious charge of "storage" for our car of £20 per day because they can't sell it (the one THEY are refusing to give back to us).
So, I am not really sure what to do? I am not sure where we stand legally about the warranty and the "collection charge"? Should we return the V5 (and fulfil our side) and then pursue the money, or try to agree a new date where we do a swap of V5 for refund (ie does giving up the V5 leave us in a worse position re getting our money back)? Or do we just ring the police and say they have stolen our car?? As at the moment this is what it feels like - that they have deceived us into believing they were trying to resolve it. In the meantime we have had to add our son onto our car using temporary insurance (expensive) as we live somewhere rural and he needs to get to school every day. I feel totally out of my depth and don't really really want to go to small claims again if we can avoid it. Is there a neat email we can send them in relation to any of this? It is not the same as an ordinary rejection because we opted for a repair, but they won't give the car back and are trying to add on random charges
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