Apologies in advance for the long post.
Having conducted some serious research into where I would purchase my next new vehicle from, I selected “Buyacar.co.uk” due to the number of good reviews I came across, the length of time the company had been trading, the data I viewed on the “Companies House” website, the number of manufacturers whose vehicles they were selling, the competitive prices their website quoted and the professionalism that came across when I contacted their sales advisor Mr S. to ask about how the buying process was conducted.
I proceeded to select the level of specification I wanted for a brand new Vauxhall Insignia 2.0T SIDI Elite Nav 5dr [Start Stop] hatchback and had email contact with Mr S confirming the vehicle specification, price, that I would be the first registered keeper, that I would have the full “Lifetime warranty” and that once the order was placed there would be no additional costs incurred. The specification of the vehicle was:
I placed my order with them on 15th July 2013, securing the order with a deposit of £1,030.00 paid by credit card.
The estimated delivery date for the “Factory Order” was Mid October 2013. When the estimated delivery date was due I contacted Buyacar to confirm a delivery date for my order. I was informed at that time that the vehicle had been placed on “Technical Hold” by Vauxhall and given assurance from Mr P (Customer Services Executive) that this occurs randomly where vehicles are selected for quality checks and should be nothing to worry about.
Through the last 2 weeks of October 2013 and first week of November 2013 I was repeatedly contacting Mr P for an update as to what was happening with my order. I was extremely frustrated with the lack of information being given to me, with his stock statement every time being “I am trying to find out what is happening”! I requested if I could have contact details for the dealer but was informed by Mr P that he could not provide this information due to the relationship you have with their dealers.
Eventually, on 13th November 2013 I was informed by Buyacar that the vehicle had been rejected due to “a major electrical fault”. At this time I requested a copy of the vehicle rejection report but was told again this could not be provided to me.
Despite the extreme frustration of waiting 4 months for my vehicle to be delivered and then informed it was faulty and rejected, I had several email conversations with Buyacar stating that if I was to re-place my order rather than cancel I needed to be 100% confident the order would be completed otherwise it would cause me major problems. I stated that if I went through a local dealer I would not have this type of issue, particularly regarding the extreme lack of communication.
I was assured that the chances of something like this occurring again would be so negligible that it would not be worth discussing or worrying about. With this assurance I decided that I still wanted to purchase the vehicle from Buyacar and showed good faith in re-placing my order. The new estimated delivery date was Mid February 2014. I requested that I wanted to have regular communication with Buyacar throughout the build process so I could be confident the order was progressing as it should.
Through the build process of the vehicle I was provided with regular updates on the build status of the vehicle, that is, up to 30th January 2014 when I requested another update on the build status. From this date I have never received another update, despite several requests. Each time Mr P stated that he was waiting for call backs from his account manager. In my frustration with the situation I requested the contact details of this account manager, only to be informed these could not be supplied.
I was eventually contacted by Mr P via email on 20th February 2014 stating that he had been in contact with the account manager and that he expected to send through the final invoice on Monday 24th or Tuesday 25th February 2014. Throughout the start of week commencing 24th February 2014 I was trying to contact Mr P, and eventually contacted him on 25th February 2014 by telephone where he informed me that their phone lines and email had been down since Sunday 23rd February 2014. As I had still not had any confirmation of the final invoice by Monday 3rd March 2014 I emailed Mr P stating that it was unacceptable that I had not heard anything from Buyacar, despite their email systems being down as the confirmation documentation could have been posted or couriered across to him and I expressed that this could still be conducted to prevent any further delays.
I then contacted Mr P in the afternoon of 3rd March 2014 to determine if my email had made any impact on the information I was trying to seek. He informed me that their email systems were back up and running and that he would chase up his account manager again. I expressed to him my extreme frustration with this situation as it had now been over 7 ½ months since the original order was placed, and I felt that level of customer service was lacking and that his account manager should now be giving this order priority status and demonstrate a higher level of customer service.
I also informed him that due to the length of time without receiving the order and the severe lack of communication / information being relayed back to me I felt I had no choice but to contact Citizens Advice for some support on my situation. They have advised me to put my concerns in writing hence this letter, and to give a deadline for when I expect to have the final invoice and delivery confirmation of my order.
As to date I have still not received confirmation of the final invoice I informed Mr P I expected to have email confirmation of the final invoice for payment by 5pm on Friday 7th March 2014. It has been more than 180 days since I placed the original order i.e. 15th July 2013, now they are in breach of contract for non-delivery. Buyacar did not respond to this deadline so I wrote another letter giving them a deadline of Friday 14th March 2014, also informing them that I had informed my card issuer of the breach / misreprensentation, I had requested Trading Standards to look into my case and that if the contract was not fulfilled then I would be looking to pursue a claim for "Loss of bargain".
Since placing my order with Buyacar, the cost of the same vehicle specification I wish to purchase has now increased by £2,987.00 if I was to place my order for a third time (which I do not plan on doing), and I have commenced obtaining quotes from other Vauxhall retailers for the exact same specification. The cheapest quote I have had so far is £29,369.00 - some £3,870.00 more than the contracted price with Buyacar. If the contract is not fulfilled, how strong is my case for "Loss of bargain" for non-delivery of the vehicle and what advice can you give in proceeding? In addition, there are a lot of extremely suspicious circumstances to the case that I have requested Trading Standards to look into.
Having conducted some serious research into where I would purchase my next new vehicle from, I selected “Buyacar.co.uk” due to the number of good reviews I came across, the length of time the company had been trading, the data I viewed on the “Companies House” website, the number of manufacturers whose vehicles they were selling, the competitive prices their website quoted and the professionalism that came across when I contacted their sales advisor Mr S. to ask about how the buying process was conducted.
I proceeded to select the level of specification I wanted for a brand new Vauxhall Insignia 2.0T SIDI Elite Nav 5dr [Start Stop] hatchback and had email contact with Mr S confirming the vehicle specification, price, that I would be the first registered keeper, that I would have the full “Lifetime warranty” and that once the order was placed there would be no additional costs incurred. The specification of the vehicle was:
TOTAL PRICE | £25,499.00 | |
I placed my order with them on 15th July 2013, securing the order with a deposit of £1,030.00 paid by credit card.
The estimated delivery date for the “Factory Order” was Mid October 2013. When the estimated delivery date was due I contacted Buyacar to confirm a delivery date for my order. I was informed at that time that the vehicle had been placed on “Technical Hold” by Vauxhall and given assurance from Mr P (Customer Services Executive) that this occurs randomly where vehicles are selected for quality checks and should be nothing to worry about.
Through the last 2 weeks of October 2013 and first week of November 2013 I was repeatedly contacting Mr P for an update as to what was happening with my order. I was extremely frustrated with the lack of information being given to me, with his stock statement every time being “I am trying to find out what is happening”! I requested if I could have contact details for the dealer but was informed by Mr P that he could not provide this information due to the relationship you have with their dealers.
Eventually, on 13th November 2013 I was informed by Buyacar that the vehicle had been rejected due to “a major electrical fault”. At this time I requested a copy of the vehicle rejection report but was told again this could not be provided to me.
Despite the extreme frustration of waiting 4 months for my vehicle to be delivered and then informed it was faulty and rejected, I had several email conversations with Buyacar stating that if I was to re-place my order rather than cancel I needed to be 100% confident the order would be completed otherwise it would cause me major problems. I stated that if I went through a local dealer I would not have this type of issue, particularly regarding the extreme lack of communication.
I was assured that the chances of something like this occurring again would be so negligible that it would not be worth discussing or worrying about. With this assurance I decided that I still wanted to purchase the vehicle from Buyacar and showed good faith in re-placing my order. The new estimated delivery date was Mid February 2014. I requested that I wanted to have regular communication with Buyacar throughout the build process so I could be confident the order was progressing as it should.
Through the build process of the vehicle I was provided with regular updates on the build status of the vehicle, that is, up to 30th January 2014 when I requested another update on the build status. From this date I have never received another update, despite several requests. Each time Mr P stated that he was waiting for call backs from his account manager. In my frustration with the situation I requested the contact details of this account manager, only to be informed these could not be supplied.
I was eventually contacted by Mr P via email on 20th February 2014 stating that he had been in contact with the account manager and that he expected to send through the final invoice on Monday 24th or Tuesday 25th February 2014. Throughout the start of week commencing 24th February 2014 I was trying to contact Mr P, and eventually contacted him on 25th February 2014 by telephone where he informed me that their phone lines and email had been down since Sunday 23rd February 2014. As I had still not had any confirmation of the final invoice by Monday 3rd March 2014 I emailed Mr P stating that it was unacceptable that I had not heard anything from Buyacar, despite their email systems being down as the confirmation documentation could have been posted or couriered across to him and I expressed that this could still be conducted to prevent any further delays.
I then contacted Mr P in the afternoon of 3rd March 2014 to determine if my email had made any impact on the information I was trying to seek. He informed me that their email systems were back up and running and that he would chase up his account manager again. I expressed to him my extreme frustration with this situation as it had now been over 7 ½ months since the original order was placed, and I felt that level of customer service was lacking and that his account manager should now be giving this order priority status and demonstrate a higher level of customer service.
I also informed him that due to the length of time without receiving the order and the severe lack of communication / information being relayed back to me I felt I had no choice but to contact Citizens Advice for some support on my situation. They have advised me to put my concerns in writing hence this letter, and to give a deadline for when I expect to have the final invoice and delivery confirmation of my order.
As to date I have still not received confirmation of the final invoice I informed Mr P I expected to have email confirmation of the final invoice for payment by 5pm on Friday 7th March 2014. It has been more than 180 days since I placed the original order i.e. 15th July 2013, now they are in breach of contract for non-delivery. Buyacar did not respond to this deadline so I wrote another letter giving them a deadline of Friday 14th March 2014, also informing them that I had informed my card issuer of the breach / misreprensentation, I had requested Trading Standards to look into my case and that if the contract was not fulfilled then I would be looking to pursue a claim for "Loss of bargain".
Since placing my order with Buyacar, the cost of the same vehicle specification I wish to purchase has now increased by £2,987.00 if I was to place my order for a third time (which I do not plan on doing), and I have commenced obtaining quotes from other Vauxhall retailers for the exact same specification. The cheapest quote I have had so far is £29,369.00 - some £3,870.00 more than the contracted price with Buyacar. If the contract is not fulfilled, how strong is my case for "Loss of bargain" for non-delivery of the vehicle and what advice can you give in proceeding? In addition, there are a lot of extremely suspicious circumstances to the case that I have requested Trading Standards to look into.
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