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Hi everyone,
I hope you are all well and staying safe. This is my first post here, so I apologise if I miss out any key information.
I am in the process of writing a complaint to the FOS but would like some advice on my rights and how I should approach this case.
In June 2020, I came to the end of my 4 year PCP contract with Mercedes-Benz. This complaint is split up into two parts. First of all for the damages on the vehicle and second of all being charged for 'extra days'.
Regarding the dammages, the contract was set to 20,000 miles a year (I travelled a long way to work back in 2016). However soon into the contract I got a job closer to home and therefore didn't need this much mileage. Stupidly I never tried to change my contract and kept it as it was. When my contact came to an end I had done around 56,000 miles instead of the 80,000 on the agreement. Around 24,000 miles below.
A member of the BCA came over a month or so later and took a look at the vehicle before taking it away. They totaled the damages up to £769.10 which I agreed to.
After doing the maths, I worked that the vehicle was worth £881.57 more than what Mercedes had expected it to be at the end of the contract after using their pricing system. I am not sure how much this helps from a legal side, however I thought I would mention it. I would also like to mention that I was told in person by my local Mercedes dealership that the charges are usually quite expensive and I could use one of their bodyshops to get the vehicle repaired at a cheaper cost before returning the vehicle, however I was not able to due to the pandemic. I did explain this to mercedes in my initial complaint, however they claimed their bodyshops were open before my contract ended, even though I was not notified.
The next area of my complaint, and for me the most frustrating, is being charged £550.80 for 'extra days'. This is due to the car being stuck at my address past the end of the contract. This was frustrating on many levels as the vehicle wasn't even insured anymore and in my eyes was no longer my responsibility. I had made the dealership aware that I was going to drop off the car before the end of the agreement, but due to the showroom being shut due to the pandemic, I was not able to do this.
I tried to contact Mercedes before the end of my contract via email and a couple attempts on the phone, however I didn't have any luck. I also followed up with an email 4 days after the contract ended and didn't hear anything. At this point, I was in the mindset of 'It's no longer my car, they'll collect it when they need to'. However it was becoming a great inconvenience and in the way.
On 23/07/20 I called Mercedes again and they finally aranged to pick the car up on 30/07/20. A member of the BCA turned up but couldn't take the car as the battery had gone dead. The next collection date was arranged for 20/08/20 and the car was successfully picked up. I was not made aware on any occassion that I was being charged for each day the car was on my drive. As I mentioned, my contract had ended, I did not believe the car was mine. I then recieved the list of charges and they had included the 'extra days', something I had been made aware of for the first time.
I submitted a complaint to Mercedes not expecting much and I was not surprised to hear that they felt all charges were justified.
I have had troubles since, trying to recieve my contract information to write a complaint which took 4 attempts of asking, being given a weak excuse each time as to why I hadn't recieved them yet. They set me a deadline to get my FOS complaint in before they passed my invoice to debt collectors. This deadline had to be pushed back many times as I still hadn't recieved the copy of my contract. On 22/12/20 I called up to request my contract for the 3rd time and I was told by the employee that I didn't have a complaint deadline and that I had the full 6 months to complain to the FOS. This turned out to be very untrue as shortly into the new year I recieved a letter from debt collectors. I have requested the transcript to add to my complaint, but I am still waiting for it to be sent to me.
Thank you for reading, and any advice would be greatly appreciated. I've worked hard to get my credit rating up after a big hit a few years ago and this situation is adding a great deal of stress.
I hope you are all well and staying safe. This is my first post here, so I apologise if I miss out any key information.
I am in the process of writing a complaint to the FOS but would like some advice on my rights and how I should approach this case.
In June 2020, I came to the end of my 4 year PCP contract with Mercedes-Benz. This complaint is split up into two parts. First of all for the damages on the vehicle and second of all being charged for 'extra days'.
Regarding the dammages, the contract was set to 20,000 miles a year (I travelled a long way to work back in 2016). However soon into the contract I got a job closer to home and therefore didn't need this much mileage. Stupidly I never tried to change my contract and kept it as it was. When my contact came to an end I had done around 56,000 miles instead of the 80,000 on the agreement. Around 24,000 miles below.
A member of the BCA came over a month or so later and took a look at the vehicle before taking it away. They totaled the damages up to £769.10 which I agreed to.
After doing the maths, I worked that the vehicle was worth £881.57 more than what Mercedes had expected it to be at the end of the contract after using their pricing system. I am not sure how much this helps from a legal side, however I thought I would mention it. I would also like to mention that I was told in person by my local Mercedes dealership that the charges are usually quite expensive and I could use one of their bodyshops to get the vehicle repaired at a cheaper cost before returning the vehicle, however I was not able to due to the pandemic. I did explain this to mercedes in my initial complaint, however they claimed their bodyshops were open before my contract ended, even though I was not notified.
The next area of my complaint, and for me the most frustrating, is being charged £550.80 for 'extra days'. This is due to the car being stuck at my address past the end of the contract. This was frustrating on many levels as the vehicle wasn't even insured anymore and in my eyes was no longer my responsibility. I had made the dealership aware that I was going to drop off the car before the end of the agreement, but due to the showroom being shut due to the pandemic, I was not able to do this.
I tried to contact Mercedes before the end of my contract via email and a couple attempts on the phone, however I didn't have any luck. I also followed up with an email 4 days after the contract ended and didn't hear anything. At this point, I was in the mindset of 'It's no longer my car, they'll collect it when they need to'. However it was becoming a great inconvenience and in the way.
On 23/07/20 I called Mercedes again and they finally aranged to pick the car up on 30/07/20. A member of the BCA turned up but couldn't take the car as the battery had gone dead. The next collection date was arranged for 20/08/20 and the car was successfully picked up. I was not made aware on any occassion that I was being charged for each day the car was on my drive. As I mentioned, my contract had ended, I did not believe the car was mine. I then recieved the list of charges and they had included the 'extra days', something I had been made aware of for the first time.
I submitted a complaint to Mercedes not expecting much and I was not surprised to hear that they felt all charges were justified.
I have had troubles since, trying to recieve my contract information to write a complaint which took 4 attempts of asking, being given a weak excuse each time as to why I hadn't recieved them yet. They set me a deadline to get my FOS complaint in before they passed my invoice to debt collectors. This deadline had to be pushed back many times as I still hadn't recieved the copy of my contract. On 22/12/20 I called up to request my contract for the 3rd time and I was told by the employee that I didn't have a complaint deadline and that I had the full 6 months to complain to the FOS. This turned out to be very untrue as shortly into the new year I recieved a letter from debt collectors. I have requested the transcript to add to my complaint, but I am still waiting for it to be sent to me.
Thank you for reading, and any advice would be greatly appreciated. I've worked hard to get my credit rating up after a big hit a few years ago and this situation is adding a great deal of stress.
