help! Car Deposit

shift_3

As my car recently failed it's MOT I looked online for a new car to purchase on finance, I found an Astra that looked pretty decent and as it was far away I decided to call up the dealer and say I was interested.

The dealer was very keen to speak to me, advised me that a £500 deposit would need to be taken and that finance would be no problem.

On the following Monday an employee at the dealership calls me and says they need another £300 on top of the deposit to make the finance deal, I say I can't afford to do that I will see if I can get finance personally.

I call back on the 7th working day since the deposit was taken and tell the same employee that I cannot afford the extra £300 and no longer wish to buy the car
, I ask for my deposit back and he says call back on Thursday when the manager will be in.

Unfortunately I'm kept at work on Thursday and am unable to call until early Friday, when I'm told the manager isn't in and to phone tomorrow (Saturday) when the manager will be in.

I call on Saturday (today) and speak to the manager who when I tell him I want the deposit back flat out refuses and says that it says on the form I signed that the deposit was non-refundable.

I tell the manager that I've never signed any paperwork, and I was never told this deposit was non-refundable, he says thats how it is with all deposits.
I tell him that under the distance selling regulations that he is not entitled to keep my deposit.

He says they have put a lot of work into getting the car ready and have kept it off sale for 7 days. I tell him I had every intention of buying the car when the deposit was £500 and "no problem" finance, but I cannot afford the extra £300 deposit and that asking for it has essentially changed the deal.
The manager now changes his tune to say there is no deal, I mention the distance selling regulations again and he says he'll wait for a letter from my solicitor and hangs up the phone.

Sorry for the length of this, but does anyone know where I stand on this?

I've never signed a thing from them, I didn't even receive a receipt as promised by email when deposit was taken. The payment was made on a visa debit card.

I'm going to contact the CAB tomorrow but has anyone had similar experience?

Any help appreciated!!

Conor_3

Do distance selling regs apply when it was you that contacted them initially?

Is there anything anywhere on the website, such as the T&C, that state deposits are non refundable? If you post the site address, we can have a look.

in51der

shift wrote: »

As my car recently failed it's MOT I looked online for a new car to purchase on finance, I found an Astra that looked pretty decent and as it was far away I decided to call up the dealer and say I was interested.

The dealer was very keen to speak to me, advised me that a £500 deposit would need to be taken and that finance would be no problem.

On the following Monday an employee at the dealership calls me and says they need another £300 on top of the deposit to make the finance deal, I say I can't afford to do that I will see if I can get finance personally.

I call back on the 7th working day since the deposit was taken and tell the same employee that I cannot afford the extra £300 and no longer wish to buy the car
, I ask for my deposit back and he says call back on Thursday when the manager will be in.

Unfortunately I'm kept at work on Thursday and am unable to call until early Friday, when I'm told the manager isn't in and to phone tomorrow (Saturday) when the manager will be in.

I call on Saturday (today) and speak to the manager who when I tell him I want the deposit back flat out refuses and says that it says on the form I signed that the deposit was non-refundable.

I tell the manager that I've never signed any paperwork, and I was never told this deposit was non-refundable, he says thats how it is with all deposits.
I tell him that under the distance selling regulations that he is not entitled to keep my deposit.

He says they have put a lot of work into getting the car ready and have kept it off sale for 7 days. I tell him I had every intention of buying the car when the deposit was £500 and "no problem" finance, but I cannot afford the extra £300 deposit and that asking for it has essentially changed the deal.
The manager now changes his tune to say there is no deal, I mention the distance selling regulations again and he says he'll wait for a letter from my solicitor and hangs up the phone.

Sorry for the length of this, but does anyone know where I stand on this?

I've never signed a thing from them, I didn't even receive a receipt as promised by email when deposit was taken. The payment was made on a visa debit card.

I'm going to contact the CAB tomorrow but has anyone had similar experience?

Any help appreciated!!

They have absolutely no chance of keeping your deposit they are behaving appallingly, call up the dealer and ask to speak to the man in charge of the business (general/brand manager) insist on speaking to him and do not be fobbed off, also find out if they are part of a big group and try and find out who is his boss (they will usually have a head office) you need to make sure that the general manager understands totally your shock and anger about being misled and the lack of respect from the sales manager, if that doesn’t work you will need to contact a solicitor and 1 letter will do the trick, but in my experience once you are in contact with the right person you will get your money back. The secret is to keep on and on until you get action, they will not want the aggro of a customer who won’t go away, and as you live away they think it’s safe to fob you off, so you could always threaten to go there and cause a stink I have seen customers treated in a similar way camp in the showroom shouting and telling other customers of the poor treatment, it’s surprising how quickly action is taken then! Persistence is the key! Best of luck.
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