Arnold Clark £300 Discount

OliviaArmstrong

I've been looking around for a new car for a while and came across this £300 discount voucher today for Arnold Clark. The best thing about it is you present the voucher AFTER you've negotiated the deal with the salesperson so it's an extra £300 discount off what you already get off the car. The T&Cs on the voucher say they have to honour the extra discount so it's a good chance to get one over on a salesperson for a change! Get the voucher at this address http://www.arnoldclark.com/about/promotions/xmas_2008.

gogetit_guy

Just purchased a car from Arnold Clark. Negotiated a good price, shook hands and then took the voucher out of my pocket and the sales "EXECUTIVE" stated that the negotiated deal included the £300 off voucher. I had noticed that the price agreed was exactly £300 reduction on the list price, which made me a little dubious at the time. I then explained that the process was to negotiate and then produce the voucher but he wouldn't honour the website offer. He then had the nerve to state on the sales invoice that the price included a £300 reduction voucher as If I had used it!! If I hadn't spent two weeks looking for this particular car then I would have told him to shove it!! I have sent a complaint to their customer services and if I don't get my £300 then I'm going to complain to the Trading Standards.

UPDATE 3/12/08

THIS PROBLEM HAS BEEN ADDRESSED BY ARNOLD CLARK CUSTOMER SERVICES, WHO APOLOGISED ON BEHALF OF ARNOLD CLARK AND THEY WILL HONOUR THE FULL £300 DISCOUNT VOUCHER.

THANKYOU ARNOLD CLARK

jonesMUFCforever

2 brand new posters - not sure why they have posted this or am I becoming too cynical?

moonrakerz

What a lousy discount ! go elsewhere !

savemoney

No it does look suspicious and £300 discount is nowt for a new car, 3k would be

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

2 brand new posters - not sure why they have posted this or am I becoming too cynical?

OliviaArmstrong

Well turns out I went down with the voucher this morning and it works! Had my eye on a Renault Clio and managed to get the salesman down a bit on price then got another £300 off. Don't think he looked too happy but the manager told him he had to honour it. My friends and family have bought from Arnold Clark before with no problems.

I've ordered my new car today and looking forward to having it for xmas and yes I am a first time poster! We all have to start somewhere

gogetit_guy

Well done Olivia and DITO DITO for the newbies. For the money saver, it wasn't a brand new car - who buys a brand new car and loses most of it's value as soon as they leave the showroom - obviously some MoneySavings expert!!!

Antispam

LOL you two both newbies both have 2 posts in same thread. Nice to see companies think we are stupid and fall for it, you aint fooling anyone OliviaArmstrong aka gogetit_guy

TighterThanTwoCoatsOfPain

Well i'm not a really a Newb, have no affiliation with Arnold Clark but have had good experiances of them at Winsford for what its worth!!

That said, I wont endorse them as a brand, as arent they just some big franchise like "lookers" or "Pentagon" anyway??

Peak105

I'm having a very similar problem as gogetit_guy.

I have called Customer Service and they are currently looking into it.........

Basically, I sealed a deal on the car and signed a order form and put a deposit down. When I went back to pay the balance and collect the car, I presented the voucher only to to told that only certain cars are included in the £300 reduction and that I already had a really good deal on the car!

I thought that was the point of the voucher i.e. bargain the price down and then get a further reduction with the voucher? The definition given for the cars that were valid for the £300 reduction was rather hazy i.e. not the full 18,000. So what cars are included? How would the public know by the voucher what cars they can use it on? Is it a ploy to get you in the door?

To me it seems like false advertising but I'll post the outcome here when I hear back from customer service.

How would I contact trading standards if they do not honour the voucher?

Jock_Scot

gogetit_guy wrote: »

Just purchased a car from Arnold Clark. Negotiated a good price, shook hands and then took the voucher out of my pocket and the sales "EXECUTIVE" stated that the negotiated deal included the £300 off voucher. I had noticed that the price agreed was exactly £300 reduction on the list price, which made me a little dubious at the time. I then explained that the process was to negotiate and then produce the voucher but he wouldn't honour the website offer. He then had the nerve to state on the sales invoice that the price included a £300 reduction voucher as If I had used it!! If I hadn't spent two weeks looking for this particular car then I would have told him to shove it!! I have sent a complaint to their customer services and if I don't get my £300 then I'm going to complain to the Trading Standards.

UPDATE 3/12/08

THIS PROBLEM HAS BEEN ADDRESSED BY ARNOLD CLARK CUSTOMER SERVICES, WHO APOLOGISED ON BEHALF OF ARNOLD CLARK AND THEY WILL HONOUR THE FULL £300 DISCOUNT VOUCHER.

THANKYOU ARNOLD CLARK

My experience has been pretty much the same, except I've yet to get any satisfaction from customer services.

Basically, having seen the car and slept on it agreed a deal over the phone a couple of days later. No deposit asked for or paid. Went to the showroom a few days later to "complete the sale transaction" and presented the voucher (the conditions say you can only do it in the showroom and in person so this was the first chance I had) before I paid for the car. I was fobbed off with "we know nothing about this" and they refused to honour it. A story about somebody being similarly turned down the previous day was, I think, meant to make me feel better.

Complaint to customer services came back as "The Branch Manager says you went to the showroom to collect the car, not to complete the sale" (which is a load of rubbish as my bank statement shows the precise time that afternoon when the full payment was made).

It's now back with customer services but as they've failed to respond within the 48 hours promised on their website I've also passed it to Trading Standards.

Beats me how they can roll out these vouchers in such a cack-handed way. What did they expect people to do with them???