Arnold Clark - Trading Standards

marbleheadj

So I bought a car from one of the Falkirk dealerships last April and to make a long story short I specifically said I didn't want any Payment Protection but recently I've found it was set up direct debit for £10 per month.

I keep quite a close eye on my accounts and was surprised I had missed the direct debit for a company called YSL - if it had been called Arnold Clark Protection Plan then I would've clocked it earlier, very deliberate ploy no doubt!

Anyway... I emailed and asked twice for proof that I had signed this document, they finally sent it today - not my signature on it, nothing like it!!!
I might be being paranoid but it actually resembles the salesmans signature more than mine!

I called A.C. customer service and they couldn't care less, I asked would it not make more sense to just deal with it now rather than make me go to trading standards and was meet with a verbal shrug of the shoulders and told to report any suspected fraud to the proper authority!

So like they instructed, I've reported it to trading standards now and I am waiting to hear back, I've also passed it onto the Sunday Mail coloumnist 'The Judge' as you have to wonder is this a regular occurence and whereas I can understand a human error or even at a stretch a worker needing to hit targets - I can't comprehend the 'sweep it under the carpet' attitude from the customer service who are supposed to be there to help the customer.

Its actually the latest of a series of poor experiences from them (providing me with the wrong MOT documents, snippy receptionist etc) and while I've tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, I can't keep ignoring it.

Initially, all I was looking for was my £100 of charges back but now it looks as though they'll at least be fined and maybe some people will lose jobs... it could've all been easily avoided with a bit of ownership.

Has anyone else been through something simliar and can advise?

tewfik

They really are a dreadful company. I bought an Alfa Romeo from them a while ago. Amongst the problems I have encountered with them have been my brakes failing two weeks after a major service (a mechanic told me he didn't reckon they'd even taken the wheels off to look as there were no pads left and signs of friction burns), them telling me I'd have to take the car to a garage 30 miles away anytime it needed something done as their diagnostics machine didn't work on it (after I'd bought it), trying to charge me £25 to change the warranty from one garage to the one 30 miles away!? (they attempted to hide the charge in the middle of a bill), waiting half an hour for one of their mechanics to retrieve parts from a large dustbin out the back to use as evidence against them, their recovery service refusing to collect my car when the engine failed (despite having comprehensive 24/7 cover for any distance). I could go on, but I'll just get angrier. I still have the car but it'll never be near one of their shoddy establishments again. If I'm walking past the local dealership and see some poor sod looking at a car I make a point of stopping and warning them, whether they're talking to a salesman or not.

Enigmatic_Me

I wouldn't but a car from AC if they were the last place on earth.

I made the mistake of trying to buy a brand new Citroen C2 a couple of years ago. I placed a review of my experience on an internet review site which I have copied below. Sorry it is a bit long but every word is true!


I contacted Arnold Clark to enquire about a new Citroen car. I was given a price and agreed the deal. I was told the car was sitting in the South of England (I am in Scotland) and it would be a week to 10 days before it arrived. My complaint is far too long to go into everything but basically these are the main points.
1. It took 5 weeks for the car to arrive. We were dealing with the General Manager due to errors caused by the salesman. I was phoning each week to find out when I would receive my car. It took on average 6 phone calls over a number of days to get the decency of a return call.
2. At the start of the deal I pointed out their records had my name mis-spelled (my previous car was bought from them and I had pointed this out twice before when in for a service). I was assured it had been changed. The Manager also assured me he had changed it. The DVLA for came for the registered plate (I was putting my own private plate on) and the spelling was still incorrect.
3. They needed my insurance certificate and tax disc and DVLA form and as I was working it was agreed that my husband would take it in the next day. The salesman we were dealing with said he was in all day. My husband went up and salesman on a day off!! Spoke to another salesman who said they needed my signature (was not told this in the conversation the evening before) My husband was angry at not being told this and then the salesman suggested my husband sign the form for me! Hubby quite rightly refused.
4. I was told the car would be here Friday 10th Nov. No phone call on that Friday, nothing over the weekend or Monday so phoned on Tuesday and told Manager would phone me back in half an hour. Did not receive any phone call on Tuesday. Phoned Wednesday, Manager on day off, nobody could help me. Phoned Thursday and left 3 messages for him to call me back. No call back was made. I phoned Citroen Customer services on Friday 17th November and then surprise I received a phone call. My car was actually at the garage and had been for a couple of days. They were now waiting for DVLA transfer. More inaccuracies as they had all documentation for this for 2 weeks now. It was agreed I would pick up the car on Saturday 18th November and they would put the 56 plates on.
5. Went to pick up the car on Saturday and saw it sitting in the forecourt. Only problems now is that it was the wrong colour!!!!! Not the colour I ordered. Can this get any worse????
6. There was an apology letter for me that had my name and address on but was headed up Dear Mr Adam (my name is not Adam and nothing like Adam)
7. I was promised 12 months road tax and only got 6.
8. My DVLA transfer was through yesterday and an employee from the garage was sent to put on the plates for me. The plates were wrong and had to go back. Man came back to fix them.
9. I was promised the man would bring me down a cheque for the other half of the road tax and also rubber mats. I received nothing
10. The new number plate that were fixed yesterday, fell off this morning. They hadn't even been screwed on. It was found in the road by a work colleague.
11. The DVLA document for my private reg came through this morning. MY NAME IS STILL SPELLED INCORRECT so I need to send it back (another lie as I was told by the Manager the name change was what was holding up the DVLA)
12. When I completed the deal on Saturday I was given no paperwork, no receipts and was told they would be posted out. 5 days later nothing.
13. I was offered 7 day free insurance. Again I was given no written confirmation of this and was told on Sat when I picked up the car, the confirmation would be emailed to me Sat afternoon. No email confirmation received. Made 3 calls to the garage on Sunday and eventually got it at 5pm Sunday.

So all in all an absolute nightmare. I have written a 4 page letter and sent to both Citroen and Arnold Clark. I actually cried tears of frustration today as a result of all this.
I will NEVER buy from Arnold Clark and would NEVER recommend them.
Hope my review prevents some poor other person having to endure what I have endured.

naz101

this is the great experience my parents got. they are both asian and english is not their first language but they speak very fluent english.

they went to a branch in glasgow after i saw a 2nd hand vauxhall astra (1year old ) for a good price. they get there and the sales person starts to sell the car. my mum calls me with the licence plate details and i do an online check with aa and rac. lo and behold i find that the car still has finance on it. my mum tells the sales person who says that i must be lying or have made a big mistake but there is no finance on it. it is all paid off.
mum then says again(im listening on the phone) that there is finance on it. he again says im lying and goes to speak to the manager. comes back and says the manager says there is no finance and if they buy it now they get a great deal.
eventually they admit that there was finance but they paid it off 2 weeks ago.
i call the finance company who for some reason tell me how much finance is left and not to buy the car!!

2 days later we go back and the manager insists that he has now paid it off. but if my parents dont pay the deposit they wont sell the car. im wanting to walk away due to the attitude but its all my parents could really afford(was a good deal)
i get written guarentee that it will be paid off and inform them that if it isnt they will be reported.
a week later it is all cleared. called customer service who just werent interested at all. looking back, we should have reported them for trying to mis sell goods(dont know if we could)
there have been faults with the car which they have treated my dad really badly over even thoughg they are within warranty!!

Colin2511

its interesting AC are still up to their tricks, I lived in Scotland about 8 years ago and bought a metro from AC, - yep 6 months tax instead of promised 12, a few more niggles ..but when I came to trade it in back in England (as I had moved), I was asked why I did not inform them it was an ex learning car - it had been fitted with dual pedal sysem, and the pedals just removed (indeed if you stuck your hand up the passenger side you could feel all the bits where the pedals had been....also, it appeared that it was not quite the model it should have been (I cannot remember but eg sold as XL instead of L which had caused hassle everytime I renewed insurance)

Had I known it had been previously used from a driving school, no way would I have bought it..

debtfreein4years

we bought our car from arnold clark toyota in aberdeen. the car is mechanically sound but there has been a few niggles even now over 18months later. again arnold clark will not be getting our custom when its time for our next car.

1. they tried to sting oh with a stupidly high interest rate.

2. the car wasnt ready on the day we were told we could pick it up, something to do with not having received all the documents and thus couldnt tax it. I kicked up such a stink that they went to the dvla and managed to tax it that day.

3. oh signed the finance deal without me reading it first. the salesman did get the finance and price down to something i was happy with, but the insurance he got oh to add to the finance. Not happy at all with that as OH could have paid the insurance for the year then and there but didnt realise what adding the insurance to the finance ment.

4. had to ask to buy gap insurance and he pretended he didnt know what i was on about. im sorry but we are not driving out of here in a car thats just cost 12K plus finance wtih no gap insurance! when he finally clicked what it was he wanted to add it to the finance, no its getting paid for in cash.

5. finally went to pick up the car and it wasnt ready at the time we were told it would be. waited for 2 hours whilst they were doing what they needed to do. got the car and it wasnt cleaned to my standards. there was sticky stuff all over the dashboard (like spilt ribena) so i refused to leave till it had been cleaned again!

6. they didnt have most of the documentation and said it would be posted down to oh in wales. had to chase them up for this numerous times. i ended up picking the papers up from the dealership in aberdeen.

7. oh drove from aberdeen to glasgow and then to durham and the 2 front tyres needed replacing as they were bald! arnold clark said bring the car back to them and they will replace the tyres. ended up arnold clark paying half the cost of the tyres cause they said there's werent as expensive as what oh had bought.

8. no service book! so hadnt realised a service was needed yearly. called the garage and they are sending me a new service book stamped with their stamp for the service that they did which is fair enough as they cant stamp to say the 1st service was done when they didnt do it.

its a comedy of errors and i wouldnt touch them with a bargepole in the future. the salesman has been very helpful with the service book issue but i think he just remembers what a bleep i was to deal with and wanted to get rid of me asap!

spuds_2

Thanks to all the MSE'ers who have posted on this thread - hopefully it will come up in a google search about Arnold Clark. AC and Carcraft have the worse reputations of any major motoring chains I know of imo. There is a web site dedicated to complaints about Arnold Clark:

http://www.arnoldclark.150m.com/

Now managed from eastern europe, I presume due to legal threats from the company.

Marblehead - I would go straight to Trading Standards, but it may also be worth contacting the police. I would imagine that forging someones signature in order to gain financial advantage is an offence, surely a form of fraud. Best wishes.

absentee123

I always thank my lucky stars for my escape from carcraft, it was actually their own stupidity that allowed me to do so. They never completed their end of the agreement so it wasn't set up & I had a car for free for 3 months. I was very fortunate, but I did cover my back as well.

These people are some of the most unscrupulous con men & women out there, absolute low lives. The stories I've heard would make your toes curl. Never buy from Carcraft/Arnold Clark. And I mean never. If you want finance, you're better getting it with a loan i.e. AA loans/your own bank, the interest rates are far lower and you are in control, not a bunch of greedy chimps.

Paulaob

I purchased an extended Warranty with my vehicle from Arnold Clark Sefton Street Liverpool. My vehicle developed an oil leak, (so obviously a mechanical fault taking place) Arnold Clark said that after checking with Autocare the Warranty Company, that it was not covered. No where within my Warranty documents does it state that this sort of mechanical problem isn't covered. Arnold Clark Service Manager said "it's Autocare telling us they will not cover the cost for repair". After some research, I found out that Arnold Clark and this company Autocare are actually one and the same. The bottom line is I'm getting an independent inspection carried out and then I intend to pursue Arnold Clark legally, not only for the costs and repairs, but also for the distress and inconvenience I have suffered. If you intend to buy a Warranty please be warned and steer clear of Arnold Clark and their underhanded dealings. Why else would they say it's not covered if it wasn't to get you to part with more of your cash. I also intend to ensure that this message along with the hundreds of others from unhappy customers reaches their potential customers, as I intend to hand out printed copies of all the reports I can lay my hands out outside their Dealership over the forthcoming weekends, which is perfectly legal, and if it prevents one more person from being hoodwinked by an Arnold Clark Dealership then it's well worth the effort and time.