Outside Lane - car buying service

jimmym105

Just to say: I really like the concept of an MD coming on here to explain how his business works. Money savers get clarification, Steve gets free customer insight. Brilliant.

Lordy

Steve_Myers wrote: »

Dear shpabi,
I'm very disappointed to hear that our hassle-free service has failed you on this occasion. I believe this matter has now been resolved, something I personally looked into for you the moment I received your letter.

Please do let me know if there is anything further we can do for you and once again I offer my apologies for our uncharacteristically poor after sales service on this isolated occasion.

I'll echo another poster's respect for the MD of a company coming onto a public forum to answer questions - and with good grace, too.

The thing is, I don't think the poor after-sales service that shpabi has received from Outside Lane is an isolated case, unfortunately. I'm currently experiencing the same after-sales frustration with the company. Which is a shame, because my personal shopper was pretty attentive during the sourcing and buying process.

Once the car was sourced and purchased, an email from the company let me know that the money had cleared their account, and they'd be in touch with me with a delivery date. That was over a week ago. To get an update on the car's status, I've called two landline numbers (one cut off and one voicemail left) and the mobile of my personal shopper (voicemail left) and emailing twice to check the current status of the car, all I've had back is silence. I can only assume that once Outside Lane have had your money, you're very much low priority. And I haven't even seen or had the car!

Having parted with thousands of pounds, this is very shoddy customer service. A quick phone call or a brief email to say that the car isn't ready yet, or they're waiting for a part is obviously too much trouble. If Outside Lane value their image, they should place customer service as a top priority. After all, that's the core of the business, isn't it? And discussions like this don't do their image much good, surely.

Outside Lane is proud to display the Office of Fair Trading logo on their site. I'm hoping it's not just window dressing. And I hope someone gets in touch with me soon and tells me what's happening with this car I've apparently bought.

dsboss

Lordy wrote: »

I'll echo another poster's respect for the MD of a company coming onto a public forum to answer questions - and with good grace, too.

The thing is, I don't think the poor after-sales service that shpabi has received from Outside Lane is an isolated case, unfortunately. I'm currently experiencing the same after-sales frustration with the company. Which is a shame, because my personal shopper was pretty attentive during the sourcing and buying process.

Once the car was sourced and purchased, an email from the company let me know that the money had cleared their account, and they'd be in touch with me with a delivery date. That was over a week ago. To get an update on the car's status, I've called two landline numbers (one cut off and one voicemail left) and the mobile of my personal shopper (voicemail left) and emailing twice to check the current status of the car, all I've had back is silence. I can only assume that once Outside Lane have had your money, you're very much low priority. And I haven't even seen or had the car!

Having parted with thousands of pounds, this is very shoddy customer service. A quick phone call or a brief email to say that the car isn't ready yet, or they're waiting for a part is obviously too much trouble. If Outside Lane value their image, they should place customer service as a top priority. After all, that's the core of the business, isn't it? And discussions like this don't do their image much good, surely.

Outside Lane is proud to display the Office of Fair Trading logo on their site. I'm hoping it's not just window dressing. And I hope someone gets in touch with me soon and tells me what's happening with this car I've apparently bought.

The last post is pretty outdated, but surely the case stands...

I am one of the potential buyer, who was contacted by OSL several times over 24 hours. Firstly, this is a brand new scenario for me and honestly speaking the prices quoted sounds too generous... Secondly, now I have second thoughts of buying a car like this and what if I don't like it... Finally the last 2 posts made me concerned and silence from Mr MD kind a put me off from the potential business they had...

I am glad I search the web before I liked it too much...