Ripped off by Stoneacre

andi1872

Hi guys, im hoping someone can give me some advice regarding my experience with Stoneacre Group as i've been totally ripped off and lied to....

In May this year i purchased a 2008 Suzuki Swift from Stoneacre in Doncaster. I didn't really want the car but was really impressed with the drive and couldn't get the car i actually wanted so i settled and bought it. It was a stupid mistake because i should have known id get bored with it because it wasn't what i wanted and i was right.

Last month i finally admitted defeat and went back to Stoneacre Doncaster and asked what they could offer me by way of a swap. The sales guy asked me what i was looking for and i told him i was looking for something a bit bigger, no older than 2008 and it must be a diesel. He asked why i wouldn't go for anything older than 2 years and i explained it was because i wanted atleast 1 year worry free motoring. He then went on to explain that i wouldn't have to worry about that because they offer a Lifetime Warranty for an extra fee.

He was very good at his job because he managed to convince me to go for petrol over diesel and i took out a 2007 Fiat Grande Punto for a test drive. During the test drive he told me about the features of the car and particularly the Blue&Me Bluetooth that was built in and how i could play my music from my iPhone wirelessly through the system. When we got back he went on about all the features of the car and that this 2007 Grande Punto Eleganza was priced at £6999 and that he would let me have the car with this Lifetime Warranty all for just £125 on top of my existing car.

It all sounded so good that in that i would get around the same MPG as my Swift, the Blue&Me and lifetime warranty that i agreed on the understanding that the punto was serviced and MOT'd. All agreed i came back 2 hours later to pick up the car.

On the drive home i noticed a strong smell of petrol coming from the ventilation and then tried the air conditioning which didn't work. By the time i got home, approx half an hour later, i had a pounding headache resulting from this smell of fuel so i phoned Stoneacre and told them about all the faults and they booked me in for the following Monday as this was a Friday night.

Unable to drive the car all weekend because of this smell, i was getting more and more concerned about what id got myself into so did some home work and found that at this point i could apparently refuse to accept the car? During the weekend i also found out that the Blue&Me didn't do what he told me it did and realised i was getting 20MPG less than my Swift.

Feeling annoyed and lied to, when i went back on the Monday i questioned why the features promised didn't exist, why id been lied to about the MPG and why, when the car had supposedly been serviced before i took it away that there was a split fuel pipe and dead air conditioning. I demanded to speak to the Sales Manager and explained how his sales guy had lied to me about the features and how annoyed i was that they could let me drive off the forecourt with a split fuel pipe and dead air conditioning and that i wanted to refuse the car. He told me this wasn't possible and that their only obligation was to fix the problems and as a good will gesture would give me an Iphone adapter.

Today i finally got my iPhone adapter and when i went back i begged the sales manager to swap the car as i was so unhappy with the lies and service to which he offered me £4000 in part exchange value for my car, bearing in mind that only 6 weeks ago i effectively paid £6999!

Obviously i declined and came home thinking id sell it privately to get an older version of the car i originally wanted but when i got home and did a valuation i found that this Fiat was only actually worth £4800 from a Franchised Dealer!

I got an £8000 personal loan to pay for the original swift so now i've ended up with a car worth only half that. I've been lied to and i feel cheated, stuck with a car i don't want that i've no choice but to keep for 4 years until i've paid the loan off.

Is there anything i can do???

atrixblue.-MFR-.

The fact you took the car back not WANTING it and asking for a straight swap for somewthing else im suprised they allowed being its been 7 months since you purchased the swift. they took into account that you had done mileage since purchase, extra wear on the suzuki, it having another added owner to the vehicle and depreciation and hence the lower price bracket of £4000.00 or there abouts, so in thinking that way they swapped for a car of same value being the punto, wich my mind cant really get around why they let you swap probably good will being so close to christmas.

did you not see the onscreen price?

did you not ask its value?

you did infact engage in a contract by swapping, so technically this is a new purchase of vehicle, you should let the garage have attempts to fix the car. the fact you entered the contract by swapping, and the fact you purchased one vehicle and then took it back some months later not liking it and nothing wrong with it doesnt help your situation from the garages perspectave as they have done you a "goodwill jesture" allready.
you cannot return the car under soga because you dont like it! you test drove it liked it and then entered into contract, if they fail to fix the problems repeatedly then you would be able to shout S.O.G.A at them, but the features you were told about come under trade descriptions if you have a full rundown list of what supposed to be in the vehicle on their headed paper,salemen do get it wrong from time to time with cars feature's shouting at them will only put their heels in the ground, if an apporaoch of hey look that stereo doesnt do what you say it did, then you may have got a more sympathetic response.

as it stands, if you did manage to get the S.O.G.A through and a reimbursment it will be for the value of the punto not your £7000 so either way youve lost out.

vikingaero

Did you buy the car under an Approved Used Scheme? If so then read the documentation as there may have been a 14/28day no quibble refund - however after a month you may be outside this.

As to the faults the easiest way would be to get them fixed. Air conditioning won't work close to freezing anyway (despite the a/c light being on) as this is to prevent ice entering or forming and damaging the compressor. As to the poor MPG - it could be that the cold weather is to blame with lights, rear window demister being used. I know that this last month my MPG has been terrible as I've idled the car for ages and been stuck in traffic because of the snow. Do some simple checks such as tyre pressures as the freezing temperatures may have caused them to drop.

As to the value of the car - yes it does seem that you paid top dollar for it. Rather than beat around the bush I'm going to be polite and say that I think that you are easily led/persuaded. Next time you have thoughts about buying a car check online for prices, never sign on the same day without sleeping about it and take a friend along and tell him/her to be your !!!!!! devils advocate.

If you can do anything see if you can unravel the deal and get your Swift back. And stop buying cars willy nilly because you really are being gouged thousands each time you change.

Hintza

You swapped a Swift for a Punto! :eek:

You swapped a 2008 Swift or a 2007 Punto for (in effect) more money! :eek::eek:

photome

Hintza wrote: »

You swapped a Swift for a Punto! :eek:

You swapped a 2008 Swift or a 2007 Punto for (in effect) more money! :eek::eek:

Those were my thoughts.

what is it they say about ..... and their money.

Seriously though, I dont think there is anything you can do apart from letting the garage sort the problems

frothey

the fuel economy might also be down due to the split fuel pipe!

with regards to cost - as harsh as it might sound - no-one forced you to pay what you did for the car, it's down to you to do some research before buying.

Enterprise-D

I always do months and months of research on specific car models before committing to buying.

I take into consideration: Reliability, Fuel Economy, Car Tax, Equipment and of course aesthetics

Based on the above I don't know why I have a Mazda 3 Sport 2.0 Petrol with only 30MPG and £235 a year tax lol. Tis a lovely car though with all the toys.

Always do your research first though and you wont be disappointed.

andi1872

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

The fact you took the car back not WANTING it and asking for a straight swap for somewthing else im suprised they allowed being its been 7 months since you purchased the swift. they took into account that you had done mileage since purchase, extra wear on the suzuki, it having another added owner to the vehicle and depreciation and hence the lower price bracket of £4000.00 or there abouts, so in thinking that way they swapped for a car of same value being the punto, wich my mind cant really get around why they let you swap probably good will being so close to christmas.

did you not see the onscreen price?

did you not ask its value?

Actually i had a p/x to the value of £2000 so total cost was £10500 for the swift!

There wasn't a price on the car so i obviously took the price to be what the salesman told me so in doing the swap i accepted that i'd lost £3500 with the Punto being £6999.

You're all right in that i shouldn't have made any decision without coming home and doing some homework first but with the lifetime warranty also apprantly being the value of £1500, which i've since found out is only £500 to buy from them seperately, it all seemed like such a good deal.

Its just all the lies and deciet that has hurt me, not to mention the fact that they've made around £6000 out of me since first buying the swift. It seems to me that the sales guy took advantage of there not being a price on the punto so i had to accept his £6999 price was right when in fact it was probably priced at £4500. So he therefore led me to believe that with the punto at £6999 and the warranty at £1500 that he was doing me a massive favour for coming back to them whereas had i known the true value of the punto and the true price of the warranty at £500 then i might have thought differently!

ioscorpio

They always seem to have a lot of Puntos for sale, surely there were other ones on the forecourt with prices on them.
http://sis.virtual-showroom.co.uk/%28vk5hgs455i132245431g4155%29/templates/stoneacre/searchResults.aspx?&clientCode=StoneacreGroupCustom&mode=search

Inactive

It seems that Stoneacre must have huge glass doors..

Gene_Hunt_2

Hintza wrote: »

You swapped a Swift for a Punto! :eek:

You swapped a 2008 Swift or a 2007 Punto for (in effect) more money! :eek::eek:

One born every minute.

The sales was good at his job said the OP.:rotfl:


Something reminds me of that Harry Enfiled sketch.