Arnold Clark - one to avoid

Mosh

OddballJamie wrote: »

Why are people surprised most car supermarkets only care about the bottom line.

Not surprised per se - not in this day and age. I'm just old enough to remember when good customer service was the norm. And I'm trying to recall when things changed for the worse *sigh*

gilbert_and_sullivan

OddballJamie wrote: »

This interests me, what was the story behind the mis-selling? Apologies if you've already mentioned it earlier.

Me too, maybe hiring potential cars or asking for extended test drives of potential purchases would be a better way to buy.

You wouldn't buy a clowns suit, wear it to the office once then claim the tailor missold it, or would you..;)

OddballJamie

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Me too, maybe hiring potential cars or asking for extended test drives of potential purchases would be a better way to buy.

You wouldn't buy a clowns suit, wear it to the office once then claim the tailor missold it, or would you..;)

A lot of mis-selling was going on a while ago regarding petrols and diesels. Garages selling little old ladies diesels motors with DPFs just to pop to the local shop once a week. From what I understood garages are suppose to advise against this nowadays.

Mosh

OddballJamie wrote: »

This interests me, what was the story behind the mis-selling? Apologies if you've already mentioned it earlier.

I didn't mention the details. Wife and I went to see a car. It was chucking it down and freezing and we had two of the three kids with us. My wife sat in the car and our son crawled around in it.

We were looking to go from an existing Volvo people carrier which was a lovely car, but costing too much to run to something more economical. The salesman insisted the Ford (can't recall the model) would be suitable as it was "larger" and would fit everyone/thing. Three children, including a baby seat, grandma, golden retriever, mum, dad, pram.

My wife duly purchased it, got it home and realised that:

a) with the child seat in place, there was no room for two other people in the back seat.

b) a folder stroller wouldn't fit in the boot

So, unsuitable for the purpose for which it was sold.

When my wife returned the next morning, the salesman gave her some guff about the Volvo no longer belonging to the garage so he couldn't just return it. Also, that as a result he couldn't just accept the Ford back, but instead would be willing to *buy* it back at £2000 less than the sum she paid.

She demanded to speak to the manager, who then went and talked to the salesman. Who claimed that my wife had has "all the kids and the pram in the car to check it for size when she was being shown the vehicle."

In other words, he lied. We only had two kids with us, for a start (no baby, seat or stroller). The manager chose to believe the liar, and instead called my wife as such and said he stood by the word of his staff member.

If that's not mis-selling, I don't know what is.

albionrovers

DaveF327 wrote: »

I thought that was carcraft?

The list ain't exhaustive, but it was an AC thread.

OddballJamie

DaveF327 wrote: »

I thought that was carcraft?

I made the mistake of going to a Carcraft nearly 10 years ago.
Told a salesman the sort of car I was looking for and he showed me a two year old Golf which at the time was £500 more that VW were selling at the time brand new.

I questioned this and the salesman said Carcraft warranty is better than theirs and we do more checks on the car than VW. He then followed with it's better to buy a used car than a new car as new cars have loads of faults that's why we charge more for used ones.

gilbert_and_sullivan

OddballJamie wrote: »

A lot of mis-selling was going on a while ago regarding petrols and diesels. Garages selling little old ladies diesels motors with DPFs just to pop to the local shop once a week. From what I understood garages are suppose to advise against this nowadays.

Highly qualified engineers who designed the things didn't warn against DPF use in stop start driving, or if they did the makers executives ignored them.

Why should a car sales bod who quite likely was working for Curry's selling Chinese telly's last week be expected to know more.

We're all wise after the event, but the problem here as with many things is that people do not do their research.

A car is usually the second most expensive purchase anyone will make, and in many cases it would appear that buyers will wander into a showroom, sit in a car they like the look of, ooh and aah over it, then test drive it 3 miles over roads the salesman wants them to use, then sign on the dotted line for up anything to £30k, its frankly unbelievable and people get what they deserve.

People need to take responsibility for themselves, we have more information at our fingertips these days than at any time, yet people can't be bothered to look, and keep trusting politicians and salesmen...please note no difference they all tell you what you want to hear to sell their goods.

If you go into Tescos for a loaf of bread and come out with 6 hot cross buns who's to blame.

OddballJamie

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

If you go into Tescos for a loaf of bread and come out with 6 hot cross buns who's to blame.

Depends whether you asked a member of staff for the most appropriate bread based item to make a cheese sandwich.

Car companies have known about DPF problems for at least 7 years, yet dealers are still mis-selling them. No difference to what the bank have been upto in the good old days until the government/FSA stepped in.

fivetide

Mosh wrote: »

My wife duly purchased it, got it home and realised that:

a) with the child seat in place, there was no room for two other people in the back seat.

b) a folder stroller wouldn't fit in the boot

So, unsuitable for the purpose for which it was sold.

.....If that's not mis-selling, I don't know what is.

What it is is a case of a salesman saying everything your wife wants to hear.

The fibbing bit is off but what he claimed she did is exactly what she should have done. Rain or not, put the seat in and make sure it fits (remember, not all car seats fit all cars so you should never either buy a seat without checking it in your car and I would say vice versa when looking at a new car).

She should also have tried the boot. It might be that in overall capacity it is larger but the shape is poor or there is ahigh lip etc etc etc. It is your buggy so it is down to you to see if it fits. Again, we tried several in the back of our car until we found one that fitted correctly. If you purchase a new buggy without checking it that's not the fault of Mothercare is it?

Bit of devil's advocate in there but I do recommend you don't let the mrs go car buying again!

Mosh

fivetide wrote: »

Bit of devil's advocate in there but I do recommend you don't let the mrs go car buying again!

Already ahead of you on that one

She's just very impulsive. Heck, she married me...