Require deposit back from car sales

kerryr1

On Saturday we went to look at a car. We were happy with it other than it smoked badly. We pointed this out to the salesman and he said that it was just because the car had been sat around not being driven for a fair while. He said that he could send it to his mechanic to get it sorted. He asked us to pay a £200 deposit to secure the car but said that we could have it back if we still weren't satisfied when the car came back. He wrote on the receipt for the deposit 'In garage-confirm car is fit for purpose.' I didn't sign anything. He asked us to come back in 2 hours.

We got back to the garage and they said the car would be another 20 minutes as while it was away they realised it didn't have an MOT but had been advertised as having one so they were getting it done. The salesman kept apologising for the delay, kept saying we could have our money back but then kept saying it wouldn't be long, this went on for an hour. By this point alarm bells were ringing so we went to ask for our deposit back, the salesman got quite nasty, argumentative and threatening. He said he couldn't put the money back on my card so would have to do a bank transfer. In the middle of this his manager returned with the car. We explained that we didn't feel comfortable with the transaction and would like our deposit back. Things got quite heated and we were concerned about our safety and that of our current car.

The manager kept basically saying that we were obliged to purchase the car and that he was out of time and money because he had the car mot'd because we'd said that we were going to buy it. After a bit more heated debate we agreed to a refund of £150 so we covered the cost of the MOT, by this point we were really quite concerned and just wanted to get out. The manager took our bank details and said he would transfer the money that afternoon. I checked yesterday and the money hadn't been returned to my account. I called the garage to ask when this would be happening and the salesman got threatening and aggressive. He said that he would do it on Monday morning but that if I continued to ring that he wouldn't do it at all, he was really very nasty. The money still hasn't been returned to my account and I am now wondering where I stand.

Do I have any come back or can I say bye bye to my money?

bod1467

What type of card? Debit or credit?

PS - it might be worth editing your post to put in some paragraphs. At the moment it is a bit of a wall of text.

OddballJamie

What type of card did you pay on?

Did you even wait to look at the car after it came back from the garage before you left?

bod1467

Snap!!!

OddballJamie

Hang on - the dealer admitted the car had been sat around on the lot for a while yet you paid a deposit to secure it for two hours while it was at a garage being fixed?

fivetide

I'd be looking for a chat with Trading Standards. Clearly they have issues at the garage and they can't take your money like that, any of it I would say.

Best bet might be a chat with TS then recorded delivery letter and then a claim via moneyclaim the online small claims service.

If you paid by credit card (which is why the questions above are being asked) then you might also find you can do a chargeback on them which is get a refund from your credit card company. It sounds like it was a debit card though and whilst doing that isn't impossible with a debit card it is a lot harder.

Good luck though. They sound like a right shower.

funkycoldribena

My eyes,my eyes...

gilbert_and_sullivan

I hope you get this sorted.

However if it quacks and waddles its generally a duck....was this bombsite staffed by dodgy looking blokes with pencil moustachios and sporting trilby hats, were there bull terriers wearing studded collars lurking about?

funkycoldribena

kerryr1 wrote: »

On Saturday we went to look at a car. We were happy with it other than it smoked badly. We pointed this out to the salesman and he said that it was just because the car had been sat around not being driven for a fair while. He said that he could send it to his mechanic to get it sorted.

He asked us to pay a £200 deposit to secure the car but said that we could have it back if we still weren't satisfied when the car came back. He wrote on the receipt for the deposit 'In garage-confirm car is fit for purpose.' I didn't sign anything. He asked us to come back in 2 hours.

We got back to the garage and they said the car would be another 20 minutes as while it was away they realised it didn't have an MOT but had been advertised as having one so they were getting it done. The salesman kept apologising for the delay, kept saying we could have our money back but then kept saying it wouldn't be long, this went on for an hour. By this point alarm bells were ringing so we went to ask for our deposit back, the salesman got quite nasty, argumentative and threatening. He said he couldn't put the money back on my card so would have to do a bank transfer. In the middle of this his manager returned with the car. We explained that we didn't feel comfortable with the transaction and would like our deposit back.
Things got quite heated and we were concerned about our safety and that of our current car. The manager kept basically saying that we were obliged to purchase the car and that he was out of time and money because he had the car mot'd because we'd said that we were going to buy it. After a bit more heated debate we agreed to a refund of £150 so we covered the cost of the MOT, by this point we were really quite concerned and just wanted to get out.

The manager took our bank details and said he would transfer the money that afternoon. I checked yesterday and the money hadn't been returned to my account. I called the garage to ask when this would be happening and the salesman got threatening and aggressive. He said that he would do it on Monday morning but that if I continued to ring that he wouldn't do it at all, he was really very nasty.
The money still hasn't been returned to my account and I am now wondering where I stand. Do I have any come back or can I say bye bye to my money?

Is that better?

maninthestreet

Not even my 50 year old classic car smokes badly when it's started up after a few weeks of non-use. Any modern car that does that is not a car I would consider buying.

DUTR

OddballJamie wrote: »

Hang on - the dealer admitted the car had been sat around on the lot for a while yet you paid a deposit to secure it for two hours while it was at a garage being fixed?

That was my thought too,