Consumer advice Re fault on a used car

Hintza

Buzby wrote: »

....otherwise you take it to a main dealer, and send them the bill - or court, if they don't pay.

Not sure I would do that, that could be construed as not mitigating your losses on a car of this age.

By all means by a second hand part, if you decide to go down this route.

Buzby

It could easily be argued that the dealer had been given the opportunity to repair and refused. Going to anyone other than a franchised dealership would leave the OP open to accusations of making it worse (if botched ).

A main dealer has the wherewithal to complete the task without this worry. You could certainly ask for non OEM parts if available, but why should you?

colino

I'm guessing on a ten year old car their hoping you'll get tired of being fobbed off and go away. Don't. It's easy enough for anyone to source parts, not necessarily new or direct from Ford at a reasonable price and fix this on your car, so unless you bought it ultra cheap, ask them again when you can book it in for them to fix.

bigjl

Best short term cure to keep it water tight is to get a helper to lift the glass in the fully up position.

Then use gaffer tape to secure it, attach it over the top frame of the door, make the length of tape in contact with the glass as long as possible to ensure it doesn't slip.

It will not look pretty but will keep it where it needs to be as that is how you secure a window when replacing the regulator.

If I was in your position I would buy the regulator from eBay then buy a Haynes Manual and fix it yourself.

A pain of a job but achievable.

And from what I can see and there is only one regulator so they are talking out their @@@@ if they have trouble getting one.

I put the details in eBay and found loads in a few seconds.

The garage just can't be bothered to fit the job in.

There are also repair kits on eBay which would indicate to me that it is a fairly common issue.

manamaga

Thanks for all the feedback, I'll post back soon with my outcome.

manamaga

Hi all, just an update. The CAB called me back yesterday and they confirmed with me that the Sale of Goods Act would apply in this case. I must give them an opportunity to put the issue right (which I have done for 3 months), put this in writing and follow up after if they still fail to rectify, buy way of getting the work done and recovering the costs.
The CAB did say that I was within my rights to try to recover my costs however, it would be for a court to decide, which is fine by me as I think I have been very patient.

Anyway, I have penned a letter which will be sent today. Here is what the letter says if anyone is having a similar issue:(I will post back with an update later):

Dear xxxxx,

I purchased a car from LCC on the 8th July 2013, a 2003 Ford Focus Ghia 1.8 TDCi. Registration number xxxx xxx. Within days of purchasing the car I informed you that there were electrical components missing from inside of the rear offside door, and that the windows glass was being held in place with a piece of wood. You viewed the door and agreed to rectify the problem. More than three months have now elapsed and you have so far failed carry out the agreed repair.

I respectfully request that you acknowledge receipt of this letter and supply me with a firm date as to when you can fit the required parts. I also request that the date of repair will not fall beyond 31st October 2013. If you are unable to accomplish the agreed rectification within this time frame, I will be happy to arrange the repair myself at an alternative workshop, and I will seek to recover my costs (plus any incidentals for the cost or hire car / taxi and loss of earnings) at a later date.

Kind regards

manamaga

Thanks for all your advice thus far! :-D

manamaga

OK, I said I'd post back with and update.

Two days before the 'deadline' as mentioned in my letter to the garage, I got a phone call. It just so happened, by some miracle, that the regulator had arrived!!! How lucky am I?

I took my car to them this morning for it to be fitted. I didn't want to post earlier through fear of putting a jinx on this. I was half expecting another call to say that the part was faulty or the wrong one......again.

I think we may have a triumph here but I will let you know when I get the car back, and I can take it to the car wash for the first time! :-D

manamaga

Final update, and a consumer victory in the bag! Window now fixed! Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread and I hope others can take inspiration from this!.