Smart car not as description

pete96

Hi,

My partner recently bought a 3 year old Smart car from a Mercedes dealership 2-3months ago. She paid mostly on their interest free credit scheme, as well as the money from her trade in and a returnable deposit on a credit card.

She purchased the car on the understanding it had 'full service history'. This was described clearly on the ticket hanging in the window and was also reinforced by the salesman at the time. However, a few weeks after buying the car we checked the service schedule to find it has only had 1 recorded service in its life on 16.04.13 at 29,645 miles.

I haven't gone back to them with a complaint yet as I just wasn't some advice on our consumer rights in this situation. I gather that they were in breech of the Sale of Goods Act by selling something which wasn't as described?

I was also going to join this complaint with one about the dreadful after sale customer service my partner has received.... she was promised at the time of sale that her returnable £500 deposit on her credit card would be credited back as soon as the finance was agreed. It in fact took weeks of emails and telephone calls from my partner casing them about it; a brief summary of her attempts are below:

25.10.13 emailed Paul regarding my deposit 25.10.13 email from Paul saying they are expecting funds any day now and he would keep in touch to let me know when it's received.
02.11.13 emailed Paul - still no news on deposit... I asked for the contact details of the accounts department
02.11.13 Paul gave me the name of Richard Stevenson.
03.11.13 11:51 called and left message with receptionist for Richard
04.11.13 emailed Paul again as no response from Richard. I asked for his email address - no response
04.11.13 12:56 called and left message with receptionist for Richard
04.11.13 18:15 called and left voicemail for Richard
05.11.13 09:00 asked to speak to richard - apparently he will call back
05.11.13 09:00 asked to speak to richard apparently he is now on holiday - I was put through to Andy
06.11.13 12:30 asked to speak to andy apparently he is on holiday - asked to speak to richard he is too busy to talk to me but is aware of the problem

As you can see, absolutely shocking service!! Sorry for the lengthy post but I have tried to stick to the pertinent facts.


Thanks in advance

InsideInsurance

Ultimately you need to query the apparent disconnect between what was advertised and what has been received. Until you've heard their explanation everything else is fairly futile.

It is worth however having it clear in your mind what you want the resolution to be if they admit there was an error in the advertising and that it does in fact only have a partial service history. Are you wanting to return the car? Are you wanting a refund, in which case, how much? etc

pete96

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Ultimately you need to query the apparent disconnect between what was advertised and what has been received. Until you've heard their explanation everything else is fairly futile.

It is worth however having it clear in your mind what you want the resolution to be if they admit there was an error in the advertising and that it does in fact only have a partial service history. Are you wanting to return the car? Are you wanting a refund, in which case, how much? etc

Your points noted. I just thought I'd come here first just to get an idea of our rights, the strength of our position, and ultimately what sort of resolutions we could reasonable expect to ask for?

InsideInsurance

Civil law is never as black and white as all that and "reasonable" is the key word in all things - you couldnt for example force them to give you a 50% refund and let you keep the car if it was proven they miss advertised it.

Ultimately its about negotiation, you have the stronger position as they are the ones that will have breached the contract and so its good for you to think now of what you want the resolution to be and if its a partial refund with you keeping the car then how much you want - I am sure there are plenty of online tools that will help you see what the impact on value it will have.

Of cause, you could negotiate freebies (like future services) instead of cash and as this costs them less they may be willing to give more.

Remember that we don't have punitive damages in the UK and so all that can be claimed from them is the actual losses incurred due to their breach rather than that + $1m to stop them doing it again type thing which you find in the USA etc

pete96

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Civil law is never as black and white as all that and "reasonable" is the key word in all things - you couldnt for example force them to give you a 50% refund and let you keep the car if it was proven they miss advertised it.

Ultimately its about negotiation, you have the stronger position as they are the ones that will have breached the contract and so its good for you to think now of what you want the resolution to be and if its a partial refund with you keeping the car then how much you want - I am sure there are plenty of online tools that will help you see what the impact on value it will have.

Of cause, you could negotiate freebies (like future services) instead of cash and as this costs them less they may be willing to give more.

Remember that we don't have punitive damages in the UK and so all that can be claimed from them is the actual losses incurred due to their breach rather than that + $1m to stop them doing it again type thing which you find in the USA etc

Thank you, that has helped a lot! I think I prefer the idea of free future servicing as opposed to a partial refund like you suggest.


Would you say it would be a help to mention the poor after sale service from the outset for added leverage?

shaun_from_Africa

Why not try a couple of the online car buying websites such as "we buy any car.com" to get quotes as to the difference in value with and without FSH.
When using sites like this, it's best to set up a "disposable" email address on somewhere such as yahoo or gmail otherwise you will be getting mail from them for the rest of your life.

InsideInsurance

pete96 wrote: »

Would you say it would be a help to mention the poor after sale service from the outset for added leverage?

You can, but you dont want to cloud the issue as ultimately you have already gotten your refund for it even if it took a bit longer than it ideally should have.

podwin

Are you sure servicing isn't every two years?

Many cars are, the one it had could have been late and maybe another 2nd service isn't due until 4 years / 40,000 miles.

Cars have been like this for years, my Skoda i bought 11 years ago was, can't speak for Smart though, just double check your facts.

Just seen this, there is nothing to say servicing should be every year: http://goo.gl/glhYrZ

shaun_from_Africa

A quick "Google" (although the info I found wasn't on the official Smart or Mercedes websites) shows that the car in question has missed at least 2 services.
They should be carried out yearly or 9,000 miles whichever occurs first.

It might well be that the services have been carried out, just not recorded in the service book.
This is something that you should be able to find out from any Smart or Mercedes dealer as they should have access to the vehicle history.

bod1467

The first page of the service book should tell you the Service A and Service B intervals.

George_Michael

The service period is every 12 months, with services alternating between A&B.
http://uk.smart.com/information-service-after-sales-service-repair-service-care/a43a0f3c-8c59-5e58-9f6f-1b843686c9f7