Is this letter OK?

Stevefromdonny

I hope this is the right place for this!

I recently wrote to Carshop (a car supermarket) about some problems I had with the purchase of a car and requesting some things be put right. The car itself is fine, but I am unhappy with a few things around the purchase.

I wrote requesting refunds and replacement items etc on 10th Feb and they recieved my letter on 11th (signed for).

I gave them 14 days to respond. It has now been over 3 weeks and so I am writing a further letter. I have attached it below (names and addresses blanked). I would welcome any opinions from any legal people here, anything I should remove? Anything I should edit? I have already posted this in the motoring section but I think I'll get better feedback on the letter here.

Date: 7th March 2014
Ref: Citroen DS4, **** ***. Second formal letter of complaint and
NOTICE OF INTENT TO PURSUE COURT ACTION


Dear Sir/Madam,


On the 11th February I sent your Northampton office a letter, making a number of requests, including a response within two weeks. I have proof of your reciept of this letter, it was signed for by * ******* at 9:53am.


Unfortunately it has now been over 3 weeks and I have had no response.


I sent an email on Friday 28th February to your published aftersales email address (quality@carshop.co.uk) chasing progress of this letter, which was somehow picked up by **** ***** in Doncaster Carshop. She replied promising a phone call on Monday 3rd March, but no phone call was received. Once again, my faith in the staff in Doncaster has reached a new low, hence my wish to deal with the head office (who, presumably have some power, control or authority over staff in regional dealerships).


To remind you, here is a brief list of the issues I need resolving:

1. I need a service book for the car and a discount on the car to reflect the fact it does not have an original dealer stamp relating to it and thus full service history. The car was in effect delivered not as described.
2. I need the £299 refunding that I am still owed from the VAP policy which I have asked to be cancelled twice now within the 30 day “cancel at the dealership” window.
3. I need a replacement GardX care pack and certificate to state that my car has been GardX treated, or a refund of the full amount I paid for this.

I will give your company a further 10 working days to provide some satisfactory response in writing that you are attempting to resolve the issues outlined in my previous letter.


If I receive no reply by 22th March, I will be taking the matter to the small claims court to recover money I am owed, including any costs involved in taking this to court.


At this point, if I have had no response, and no offer to try and sort the issues out, I shall be claiming for the VAP refund, a refund for GardX, the cost of a service book and an amount for de-valuation of the vehicle for not having an original dealer stamp (for which I am currently in talks with Citroen UK to ascertain a value).




Yours Faithfully

Thanks everyone! By the way, these are not empty threats in the letter, I really will take them to court if they don't reply with resolutions, so any prerequisites to taking them to court need to be in this letter.

Valli

I'd shorten it thus:

Dear Sirs
Re: (ref)

LETTER BEFORE ACTION.

Further to my letter of /email of (date) I now request that you resolve the below-detailed issues within (timescale) or I shall escalate my claim to the Small Claims Court where I shall increase my claim to include the costs of bringing the action:

Provision of stamped dealership logbook which you guaranteed (promised? advertised?) would be provided to me as the new owner of the car. I estimate the loss to me, should this not be provided by you as £(value of service log book).

Refund of £299 as the VAP was cancelled by me within the specified timescale.

Provision of a replacement Gard X care pack plus certificate showing car has received this treatment or a refund of £(cost of Gard X).

Should these issues not be settled by (date) I will have no hesitation in bringing the case before Small Claims Court.

In my opinion your letter is far too polite. Keep it brief and to the point. Leave out all the I said/ she said bit, too.

HTH

In the interim (and just in case they persist in ignoring you), you might be wise to obtain some documentary proof as to the financial loss you will incur by not having the service book.

As before, send it signed for and keep a copy of the receipt (Post Office) as you can claim that in your small claim too, plus any phonecalls etc, assuming you have a record of them;)

I do believe, (though you will need to check this), that you need to quantify all your losses in financial terms, as you will be claiming for financial loss hence my suggestion you detail the cost to you for each of the three unresolved issues.

DCFC79

I can't offer any advice but I wish you luck.

JessicAhh

I think Valli's alterations make this more threatening (in a good way!). I think I would include who signed for the letter to show you have proof of receipt:
Further to my letter of /email of (date) (signed for by *********, 9.53am)

unholyangel

JessicAhh wrote: »

I think Valli's alterations make this more threatening (in a good way!). I think I would include who signed for the letter to show you have proof of receipt:
Further to my letter of /email of (date) (signed for by *********, 9.53am)

To be honest, I dont think the proof of receipt is going to be useful to anyone except OP in proving he has tried to settle this out of court to a court.

Certainly with an LBA if its not strictly necessary, I wouldnt include it as then its just "fluff". If the dealership were to deny they received it, then I would say I had a signature. But until that time, I think its pointless to mention.

Stevefromdonny

Thanks Valli, that is a great help, much more concise. I tend to waffle when I'm writing letters!

If anyone wants to see the original letter, it is on the motoring forum under "Carshop to avoid".

They have treated us very badly as dissatisfied customers. Their service recovery is none existent and I think they thought we'd just go away.

We're not!

Thanks again everyone!

Valli

You're very welcome;)

Strangely my (few) complaints IRL have never even got as far as me having to send a LBA!

Do keep us posted and I hope this sorts it, which would be preferable, I'm sure!

Stevefromdonny

If I could just ask . . . I sent all my correspondence so far to Carshop HQ in Northampton. My car was bought from the Doncaster branch. I have had NO response from Carshop to any of my letters to date. The CAB website says I should file my small claim with the branch I bought the car from. So should I send a final letter to the Doncaster branch before pursuing my claim? I'm tempted to send the letter about 5 times, to Doncaster, Northampton, the MD, the CEO, and anyone else who'll listen (and of course write who I've copied it to on the letter . . . )

Advice? Thanks!

Valli

That's a hard one.

I would be tempted to send a final letter to the branch bought from given that that's the branch you would be filing your claim against. Keep a copy and keep track of costs as you will add them to your claim.

I'd maybe give them 7 days to respond.

Would be interested to see what others say.

Stevefromdonny

Something else I wanted to know is this:

The value of my car has gone down due to not having FSH, and I want some compensation for this. However I don't have a value for this. I could take a stab in the dark at £500 at the point of sale to me. But how would this go down if it got to court? Could they ask for an expert opinion?

I've had a thought, could I deal with this issue seperately via trading standards?

Stevefromdonny

Wish I'd never bought the flaming car now. I love it, but its got a bitter aftertaste now. Wish I could reject it now after 2 months.