Arnold Clark and mis-selling!

GarryLogan

Hi folks,

new to this forum and was hoping for some advice or the benefit of similar experience. Instead of typing the whole thing out, i've copied and pasted the e-mail i sent to Arnold Clark customer services below, with names and addresses removed:


"I am contacting you as I have a complaint with regards to the above vehicle. I purchased the vehicle on 31/03/15 from the ****** **** Motorstore in Glasgow (although the car had to be transferred from the Seafield Road Motorstore in Edinburgh). Initially I was very happy with it, until I looked at the service documents/manual and realised that they were from a mark 2 Focus, and not the Mark 3 I had purchased. I was obviously concerned as I had purchased the car in the understanding that it had a full service history.
At this point I should inform you that I have opened a case with Trading Standards concerning this, as I initially believed that the service documentation had been falsified, poorly. I advised Trading Standards that they should hold action until I had a chance to allow the salesman the opportunity to rectify the situation.
I called the salesman who sold me the car on 13/04/2015, his name is ***** ******, based at the ****** **** Motorstore. He advised that he believed this to be an error and that he would be able to “track down” the documents. I spoke to him later that day and he advised that he would be ordering me a new set of documents and have them updated with services done by Arnold Clark, and he would have the leasing company from which the car came supply him with a service record from their time in the possession of the car. I was happy to give him the chance to rectify this, unfortunately it was nearly 2 weeks before I spoke to him again, when I had to call him to find out what was happening on 24/04/2015. He called me back later that day to advise that I could come in and pick them up, I sent my brother to pick them up the next day as he lives nearby and I live a considerable distance away.
My “new” documentation comprised of a manual from a new Ford FIESTA and not a FOCUS, and I had another service manual from a mark 2 Focus. There was an invoice from Europcar Ltd which detailed supposed services done to the car, but this was not stamped nor was it on headed notepaper, I believe that this was falsified. I have decided not to contact ***** again as I now do not trust that he will act honestly.
I spent £10,488 on a car which I believed had a full service history, it does not. The car was mis-sold to me and I believe that a criminal act has occurred here, Trading Standards agree with me. They have advised that I am entitled to return the car or keep the car and push for damages, namely the price difference between a car with a full service history and one with no service history whatsoever, which I am in no doubt is the case with my car. I am now in possession of a car which I spent £10,488 on and have absolutely no idea whether it has been maintained properly. The other issue is that the car was sold with a year remaining on the warranty which is now void as there is no history of the car being maintained according to Fords service regime. As a competent DIY mechanic, I am confident that the car has not been serviced in quite a while, if at all, given that the air filter is very dirty and looks like it has never been replaced.
I would like to hear from someone as a matter of absolute urgency on how you plan to make reparations for this and ‘treat customers fairly’ as your advertising suggests, before I am forced to take this down a legal route.
Thank you".

Could anybody advise if i have acted correctly with this? Or make any suggestions as to anything else i could do? I am really not for letting this lie, this is the car that my wife ferries my children about in and i know nothing about it!

wiltsguy_2

if it's an ex lease/company car they don't always stamp the service books, my wife has a company car and each time it goes to the main delaer for service it never gets stamped, but they can provide a service print out from records kept. a lot of cars at auctions from lease companies come with service printouts. To be honest i would rather see a service print out than a stamped up book, anyone can buy a blank service book from an online auction site and get a stamp made.

As for the manual being wrong, this is also common and easily rectified by a delaership/ebay. Most people leave the books in the house and forget to put them in the car when selling/handing back.

GarryLogan

Thanks for your reply.

My point is that Arnold Clark advertised it as having a full service history and priced it accordingly, it did not, I bought it as advertised from Arnold Clark and not a leasing company. It appears to me that they've now tried to falsify the record twice and that's not what i paid for. they have thrown any old replacement handbook at me that turned out to be from a completely different model. This will affect the oprice i receive for the car should i ever wish to move it on.

With the amount of money i spent on it, i expect everything to be present and correct and don't see why why i should settle for less.

Johno100

They should be able to provide you with a service history but because of it's former use a lease vehicle this may take the form of a print-out and not the 'traditional' service book with stamps, mileage and dates in it. In my view that still constitutes a service history.

Not sure why you are getting so het up over the owners manual, it is a user handbook, nothing more or less, £10 second hand on Ebay and available for free in electronic form from Ford's website . Yes they should let you have one for the right model and Mk, but it isn't going to impact the re-sale value.

wealdroam

GarryLogan wrote: »

they have thrown any old replacement handbook at me that turned out to be from a completely different model. This will affect the oprice i receive for the car should i ever wish to move it on.

Why will it?

You have bought the car with the wrong handbook... did that affect the price you paid?

Hoof_Hearted

They seem like a top company:

http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews171218.html

bod1467

They're not known colloquially as Arnold Shark for nothing.

GarryLogan

I think there seems to be a few people not quite getting what i'm saying here.

- I paid a price for my car, that price would have been less had i known there had been no service history, in fact i would not have bought it.
- Without a valid service history, the year i have left on my warranty is void, this was a major selling point for me, peace of mind for the next year, i now no longer have that.
- I have no idea if the car has been properly maintained up until this point, it should have been serviced 3 times by now but on examination it appears that it has not.
- Arnold Clark have now given me the wrong manual and service books twice, deliberately in my view. i don't like being taken for a mug.
- Without a service history, the car is less appealing to potential buyers should i decide to move it on in the future.

I really don't think i'm over reacting here, am i wrong?

DaveTheMus

GarryLogan wrote: »

I think there seems to be a few people not quite getting what i'm saying here.

- I paid a price for my car, that price would have been less had i known there had been no service history, in fact i would not have bought it.
- Without a valid service history, the year i have left on my warranty is void, this was a major selling point for me, peace of mind for the next year, i now no longer have that.
- I have no idea if the car has been properly maintained up until this point, it should have been serviced 3 times by now but on examination it appears that it has not.
- Arnold Clark have now given me the wrong manual and service books twice, deliberately in my view. i don't like being taken for a mug.
- Without a service history, the car is less appealing to potential buyers should i decide to move it on in the future.

I really don't think i'm over reacting here, am i wrong?

Yet you bought a car from Arnold Clark...hmmm

From what you're saying it seems they have given you the wrong documentation, not that it hasn't been serviced...

bod1467

I'm (sort of) with the OP here ... currently he has no proof that the car has been fully serviced per the service schedule, so he paid over-the-odds for it (on the basis that it did have a FSH) and hence it's resale value is (presently) significantly reduced versus what he paid. Accordingly there is a provable loss, which he is entitled to recover from Arnold Shark.

agrinnall

As you now refuse to speak to the salesman you should instead ask to speak to the dealer principal and calmly explain the service history issue (forget about the manual, that's easily rectified), and tell him what it is that you want. I would expect a print out of the service history to be made available to you, at which point you're back to where you thought you were when you bought the car. If they can't provide a service history then that's a different kettle of fish and you should be looking at either a partial refund or being able to hand the car back for a full refund or a like for like replacement.