ImperialCars Supermarket took my deposit money

Florin72

Hi, I need some guidance about how to recover my deposit money (£200) from a car dealership called imperialcarsupermarkets.co.uk, the Halesowen branch who retained my deposit money but did not sell any car to me.
I went to test drive a car I've seen on the website and when arrived I've been told that the car is not there, is with a client in Coventry! As I needed a car for my new job and being on site I asked if they've got something similar, in the same price range to show me. I found an Audi A3 that I liked and we agreed on a PCP finance. I've been asked to pay £200 deposit to secure the car, which I did. This was on Friday. I've been told that the car will be ready for pick up on Sunday when I can sign the finance papers (with Santander apparently) and drive off.
On Sunday I've been offered another finance plan which took the monthly payments up. They said Santander agreed on a lower residual car value after 36 months and for this reason, the payments went up. I said this is not the deal we agreed on Friday. They insisted this is the deal and it's because of the Bank decision. I've told them I'm not happy with this as it wasn't what agreed on Friday and I said I want them to refund me the deposit money (£200). I've been told they are not going to refund me the money (although the sale failed because of them). When I walked away the salesperson said he's going to discuss with his boss to see what it can be done. I left the dealership and few seconds after I receive the phone call from the salesperson saying he did speak with Santander (not the boss) and they agreed to the initial deal! He asked me to come back because the initial deal was on the table again. Obviously, I did not want to deal with these people and asked again to be refunded the money. I've been refused again. Called the customer service and after a couple of minutes, the branch manager called saying that I'm not going to see my £200 back.
He even said it was a miscommunication error and in fact, the situation didn't happen, they actually offered me the initial deal. Luckily for me, I took pictures of the papers they presented me.
Not to mention they offered me a RAC extended platinum warranty for £55/month for 36 months and in the end agreed to give that warranty for £15/month! I doubt the warranty was worth the paper it was printed on so be careful.
Only for walking into their dealership on Friday, they took from me £200 for nothing.
What should I do next?

agrinnall

It seems that cutting off your nose to spite your face is going to cost you £200.

Florin72

agrinnall wrote: »

It seems that cutting off your nose to spite your face is going to cost you £200.

Not sure I understand what that means. Is it any advice in your answer?

k3lvc

Florin72 wrote: »

Not sure I understand what that means. Is it any advice in your answer?

You have the original deal on the table, one which you were happy to proceed with on Friday but now don't want to out of principle


Are your principles worth £200 ?

Florin72

:rotfl: so you say it's OK to pay £200 just for not wanting to bring profit to some crooks who don't stick to an agreed deal and try to con you into paying more than agreed?

k3lvc

Florin72 wrote: »

:rotfl: so you say it's OK to pay £200 just for not wanting to bring profit to some crooks who don't stick to an agreed deal and try to con you into paying more than agreed?

That's up to you to decide - if the deal's good enough then take it and never go near them again. If you have any doubts then it's going to cost you £200 and the time to check them out was beforehand.


You seem to be expecting main dealer 'morals' from a supermarket

Florin72

They must be regulated somehow, hence my question in the Forum. You just cannot take people money for nothing. At the end of the day it's not my fault, I went there in good faith and wanted to buy a car from them. Only walked away when they proved to be untrustworthy.
It wasn't "I changed my mind and I don't buy the car", it was because they tried to sell me another product attached to the car and that was a revised finance plan.

k3lvc

But 'untrustworthy' isn't a reason for a refund. Had they not offered to complete on the original deal you may have had a case for a refund (but I think you'd still struggle to get one) - not you're clearly in the realms of 'I changed my mind'


If you think you've a strong case then go to your credit card provider - you did pay the deposit by credit card didn't you ?

Florin72

Yes, by credit card.
Actually, when I left the dealership they offered me another deal than the one agreed. This is the reason I left, because it wasn't the original deal.

pmduk

You've agreed to buy the car by paying a deposit. If you don't like their finance plan, find your own. It's hardly their fault if Santander wouldn't agree the original deal.

Florin72

This is a very twisted view to see the problem :rotfl:
They were selling the car on a PCP plan. This was the package. At no point was discussed to arrange for a different way to do it. Everything was agreed on Friday then on Sunday I was supposed to get the car.
This is not the only situation in which I bought a car on PCP but never came across such a situation to be offered a different deal on the day I was supposed to drive off with the car.