Used dealership refusing rejection within 30 days.

Michelle2007

DUTR wrote: »

They are not irrelevant digs, yes you might take it as rude, I take the kids addition as rude as since lots of people have children that does not render you anymore 'special' to all than any other parent.

You were buying a car not a customer experience, you are so sure about your customer rights, so take it up with the relevant bodies. I'm not saying you don't have rights, I jus see lots of posts of people buying cars on the hop in a rush then having buyers remorse and wanting a refund, if dealers were so easy to give refunds they would be soon out of business and we'd all have to buy new.
Continue with the fight yes, I would imagine the dealer is experienced in their rights as a retailer too.

At what point did I declare myself as “more special” as anyone else?
I was purely stating this was my situation, at no point did I proclaim to be any worse or better off than anybody, so it would have only been rude had I said I deserve different treatment due to this - I did not.

I have spoken to trading standards who have confirmed that under the consumer rights act I’m entitled to a refund as the car is not fit for purpose, even if it is just a battery, I have also filed a complaint with the motoring ombudsman awaiting response,
I bought the car as it was in my price range and the size I wanted, I checked all history and test drove the car, I selected a dealership so I had more rights if issues arose,

Like I said before if the dealer was adamant they were in the right they would be responding to emails and trying to find a solution, not ignoring all communication that isn’t a phone call.

I wrote on here as I wanted advice on ways to resolve the issue without having to take it to court, not because I want to go there, as I’d rather not take them to court as much for their sake as mine, I have alosp lost faith in the company, as car or not, they are providing a service so customer service should be a priority. It’s not hard to reply to an email.

motorguy

tacpot12 wrote: »

I don't agree that the 02 sensor is a very very minor thing. It is a fundamental control for emissions, is very likely to cause the car to fail an MOT test, and is so important that the Check Engine light is set to come on if it is not working. If not working, it can also make the engine burn upto 40% more fuel.

Its more often a cheap and easy part to fit and a common thing to have to replace on a car. I've never seen one make a car burn 40% more fuel as the car will take a default assumed reading when it cant get an actual one. Yes it will make the car a little harder on fuel but not catastrophically so. Also, it depends if its the pre or post cat o2 sensor.

My point was though - that you've missed - is that its an easy fix and not something i'd be wringing my hands about in terms of it being a major issue to resolve if i'd a car with that issue.

motorguy

tacpot12 wrote: »

Michelle2007

Your case is somewhat difficult in that you have had the car for over 30 days now. However, I think that you as you tried to reject the car after 30 days verbally, for a valid reason, a court may well uphold your right to a full refund as the dealer should have accepted your request to return the car.

The key facts here are that the 02 Sensor fault occurred within 30 days, you reported the fault to the dealer and they did not fix it having been given the opportunity to do so.

Although a weak battery might be expected on an 8 year old car, and although the law says you must give the dealer the opportunity to repair a fault, this fault occurred when you already had grounds to reject the car due to the 02 sensor. The whining drive belt is also an acceptable fault on a 8 year old car, but that fact the noise only started when it was returned to you after the fixes to the ignition system, means that again it is a fault that became apparent after you had the right to return the car for a refund so you don't need to give them the opportunity to fix it.

To make a successful claim you are going to need to be very clear that you told the dealer about the two codes. If you send the codes in a text or an email at the time, this is the best evidence you can have. If you told them the codes verbally, you will be on shaky ground as they might claim you only told them about one code and not the other, or that you got the code wrong. If you are worried about proving that you gave them the correct codes, you might have to accept that you will have to allow them to repair the faults, and then sell the car onto someone. At least if the faults are fixed, you can sell it on with a good conscience.

Not in a million years is a faulty o2 sensor at maybe £30 and a 30 minute fix a reason for rejecting a car.

Also, to reject a car you should give the dealer your rejection in writing not verbally. The O/P did not do this. Now the O/P is in to her word against theirs.

DUTR

Michelle2007 wrote: »

At what point did I declare myself as “more special” as anyone else?

When you mentioned the kids

I was purely stating this was my situation, at no point did I proclaim to be any worse or better off than anybody, so it would have only been rude had I said I deserve different treatment due to this - I did not.

Stating about you situation is purely irrelevant to the fact, you have a troublesome car that you are hoping to get resolved quickly either by way of technician involvement or a refund.

I have spoken to trading standards who have confirmed that under the consumer rights act I’m entitled to a refund as the car is not fit for purpose, even if it is just a battery, I have also filed a complaint with the motoring ombudsman awaiting response,
I bought the car as it was in my price range and the size I wanted, I checked all history and test drove the car, I selected a dealership so I had more rights if issues arose,

Like I said before if the dealer was adamant they were in the right they would be responding to emails and trying to find a solution, not ignoring all communication that isn’t a phone call.

Perhaps (and I'm not defending them) they probably feel they are in the right and hence not wasting valuable company time further responding to you? And will make a final decision based on independent arbitration and not to be felt bullied by a customer?

I wrote on here as I wanted advice on ways to resolve the issue without having to take it to court, not because I want to go there, as I’d rather not take them to court as much for their sake as mine, I have alosp lost faith in the company, as car or not, they are providing a service so customer service should be a priority. It’s not hard to reply to an email.

It depends on the customer charter, from the purchase price there will be overheads that eat into much of the profit margin even at a 100% markup subtract the storage , advertising and other costs that sale alone will not make a persons monthly salary, cars are expensive and have ongoing costs, if they have offered to have a further look at it and you have rejected that option then there is little need for them to get into a debate about it, just because you are taking them to court doesn't guarantee a decision in your favour and that in itself takes time and has a cost which you may have to forego , the amount which could have been used for a mechanical resolve.

motorguy

Michelle2007 wrote: »

I have the codes on email I sent to them, I was told the sensor may be down to the spark plugs and coil which I relaid to the guy but the error codes were given and surley should’ve been checked before handing back it was okay,

Also my 30 days is valid until 2nd July due to him having the car 5 days, so this is all still in my 30 days

It would be fairly standard process to attempt to resolve the problem (new plugs and coils) and clear down the codes, then see what happens from there (moreoften no further problem occurs).

A particular fault on a car can generate other codes, hence it would not be prudent to just go replacing all potentially affected parts.

Michelle2007

motorguy wrote: »

Not in a million years is a faulty o2 sensor at maybe £30 and a 30 minute fix a reason for rejecting a car.

Also, to reject a car you should give the dealer your rejection in writing not verbally. The O/P did not do this. Now the O/P is in to her word against theirs.

I emailed the company on the day the battery would not start informing them and stating I think it would be best to return the car as it’s not reliable, i then called the company the next day to talk to someone as they had not responded, all they did was ask me where I was and they’d replace the battery, I said I wasn’t happy with just a battery replacement on the side of a road and wanted a Refund as the car wasn’t fit for purpose, i then called the trade union who told me what I needed to do, I emailed them that afternoon regarding a refund and worded it as I was advised too, i then found a complaints email address and emailed that too, no response from anyone, I am still currently within my 30 days, and it is all in writing, the guy confirmed over the phone he had seen my email and just didn’t call me, so I know they will have seen the second and third. So it is in writing

motorguy

Michelle2007 wrote: »

I understand it’s 8 years old,

But they had it back to fix the fault, and one of the error codes it was given back to fix is still present, whether that’s caused by the battery or something else, I gave them the chance to fix it and it hasn’t been properly fix so it must have been inspected deep enough? the car is also not fit for purpose as it doesn’t drive, both these are reasonable reasons to reject a car under the consumer rights act within 30 days surely?

I’m not trying to be pedantic and annoying, I just need a reliable car, which you’d expect a car just sold to you, to atleast be for a little while, not to have so many issues arise within a month... surely a professional dealer would thoroughly inspect their cars before selling on? Surely a battery / spark plugs / coils and such are simple things that would be looked at and inspected? I’ve never bought a car that has had a problem after a month let alone multiple,

And if the dealer was willing to even respond I’d happily accept a little less back to cover mileage used because I’d rather come to an agreement, but they’ve literally said to me I’m not entitled to anything other than a new battery and haven’t replied to a single email where they could try resolve the situation which I think makes them look guilty to just pretend this isn’t an issue....

The problem you have found is that whilst you have the "right" to reject the car, the dealer has rights too and doesnt necessarily have to accept the rejection. To find out who is correct may well involve going to court, which is expensive (you now have another car on finance), stressful, time consuming and no guarantee of success.

People think just because they've read the CRA and interpreted it to suit their situation, the dealer must give them an instant refund. As you've found out, thats not the case.

The seller could well portray you as a difficult customer who is suffering from buyers remorse and they did everything they could to help.

They could also say they had to break contact with you because you were becoming aggressive and unreasonable.

You could go to court and the judge rule in your favour no problem. Great. But then that leads to the next problem - how to get the refund out of them?

motorguy

Michelle2007 wrote: »

I emailed the company on the day the battery would not start informing them and stating I think it would be best to return the car as it’s not reliable, i then called the company the next day to talk to someone as they had not responded, all they did was ask me where I was and they’d replace the battery, I said I wasn’t happy with just a battery replacement on the side of a road and wanted a Refund as the car wasn’t fit for purpose, i then called the trade union who told me what I needed to do, I emailed them that afternoon regarding a refund and worded it as I was advised too, i then found a complaints email address and emailed that too, no response from anyone, I am still currently within my 30 days, and it is all in writing, the guy confirmed over the phone he had seen my email and just didn’t call me, so I know they will have seen the second and third. So it is in writing

It sounds like you've no choice now but to take them to court as all contact is broken and both sides are now entrenched.

Its down to whether you take them to court seeking a full refund, or if you go for the cost of repairs to make the car roadworthy.

It sounds like you have a preference for the former so i would be documenting the timeline of events, collating any emails you sent and their responses and noting down any phone calls, times and recollection of the conversations in chronological order.

From there its down to an LBA and raising a claim through the small claims court and see what happens.

Michelle2007

Thankyou for the replies,

I guess I will see what the car inspection brings up and go from there

They have never called me or emailed me, I have chased them every time even during the repair, I asked them to call me letting me know roughly how long they would have once it had been checked - this was on a Wednesday, i then had to call Saturday to ask what was happening, never received paperwork for any work carried out, it’s just been very difficult from the first issue to be honest,

Thankyou for the tips

a.turner

Michelle2007 wrote: »

At what point did I declare myself as “more special” as anyone else?
I was purely stating this was my situation, at no point did I proclaim to be any worse or better off than anybody, so it would have only been rude had I said I deserve different treatment due to this - I did not.

I have spoken to trading standards who have confirmed that under the consumer rights act I’m entitled to a refund as the car is not fit for purpose, even if it is just a battery, I have also filed a complaint with the motoring ombudsman awaiting response,
I bought the car as it was in my price range and the size I wanted, I checked all history and test drove the car, I selected a dealership so I had more rights if issues arose,

Like I said before if the dealer was adamant they were in the right they would be responding to emails and trying to find a solution, not ignoring all communication that isn’t a phone call.

I wrote on here as I wanted advice on ways to resolve the issue without having to take it to court, not because I want to go there, as I’d rather not take them to court as much for their sake as mine, I have alosp lost faith in the company, as car or not, they are providing a service so customer service should be a priority. It’s not hard to reply to an email.

Have you really? You've done well as it's been a while since they dealt with the public.