Car service plan refund

cvn25

I have recently purchased a new Suzuki and opted for the car service plan.  I can pay monthly and if I cancel or change the car at anytime I get a refund of the balance remaining. I have done this with a previous Suzuki and my daughter has too, having just been refunded her existing plan as she has boiught a new car.  My issue isn't with them it is with a local Motor group from which I purchased a Citroen C4  Cactus In December 2019 and opted for a 3 year service plan, 3 services and MOTS included for £449.  IN this instand I paid up front while purchasing the car.   I called today to request a refund of the balance as I have had just one service, was advised that I have have 2 services and MOTs left but that this is non refundable.  This wasn't mentioned at the time of purchase and having always experienced it a refundable option on other purchases I have made over the years I wasn't expecting to hear that.   I have looked through the service documentation in detail and of course in small print on the back there is a note that this service plan in non-refundable. 
My question is : Is this worth challenging.
I am extremely unhappy to have spent £449 for one service and can only guess that this must happen fairly regularly and this particular group is probably making a lot of money from this. 

AdrianC

Is the plan transferable to the new owner of the car?

BOWFER

So if you've just bought a new Suzuki, presumably you've already sold the Citroen or traded it in?

cvn25

Hi, yes traded in to a different motor dealer 

born_again

cvn25 said:

I have recently purchased a new Suzuki and opted for the car service plan.  I can pay monthly and if I cancel or change the car at anytime I get a refund of the balance remaining. I have done this with a previous Suzuki and my daughter has too, having just been refunded her existing plan as she has boiught a new car.  My issue isn't with them it is with a local Motor group from which I purchased a Citroen C4  Cactus In December 2019 and opted for a 3 year service plan, 3 services and MOTS included for £449.  IN this instand I paid up front while purchasing the car.   I called today to request a refund of the balance as I have had just one service, was advised that I have have 2 services and MOTs left but that this is non refundable.  This wasn't mentioned at the time of purchase and having always experienced it a refundable option on other purchases I have made over the years I wasn't expecting to hear that.   I have looked through the service documentation in detail and of course in small print on the back there is a note that this service plan in non-refundable. 
My question is : Is this worth challenging.
I am extremely unhappy to have spent £449 for one service and can only guess that this must happen fairly regularly and this particular group is probably making a lot of money from this. 

So clearly this was not a new car as the Suzuki's have been, which will have been a manufacture service plan. Rather than the other which will have been direct from the garage.

Many service plans are not refundable, but are transferable to the new owner of the car... Honda being one as per a previous thread.

BOWFER

So if you've already traded in the Cactus, your only hope (transferring the plan to a new owner for some extra money) is gone.
Sorry, you're screwed, have to put it down to a life lesson.

cvn25

Life lesson indeed.
Also, being aware how seemingly the same type of plan work for different manufacturers / dealers.
It seems madness that a company can take money upfront, and if they don't carry out what you have paid for you aren't refunded. Still I know to check next time 

AdrianC

cvn25 said:

It seems madness that a company can take money upfront, and if they don't carry out what you have paid for you aren't refunded.

Woah, woah, woah.

You chose to pay up-front for several services.
You chose to sell the car before using the services you'd paid for.
The person who bought the car can almost certainly use them instead.

It's not that they've not given you them - it's that you decided you didn't want them.

Grumpy_chap

cvn25 said:

It seems madness that a company can take money upfront, and if they don't carry out what you have paid for you aren't refunded. Still I know to check next time 

They probably will still do the work for the eventual new owner.  Assuming the availability of the benefit does not get lost.  Ultimately, the warranty service schemes are insurance policies so everyone that does not use the services is contributing to the premiums being fractionally lower.

BOWFER

A: How will the new owner even know there's a prepaid service plan on the car?
B: What's the chances that even IF he goes into that dealer for a service, they volunteer the information?