Cazoo subscription cars : unfair changes to contract

Cameron1590_2

I'm not directly affected by this but my partner purchased a used car from Cazoo last month. Cutting along story short the car was a lemon and is currently awaiting repair at a main stream garage. 

The garage have told us they won't do the work until Cazoo pay upfront as their account is overdue. No signs of cazoo paying them yet. 

When I heard about Cazoo cancelling car subscriptions early, it feels like a last ditched attempt to release a load of cash for the business quickly before they go under. 

Just my views of course but putting two and two together this would appear to be the case. 

Knowing how awful cazoo are to deal with, I hope everyone effected gets some form of solution quickly. 

frazzy123

I wish the BVRLA would get involved. Cazoo are members. Maybe they are sleeping?

 "BVRLA membership provides customers with the reassurance that the company they are dealing with adheres to the highest standards of professionalism and fairness."

jimjames

iamfrankiemoran said:

iamfrankiemoran said:

clairel6768 said:

iamfrankiemoran said:

Just to update everyone on this thread. I’ve just had an email this afternoon to inform me that I can no longer hand my subscription vehicle back this Saturday because as of today the Grangemouth Cazoo Centre is shutting as of the 16th of February. They basically told me to either take it to Edinburgh or take it back to Grangemouth even earlier. 

How is this not making the news!? This is just absolutely unacceptable and we’re not being treated fairly or with any dignity or respect. I’ve told them they can either pay for my fuel or collect the car at no expense to myself as I’ve held my end of their contract, letter, and email so it’s about time they did the same. Just an absolute shambles!!! 

Let me know how you get on. Was meant to be taking mine back to Grangemouth too. They can whistle if they think I am paying them to come and collect it. Will be contacting them to tell them that too. Absolute joke of a company. 

Well as of the 16th February you'll no longer been able to. The next available centre is Edinburgh, but I'm fighting it because it's shutting before the date on the contract, letter, and email. So that's out with my control, so they can either pay me fuel money or organise a collection free of charge. Absolutely ridiculous, although, at the same time I feel sorry for the staff who probably got told today that Thursday is their last day. Just a awful way of dealing with this situation, very very poor on Cazoo's side of things! 

Just received an email to basically say that due to Grangemouth centre closing and the inconvenience of having to drive to Edinburgh instead they have offered to discount the collection fee to £75. I've replied and said this is outrageous and stated that they can either pay for my fuel to Edinburgh and back or waive the collection fee.

Personally I'm with you and I'd be telling them where the car is for them to collect if they've cancelled the agreement. If anyone has legal cover with their home or motor insurance it might be worth trying to get it reviewed.

https://www.cazoo.co.uk/cazoo-terms-of-subscription/

3.3 We may substitute the Car during the Subscription Term for another car for any reason We can’t guarantee that any substitute car will be of comparable quality or size to the Car.

Looking at the T&Cs posted earlier it looks like they could have changed the vehicle rather than cancelling. So you hire a BMW and get a Corsa

10.9 On Pickup or Drop Off, you must sign our receipt to confirm that you have returned the Car to us. Pickup or Drop Off happens only when you sign this receipt. The Subscription Term continues, and you are responsible for the Car, until that point.

This clause might be of use if you want to carry on using the car within the term. The subscription continues if you don't sign or return the car. There is also no mention in the pickup section of any charges for pickup, unlike the initial deliveryl 

https://document-service.subscriptions.cazoo.co.uk/api/v1/documents/905ee2af-6ddb-40a3-83cd-7dc44a44cb16/file

Checking their charges document there is again absolutely no mention of paying to have the car collected on contract expiry. I would definitely refuse to pay this and argue it with them.

If you haven't yet submitted a formal complaint then I would do so. You can then escalate if you aren't happy with their response.

23.2 If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint and your complaint relates to consumer credit, credit broking or insurance distribution by Cazoo, you can escalate it to the Financial Ombudsman Service 

iamfrankiemoran

jimjames said:

iamfrankiemoran said:

iamfrankiemoran said:

clairel6768 said:

iamfrankiemoran said:

Just to update everyone on this thread. I’ve just had an email this afternoon to inform me that I can no longer hand my subscription vehicle back this Saturday because as of today the Grangemouth Cazoo Centre is shutting as of the 16th of February. They basically told me to either take it to Edinburgh or take it back to Grangemouth even earlier. 

How is this not making the news!? This is just absolutely unacceptable and we’re not being treated fairly or with any dignity or respect. I’ve told them they can either pay for my fuel or collect the car at no expense to myself as I’ve held my end of their contract, letter, and email so it’s about time they did the same. Just an absolute shambles!!! 

Let me know how you get on. Was meant to be taking mine back to Grangemouth too. They can whistle if they think I am paying them to come and collect it. Will be contacting them to tell them that too. Absolute joke of a company. 

Well as of the 16th February you'll no longer been able to. The next available centre is Edinburgh, but I'm fighting it because it's shutting before the date on the contract, letter, and email. So that's out with my control, so they can either pay me fuel money or organise a collection free of charge. Absolutely ridiculous, although, at the same time I feel sorry for the staff who probably got told today that Thursday is their last day. Just a awful way of dealing with this situation, very very poor on Cazoo's side of things! 

Just received an email to basically say that due to Grangemouth centre closing and the inconvenience of having to drive to Edinburgh instead they have offered to discount the collection fee to £75. I've replied and said this is outrageous and stated that they can either pay for my fuel to Edinburgh and back or waive the collection fee.

Personally I'm with you and I'd be telling them where the car is for them to collect if they've cancelled the agreement. If anyone has legal cover with their home or motor insurance it might be worth trying to get it reviewed.

https://www.cazoo.co.uk/cazoo-terms-of-subscription/

3.3 We may substitute the Car during the Subscription Term for another car for any reason We can’t guarantee that any substitute car will be of comparable quality or size to the Car.

Looking at the T&Cs posted earlier it looks like they could have changed the vehicle rather than cancelling. So you hire a BMW and get a Corsa

10.9 On Pickup or Drop Off, you must sign our receipt to confirm that you have returned the Car to us. Pickup or Drop Off happens only when you sign this receipt. The Subscription Term continues, and you are responsible for the Car, until that point.

This clause might be of use if you want to carry on using the car within the term. The subscription continues if you don't sign or return the car. There is also no mention in the pickup section of any charges for pickup, unlike the initial deliveryl 

https://document-service.subscriptions.cazoo.co.uk/api/v1/documents/905ee2af-6ddb-40a3-83cd-7dc44a44cb16/file

Checking their charges document there is again absolutely no mention of paying to have the car collected on contract expiry. I would definitely refuse to pay this and argue it with them.

If you haven't yet submitted a formal complaint then I would do so. You can then escalate if you aren't happy with their response.

23.2 If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint and your complaint relates to consumer credit, credit broking or insurance distribution by Cazoo, you can escalate it to the Financial Ombudsman Service 

After many many back and forth emails with Cazoo they have finally waived the collection fee and are collecting the car on Sunday evening (they had no collection slots available for the Saturday). If anyone is in a similar boat whereby they have closed the nearest branch for you to drop your subscription car off keep at them. They will back down and waive the charge. Remember this is Cazoo making alterations to your contract, therefore, it should be them to pick up the collection fee!

GDB2222

EssexHebridean said:

Has anyone considered contacting the Office of Fair Trading on this issue, on the basis that the alteration to the contract terms is unfair under consumer contract law? While one person alone doing so is unlikely to make much difference, many people doing so is likely to make them investigate. 

OFT closed down nearly 10 years ago. 

q0s

Cazoo Agrees Sale of German Subscription Business

February 17, 2023 09:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

LONDON & NEW YORK--BUSINESS WIRE--Cazoo Group Ltd (NYSE: CZOO) (“Cazoo” or the “Company”), the UK’s leading online car retailer, which makes buying and selling a car as simple as ordering any other product online, has agreed to sell its German subscription business, Cluno GmbH, to ViveLaCar GmbH and The Platform Group GmbH & Co. KG. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, the total portfolio includes several thousand cars in the German market.

The disposal concludes Cazoo’s withdrawal from the German market as part of its strategy to focus exclusively on the UK market. The agreement includes 100% of the capital and voting rights of the company Cluno GmbH and the Cluno brand along with the associated assets. All employees of Cluno will transfer to ViveLaCar GmbH as part of the agreement.

Following this transaction, together with previously announced sales of other businesses and assets in Europe, the withdrawal of Cazoo from mainland Europe is now largely complete.

There's a more detailed article in Car Dealer Magazine about this online (I can't post links).

iamfrankiemoran

clairel6768 said:

iamfrankiemoran said:

Just to update everyone on this thread. I’ve just had an email this afternoon to inform me that I can no longer hand my subscription vehicle back this Saturday because as of today the Grangemouth Cazoo Centre is shutting as of the 16th of February. They basically told me to either take it to Edinburgh or take it back to Grangemouth even earlier. 

How is this not making the news!? This is just absolutely unacceptable and we’re not being treated fairly or with any dignity or respect. I’ve told them they can either pay for my fuel or collect the car at no expense to myself as I’ve held my end of their contract, letter, and email so it’s about time they did the same. Just an absolute shambles!!! 

Let me know how you get on. Was meant to be taking mine back to Grangemouth too. They can whistle if they think I am paying them to come and collect it. Will be contacting them to tell them that too. Absolute joke of a company. 

Just thought I'd let you know, my car was collected by Cazoo (free of charge) on Sunday evening. The person who collected it was amazing, they had mentioned that the Edinburgh Cazoo Centre is closing at the end of March. So just thought I'd let you know just incase you were thinking of handing it back there. They also mentioned that if you are keeping the car longer, make sure and get an email from them saying that because the centres in Scotland are shut they would waive the collection fee as they mentioned if you have it in an email they have to honour it. Remember it is them who are at fault and have caused this so you shouldn't need to pay the collection fee, and mentioned that you can't afford to drive further a field and the cost of living crisis. I basically told them they either pay for my fuel and onward travel or waive the collection fee and they eventually caved. They will either pick it up by the Cazoo vans or private collection who will put plates on it to drive it back to them! Stick to your guns and refuse to pay for it!! The collection person told me I've done the right thing and there is still over 600 subscription cars in Scotland for them to collect so they can't expect those 600 customers to travel so collection might be their only option! 

ant9660

Just an update on this.  I understand that Cazoo is now waiving the £149 collection fee, for anyone over 50 miles from their nearest drop off centre - as reported on BBC Radio 4's You & Yours programme this afternoon (Wed 22nd Feb) at around 12.10pm.  I have just received an email from cazoo saying they're waiving the £149 collection fee in my case.  I'm based in Scotland - and from the beginning of April - my nearest drop off centre will be Northampton - so I definitely qualify!  I intend to return the car at the end of that month.

frazzy123

ant9660 said:

Just an update on this.  I understand that Cazoo is now waiving the £149 collection fee, for anyone over 50 miles from their nearest drop off centre - as reported on BBC Radio 4's You & Yours programme this afternoon (Wed 22nd Feb) at around 12.10pm.  I have just received an email from cazoo saying they're waiving the £149 collection fee in my case.  I'm based in Scotland - and from the beginning of April - my nearest drop off centre will be Northampton - so I definitely qualify!  I intend to return the car at the end of that month.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001jc7l

karlton273

Cazoo are probably doing this to generate used car stock but I would think all they've done is ruined their reputation even further and now people will be hesitant to buy a car from cazoo as probably a year from now cazoo wont exist or could go into administration so then that leaves any future buyers with no where to go should their car develop a serious fault - any warranty might not be worth the paper its written on, reliability of future service and very little customer assurance / confidence of any warranty bieng honoured on a multi thousand pound purchase  i think if not already -could destroy cazoos sales . I ve always had a good service from cazoo but the way they have just dumped us subscribers is discusting