Dealership giving me the run-around - Can't figure out why.

pluspad

Hi all, I could really use some help/advice. Hoping someone has been in the same situation. I'll keep it as short as possible.

I purchased a new Hybrid Renault Arkana from a dealership 4 months ago (it was an ex-demo). Around a month ago started to show an electrical fault on the dash. Took it back to dealer who advised on the same day that they found a gearbox leak which they think has damaged the electric motor. They arranged a hire car for me from Enterprise, which I picked up a few days later. I was advised when I picked up the hire car that they had opened a technical case with Renault who had asked them to take the motor out to check for damage and that they would have that done in a couple of days. 4 days went by and when I called to enquire was told it hadn't been done yet. I asked what they were doing the last 4 days as was told that it is at least 8 hours work for one technician and they just don't have the time. After some back and forth I was told they had arranged time next Monday afternoon, and Tuesday morning. I called next Wednesday lunch time to ask how it went and was told again it hadn't been worked as the technician was off sick Monday and Tuesday, but they will try and do it that afternoon. At this point I spoke to Renault customer services on the Thursday to see what they could do, and found out it was nothing except call the dealership for an update. Thursday I was told that they had stripped the motor and found evidence of gear box oil, but that Renault additionally wanted to them to conduct a High Voltage Circuit test. They should be able to get to it by Friday. A whole other week goes by without a word so I call Renault customer services who call the dealership and are told a young lady that Graeme from servicing who is dealing with car doesn't work Fridays but they have left a message for him to call me Monday. The technician is also on holiday and back Monday so they can't say where they are at with the car. After putting the phone down I rang the dealership myself and Graeme picked up the phone, the same man who supposedly wasn't in the office or even works Fridays. He gave me the same rubbish about needing to speak to the technician and said he would call me Monday. When I asked to speak to his manager (it was 14:30 in the afternoon), he told me he was in a meeting the rest of the afternoon and would call me Monday.

I also found out the technical case with Renault was closed over a week ago, yet they still haven't told me what is wrong with my car??

So my issues:
1) Do technicians not make notes or make a log regarding the cars they work on. Why do they always have to speak directly to a technician, and if he isn't around no one knows what the hell is going on, it makes no sense.
2) It has been almost 4 weeks and they have still not diagnosed what is wrong with the car, and have only actually touched the car twice as far as I can tell!?! I don't seem to have any options regarding how long they take, they can take forever it would seem.
3) Both me and Renault Customer Services have been directly and patently lied to by the dealership, yet there doesn't seem to be anyone that cares.

Is there any recourse for me? I know Renault have 1 chance to fix the issue before I an request a refund or replacement as it had only been 3 months since I purchased it. But at this rate it is never getting fixed. If it ever does get to the point when they have diagnosed it, the parts will probably take months. I am at my wits end!

Sorry for the silly long post and thank you for getting this far (if you did lol)
Alan

Dave_5150

Are they still providing you with a hire car? 

pluspad

Dave_5150 said:

Are they still providing you with a hire car? 

Yes they are. The rub for me is that I am a Private Hire driver so every day the car is at the dealership I am losing money. I realise of course that this is not the dealerships problem, but it is making my frustration worse knowing my 4 month old car is just sitting there with nothing happening every day, and there is nothing I can do about it.

born_again

pluspad said:

Hi all, I could really use some help/advice. Hoping someone has been in the same situation. I'll keep it as short as possible.

I purchased a new Hybrid Renault Arkana from a dealership 4 months ago (it was an ex-demo). Around a month ago started to show an electrical fault on the dash. Took it back to dealer who advised on the same day that they found a gearbox leak which they think has damaged the electric motor. They arranged a hire car for me from Enterprise, which I picked up a few days later. I was advised when I picked up the hire car that they had opened a technical case with Renault who had asked them to take the motor out to check for damage and that they would have that done in a couple of days. 4 days went by and when I called to enquire was told it hadn't been done yet. I asked what they were doing the last 4 days as was told that it is at least 8 hours work for one technician and they just don't have the time. After some back and forth I was told they had arranged time next Monday afternoon, and Tuesday morning. I called next Wednesday lunch time to ask how it went and was told again it hadn't been worked as the technician was off sick Monday and Tuesday, but they will try and do it that afternoon. At this point I spoke to Renault customer services on the Thursday to see what they could do, and found out it was nothing except call the dealership for an update. Thursday I was told that they had stripped the motor and found evidence of gear box oil, but that Renault additionally wanted to them to conduct a High Voltage Circuit test. They should be able to get to it by Friday. A whole other week goes by without a word so I call Renault customer services who call the dealership and are told a young lady that Graeme from servicing who is dealing with car doesn't work Fridays but they have left a message for him to call me Monday. The technician is also on holiday and back Monday so they can't say where they are at with the car. After putting the phone down I rang the dealership myself and Graeme picked up the phone, the same man who supposedly wasn't in the office or even works Fridays. He gave me the same rubbish about needing to speak to the technician and said he would call me Monday. When I asked to speak to his manager (it was 14:30 in the afternoon), he told me he was in a meeting the rest of the afternoon and would call me Monday.

I also found out the technical case with Renault was closed over a week ago, yet they still haven't told me what is wrong with my car??

So my issues:
1) Do technicians not make notes or make a log regarding the cars they work on. Why do they always have to speak directly to a technician, and if he isn't around no one knows what the hell is going on, it makes no sense.
2) It has been almost 4 weeks and they have still not diagnosed what is wrong with the car, and have only actually touched the car twice as far as I can tell!?! I don't seem to have any options regarding how long they take, they can take forever it would seem.
3) Both me and Renault Customer Services have been directly and patently lied to by the dealership, yet there doesn't seem to be anyone that cares.

Is there any recourse for me? I know Renault have 1 chance to fix the issue before I an request a refund or replacement as it had only been 3 months since I purchased it. But at this rate it is never getting fixed. If it ever does get to the point when they have diagnosed it, the parts will probably take months. I am at my wits end!

Sorry for the silly long post and thank you for getting this far (if you did lol)
Alan

As a private hire driver, it is not a consumer purchase. But B2B which is different. Are dealer & Renault aware this is what the car is used for?

Sadly at the moment dealers seem to be very busy & even getting a service can require booking months in advance. So warranty repairs or investigating them, can take a long time. & then there is the issue of sourcing parts.

pluspad

born_again said:

As a private hire driver, it is not a consumer purchase. But B2B which is different. Are dealer & Renault aware this is what the car is used for?

Sadly at the moment dealers seem to be very busy & even getting a service can require booking months in advance. So warranty repairs or investigating them, can take a long time. & then there is the issue of sourcing parts.

Thanks for the reply. Yes they are aware.

They have now had my car one month and last Friday was the last straw. After being fobbed off, mislead and directly lied to by the service team member looking after my case. I finally managed to speak to the service manager who I must admit seemed genuinely appalled by my treatment and has taken over my case personally. He said there would be a full investigation which would almost certainly lead to disciplinary measures.

One interesting outcome of speaking to the manager is that he gave me the work log for my vehicle. Total time my car has been worked on in the last 29 days? 5 Hours!!?!?!  Absolutely shocking. I understand they might be busy, but this is just crazy. As far as I am concerned there is zero defence for this. They have also still not diagnosed the issue yet. Which doesn't surprise me spending only 5 hours on the thing.

Hopefully now things will get moving, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Mildly_Miffed

You seem to think they should be working on it at all times it's there.

Don't forget that they need to wait for warranty authorisation from Renault UK, otherwise you may end up being handed the bill.

There will also be a wait for parts to be ordered - because if they dismantle it, then find the parts are on back order, they have a ramp out of use. A hybrid motor is not something that's going to be in stock at every dealer at all times...

pluspad

Mildly_Miffed said:

You seem to think they should be working on it at all times it's there.

Don't forget that they need to wait for warranty authorisation from Renault UK, otherwise you may end up being handed the bill.

There will also be a wait for parts to be ordered - because if they dismantle it, then find the parts are on back order, they have a ramp out of use. A hybrid motor is not something that's going to be in stock at every dealer at all times...

Appreciate the reply. I don't expect them to be working on it at all times, sorry if I gave that impression. I did expect them to be working on it for more than 5 hours out of 29 days. Personally I find that unacceptable, but if you can do some mental gymnastics to make it reasonable then more power to you. They had warranty permission on the like the 4th day, and like I mentioned they have still not diagnosed the issue yet. There are no parts to be ordered, no waiting on parts and no trying to source parts. They still don't know what is wrong with it. Not sure about the ramp being out of use to be honest, I guess that might have happened at some point over the last month.

The case with Renault technical was closed on the 23rd June and the last time they touched the car was the 22nd June. "Apparently" the case was closed in error as there is no resolution and they can't say why my car hadn't been looked at since the 22nd. As I have said I have also been lied to by the dealership as have Renault Customer Care. I think the fact that Customer Care were lied to by the dealership and they have it on record is why it has finally come to a head and the dealership is finally sorting the mess out.

Stateofart

So my issues:
1) Do technicians not make notes or make a log regarding the cars they work on. Why do they always have to speak directly to a technician, and if he isn't around no one knows what the hell is going on, it makes no sense.
2) It has been almost 4 weeks and they have still not diagnosed what is wrong with the car, and have only actually touched the car twice as far as I can tell!?! I don't seem to have any options regarding how long they take, they can take forever it would seem.
3) Both me and Renault Customer Services have been directly and patently lied to by the dealership, yet there doesn't seem to be anyone that cares.

One technician is usually 'on the job' typically so others probably don't know.

4 weeks is nothing!! - I was 5 months for an Audi gearbox problem.  Not only do they need time for the Renault to authorise the problem, they need to diagnose, work with the warranty, order parts and fit.  It could take months from now.