What to do? Citroen just don’t want to know

baser999

Will try to keep this as brief as possible. Son bought a new 7-seater Citroen on a PCP deal four years ago. In the early days it went back with various issues - sliding side doors off the rails, rear door locks jammed, seats wouldn’t move . . Then over the past 2-3 years he’s been regularly hit with adblue problems. The car keeps showing levels low, which it’s never been, or simply goes into limp mode. It’s happened when they’ve been in Europe on holiday or when he’s been driving overnight from one sports venue to another (he’s a BBC freelance and might be covering rugby at Murrayfield then MOTD in Salford the next day) He’s often had to cancel or turn down work simply because the cars prevented him getting there. On every occasion the car goes back to the dealers, stays there for a few weeks then it’s returned ‘good to go sir’ but within days the cycles repeated. It was with the dealers Christmas week, returned ‘repaired’ having had the entire adblue system replaced but it then broke down in Ireland when visiting in-laws over the festive period. A local garage in the new year effected a temporary repair enabling them to limp home. It was with the dealers again for a month. 

He’s spent £000s on car hire, family life seriously affected - there’s four children under 12 - cannot think about planning holidays. Trying to run the household, after school activities, shopping etc a nightmare especially with my son being away so often. 

Final straw was limp mode kicking in again a few weeks back on the N Circular with daughter in law driving, three children on board 😱
Dealer won’t collect car from his home, claiming they have no recovery truck. 

He’s told the dealers numerous times he doesn’t want the car back, it’s clearly not safe or fit for purpose. At one point the dealers were intending to charge him storage if he didn’t collect it - so he did, it then broke down a few days later.
A department calling themselves customer care 😂 say they’ll meet car hire costs but haven’t, a month on. They won’t cover loss of earnings etc. holiday inconvenience and such. Dealers may as well not exist as far as human contact is concerned as they never return calls, emails etc. I’ve even emailed on numerous occasions, even the CEO in France, but not even had the courtesy of responses.
Family now been forced to buy another vehicle - so paying for that as well as ongoing PCP on the broken one. He’s never missed a PCP payment, has a service plan in place and yet never been offered any form of courtesy car - dealer supposedly doesn’t have anything big enough for family of 2+4. Finance offered a few months refund but again that’s never been received. 
Now taking on a Solicitor. What else can he do?

tacpot12

Does he have home insurance with legal expenses cover? If he does, he might not need a solicitor, but he's left it a long time. However the Consumer Rights Act 2015 allows him to bring an action within six years, so he has a right to start a claim, but it doesn't sound like he has any right to reject the car even for a partial refund - the fault has to have existed since purchase and the AdBlue issue only started a year after he bought it. 

The best he can hope for is a partial refund, but the refund will reflect the four years use (and the lack of use) he has had out of. 

    

MattMattMattUK

baser999 said:

Will try to keep this as brief as possible. Son bought a new 7-seater Citroen on a PCP deal four years ago. In the early days it went back with various issues - sliding side doors off the rails, rear door locks jammed, seats wouldn’t move . . Then over the past 2-3 years he’s been regularly hit with adblue problems. The car keeps showing levels low, which it’s never been, or simply goes into limp mode. It’s happened when they’ve been in Europe on holiday or when he’s been driving overnight from one sports venue to another (he’s a BBC freelance and might be covering rugby at Murrayfield then MOTD in Salford the next day) He’s often had to cancel or turn down work simply because the cars prevented him getting there. On every occasion the car goes back to the dealers, stays there for a few weeks then it’s returned ‘good to go sir’ but within days the cycles repeated. It was with the dealers Christmas week, returned ‘repaired’ having had the entire adblue system replaced but it then broke down in Ireland with in-laws. Limped home, with dealers again for a month. 

He’s spent £000s on car hire, family life seriously affected - there’s four children under 12 - cannot think about planning holidays. 

Final straw was limp mode kicking in again a few weeks back on the N Circular with daughter in law driving, three children on board 😱
Dealer won’t collect car from his home, claiming they have no recovery truck. 

He’s told the dealers numerous times he doesn’t want the car back, it’s clearly not safe or fit for purpose. At one point the dealers were intending to charge him storage if he didn’t collect it - so he did, it then broke down a few days later.
A department calling themselves customer care 😂 say they’ll meet car hire costs but haven’t, a month on. They won’t cover loss of earnings etc. holiday inconvenience and such. Dealers may as well not exist as far as human contact is concerned as they never return calls, emails etc. I’ve even emailed on numerous occasions, even the CEO in France, but not even had the courtesy of responses.
Family now been forced to buy another vehicle - so paying for that as well as ongoing PCP on the broken one. He’s never missed a PCP payment, has a service plan in place and yet never been offered any form of courtesy car - dealer supposedly doesn’t have anything big enough for family of 2+4. Finance offered a few months refund but again that’s never been received. 
Now taking on a Solicitor. What else can he do?

If he has taken paid legal advice, where they will be able to review everything in detail, the second hand information on an internet forum is not going to provide more useful information than what he is already getting. Just a point on the other bit in bold, not a chance on that unfortunately. 

daveyjp

As its on a PCP the finance company should be involved in the dispute.

baser999

daveyjp said:

As its on a PCP the finance company should be involved in the dispute.

Their response is very much one of ‘don’t want to get involved in your ongoing dispute with customer care and the dealers’ . 

The final PCP is due next month at which point he pays a lump sum of near £8k to keep the car or hands the keys back. Been told by the Ombudsman that as the cars presently back with the dealers (son paid £300 to get it recovered) he no longer has any evidence of the vehicle faults so little they can do. PCP will lapse whilst car in Citroens possession, they resume ownership. 

Citroen have made my son and his family's life hell for the past few years and almost ruined them emotionally and financially