Welcome Car Finance problem!

Jason1972_2

I bought a car on finance a year ago from Welcome Car Finance, the agreement was for 4 years and we have kept up the payments with no problem. When we got the car we was told verbally by the salesman that after a year we would be able to exchange the car for a different one, without having to pay anything but just restarting the finance again and also if we was unhappy with the car we would be able to take it back after a 12 months to 18 months and owe nothing. This was the main reasons we got the car. So we have had the car for a year and fancied a change. I contacted them about 2 weeks ago to get a new car and was informed that i would need to make a deposit of about £2000. I explained what the salesman had told us when we got the car a year ago, he said that there was nothing they could do, i was not happy with this and asked to speak to someone else, they gave me the customer services number. I contacted them and spoke to a lady on the phone, she took all the information about everything that i was told and what happened and said that someone would get back to me. I recieved a letter a couple of days later, with leaflets about making complaints and them acknowledging my complaint. They said that the manager from Welcome Car Finance would contact me in a couple of days. The call from the manager happened and he explained to me about how it should be and to trade a car in after a year was not finacially feasable for them and also that you need to pay off at least half the finance before you can take the car back and owe nothing. I said to the manager that i or my partner had never taken out a car on finance before and was led to believe what the salesman told us on the day of purchase was correct as we knew no different. He asked me who the sale person was and i told him. He then said to me that this gentleman no longer worked for the company as they had to get rid of him due to his work practice. The manager said he would speak to his regional manager and then get back to me by the end of the day. He phoned back and said that there was nothing they are able to do as they do not deal in verbal contracts. I said though that he had admitted to me about the salesman's work practice was in question and thats why they got rid of him. He then changes his story and says we did not get rid of him and that he left the company after 4-5 months by his own choice. I said to the manager that i would be seeking further advice and get back to him, but i am unsure where i should start.
Can anyone offer me any advice on what im able to do, or if there is nothing i can do.
Thanks in advance.

CLAPTON

if its an HP agreement you can return the car after half the payments have been made; otherwise there is no general provision for returning a car.

i would doubt there is much you can do if the loan agreements make no mention of changing after a year.

I would you just move on the learn the lessons here.

Sadly, its madness to believe a salesman rather than the contract... and lets face it, car salemen do come with a credibility problem

In any event changing a car every year is the nearest I can think of to simply burning money.

Jason1972_2

I have just been sorting through all the paperwork from Welcome Car Finance, and have a signed Credit Agreement, signed by myself and my partner, this was signed on the day of purchase. There is a space on it for a person from WCF to sign but there is no signature. This was dated on the 29/06/07.
We then have another credit agreement which was sent through to us that was signed by myself and my partner on the 29/06/07 and this time has the guys signature from WCF and it has been dated 04/07/07.
Surely this can't be right as he has signed this when we were not there.?

Also the car price says £7500 on the vehicle order form and they said that the car we was px was a guaranteed £1000 px, but all it has on there for the px deduction is £1.00

homer_j_3

So are you saying that the 2 credit agreements differ from the one on the 29/6/07 to the one on 4/7/07?

Jason1972_2

Both agreements are the same except for 1 has mine and partners signature on it and no Welcome Car Finance Signature on it. This was signed on 29/06/07.
The other which was sent through the post to us is signed by myself, my partner and Welcome Car Finance but dated 04/07/07. When we was not there.

homer_j_3

I believe that is standard practice by them. I cant see any issue if the credit agreements are the same.

It has no bearing on the fact that you want to hand the car back for another one.

standupguy

The agreement does not come into force until signed by Welcome which is always after the date you signed it so no issue there.

But, they have written back your part exchange from £1000 to £1 and presumably the car price was reduced by £1000.

Whilst this may seem to be still the same deal financially, the issue here is that they have strengthened their position on the agreement by deceit.

All HP customers have a right to terminate an agreement once one half of the Hire purchase price is paid and you can then return the goods to the Finance Company.
Included in this calculation is your deposit - which was really £1000 but is now only £1 so this means you will have more to pay to reach the half hire purchase price if you wanted to voluntary terminate the agreement.

This is plainly wrong and you have grounds for a serious complaint.

Your other complaint is regarding what you were told by a rogue salesman.

Finance Companies such as Welcome are FSA regulated and have set rules with how to deal with complaints and you should use this route to take this further.

Write to Welcome with full detals of your complaint including the "reducing the deposit to deny me the proper termination rights"

Tell them you are prepared to take this to the Financial Ombudsman and the Office of fair trading

They must acknowledge your complaint in 5 days and respond in 4 weeks.

You have the right, if you are not satisfied with their response to then take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman service.

There is no cost to you to do this.

You have a solid case for not being treated fairly.

Jason1972_2

I agree it has no bearing on the fact i would have liked to change the car, but after getting no help from Welcome Car Finance i would rather not keep the car and get another one else where and i am just finding things in agreement with them that dont add up. Just trying to get as much info as possible to throw at them.
I would have thought that one agreement signed by myself on 29/06 and not by them, and then another signed by them as well but dated 04/07 is not correct, should they not sign in front of us?
Thanks for reply

Jason1972_2

Thanks for reply standupguy, the car price on vehicle order form is £7201.00 then price of extras 299.00, total price £7500, then less part exchange allowance of £1.00, we paid £200 deposit as well, so this left a total of 7299.00, they then have on £1000 for insurances which totalled £8299.00 for finance. nothing about px of £1000 and no prices on cars when we was at showroom.

standupguy

ok, but the point is they told you £1000 part exchange was guaranteed and you only ot £1 so what I said still applies - it was sharp practice!

Good luck with your complaint

Jason1972_2

Thanks for help, will get ball rolling in morning and keep updated on here.
Thanks