[mitch]

Hi everybody - this looks like a great site for information!!

Unfortunately my first post is a bad one and I need some advice really...


It started off when we first bought our civic 2 weeks ago. We went to look at the car that we had been told about and found it had around 5000 more miles on it? Fortunately they had an ex demo 07 plate which had a lot better mileage and we did the deal. We arranged this on Tuesday for the pickup to be on Saturday and were told that the few scratches that we pointed out would be fixed no problem before purchase.


Saturday came and we were very excited to pickup the car so you can imagine my disappointment when we seen that they had just washed it? After we got over this and the salesman expressed his sincere apologies we went ahead and bought the car anyway. Unbelievably even though we agreed on the price and the correct price was in front of us on the invoice, the finance chap charged us £300 less. At the time we didn't realize this as surely any professional company wouldn't be so incompetent??

Well a week has gone by and we got a call from the salesman expressing his apologies and that we had been undercharged and would need to pay the extra £300. Of course we questioned this and needed to check with our bank that this was the case. Next day we got a call from the Dealer Principle to arrange collection for the car to sort out the scratches and also to ask why we were refusing to pay the extra £300 ?

Unfortunately after arguing for 15mins my girlfriend was pressured into paying the extra £300 and told me that she didn't want to deal with them again as they had been extremely arrogant and pushy with her.

I then had to remind her that they still had to fix the scratches as part of the deal and that she should allow them to pick up the car and drop it back with her fully fixed. I can only describe what happened next as being totally unbelievable. They arrived on Thursday to pickup the car and she showed them the marks before the driver went - crouching down to show the driver that the front light washer also hadn't been sprayed properly. The car was then driven back to her later that day and explained that it was all fixed but did she realize that the front corner had been scuffed? She expressed that she was not aware that it was and stupidly on the spot remarked that it possibly may have been done in the car park and how much was it going to cost. (Bearing in mind there was still one scratch out of three that they missed?) The dealer then called her an gave her a price of £110 + VAT

It was only when we got home that evening that she thought hang on a minute there was no scuff when they picked up the car and also that the scuff was right where she had crouched down to show the chap the problem with the bumper washer. I looked at the marks on the bumper and was shocked as it is quite bad and very noticeable and told her not to except that it was her problem. I told her to get on to the Dealer Principle first thing the next day and explain what has happened and hopefully get it sorted no problem. Wrong again - she explained to me later that morning that he had been very abrupt with her and trying to wriggle out of any responsibility saying that the driver had been with them for years and if it had have been done whilst in their care it would have been sorted and admitted to.

I then decided that enough was enough and phoned the Dealer Principle myself and explain the situation. Well I cant say they he was nasty with me but he certainly needs to go back to the customer relations school and after two phone calls on Friday the problem still isn't sorted. After the first phone call he told me that the driver had pointed out the scuff mark before he had taken the car in the morning which was BS and the second phone call he said that we were going round in circles and that he would have to ask the driver again to make sure. - *** ?



That is how it is gone so far although I am due a phone call on Monday from him.


I will point out that I am a Managing Director myself and are both shocked and disappointed with the dealership after sales so far and can't believe that were arguing over £110 + VAT ? I mean I don't really care who did it and when - it’s just the case that it wasn't there when it was picked up in the first place..

The whole Honda experience so far has been unbelievable compared to Renault and BMW which I drive now and is very much clouding my opinion of an otherwise excellent product.


Two questions though :-

I am thinking that we have had the car two weeks yesterday and put on about 600miles and if this doesn't get sorted Monday, I would like to return it for a full refund and take my business elsewhere - does anybody know my rights to do this ?


I have phone Honda customer relations and they explained that it is a dealership problem and to seek citizens advice if the problem continues - is this all I can do to make my problem heard ? I will also be complaining to the manager of the group of which they are part of but does anybody think I can take it higher at Honda ?

I have also realized that no matter where I take it for a service locally it will have to go to part of this group which also pisses me off


Sorry for the long rant, but if anybody has some advice it would be much appreciated as I would like some more ammunition for Monday

as you can imagine I am very very upset


Many thanks

Mitch