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Arnold clark Leyland Review
Arnold clark Leyland complaint
Arnold clark Leyland do not use - if you want to be pestered, harrassed, bothered - beleaguered -
Please use them as this is a service they offer for free
I was approached by a sales apprentice "self claimed title" who was most helpful indeed, friendly, gave me time to come back, apologised for the lack of communication from previous branch, through sheer stupidity i trusted this sales person and gave my mobile number!!! Big mistake
Do not give any contact details -
18 missed calls later within a 48 hour time period - yes that is 18 missed calls
Calling as late as 21.18 hours -
Yes twenty past nine in the evening!!!!
Sheer harrassment - harrasment -
Illegal business practice -
THE WORST CAR BUYING EXPERIENCE EVER - NOT EVEN VIEWED THE CAR - AMAZING SALES TECHNIQUES -
DO NOT GIVE OUT YOUR NUMBER TO ANY MEMBER OF STAFF
HAD A PROBLEM WITH MY IGNITION SYSTEM ON MY 2 1/2 YR OLD FIAT PANDA. TOOK IT BACK TO THE FIAT GARAGE I BOUGHT IT FROM. TOOK OUT THEIR 3RD YEAR WARRANTY WHEN I BOUGHT THE VEHICLE THEN WAS TOLD THAT IT MAY NOT BE COVERED. HAD THE CAR PUT ON THE MACHINE (WHICH THEY WANTED ME TO PAY FOR) BUT BECAUSE THE FAULT WAS FOUND TO BE COVERED IN THE WARRANTY ALL WAS FINE IN THE WORLD. 3 DAYS PASSED AND IF I NEVER PHONED THE GARAGE I WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN INFORMED OF ANYTHING. THE PART WAS EVENTUALLY ORDERED AFTER FIAT OKING IT!! ANOTHER 2 DAYS WHEN I WAS ALLOWED TO PICK IT UP HAD PASSED, WHILST DRIVING OUT THE CAR PARK SAME IGNITION SYSYTEM LIGHT CAME ON. NOW THEY ARE SAYING IT IS A WIRING LOOM THAT IS THE PROBLEM WHICH I HAVE NOW TO PAY £265 TO GET IT FIXED. ONE WEEK LATER I AM STILL WAITING FOR MY CAR, DON'T KNOW IF IT IS FIXED, THEY WON'T RETURN ANY OF MY OR MY HUSBANDS PHONE CALLS. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND ARNOLD CLARK TO ANYONE AND CERTAINLY NOT THIS ONE. NO CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN MY HOUSE I AM AFRAID.
I totally agree with the last post. I have used AC over many years, and I have had no real problems, npobody is perfect, and in a large company like that problems will come up, but I think there is far too much of a culture of complaining, some people need to get real - I mean to complain about your car needing work to the brakes after 2 years?? Brakes do wear out you know, and how is that the fault of Arnold Clark? Thumbs up to them from me.
I have been a customer at Arnold Clark Clydebank and Arnold Clark,Greenock. The service department are fantastic at Clydebank and I even travelled from Montrose to take my Peugeout there for servicing etc. I have now purchased a Fiesta from AC at Greenock. Some people make a hobby about complaining about car dealers, I am just glad I dont work in the car industry as I'd have been sacked for telling you wingers to **** off!
I really do not know were to start with the absolute hell i have been through from Arnold Clark Greenock over the past ten months... I bought an Astra Twintop on the 26th March 2009. Within a day or two i noticed leaking coming from under the doors by the 4th of April it had made it's first visit to the garage. I then received the car back informed the SEAL had been changed. After a sudden change in weather the sun came out and i thought great no leaking let's get the roof down. To my horror the roof stuck "half up" "half down".Took it back to Greenock vauxhall looking like i was driving a space ship. Got the car back wires all over the boot carpet had not been refited and an absolute eye sore i went straight to the manager who thought this was funny i certainly was not laughing. I went away hoping to enjoy my car this time. Then the good weather continued and i wanted to get the roof down again but again to my horror it stuck again. Back to the garage i went and away it went to Pollockshaws road this time. Weeks passed and then the car returned and i was told they had to change the HARNESS not really sure what this was to be honest.
This time i got in the car thinking surely this is it and thats when i noticed the interior arm rests had been damaged on both sides therefore there must have been something placed along the back seat whilst in getting fixed. Both branches blamed each other. They originally had planned to fit new interior but that changed and a specialist was called in to fix it. I was told by Sandy the service manager thats one they owed me if i ever needed new tyres etc. Away i went again. I had Arnold Clark on direct dial and spent as many days there as the staff. Being Greenock the weather deteriorated and the rain came and so did the leakage problems only this time it was not only passenger door but drivers door and roof the car was like a swimming pool. Away to Glasgow it went again and again and again....Eventually Vauxhall agreed to take the car to Luton on my behalf. Left the car in Greenock branch to be collected but lay several weeks before pick up. I was asked by staff to empty the car before transfer so away to Arnold Clark i went AGAIN. When i got to the car it was in the compound. Firstly the battery was flat, because of this the window jammed half open the car was saturated and there was even water coming out of the speakers. It was a sorry sight!!!! Nearly ten months later and 3000 pound of payments i still had no car. I could not believe the state the vehicle was in and asked for a replacement. A silver Twintop was then transfered from England "Like for Like". I was asked to sign for this car without a test drive or seeing the vehicle on the road. And was asked by Gavin the salesman "why are you reading the small print you not trust us". I got in the car and drove along the main road and shock horror there was a load screaching noise coming from the back passenger side roof. I returned the car within 10 minutes. I told them i was not excepting the vehicle it was faulty and had been through enough. I was told it would be sent to Linwood to be fixed "probably just a small thing" i was told these words over nine months prior about the other car. I was back at square one a and tearing my hair out. I have since been given another vehicle an Astra SXI which needs extensive interior and exterior work which my original vehicle with all it's problems was in perfect condition until Arnold Clark got hold of it. The Value was 500 hundred pound plus less than my original vehicle. I have now been informed by Vauxhall the required work which Arnold Clark was unable to solve has been fixed including four major leaks and a minor leak in the boot.To add salt to the wound it has been placed on the forecourt with a thousand pound more value than that the car i have been given. I am absolutely exhausted and stressed with Arnold Clark. I have wriiten to so many managers and Mr Clark himself only to be offered a service after all this "as a good will gesture". Very very unhappy customer. Arnold Clarks logo that they aim for customer satisfaction is absolute lies...
bought a peugeot 307 new it is now 2 years old with just 18000 miles.went for service told it needed new pads and discs front and back. Car still under warranty. but told not covered for brakes, contacted peugeot they do not think a car with such low milage is a problem and won't help.moral off story don't buy peugeot and certainly not from mega rich arnold clark
I bought an 05 plate VW Golf GT TDI from Arnold Clark Greenock and less than 5 months from delivery the Turbo has blown and likely damaged the engine. I have had an estimate at between 2k and 3k to fix the problem. Arnold Clark have offered nought. Sale of Goods Act 1979, as far as Arnie is concerned it doesn't come into it. Trading Standards advise that up until 6 months after a purchase the burdon of proof of liability lies with the Retailer. I will have my day in court and I would strongly advise anyone thinking of buying from this bunch of cowboys to go elsewhere.
having worked a service manager for 6 years in the company i find these comments from ex employees laughable,perhaps these people have been sacked for not meeting the standards the customers are looking for,as for the cars not being prepped before their sold,nonsense,every car is prepped to a high standard,with the final say in any safety repairs being left to the service manager who is not paid on profit relating to car sales profit.you will not find a motor dealer who works harder to improve their customer services and that is why they go through so many salesmen who think they can do whatever they want to customers then come on here bitching because they have been found out and sacked
Below is a copy of a letter I sent on Monday 2nd of November to Customer Services. I haven't even had an aknowledgement. I agree with the person who suggested acting together and urge you all to contact Trading Standards and 'Watchdog' Lets give them some publicity they can't ignore.
Dear Sir/Madame,
I am writing to formally advise you of my dissatisfaction with my purchase of a car from your London Road Branch. I would like you to consider this as a formal complaint and advise me how you intend to deal with it.
I would like, firstly to give some context to issues by explaining a little about my relationship with your Organisation:
I have been buying cars from Arnold Clark since I learned to drive in my early 20s. My husband and I have bought 3 Metros, 2 Rovers, 2 Peugeots a Hyundai and now a Mazda. I have, in the past had no complaint with the Organisation. I have been very clear about my motoring needs and these have been met by the wider Organisation and on two previous occasions by the London Road Garage. Doubtless you will be able to confirm this from your records and will appreciate that I am not a vexatious complainant
Salesmen at the London Road garage have been calling me periodically to enquire about my buying intentions. I have spoken to three different salesmen, explaining that I was generally very happy with my Peugeot and that if I did change it would only be to achieve a better specification. If you would like to confirm this brief I am sure you could check with the Peugeot garage on Hamilton Road, which I also visited with the same brief.
Finally, I agreed to visit London Road and speak with Tony Morrison. I explained that my previous Peugeot had a number of features that I missed and that if I changed my car I would be looking for a better specification than that which I currently had. I stipulated no particular make/model/colour of car but said I would probably want to trade in my daughter’s car and transfer my current car to her. I told him I wanted a car that had additional features, for example auto wash/wipe, climate control, comfortable seating, etc. I am the sole occupant when driving, so 3 door/ 5 door was not important.
Tony showed me the car he was driving, a Mazda 3 diesel. I was particularly taken with some of the features, but not with others. For example I wasn’t particularly concerned about blue tooth but was keen on electrically folding mirrors for parking, having recently suffered some damage in a car park. He advised me that Mazda’s were very ‘high spec’ even at a basic level.
Tony located a low mileage Mazda 3 Takara and my daughter and I went over to London Road to allow him to see her car and for him to get, what he described as, ‘a similarly spec of Mazda 3’ for me to test drive, since I would not commit to buying this type car until I had driven it. My daughter and I asked a lot of questions about the spec of the car and how it looked and Tony ran through screens on his computer and went on line on a colleague’s computer to show us the spec. I was very happy with the test drive and agreed to go ahead with buying the Mazda 3 which he described as in ‘mint condition’.
The car is great. I picked it up on the Friday after work and drove it home. On Saturday morning, when it was light, I took the hand book out to the car to have a look at the features. The car had only a few of the features that were described to me. Importantly, from my point of view, it was not a higher specification than my Peugeot and looked and felt less comfortable. There was no electrically folding mirrors, auto wash/wipe or heated seats. I have given up central locking with deadlocks sports detail, colour coordinated and indicator mirrors, trip computer. In effect it didn’t have what I had specifically specified I wanted and was assured it had.
I called Tony Morrison on Saturday morning and told him I was not happy and why. I asked him to think about what I had said and to call me back. He denied assuring me that the car had the specification I wanted but couldn’t explain why having stated I wanted a higher spec, I would settle for something that had a 6CD changer and lights on the vanity mirror.
Tony didn’t call back, either Saturday or Sunday and I called again on Monday and Tuesday, being assured each time by the receptionist that Tony had been given the messages. I called the Manager, Francis Higgins. I told him about my complaint and he assured me he would get Tony Morrison to call me back and deal with my complaint. I waited for a further 2 days and then called Francis Higgins again on the Friday. He was not available but the receptionist assured me she would get a message to him. I called again on the Saturday and was told Francis was with a customer, I left another message asking him to call me. When he hadn’t called by noon, I called again and asked to speak to Francis Higgins; I was put through to Tony Morrison. Tony said he had off sick and tried to call me leaving text messages on a wrong number. Tony has my mobile, home and work numbers, all of which he has used without difficulty, before now. He said that he had printed off the spec of the car he sold me and went through it with me on the Wednesday when I test drove the Mazda. There was very little point in continuing after this since I realized that he was prepared to lie, however I did pose the question about why I would agree to buy this car when I was looking for a better spec and some quite specific features?
I now see no point in calling London Road and I am not prepared to get into an argument with someone I have lost all respect for. I am surprised that he felt it necessary to mislead me about the car, since I would have looked at other cars which did meet my requirements. I am also surprised that having called his manager to discuss this that he didn’t show me the common courtesy of returning my call.
As I stated at the outset of my letter, I am not difficult to deal with. I knew what I wanted and I was very clear about it. I would like a resolution to this problem and an apology for the rude and offhand manner I have been subject to. I am not prepared to spend endless hours trying to get hold of people, or arguing on the telephone. I will take the line of least resistance and copy this letter and any response to Consumer and Trading Standards Agency and BBC’s Watchdog programme. I appreciate that I may not get satisfaction from this process, but at least I will have some closure. Importantly, my husband, my daughter, my son and I will not buy another car from you and will relate my experience at every opportunity to anyone considering buying a car.
I await your prompt response.
I can totally sympathise with the comments here. Mine started with one of my other cars which is another story however, I was stupid enough to go back to them. We decided to buy a Vauxhall Vectra from the Glenrothes branch in Fife. We went in and were approached by a salesman. All going well so far. He then started asking us what we were looking for in the car and we told him. This was about Jun 07. He took what spec we were looking for and came back saying that the Exclusive was the car that would fit us. Still ok there. Unfortunately he couldn’t show us one there as they didn’t have any so he showed us a CDTi which he said was exactly the same but ours would be petrol. We purchased our car and I thought fine I was wrong about Arnold. However, several weeks later when we picked our car up we noticed a few problems. Firstly the car had nothing that we had asked for and secondly it had a nice big dent in the passenger door, which the sales manager tried to hide by doing a strange dance whilst opening the door. Great for a brand new car. Anyway we told them we didn’t want the car as it was not what we had signed for and not what we had paid for. The sales manager wasn’t happy with this and blamed the confusion on the sales guy who served us being from the Honda garage near by and not knowing about Vauxhalls!! Sorry, what part of that is my fault. Anyway after a lot of discussions he agreed that he would get us an Exclusive Plus that had more of the spec we asked for. Not everything but it was a good compromise. Thought nothing more and waited for the car….and waited…..and waited then told ‘its here come and pick it up!! Great, off I trotted to pick up my new car 2 months later. But oh no… it wasn’t there, they had made a mistake and it was still in Glasgow, I would have to come back later. So I went home again and waited… and waited .. and then was told that they had found our car and it was in… Zebrugger . Glasgow, Zebrugger, I can see the similarities there. So we had to wait again and finally got the car in mid September.
Few weeks ago I had to get new back brakes fitted. This was done by kwik fit who said it was very strange as the car had only done 17,000 miles and the front one were fine, I should check with the garage I got it from. So I did and was told that the reason the back brakes were gone was due to the traction control. But wait I said.. I don’t have traction control.. and any way my car is front wheel drive, so the service mananger then changed his mind to that it was the ABS system causing it and tey would not entertain any claim or even look at it! Great. Last week I took it in for its second service (Only use Arnold as I got 2 yrs free service for the balls up when buying the car) and when I got it back I remembered that the Air con wasn’t working when I took it in but surly they would notice this especially when I noticed a tick beside it on the service sheet saying it was working. However, when I questioned this I was told that the tick didn’t mean the aircon was working it just menat the button was. Stupid me for thinking that eh! Took the car back today as it was under warrenty to get the aircon fixed as they said it would be covered and free to find out that I was to pay £45 to get it Re-charged! Apparently that’s not covered for a 2 year old car. Well as you can imagine I didn’t pay and that’s what I would advise anyone else as they are just out in my opinion to cheat as many people out of money as they can.
The garage chain are a joke and I’m amazed they are still trading!
Glad that’s off my chest.
i did work for arnold clark, therefor find sum of these slightly unfair, however i do feel for some of u. sales do not allow for alot of work to b carried out on used car eg. if a tyre is at 3 mm it will not b changed even tho it will b illegal in 6 months dependin on use. service receptionist only care about hittin there targets and not on customer satisfaction eg. after a service is done a list of add on work will b priced and givin to the receptionist to advise the cust. but rather than tell the cust that there is not enuff time to do it that day and will rebook, they will tell them it will b done for 5 oclock. so wen the cust shows up at 5 to pick up their car they r left waiting bcoz work has not yet startd on it bcoz of over booking. the mechanics r bottom of the barrell very rarely its them who r at fault. i have cin instensis wen a recepiontist adds on wiper blades an tyres if they r behind on monthly targets. people b more vigilant.
Well I bought Focus ST3,car was good,until ESP light came on last week,fine get fixed,ABS unit fault,only done 16,000miles,ok how much,1,400 pound wtf,can buy 2 new focus st engines for that,anyway complained and they said they would pay 45%,good,well thats what I thought till went get car,oh whats this large dent on drivers door,countless scratches on and now the front seat had turned from silent into a rocking chair on pirate ship,well have to hand it to them that alot damage for half a day,thankfully I noticed the dent before leaving,guy excuse was we don't have any walls in here,I very good,thats right I just bought new led lights and keep it perfect,but when I open the door I bash it off walls,dumbass,get manager,Oh that looks fresh,well should they had it all day and they done it,Arnold Clark garage is full of wee mongo men that hang about parks and you hear shouting down your street at night,Anyhoow still waiting see when they will fix all the things they have broke in half a day,this is actually all true,Arnold Clark is only interested in the sale,customer service is terrible,glad look after my car so they can waste it in half a day,disgrace.
This is a copy of a letter sent to arnold clark i think it discribes the full extent of what an unproffesional company they are and how they try to rip people off. I am writing on behalf of my partner Richard Clark concerning a complaint he would like to pursue regarding your branch in Newcastle-under-Lyme.On Saturday 20th of June at around 9.30am Richard arrived in his Alpha Romeo 147 to get, what he understood, a free service as he thought it was part of the contract upon purchasing the car in June 08. Once there he was told he did not have a free service on the vehicle and so would have to pay. My partner kindly refused and was advised to see the sales manger a Mr Chris Hargreaves. My partner took the advise and did see him. At this point he was shown a contract which did not match his own. Upon discussion the sales manager agreed with Richard that something was wrong and he would see what he could do for him. Mr Hargreaves told Richard he would ring him on Monday the 22nd of June in the morning to discuss the outcome of his inquiries. My partner then left at this point thinking the matter would be resolved with a positive outcome. Monday came and Richard awaited a phone call from Mr Hargreaves all morning whilst at work. Disappointed at no phone call Richard decided to ring the branch himself at 2pm to see what was happening, the secretary kindly told him that Mr Hargreaves was busy and she would ask him to ring him back in half an hour. He waited an hour and there was still no phone call. He rang the branch at 3pm and eventually spoke to Mr Hargreaves to be told he the sales manager had not got round to it and would get back to him and the conversation was ended. 5 minutes later the sales manager did ring back and stated that the original contract was invalid and that a later contract that was signed in July 08 was valid.When signing this agreement Richard was not made aware that any modifications were made to the original document and so was misled. He then rang the customer service department at your head office to lodge a complaint as he felt he had been treated unfairly. He was told to speak to the general manager to see if any agreement could be made before pursuing his complaint any further. At around 3.15pm my partner rang the branch to make them aware he would arrive to discuss the contract. At about 4pm on the 22nd of June 2009 my partner and his father went to discuss the service agreement with the general manager of the branch Mr Bob Bentley. Upon arrival he made the secretary aware he was there to see Mr Bentley and was told he would only be 10 minutes. Half an hour later Richard and his father still had no consultation and so he politely asked the secretary to ring again. She did and 5 minutes later the general manager approached him asking him to follow him to his office. The outcome of the prolonged discussion in the office was that of the original outcome he would still have to pay for the service and if he did not his warranty contract on the car, which was brought for £300 - £400, would become invalid. Unhappy at the level of customer service and respect shown my partner told Mr Bentley, when leaving, the conversation between himself and Richard had been recorded....this is when he lost his temper with him. He grabbed him round the neck and threatened him, his dad warned him to get off. He squared up to him, wanting him to fight. He left the showroom shocked. That was not the end though he decided to follow him and his father outside and continue to threaten them, shouting 'come on big boy if you think your hard enough'. This foul behavior was then encouraged by one of the security guards they have working there. He ripped his off his tie then shouted 'come on then' and also threatened that he new where he lived. Disgusted and intimidated by this behavior Richards father threatened to ring the police when they got a reply of "the general manager' s colleagues would back him up". When realising it would be pointless to pursue the matter with the police he and his father sensibly got in their cars and drove away.
Unfortunately this is not the only complaint my partner wishes to pursue. As Richard purchased the car in summer he did not check the heating system to see if it was working correctly. Once the colder months arrived its was discovered the heating was not working correctly at all it was only blowing cold air. With an 11 month baby he decided that it was unacceptable to have no heating. He contacted the service department at the branch in Newcastle-under-Lyme to ask them to find the problem. An appointment was arranged and once the car was looked at he was told that it was a flap that controls the airflow and it was not covered under the warranty Autocare, but, as a gesture they would adjust the flap to fix it to a hot setting to get him through the winter months when he expressed he had a child under 1, and they did. He was then told to fix the problem it would cost £600 - £700. Not having that high amount of money at the time Richard refused to have the works completed to his car. This however did not resolve the problem a month later the heating was blowing back cold. My partner decided to get a second opinion and went to an authorized Alpha Romeo Dealer called Platts in Stoke-on-Trent. They did a diagnostic on the car which cost £70. They discovered that it was not actually the flap that was proposed by Arnold Clark it was the heater motor, which incidentally is covered by the Autocare warranty. Richard was told coincidentally that this as quoted by the Arnold Clark service department would be £600 - £700. My partner was asked how long the millage had been flashing for, to which he replied since he had the car. He was informed that the heating was the reason for this. The mechanic went on to say that the heater motor was found stuffed up the dash board and wrapped in electrical tape to attempt to secure it in place. Astonished at this finding Richard felt that the Arnold Clark dealership in Newcastle-under-Lyme had again tried to mislead him and rip him off £600-£700. He immediately went to the dealership and they agreed to fix the car once they were shown what Platts had found. Richard questioned the first diagnostic done by Arnold Clark and was told that they do not have the resources to find that kind of problem. My partner thinks he was deliberately misled on this occasion.
Again ,unfortunately, this is not the only complaint Richard has regarding his treatment by your Newcastle-under-Lyme branch. To comply with his Autocare warranty he took his car to have an MOT to the service department. He was charged full price for the MOT but Richard expected this. When taking the car to be serviced he was told by the secretary in the service department he did not have a free service the only thing he had was a half price MOT. Richard replied he had not had that and the secretary checked and agreed. He was told it could not be reimbursed but it could be past on for the next service.
I would now like to quote parts of your mission statements.
"WE AIM TO PROVIDE GENUINE VALUE FOR MONEY AND CREATE THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION"
I do not see how on any of these occasions your Newcastle branch have tried to offer this. On every occasion Richard feels he has been tried to be ripped off.
"PROVIDE ACCURATE AND RELEVANT INFORMATION IN A CLEAR AND FAIR MANNER"
Again on each occasion Richard feels your Newcastle branch have failed to meet this requirement stated in your mission statement.
Richard would like to know what you intend to do about the way he has be treated, on all 3 occasions. Richard would like to get this matter resolved ASAP but his confidence is greatly diminished in Arnold Clark so much that he intends to speak with trading standards to seek their advice in this matter and act as a third party on his behalf. He also intends to contact several newspapers unless the matters are not dealt with appropriately and he feels he has been offered genuine value for money and the highest level of customer satisfaction.
Thank-you
popped in to my local Arnold Clark garage (Hardgate in Clydebank) to enquire about a used peugeot 406, as we had decided to buy a bigger car as my wife is expecting.
The sales manager Paul Macrae, told me that there was one at the Mount Vernon branch but he would reqire a £100 deposit to get it transported through, i was speachless and in no uncertain terms told him to get lost, he said it was because people arrange for a car to be transported and then don't come back to view it and they are out of pocket, anyway he decided to take the risk on me, as if i didn't want it he would have people queing up to but it in his words.
Came back the next night after work to view car 406 2.0L HDi silver 38,000 (full srvice history) lovely car test drove and liked it straight away ,so started to negotiate my terms got 1 Months warranty, 6 mths tax, a full years MOT ,set of mats, car had been serviced 300 miles ago checked oil and it was spotless so didn't press for a service but told him i wanted the timing belt changed as the car was now over 5 years old and still running on the original belt he said ok, a couple of tiny scratches which were touched up for me, noticed that the high level brake light had a bulb out so told him that would need replacing again no bother sir its going through an MOT this will be picked up and fixed.
We agreed on a price and agreed i would pick the car up in 3 days time (still not gave him a penny yet) i told him i wanted a phone call the day before I picked it up to confirm all was ok and all my demands had been met.
Got my phone call and went through my check list with paul on the phone aparantley all was fine.
Picked the car up next day and paid cash for it i asked for the green slip from the registration document and was told that it had all been sent to DVLA which i foolishly accepted at this time. I also had to ask for the cars log book to be updated and stamped regarding the timing belt change as this hadn't been done.
I was told that at MOT they had fitted new front brake discs, got home went to lock the car with the key and both the drivers door and passanger door wouldn't lock with the key just then my wife says by the way that high level brake light still has that bulb out (obviously not checked at MOT as this would have failed) took car back in next day he said sorry and a bit red faced got one of the mechanics to replace the bulb and sort the locks the feedback was that they had seized due to lack of use (which i accepted)drove away and noticed that the brakes were grinding (only some times)went to jack the car up to inspect and found the Jack was broken, so got out my trolley Jack, next problem was that i couldn't get the locking bolts for the Alloy wheels off as they were damaged by the use of the air driver in the garage, spent 4 hours getting the bolts out and went and bought 4 new bolts £8.00 fitted these while i ahd the wheels off i inspected the brakes and found that the discs in the front were indeed new however the pads hadn't been replaced ( you just wouldn't do this) phoned up to book the car in for the brake inspection feedback was that that front pads were cracked and had been replaced (it took 5 mins and a few lies to get this answer) i checked they had been replaced and they had been , also jack was replaced with new. my mate who also has a 406 was looking at the car and checked my air filter and it was the dirtiest air filter i have ever saw (remembering it was serviced 300 miles ago this was a red rag to a bull, so i phoned up and was told i could pick up a new filter, which i done (fitted myself). after 2 weeks of owning the car i still didn't have any documentation to say i owned the car either from DVLA or arnold clark all i had was the receipt for my cash.
so i phoned DVLA and they said that they had no record of me owning te car, again red rag to a bull
went in to confront the sales manager and he managed to find the green slip in the office( in my opinion the document hadn't been sent at this time and he detached it there and then) as about a week later i got my new document through from DVLA which is about the correct time frame.
Then came the faults with the indicators and rear electric window isolator switch, and the aerial falling off the roof at 60 MPH on the M8, booked it back in, when i went to pick it up i was told that they weren't going to fix any of the faults as they were all down to wear and tear, i exploded at this point and demanded to speak to the service Manager John, but he was to busy to see me, so I got to speak to Larry Mullholland the branch general manager, who told me that i must have broken the aerial and that with regards to the other faults what do you expect with a 5 year old car, you should have taken out an extended warranty, i said i've got a 1 month warranty which hasn't yet expired and he said thats not worth the paper its written on and that it was just a gimic to aid sales (Quote what do you expect from a sales man).
anyway after an hour of arguing i got the aerial fixed and as the other 2 faults were not present at this time he couldn't do anything about them.
I had to accept this as it was true at this time.
I know from reading other peoples horror stories that in comparison to my story, mines probably seems trivial, however it dosen't take away that if i wasn't prepared to argue and fight for what i believe to be right, i would have been walked over with big bloddy boots on, can you imagine if your mother, sister or daughter with little or no knowledge of the mechanics of how a car works was to have bought this car and the only problem they encountered was a puncture on a winters night , damaged wheel bolts , broken jack etc see where i'm going they would be getting the bus home if they weren't murdered first.
i bought a renault scenic rx4 off a/c for £13,500. i had the car for a year and had a lot of problems with the car. then after 18 months i was on the motorway when the gearbox exploded and the car lost all control. a/c said they had the car checked and diagnosed a faulty gearbox which they would replace as the car was under warranty. 2 days after getting the car back it exploded again with my 2 year old in the car on the motorway again. a/c again checked out the car and again diagnosed a faulty gearbox. this time they also replaced the diff and i was told not to worry it was all covered under warranty. then when i was on my way to pick the car up for the third time i recieved a phone call saying the gearbox had exploded again. this was now 6 weeks since it had first happened. then i recieved a phone call from a/c says they have discovered my car has faulty tyres on it which caused all the problems and i now have a bill in excess of £20,000 if i want to see my car again. That was three years ago and i havn't seen my car since, i have had to keep paying £305 a month to the finance company and been throgh hell. i have been without a car for the first time in 18 years having to get work and bring up two kids and they have made things as awkward as possible . they have even made me keep the insurance running on the car for three years when i dont even now where the car is, forcing me to insure the old banger i have now have with no no-claims bonus.
although i feel sorry for you all it at least makes me feel a bit better to see all these comments about AC as i know its not just me who they treated badly!! took my astra in for some minor problems last year and when i got it back it was worse than ever but try getting them to admit to it!! been a nightmare and would not recommend to anyone!
This company are obviously very keen to offload a car onto you but then try getting any after sales care from them! I was told on countless ocassions that I would be called back and never was!
Went to AC Stafford- thinking about trading in my C-Max for a Focus. As soon as we got there we were pounced on and followed around. We were interested in a couple but my partner noticed quite a bit of rust on them and a scratched bumber. We were told this is normal for a focus?!?! but they would fix it. We were still nterested to find out what the part ex would be on our car so went inside.
The salesman took the keys to the 'valuer' who supposedly went to value ours. They had had the keys for 20mins and still not come back so we sent the salesman to get the keys as we weren't interested any more. He went away and came back saying our car had gone to be cleaned?!? 10mins passed and my partner was starting to get irritated so sent him off for the keys again. This time he came back with a value (but no key) which was well below its worth. Again we asked for the keys and he came back this time with a higher figure. We definately weren't interested by this point and were getting very mad. So we went to get the keys ourselves.
When i got home i noticed the aerial was missing from the roof. As they were now closed i called the next morning. It took the salesman 2 hours to return my call and 'apparently' the drive through car wash happened to have been broken that day so it was washed by hand and the car cleaner didn't remove the aerial.
I left it at that then when i got back to my car noticed it had actually been snapped off!! (as you would expect if it had gone through a car wash and not been removed).
This evening i have been back to the garage with my father to ask again about my 'missing' aerial. When we got there we spoke to a valeter bloke who happened to be wandering round. We asked if they had a car wash machine which they have, and told him about the aerial- he said they don't work Sundays so it would have been the sales staff who used it- no mention at all of it having been out of use.
We then spoke to the car valuer bloke who took the keys from us the other day. He obviously remembered my call yesterday and immediately said the aerial wasn't removed for cleaning as it was washed by hand and it was him who had cleaned it! I find this very hard to believe as firstly it was freezing cold,windy and rainy when we went and he was wearing a shirt and tie and no jacket, and secondly he was sat in his office as we saw him each time the salesman went back to ask for the key!!!!
He then accused me of having parked it somewhere and it had been damaged ( i went straight home), then he said it must have been lost on the way home (so it just spontaneously snapped off on the drive home). An absolute joke!!!!!
So i went to enquire about trading my car in and came away with a damaged car.
I can very well believe all these stories on here and will be recommending friends keep well away.
Have found Arnold Clark to be fine to purchase a car from, but the after sales service is terrible.
On several occassion when my cars have been in for service, promises are not kept, you are not kept informed of progress, calls are not returned etc etc. I have been left without a car for days, with the promise that it will be ready early the next day. Never happens.
I purchased a Zafira in Mar 08. Some months later we noticed a rattling noise and found that the head light unit had cracked. I phoned Arnold Clark and they suggested bringing the car in they may be able to look at it under the extended warranty. I was initially told that they had realigned the head light and there would be no charge. As I inspected it prior to leaving I noticed that they hadn't even looked at the head light and it was still loose. They then told me they looked at the other side and that the broken head light unit would cost me approx. £250.00. When I asked what the likely cause was they stated that it could have been hit with another vehicle and this might have caused the unit to break. I then went through the insurance as my excess was only £100.00. Upon collecting the car from the insurer's recommended repairer, they pointed out that they had carried out the repair of the headlight unit only. The actual bumper was damaged and had been badly repaired from a previous accident and would not be covered. We later found out that the car had been in an accident and the previous owner, a rental car company, had sold it to Arnold Clark in the damaged state. Arnold Clark had obviously repaired it on the cheap and resold it at a premium. We have repeatedly requested the repair to be carried out at their cost and was offered a refund on two fronts - the service agreement and the extended warranty (this would have paid for the repair). However, we have not seen anything from them and they seem to have washed their hands of this matter. They do not respond to any of the letters we have sent them. They have obviously got their profit margin from this sale and do not offer any after sales customer care. I would not recommend anyone to buy or deal with this company, all they care about is their profit margins and their sales figures. It appears they buy on the cheap and sell their cars at a premium. This has cost be my £100.00 excess and will also affect my future insurance premiums!
In response to SDuffield.....no I haven't just "plucked these figures out of thin air"...I work in the motor trade. £400-£500 IS the usual figure a dealer allows for reconditioning - please bear in mind that salesmen, not mechanics tend to carry out the appraisals on a part exchanges...occasionally, a car costs less than this....similarly on occasion, a car costs more than this, because there are things that can need replaced after a professional inspection, that a non-qualified person could never has detected. All in all, it tends to balance out at £400-£500.
Secondly, most car dealerships segregate their various departments, ie that their parts dept charges the service dept full price, less a nominal discount for parts, and the service dept charge the sales dept a similar cost for the work they carry out....these costs have to be passed on internally, otherwise the service dept would devote all their time and effort to walk-in retail customers who would be more profitable, and sold cars would never be prepped.
Thirdly, 12 months warranties cost a dealership about £200, FACT. These however, ARE normally sold to the customer at this price, as it helps to sell the car....if you walk in to solely purchase a 12 month warranty for your existing car, expect to pay £299-£399 for it...
Finally, just because your friend prices his cars one way, doesn't mean everyone else does. Obviously I don't know his business, but it would make sense that if he had to compete with a large dealer group like AC for instance, he would need his prices to be slightly more competive, as people do tend to go to the biggest companies who can afford to spend larger amounts of money on advertising to get people through the door. Also, his costs won't be as high, as he may have a smaller site, less staff, and lower overheads than a big company. If your cost to pay all staff involved is £300 on a used car, and you make £500 profit, you're £200 in the black. If your cost to pay all staff on a used car is £500, you need to make £700 profit per car to have the same margin. And ultimately, if you're paying to have better staff, better workshop facilities, better aftersales service and more facilities available to customers, like better coffee, WIFI facilities, more courtesy cars, better valeting services and more comprehensive warranties, its not unreasonable to expect a customer to pay a LITTLE more to avail of all these services....at the end of the day, on such a big purchase as a car, believe it or not, money isn't always everything....
The prices you quoted, have you just plucked these figures out of the air?
It cirtainly does not cost £400-£500 to recondition car. The figures you quote are for one-off's. Don't you think that we know how many cars AC will recondition and will get hugh discounts of parts, panel repairs, tyres ,servicing etc. They will use their own mechanics to do the work, therefore reducing the cost to AC.
It certainly does not cost AC £200 for a 12-month 3rd party warranty. It costs that much for one car and I can't see AC paying retail price for each warranty (more like they will have a volume trade discount deal).
Do you seriously believe that AC will take trade-in cars if they know that all they will get in profit is less than £500?
To give you some idea, I traded in my car at a local garage (not AC). After servicing, repairs to small dents in the door panel, 2 new tyres, 12-month warranty and a full valet, the garage put it up for sale £1000 more that they gave me as a trade in. Knowing the garage owner, he admitted that the sale of the car would land him a profit of £600 even if it didn't sell for a couple of months. He didn't even price the car up at full value (which AC dealers would).
In response to dmuirs comment below, this is a rather unfair comment. Let's look at it logically - Arnold Clark pays £2300 for your car. Arnold Clarks will then have a certain standard that they have to legally adhere to to put bring your car up to retailable standard, namely servicing it, changing tyres that are approaching or are at legal limit, changing brake pads etc etc, then having to recondition the car, ie repairing any minor scuffs,scratches or chips, and carrying out a full valet. This obviously costs money, and most car garages allow a for a reconditioning cost of approx £400-500 per car. This puts their cost on your vehicle up to £2700-2800. You have to then also bear in mind that car dealers do not have a limitless sized site, and obviously due to the rental rates that a centrally placed dealer needs to pay for a site, every single car displayed essentially costs the dealership money to display,as while its sitting there, another car is getting older in storage until a display space for it becomes available. Clearly though, you can't put a monetary value on this, however a dealership has to take it into account. Next, Arnold Clark will have to supply a warranty with the car. In most cases, this is a 3rd party warranty provided by an insurance company, and usually costs a dealer about £200 for 12 months. So the cost of your car to them is now up to £2900-3000, excluding the cost of having the car on site.
Next, do you honestly expect someone to pay the asking price of £3988 for your car?? As much as they can display this on the window, they will NEVER get that for it, unless they get a really gullible person to agree to it. Most dealers on this car would eventually agree to take £3500 after a bit of haggling. This leaves them with a profit of around £600. On this profit, they have to pay VAT @ 15%, leaving them £510 profit. I'm not honestly sure of tax implications after this, but I'm sure the government will take a cut, reducing that figure further.
Finally, they have to pay the salesman for selling the car (otherwise he wouldn't make a living), and from the rest of the profit cover the costs of heating and lighting the site, followed by covering costs of telephones, rent, and hiring a nice lady to greet you as you walk into the showroom. All in all, they aren't robbing you...for you to think they're just pocketing £1700 from your car is highly unrealistic.
Just bought a 1 year old Astra 12,000 miles on the clock for £2000 less than dealer price its ex rental but thats what any one who does there homework should know about car supermarkets they don't sell many privately owned 1 year old cars for these prices. An excellent transaction and will definately use again much better buying experience than Motorpoint you get a proper test drive and they fix any issues such as stone chips without any problems. Thanks to the salesman Adam.
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Arnold clark Leyland complaint
Arnold clark Leyland do not use - if you want to be pestered, harrassed, bothered - beleaguered -
Please use them as this is a service they offer for free
I was approached by a sales apprentice "self claimed title" who was most helpful indeed, friendly, gave me time to come back, apologised for the lack of communication from previous branch, through sheer stupidity i trusted this sales person and gave my mobile number!!! Big mistake
Do not give any contact details -
18 missed calls later within a 48 hour time period - yes that is 18 missed calls
Calling as late as 21.18 hours -
Yes twenty past nine in the evening!!!!
Sheer harrassment - harrasment -
Illegal business practice -
THE WORST CAR BUYING EXPERIENCE EVER - NOT EVEN VIEWED THE CAR - AMAZING SALES TECHNIQUES -
DO NOT GIVE OUT YOUR NUMBER TO ANY MEMBER OF STAFF
This time i got in the car thinking surely this is it and thats when i noticed the interior arm rests had been damaged on both sides therefore there must have been something placed along the back seat whilst in getting fixed. Both branches blamed each other. They originally had planned to fit new interior but that changed and a specialist was called in to fix it. I was told by Sandy the service manager thats one they owed me if i ever needed new tyres etc. Away i went again. I had Arnold Clark on direct dial and spent as many days there as the staff. Being Greenock the weather deteriorated and the rain came and so did the leakage problems only this time it was not only passenger door but drivers door and roof the car was like a swimming pool. Away to Glasgow it went again and again and again....Eventually Vauxhall agreed to take the car to Luton on my behalf. Left the car in Greenock branch to be collected but lay several weeks before pick up. I was asked by staff to empty the car before transfer so away to Arnold Clark i went AGAIN. When i got to the car it was in the compound. Firstly the battery was flat, because of this the window jammed half open the car was saturated and there was even water coming out of the speakers. It was a sorry sight!!!! Nearly ten months later and 3000 pound of payments i still had no car. I could not believe the state the vehicle was in and asked for a replacement. A silver Twintop was then transfered from England "Like for Like". I was asked to sign for this car without a test drive or seeing the vehicle on the road. And was asked by Gavin the salesman "why are you reading the small print you not trust us". I got in the car and drove along the main road and shock horror there was a load screaching noise coming from the back passenger side roof. I returned the car within 10 minutes. I told them i was not excepting the vehicle it was faulty and had been through enough. I was told it would be sent to Linwood to be fixed "probably just a small thing" i was told these words over nine months prior about the other car. I was back at square one a and tearing my hair out. I have since been given another vehicle an Astra SXI which needs extensive interior and exterior work which my original vehicle with all it's problems was in perfect condition until Arnold Clark got hold of it. The Value was 500 hundred pound plus less than my original vehicle. I have now been informed by Vauxhall the required work which Arnold Clark was unable to solve has been fixed including four major leaks and a minor leak in the boot.To add salt to the wound it has been placed on the forecourt with a thousand pound more value than that the car i have been given. I am absolutely exhausted and stressed with Arnold Clark. I have wriiten to so many managers and Mr Clark himself only to be offered a service after all this "as a good will gesture". Very very unhappy customer. Arnold Clarks logo that they aim for customer satisfaction is absolute lies...
Dear Sir/Madame,
I am writing to formally advise you of my dissatisfaction with my purchase of a car from your London Road Branch. I would like you to consider this as a formal complaint and advise me how you intend to deal with it.
I would like, firstly to give some context to issues by explaining a little about my relationship with your Organisation:
I have been buying cars from Arnold Clark since I learned to drive in my early 20s. My husband and I have bought 3 Metros, 2 Rovers, 2 Peugeots a Hyundai and now a Mazda. I have, in the past had no complaint with the Organisation. I have been very clear about my motoring needs and these have been met by the wider Organisation and on two previous occasions by the London Road Garage. Doubtless you will be able to confirm this from your records and will appreciate that I am not a vexatious complainant
Salesmen at the London Road garage have been calling me periodically to enquire about my buying intentions. I have spoken to three different salesmen, explaining that I was generally very happy with my Peugeot and that if I did change it would only be to achieve a better specification. If you would like to confirm this brief I am sure you could check with the Peugeot garage on Hamilton Road, which I also visited with the same brief.
Finally, I agreed to visit London Road and speak with Tony Morrison. I explained that my previous Peugeot had a number of features that I missed and that if I changed my car I would be looking for a better specification than that which I currently had. I stipulated no particular make/model/colour of car but said I would probably want to trade in my daughter’s car and transfer my current car to her. I told him I wanted a car that had additional features, for example auto wash/wipe, climate control, comfortable seating, etc. I am the sole occupant when driving, so 3 door/ 5 door was not important.
Tony showed me the car he was driving, a Mazda 3 diesel. I was particularly taken with some of the features, but not with others. For example I wasn’t particularly concerned about blue tooth but was keen on electrically folding mirrors for parking, having recently suffered some damage in a car park. He advised me that Mazda’s were very ‘high spec’ even at a basic level.
Tony located a low mileage Mazda 3 Takara and my daughter and I went over to London Road to allow him to see her car and for him to get, what he described as, ‘a similarly spec of Mazda 3’ for me to test drive, since I would not commit to buying this type car until I had driven it. My daughter and I asked a lot of questions about the spec of the car and how it looked and Tony ran through screens on his computer and went on line on a colleague’s computer to show us the spec. I was very happy with the test drive and agreed to go ahead with buying the Mazda 3 which he described as in ‘mint condition’.
The car is great. I picked it up on the Friday after work and drove it home. On Saturday morning, when it was light, I took the hand book out to the car to have a look at the features. The car had only a few of the features that were described to me. Importantly, from my point of view, it was not a higher specification than my Peugeot and looked and felt less comfortable. There was no electrically folding mirrors, auto wash/wipe or heated seats. I have given up central locking with deadlocks sports detail, colour coordinated and indicator mirrors, trip computer. In effect it didn’t have what I had specifically specified I wanted and was assured it had.
I called Tony Morrison on Saturday morning and told him I was not happy and why. I asked him to think about what I had said and to call me back. He denied assuring me that the car had the specification I wanted but couldn’t explain why having stated I wanted a higher spec, I would settle for something that had a 6CD changer and lights on the vanity mirror.
Tony didn’t call back, either Saturday or Sunday and I called again on Monday and Tuesday, being assured each time by the receptionist that Tony had been given the messages. I called the Manager, Francis Higgins. I told him about my complaint and he assured me he would get Tony Morrison to call me back and deal with my complaint. I waited for a further 2 days and then called Francis Higgins again on the Friday. He was not available but the receptionist assured me she would get a message to him. I called again on the Saturday and was told Francis was with a customer, I left another message asking him to call me. When he hadn’t called by noon, I called again and asked to speak to Francis Higgins; I was put through to Tony Morrison. Tony said he had off sick and tried to call me leaving text messages on a wrong number. Tony has my mobile, home and work numbers, all of which he has used without difficulty, before now. He said that he had printed off the spec of the car he sold me and went through it with me on the Wednesday when I test drove the Mazda. There was very little point in continuing after this since I realized that he was prepared to lie, however I did pose the question about why I would agree to buy this car when I was looking for a better spec and some quite specific features?
I now see no point in calling London Road and I am not prepared to get into an argument with someone I have lost all respect for. I am surprised that he felt it necessary to mislead me about the car, since I would have looked at other cars which did meet my requirements. I am also surprised that having called his manager to discuss this that he didn’t show me the common courtesy of returning my call.
As I stated at the outset of my letter, I am not difficult to deal with. I knew what I wanted and I was very clear about it. I would like a resolution to this problem and an apology for the rude and offhand manner I have been subject to. I am not prepared to spend endless hours trying to get hold of people, or arguing on the telephone. I will take the line of least resistance and copy this letter and any response to Consumer and Trading Standards Agency and BBC’s Watchdog programme. I appreciate that I may not get satisfaction from this process, but at least I will have some closure. Importantly, my husband, my daughter, my son and I will not buy another car from you and will relate my experience at every opportunity to anyone considering buying a car.
I await your prompt response.
Few weeks ago I had to get new back brakes fitted. This was done by kwik fit who said it was very strange as the car had only done 17,000 miles and the front one were fine, I should check with the garage I got it from. So I did and was told that the reason the back brakes were gone was due to the traction control. But wait I said.. I don’t have traction control.. and any way my car is front wheel drive, so the service mananger then changed his mind to that it was the ABS system causing it and tey would not entertain any claim or even look at it! Great. Last week I took it in for its second service (Only use Arnold as I got 2 yrs free service for the balls up when buying the car) and when I got it back I remembered that the Air con wasn’t working when I took it in but surly they would notice this especially when I noticed a tick beside it on the service sheet saying it was working. However, when I questioned this I was told that the tick didn’t mean the aircon was working it just menat the button was. Stupid me for thinking that eh! Took the car back today as it was under warrenty to get the aircon fixed as they said it would be covered and free to find out that I was to pay £45 to get it Re-charged! Apparently that’s not covered for a 2 year old car. Well as you can imagine I didn’t pay and that’s what I would advise anyone else as they are just out in my opinion to cheat as many people out of money as they can.
The garage chain are a joke and I’m amazed they are still trading!
Glad that’s off my chest.
amthedaddy at 5th Aug 2009, 05:13PM
Unfortunately this is not the only complaint my partner wishes to pursue. As Richard purchased the car in summer he did not check the heating system to see if it was working correctly. Once the colder months arrived its was discovered the heating was not working correctly at all it was only blowing cold air. With an 11 month baby he decided that it was unacceptable to have no heating. He contacted the service department at the branch in Newcastle-under-Lyme to ask them to find the problem. An appointment was arranged and once the car was looked at he was told that it was a flap that controls the airflow and it was not covered under the warranty Autocare, but, as a gesture they would adjust the flap to fix it to a hot setting to get him through the winter months when he expressed he had a child under 1, and they did. He was then told to fix the problem it would cost £600 - £700. Not having that high amount of money at the time Richard refused to have the works completed to his car. This however did not resolve the problem a month later the heating was blowing back cold. My partner decided to get a second opinion and went to an authorized Alpha Romeo Dealer called Platts in Stoke-on-Trent. They did a diagnostic on the car which cost £70. They discovered that it was not actually the flap that was proposed by Arnold Clark it was the heater motor, which incidentally is covered by the Autocare warranty. Richard was told coincidentally that this as quoted by the Arnold Clark service department would be £600 - £700. My partner was asked how long the millage had been flashing for, to which he replied since he had the car. He was informed that the heating was the reason for this. The mechanic went on to say that the heater motor was found stuffed up the dash board and wrapped in electrical tape to attempt to secure it in place. Astonished at this finding Richard felt that the Arnold Clark dealership in Newcastle-under-Lyme had again tried to mislead him and rip him off £600-£700. He immediately went to the dealership and they agreed to fix the car once they were shown what Platts had found. Richard questioned the first diagnostic done by Arnold Clark and was told that they do not have the resources to find that kind of problem. My partner thinks he was deliberately misled on this occasion.
Again ,unfortunately, this is not the only complaint Richard has regarding his treatment by your Newcastle-under-Lyme branch. To comply with his Autocare warranty he took his car to have an MOT to the service department. He was charged full price for the MOT but Richard expected this. When taking the car to be serviced he was told by the secretary in the service department he did not have a free service the only thing he had was a half price MOT. Richard replied he had not had that and the secretary checked and agreed. He was told it could not be reimbursed but it could be past on for the next service.
I would now like to quote parts of your mission statements.
"WE AIM TO PROVIDE GENUINE VALUE FOR MONEY AND CREATE THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION"
I do not see how on any of these occasions your Newcastle branch have tried to offer this. On every occasion Richard feels he has been tried to be ripped off.
"PROVIDE ACCURATE AND RELEVANT INFORMATION IN A CLEAR AND FAIR MANNER"
Again on each occasion Richard feels your Newcastle branch have failed to meet this requirement stated in your mission statement.
Richard would like to know what you intend to do about the way he has be treated, on all 3 occasions. Richard would like to get this matter resolved ASAP but his confidence is greatly diminished in Arnold Clark so much that he intends to speak with trading standards to seek their advice in this matter and act as a third party on his behalf. He also intends to contact several newspapers unless the matters are not dealt with appropriately and he feels he has been offered genuine value for money and the highest level of customer satisfaction.
Thank-you
Yours faithfully
Stacey Mudry
The sales manager Paul Macrae, told me that there was one at the Mount Vernon branch but he would reqire a £100 deposit to get it transported through, i was speachless and in no uncertain terms told him to get lost, he said it was because people arrange for a car to be transported and then don't come back to view it and they are out of pocket, anyway he decided to take the risk on me, as if i didn't want it he would have people queing up to but it in his words.
Came back the next night after work to view car 406 2.0L HDi silver 38,000 (full srvice history) lovely car test drove and liked it straight away ,so started to negotiate my terms got 1 Months warranty, 6 mths tax, a full years MOT ,set of mats, car had been serviced 300 miles ago checked oil and it was spotless so didn't press for a service but told him i wanted the timing belt changed as the car was now over 5 years old and still running on the original belt he said ok, a couple of tiny scratches which were touched up for me, noticed that the high level brake light had a bulb out so told him that would need replacing again no bother sir its going through an MOT this will be picked up and fixed.
We agreed on a price and agreed i would pick the car up in 3 days time (still not gave him a penny yet) i told him i wanted a phone call the day before I picked it up to confirm all was ok and all my demands had been met.
Got my phone call and went through my check list with paul on the phone aparantley all was fine.
Picked the car up next day and paid cash for it i asked for the green slip from the registration document and was told that it had all been sent to DVLA which i foolishly accepted at this time. I also had to ask for the cars log book to be updated and stamped regarding the timing belt change as this hadn't been done.
I was told that at MOT they had fitted new front brake discs, got home went to lock the car with the key and both the drivers door and passanger door wouldn't lock with the key just then my wife says by the way that high level brake light still has that bulb out (obviously not checked at MOT as this would have failed) took car back in next day he said sorry and a bit red faced got one of the mechanics to replace the bulb and sort the locks the feedback was that they had seized due to lack of use (which i accepted)drove away and noticed that the brakes were grinding (only some times)went to jack the car up to inspect and found the Jack was broken, so got out my trolley Jack, next problem was that i couldn't get the locking bolts for the Alloy wheels off as they were damaged by the use of the air driver in the garage, spent 4 hours getting the bolts out and went and bought 4 new bolts £8.00 fitted these while i ahd the wheels off i inspected the brakes and found that the discs in the front were indeed new however the pads hadn't been replaced ( you just wouldn't do this) phoned up to book the car in for the brake inspection feedback was that that front pads were cracked and had been replaced (it took 5 mins and a few lies to get this answer) i checked they had been replaced and they had been , also jack was replaced with new. my mate who also has a 406 was looking at the car and checked my air filter and it was the dirtiest air filter i have ever saw (remembering it was serviced 300 miles ago this was a red rag to a bull, so i phoned up and was told i could pick up a new filter, which i done (fitted myself). after 2 weeks of owning the car i still didn't have any documentation to say i owned the car either from DVLA or arnold clark all i had was the receipt for my cash.
so i phoned DVLA and they said that they had no record of me owning te car, again red rag to a bull
went in to confront the sales manager and he managed to find the green slip in the office( in my opinion the document hadn't been sent at this time and he detached it there and then) as about a week later i got my new document through from DVLA which is about the correct time frame.
Then came the faults with the indicators and rear electric window isolator switch, and the aerial falling off the roof at 60 MPH on the M8, booked it back in, when i went to pick it up i was told that they weren't going to fix any of the faults as they were all down to wear and tear, i exploded at this point and demanded to speak to the service Manager John, but he was to busy to see me, so I got to speak to Larry Mullholland the branch general manager, who told me that i must have broken the aerial and that with regards to the other faults what do you expect with a 5 year old car, you should have taken out an extended warranty, i said i've got a 1 month warranty which hasn't yet expired and he said thats not worth the paper its written on and that it was just a gimic to aid sales (Quote what do you expect from a sales man).
anyway after an hour of arguing i got the aerial fixed and as the other 2 faults were not present at this time he couldn't do anything about them.
I had to accept this as it was true at this time.
I know from reading other peoples horror stories that in comparison to my story, mines probably seems trivial, however it dosen't take away that if i wasn't prepared to argue and fight for what i believe to be right, i would have been walked over with big bloddy boots on, can you imagine if your mother, sister or daughter with little or no knowledge of the mechanics of how a car works was to have bought this car and the only problem they encountered was a puncture on a winters night , damaged wheel bolts , broken jack etc see where i'm going they would be getting the bus home if they weren't murdered first.
My advice is keep away from Arnold Clark Garages.
The salesman took the keys to the 'valuer' who supposedly went to value ours. They had had the keys for 20mins and still not come back so we sent the salesman to get the keys as we weren't interested any more. He went away and came back saying our car had gone to be cleaned?!? 10mins passed and my partner was starting to get irritated so sent him off for the keys again. This time he came back with a value (but no key) which was well below its worth. Again we asked for the keys and he came back this time with a higher figure. We definately weren't interested by this point and were getting very mad. So we went to get the keys ourselves.
When i got home i noticed the aerial was missing from the roof. As they were now closed i called the next morning. It took the salesman 2 hours to return my call and 'apparently' the drive through car wash happened to have been broken that day so it was washed by hand and the car cleaner didn't remove the aerial.
I left it at that then when i got back to my car noticed it had actually been snapped off!! (as you would expect if it had gone through a car wash and not been removed).
This evening i have been back to the garage with my father to ask again about my 'missing' aerial. When we got there we spoke to a valeter bloke who happened to be wandering round. We asked if they had a car wash machine which they have, and told him about the aerial- he said they don't work Sundays so it would have been the sales staff who used it- no mention at all of it having been out of use.
We then spoke to the car valuer bloke who took the keys from us the other day. He obviously remembered my call yesterday and immediately said the aerial wasn't removed for cleaning as it was washed by hand and it was him who had cleaned it! I find this very hard to believe as firstly it was freezing cold,windy and rainy when we went and he was wearing a shirt and tie and no jacket, and secondly he was sat in his office as we saw him each time the salesman went back to ask for the key!!!!
He then accused me of having parked it somewhere and it had been damaged ( i went straight home), then he said it must have been lost on the way home (so it just spontaneously snapped off on the drive home). An absolute joke!!!!!
So i went to enquire about trading my car in and came away with a damaged car.
I can very well believe all these stories on here and will be recommending friends keep well away.
On several occassion when my cars have been in for service, promises are not kept, you are not kept informed of progress, calls are not returned etc etc. I have been left without a car for days, with the promise that it will be ready early the next day. Never happens.
Dyro!!!!
Secondly, most car dealerships segregate their various departments, ie that their parts dept charges the service dept full price, less a nominal discount for parts, and the service dept charge the sales dept a similar cost for the work they carry out....these costs have to be passed on internally, otherwise the service dept would devote all their time and effort to walk-in retail customers who would be more profitable, and sold cars would never be prepped.
Thirdly, 12 months warranties cost a dealership about £200, FACT. These however, ARE normally sold to the customer at this price, as it helps to sell the car....if you walk in to solely purchase a 12 month warranty for your existing car, expect to pay £299-£399 for it...
Finally, just because your friend prices his cars one way, doesn't mean everyone else does. Obviously I don't know his business, but it would make sense that if he had to compete with a large dealer group like AC for instance, he would need his prices to be slightly more competive, as people do tend to go to the biggest companies who can afford to spend larger amounts of money on advertising to get people through the door. Also, his costs won't be as high, as he may have a smaller site, less staff, and lower overheads than a big company. If your cost to pay all staff involved is £300 on a used car, and you make £500 profit, you're £200 in the black. If your cost to pay all staff on a used car is £500, you need to make £700 profit per car to have the same margin. And ultimately, if you're paying to have better staff, better workshop facilities, better aftersales service and more facilities available to customers, like better coffee, WIFI facilities, more courtesy cars, better valeting services and more comprehensive warranties, its not unreasonable to expect a customer to pay a LITTLE more to avail of all these services....at the end of the day, on such a big purchase as a car, believe it or not, money isn't always everything....
peopleareneverhappy at 20th Jan 2009, 10:30PM
The prices you quoted, have you just plucked these figures out of the air?
It cirtainly does not cost £400-£500 to recondition car. The figures you quote are for one-off's. Don't you think that we know how many cars AC will recondition and will get hugh discounts of parts, panel repairs, tyres ,servicing etc. They will use their own mechanics to do the work, therefore reducing the cost to AC.
It certainly does not cost AC £200 for a 12-month 3rd party warranty. It costs that much for one car and I can't see AC paying retail price for each warranty (more like they will have a volume trade discount deal).
Do you seriously believe that AC will take trade-in cars if they know that all they will get in profit is less than £500?
To give you some idea, I traded in my car at a local garage (not AC). After servicing, repairs to small dents in the door panel, 2 new tyres, 12-month warranty and a full valet, the garage put it up for sale £1000 more that they gave me as a trade in. Knowing the garage owner, he admitted that the sale of the car would land him a profit of £600 even if it didn't sell for a couple of months. He didn't even price the car up at full value (which AC dealers would).
Next, do you honestly expect someone to pay the asking price of £3988 for your car?? As much as they can display this on the window, they will NEVER get that for it, unless they get a really gullible person to agree to it. Most dealers on this car would eventually agree to take £3500 after a bit of haggling. This leaves them with a profit of around £600. On this profit, they have to pay VAT @ 15%, leaving them £510 profit. I'm not honestly sure of tax implications after this, but I'm sure the government will take a cut, reducing that figure further.
Finally, they have to pay the salesman for selling the car (otherwise he wouldn't make a living), and from the rest of the profit cover the costs of heating and lighting the site, followed by covering costs of telephones, rent, and hiring a nice lady to greet you as you walk into the showroom. All in all, they aren't robbing you...for you to think they're just pocketing £1700 from your car is highly unrealistic.
peopleareneverhappy at 13th Jan 2009, 09:48PM
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