Car dealer using SIMI forms when not SIMI registered

Sam_The_Dog

I understand that, but leaving aside the defect they still provided misleading information on numerous aspects of the car and that is cover under consumer law.

Aside from that since the end of July, when i picked up the car i have had it for about 14 days. The rest of the time it has been back with the dealer. I left it back on Monday, it was supposed to go to the ford dealer that day. and i have still not heard back from either the dealer or the ford garage, who I contacted directly on Tuesday, who hadn't gotten the car as i was told they would have. They were also given a mobile number to ring, that was not mine even though i specifically requested that they give my contact details.
Is that still acceptable practice?

Sam_The_Dog

I just rang the main dealer, who have stated they inspected the cat yesterday and returned it the people i bought the car off. Without attempting any repairs.

I asked to be emailed a copy of their observations or an inspection report. They wouldn't give these or send it to me. "its a matter between you and the dealer, i suggest you contact them" was basically the response.

I am so fed up and angry.

racso1975

Sam_The_Dog wrote: »

I just rang the main dealer, who have stated they inspected the cat yesterday and returned it the people i bought the car off. Without attempting any repairs.

I asked to be emailed a copy of their observations or an inspection report. They wouldn't give these or send it to me. "its a matter between you and the dealer, i suggest you contact them" was basically the response.

I am so fed up and angry.

probably a data protection issue and they dont want to bite the hand that feeds them

bazz26

racso1975 wrote: »

probably a data protection issue and they dont want to bite the hand that feeds them

The OP did not bring the car to the main dealer so he/she is not their customer. The dealer that the OP bought the car from brought to the main dealer. That is why the main dealer won't discuss it with the OP. The main dealer has given their assessment to the other dealer so it is they who should be informing the OP what is wrong with the car and what they are going to do to sort it.

lawred2

Sam_The_Dog wrote: »

Hi,

I am new to this. But the below is basically the problem that I currently have.

I recently bought a car from a dealer. After a few days I noticed a fault with the engine. In order to get to the point of having them look at it I had to badger them with phone calls, and was always told, "such and such will ring" you back or "I can't handle your request". But I always ended up doing the chasing, eventually I got to the point where we reached an agreement to bring it in and have it assessed.

The car has been back with them twice now for what would seem to be major repair, the first time it was there for over a week, I away for this week and picked it up when I returned. The second time was yesterday, for a fault which I believe to be caused by the attempt to rectify the first fault, because it wasn't there beforehand, and it appeared the day after I picked the car up. This time it is apparently being sent to an authorised main dealer to be inspected.

After being entirely unhappy with the service received from the dealer, I decided to lodge a complaint with SIMI, whom I rang and was informed by them in writing that this dealer is 100% not a SIMI dealer and should not be using their forms. But they cannot deal with my complaint, that it is a matter between me and the dealer.

Has anyone else been in this situation or known of an experience like this? What are the legal issues here?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

being or not being a member of the SIMI makes no difference to your rights as a consumer..

Sam_The_Dog

But misrepresenting themselves as being a member of an organisation/group, and using that groups invoices and terms of sales. That is covered under misleading information under consumer law.

Also to bazz, i accept your point, it may very well be the case. The dealer haven't yet contacted me, and i am loathe to contact them at this point.

bazz26

Sam_The_Dog wrote: »

But misrepresenting themselves as being a member of an organisation/group, and using that groups invoices and terms of sales. That is covered under misleading information under consumer law.

Also to bazz, i accept your point, it may very well be the case. The dealer haven't yet contacted me, and i am loathe to contact them at this point.

You may have to keep on their case if you want some sort of result. You need to be a thorn in their side otherwise they will just keep putting it on the long finger in the hope you just get fed up and go away. Phone calls, emails won't work in these cases, you need to show up regularly unannounced and start applying deadlines. I know in reality you may not have the time to do that but it may really be the only way to get anything done.

Sam_The_Dog

At this stage these guys have had the car for a week and i have had zero contact with them.
The insurance on the car they gave expired at 4pm on Friday, i extended this to Saturday and reverted back to my old car.
If they don't contact me, does that look worse for them when i pursue legal action?

bazz26

As I said in my previous post, you need to be on their case constantly so that they just want you out of their hair. If you wait for them to contact you then you could be here till Christmas.

acronym Chilli

Sam_The_Dog wrote: »

At this stage these guys have had the car for a week and i have had zero contact with them.
The insurance on the car they gave expired at 4pm on Friday, i extended this to Saturday and reverted back to my old car.
If they don't contact me, does that look worse for them when i pursue legal action?

as bazz26 says, keep on their case or you'll get nowhere.

From legal action point of view: I'm not sure how much that matters. What you need to do is start logging every contact, call, visit, email, etc., in a notebook. Just them not contacting you isn't so bad (they'll say "we didn't realise it was so urgent", you'll be asked "did you call them to remind them", if you say "no", then it probably wasn't so urgent. If you pull notebook and say "i phoned at 9:44 on 30th August, spoke to ... he said, etc., I called back at 14.00 on 2nd September, left voicemail, called again at 16.42 on 2nd Sept, spoke with ... said he hadn't picked up voicemail, ..."

But more than the value for legal action, the record becomes a useful tool to make sure you keep the pressure on, and you can use it to add further pressure: "I called you at 9.44 on 30th August and you said..., now we're talking again on... "etc.,

Sam_The_Dog

acronym Chilli wrote: »

as bazz26 says, keep on their case or you'll get nowhere.

From legal action point of view: I'm not sure how much that matters. What you need to do is start logging every contact, call, visit, email, etc., in a notebook. Just them not contacting you isn't so bad (they'll say "we didn't realise it was so urgent", you'll be asked "did you call them to remind them", if you say "no", then it probably wasn't so urgent. If you pull notebook and say "i phoned at 9:44 on 30th August, spoke to ... he said, etc., I called back at 14.00 on 2nd September, left voicemail, called again at 16.42 on 2nd Sept, spoke with ... said he hadn't picked up voicemail, ..."

But more than the value for legal action, the record becomes a useful tool to make sure you keep the pressure on, and you can use it to add further pressure: "I called you at 9.44 on 30th August and you said..., now we're talking again on... "etc.,

so far i have noted all calls and times and what was discussed. They have no listed emails that i can find to send an email to. I have sent a letter & also instructed a solicitor to send one on my behalf.

They said they would call me last Tuesday, a week later i still haven't received a call. From my point of view that looks worse on them than me, I'm put off chasing them up, because they have done nothing but fob me off with lies and get aggressive when i push them. Its hard to remain calm.

Nuw

I understand the anger, we've all had bad experiences like this.

In fairness to them, they did try to fix the issue (it would appear badly, but that's not the point), when they realised it was over their head, they turned to a main dealer instead of trying a "that'll do" which, in my eyes, is in their credit.

Now, it would appear you've been mislead on the product, and that you paid for something you haven't had the use of for quite some time. On top of this, you've been told to f off when pressing the matter.

I'd write everything down (as mentioned), and pressure them on the phone (once per day, not more), and here comes the difficult part, try to remain calm when you talk to them, state the facts alone and try to leave the anger out of your dealings with them. If nothing moves, seek legal advice (if not already done) and take it from there.

Anyway, good luck and let us know how you fare.

Sam_The_Dog

I have done all of the above. I have sent a letter and also got a solicitor to send one.
The main dealer didn't do any repair work, i also asked them not to attempt any repair without contacting and telling me what needed to be done. Which i think was the right thing to do. From what they told me when I rang, they had the car for about half a day before sending it back, that was last Wednesday.
Since then, the dealer has agreed in principal to give me my money back and has also said they have instructed the HP provider to cancel the finance.
Do i hold onto the log book until the money hits my account? i have to go up to them tomorrow

Nuw

Sam_The_Dog wrote: »

Do i hold onto the log book until the money hits my account? i have to go up to them tomorrow

I would.
However, your solicitor might advice differently on this, since you have him, might as well give him a quick call, see what his opinion is on the matter.

Sam_The_Dog

Nuw wrote: »

I would.
However, your solicitor might advice differently on this, since you have him, might as well give him a quick call, see what his opinion is on the matter.

I left it back on Friday, was told id have the refund by Wednesday. I git the amount i paid in cash back as a transfer today, i am still waiting on the amount i paid by card.

i returned the tax book etc, and signed the forms. The car was back for sale Friday evening. still Advertised as 1 owner, can these guys be reported to the ccpc or some other body? As they are deliberately misleading consumers with this type of behaviour.

Nuw

The card amount will probably take a couple of days depending on your bank, this is not unusual. Sometimes takes up to 3 working days. I wouldn't sweat on that 'til the end of the week tbh.

As for them putting it back for sale... well I guess that's a different story... I wouldn't be too sure as to where to report this, maybe someone else can advise?

Or maybe, given the circumstances maybe a Mod would allow you to name them here?

acronym Chilli

Sam_The_Dog wrote: »

I left it back on Friday, was told id have the refund by Wednesday. I git the amount i paid in cash back as a transfer today, i am still waiting on the amount i paid by card.

i returned the tax book etc, and signed the forms. The car was back for sale Friday evening. still Advertised as 1 owner, can these guys be reported to the ccpc or some other body? As they are deliberately misleading consumers with this type of behaviour.

You've done really well to get back what you have done, I'm surprised. Garage probably is pretty confident of re-selling it and that the problems are fixable.

RE the number of owners thing, I don't know what the actual procedures regarding log-book will be, but really you shouldn't count as an owner. To use a marriage analogy: you've essentially looked to have the marriage annulled, like it never happened, not gotten a divorce. I'd say just put it all behind you to be honest.

stimpson

acronym Chilli wrote: »

You've done really well to get back what you have done, I'm surprised. Garage probably is pretty confident of re-selling it and that the problems are fixable.

RE the number of owners thing, I don't know what the actual procedures regarding log-book will be, but really you shouldn't count as an owner. To use a marriage analogy: you've essentially looked to have the marriage annulled, like it never happened, not gotten a divorce. I'd say just put it all behind you to be honest.

This can be done. I returned a car before when it turned out to be two tax bands higher than advertised (genuine mistake as it was a UK import and emissions were different) they can undo the sale with Shannon.

acronym Chilli

stimpson wrote: »

This can be done. I returned a car before when it turned out to be two tax bands higher than advertised (genuine mistake as it was a UK import and emissions were different) they can undo the sale with Shannon.

Sounds like common-sense, surprisingly! (for a bureaucracy) and in this situation I'd consider it legitimate