Maxime C

Everything but a professional car seller

Everything but a professional car seller… I’m from France and bought a BMW M3 E46 convertible at Leisure Shop Ltd, Chelmsford in January 2021. Firstly, it took 10 days, two emails via “pistonheads”, one email via their own website, many whatsapp messages (marked as read), and two phone calls with voice messages left until Mrs Barton decided to answer me (Maybe because I’m French?) In her email, she claimed “the car has no damage at all and is an excellent example of a modern collectable appreciating classic.” As I was sceptical about her sincerity, I asked a reputable professional inspector (Gocarz Import) to see the car and write me a report. The inspection showed scratches on the front and rear bumper, a dent on a front wing, corrosion around the mirrors, wheel varnish peeled, rear bumper misaligned with the body, interior trim fasteners broken, sat nav screen worn... The Cabrio roof wasn’t working (the seller apparently discovered this with the inspector) and was covered with mould, mist on all the windows, inside the beams etc... and the battery was weak but the car did start. Don’t you think a professional car seller should have checked the car the day before the visit, charged the battery, removed the mist with ventilation, and done a little road test to remove the rust on the brake discs? The asking price was very high compared to the market (21950gbp), even if it was low mileage, so logically you would prepare the car the best you can if you want to seduce the customer. Obviously, at Leisure Shop Ltd, they did nothing to show off the car in its best light, and the inspector was very surprised. Aside from all of these things, the car was correct, and we placed an adequate offer by email as the cabrio roof wasn’t working, body was damaged, front tyres and brake discs were seriously worn, no hard top coming with it etc... Of course, a 17 year's old car can't be new, but a professional has to be honest with the condition... No answer from Leisure shop. We had to call them back many days later, managed to come to an agreement (buying the car as seen) and when we asked for the bank details, strangely we received them 5mins afterwards. In contrast, it took them 15 days to give me a receipt of deposit. (Indeed they never even checked if the deposit had arrived, what professional behaviour!) Finally we paid the balance, and I asked for the wind deflector (Mrs Barton told me in her first email it had one), She told me the car hasn’t got one, never apologised and advised me to buy one on Ebay, and that if I wasn’t happy we could cancel the sale! As it was complicated with the brexit procedure, the car stayed one month at Leisure shop, they offered to park the car in one of their garages only if we accepted to pay an extra, miserly... When I picked up the car, obviously it hasn't been cleaned ( I found parking tickets and stuffs from previous owner inside the central armrest, grey leather and plastics were dirty, mold at the rear, on plastics and windows, battery very weak etc... A real professional would have cleaned the car and done a final check to be sure nothing was left inside, even if it was sold "as seen", we are talking about almost 20000 gbp! To summarize my experience with Leisure Shop Ltd, Chelmsford : ● They don’t care about their business and their customers in the slightest. ● Dishonest, the lie about the condition of the car and equipment ● Answer whenever they fancy ● Scorn their customers ● Unprofessional behaviour Hope my review will help future customers to avoid this seller. I’m also a professional motorbikes and cars seller in France, so I know what I’m talking about, and fortunately the bad car sellers like Leisure Shop Ltd are a minority. Maxime COISNE