Herb

Car not as advertised

I recently purchased and returned a 2009 Audi A4 from A&R Carriages and it was the worst car and dealer I've dealt with. Before purchasing the car I asked for pictures and videos of any damages and any known faults with the car. I received no additional pictures or information other than the pretty standard overview of the car. I did not view the car in person since I live 3 hours away and didn't have free time and I thought I was being provided with accurate information which unfortunately I was not. When the car was delivered, it was low on coolant with a coolant leak, 3 tires were low (between 22-25PSI), the car needed an alignment, the tachometer lights turned on and off randomly, a center console covering in the back was cracked in half, one vent didn't blow hot air, and the biggest issue was the transmission made a loud clunking noise and produced a burning smell when the car was warm and you were stopping the car or rolling from a stop. I dealt with two people from the dealer, Craig, who I think was genuine and wanted to get the issues rectified and help out as much as possible, and Anthony, the manager who was quite the opposite. Anthony told me most of the issues they'd never know about since they don't drive the car as much as the customer. You don't have to drive the car long or at all to check tire pressure, check if the coolant is low, check the heating, check the alignment, check to see if there's a console cover cracked in half, and to turn on the dash lights to make sure they work. The car did have to be driven for around 30 minutes before the transmission issue was noticeable but the car was driven 3 hours to my house when it was delivered. I'd rather they were just honest and told me they didn't inspect the car because when you say a lot of those issues wouldn't have been known then it just seems that they don't know the product they're selling. Sure they offered to fix all the issues but I had zero confidence in that car and who knows what issues I didn't find as I'm not a mechanic. When I told them that I would be returning it for a refund, I asked for a courtesy car until we received the refund. Craig helped me out and arranged it but later when I spoke to Anthony he was upset and said I shouldn't have asked for a courtesy car if I'm just going to refund the car. The car we purchased sat on our drive for 2 weeks because it's undriveable in stop and go traffic after 30 minutes and we live in the city. We then waited 2 weeks for a refund, so I think a courtesy car wasn't too much to ask and if it was, they could've denied it to me if Anthony really felt so strongly about it. I also emailed once and called 3 times in regards to the refund. Anthony first told me the money would be refunded on a Tuesday after the car was inspected, which is understandable. I called Tuesday afternoon and was told I'd receive the refund Friday. I called Friday afternoon and was told I'd receive it by 7pm. Saturday morning I received a message saying I'd receive it at 11am. At 11am I get a call from Anthony saying he doesn't have my invoice so I need to send it to him for a refund. Finally, I get the refund and I message Anthony saying I'll transfer the logbook back over online and he immediately tells me not to because he doesn't want me to make a mistake and he said he'll do it. I ask him if he can message me when it's done and he read the message and didn't reply. I message him again an hour later asking if it was done and he read that message too and didn't reply. I ultimately decided to just transfer it myself as I read an autotrader review that said another person was in the same scenario where they were told the dealer would transfer it for them and they didn't do it immediately and the person received charges from the DVLA because of it and I didn't want to take that chance if my messages were just being ignored.