Sam B

Look out! Con men about

My partner and I visited Available Car Cannock last year both looking to buy a car. Long story short she did and I didn't. On test driving one she liked, we saw that it had many things you would expect of a second-hand car and requested that some scratches and scuffs were sorted out before confirming the purchase. Service was good however the car was not particularly clean on collection. At hand over, we were offered the usual extras including special car mats at around £200, which we declined. When we got in the car we noticed that the original mats had been removed (Con number 1). This should have been an indicator of what was to come. The lack of cleaning became more evident a few weeks later when I was cleaning down the side of the seats and found the previous owner's driving license (this of course was returned to her). This morning we took the car to the garage to have its tyres replaced, on finding the locking wheel nut in the glove compartment the mechanic told us it was not the correct one. I contacted Available Car and explained this to them. They told me that their warranty does not cover removable items. How this applies to us I'm not sure, because the item in question had been lost or removed before the point of sale (Con number 2). They told me there is nothing they can do and we are now looking at an £80 charge to replace the wheel nut. The suggestion over the phone seemed to be that we had lost the wheel nut or put short: the customer is a liar. I'm sure there are many satisfied customers out there that Available Car would refer us to, however, many might soon realise as we did, that not all is as it seems. I await the responses that tell me it is our own fault for not checking the wheel nut and the car thoroughly etc. Maybe we were foolish for putting trust in what is meant to be a reputable firm. All I can say is they have lost any future business from us, I'm sure they won't much care as it won't dent their wallets, but simply admitting their mistake and replacing the item would have cost them less as we will now be cancelling our extended warranty. A week after my partner bought her car I bought mine online from Cinch. I can honestly say I'm so glad I did. Everything that should come with a car was there, along with a few added extras from a grateful seller. If you've made it this far.. my advice shop around.