Anonymous

Wasn't all as it seemed

I’m not even sure where to start. Having never bought a vehicle online before without viewing it and paying in full up front, I was very sceptical, but having spoken to Tom G and reading positive past customer reviews, I went ahead. I ‘purchased’ a Peugeot e-208, registration LR21 CWZ. The advert described the car as being a ‘stunning example’. Tom was really responsive to my messages. He agreed to repair the alloys which had some kerb damage and that any surface scratches/dents would be sorted by their on-site detailer. I arrived as planned for my 11:30 appointment. The car wasn’t ready and was still being valeted, however, I was happy to wait as I wanted the car to be ‘right’ before signing anything and driving it away. Here’s where it all changed. Upon walking out to see the car for the first time, it did look ‘stunning’ – from a distance. Upon closer inspection, the car had evidently been resprayed at some point all down the passenger side and a big patch on the drivers’ side too. An awful job too! There was overspray all around the wheel arches and even under the passenger and driver door handles, it was all bumpy to feel. An evident paint drip on the rear panel of the drivers also gave this away. You could feel the difference in paintwork – going from a smooth lacquered finished to a dull matt/rough feel. Then we go to the scratches and dents that were supposedly being sorted....the car was full of them. I absolutely appreciate that a car of 3 years old will have ‘age related marks’, but what I don’t expect to see is deep scratches on the bumpers (looked like someone had dragged a suitcase out of the boot and across the bumper), across the middle of the boot and on the door panels. It was evident that there had been no attempt made to repair/polish these out, as promised. The join where the driver’s door meets the wing were not flush indicating there had been some kind of impact/damage to the vehicle in the past. The ’E’, ‘U’ and ‘G’ letters of the Peugeot badge on the boot has been stuck back on with glue and the residue had dried leaving a large tacky area that had been smudged. The boot had lots of deep scratch marks – obviously not well cared for or indeed repaired/polished out. We spoke to Cameron initially as part of the handover, who asked that Tom come and speak to us when we pointed out all the things we had noted. Tom’s response was "you need to expect age related marks" or "oh, we could get that sorted”. My question is – why were these not sorted before I arrived to collect it as I was promised? I ultimately did not purchase the vehicle but instead asked for a full refund. Tom processed this efficiently and at the time of writing this review 2 days later, the balance has been returned to my account, with the initial deposit of £500 expected within 3-5 days. We had travelled over 2.5 hours to collect the car, and being assured by Tom’s initial description of the car and the promise of repairing the alloys and scratches/dents, I foolishly switched my car insurance and breakdown cover, so it would be a hassle free handover and I didn’t have to be switching these policies over whilst at the garage. I even sold my current vehicle!! I incurred admin costs switching these over to the car which I never bought and have incurred further admin costs in terms of mid-term cancellation fees for now cancelling my insurance. I’m out of pocket by about £100. The wasted trip left me feeling angry, frustrated and let down, after such an encouraging initial start. I’m now left trying to source a new car, but with great apprehension after my very unfortunate experience with Powerlease.