Jonathan G

Untrustworthy, unprofessional

Purchased a 'mapped out ad blue delete' Vivaro LWB (DS68CVB) with numerous other faults. *** Untrustworthy, sits outside your house, takes your money and ignore you *** Don't be fooled... Den Smith - owner said he would not allow me to purchase the van on finance (pre arranged 3rd party) without directly and personally paying him a deposit of £500.00 because he did not trust them (connect me car finance / first response) He also said it protects him from scrupulous customers who use a vehicle then hand it back after two weeks because they changed their mind. Initially I thought you should treat everyone on their own merit but okay, I needed a Van and £10,995 seemed a decent price for a decent van.. oh, how wrong I was. I paid up awaiting confirmation from Den that the amount was received from the finance company so I could collect the Vivaro. I had to collect the van from a different location than the dealership but again, okay. He gave me the key and I asked where the second one was, he replied still at the dealership (was supposed to be present when I collected it – at least, that was his promise). He would though let me know when he had it... Week after week I asked (he didn’t update) for the key and was kept given the excuse, I am chasing them. This happened for as I say, weeks. In-between that time the Vivaro come up with several faults. I explained them to Den Smith but he wasn't very helpful. We don’t do 30 day hand backs here and It was fine when I was driving it was the answer I got. Not great for an £11k van! I also explained that I had topped up the Ad Blue because the Van said it was empty – 0% to top up... it overflowed immediately! I called Den and told him about this and he replied he forgot to tell me that when the vehicle had gone for MOT etc the repairing garage had informed him that the Ad Blue system had been mapped out. This was common practice and he sold one the other week that was exactly the same! I said I wasn’t happy and would like it looked at with the view of putting it back to how Vauxhall made it from factory. At first, he said, I don’t know. No one has ever asked me to do it... it won’t give you any trouble I promise. Anyway, he chopped and changed his mind from pillar to post whether to help. Meanwhile, I contact the finance company and told them... that's when Den decided to start texting me at midnight demanding I don’t use the vehicle any more as it's his van... not mine. I also said it had faults so Den replied it shouldn’t be driven because it could cause more damage... these faults weren’t engine related and whatever there was... was present when he sold it to me anyway I said I would use the vehicle until a technician said otherwise ( I had it booked in for new year with Den ) and he said no, that’s not how this works. I used the van the next day to go to the recycling centre to remove Christmas and house items that we accumulated over Christmas… Den was parked outside MY HOUSE on New Years Eve. This was at 4pm so god only knows how long he had been waiting?! Den followed me to the recycling centre and filmed (whilst driving) me and my wife unloading the van of our household items, luckily I have this on dashcam! I confronted Den about this and he wheelspun off around in the road and hit my left leg – thigh, laughing his head off out the window driving up the road. I contacted the police and their investigating at present. Needless to say I spoke to the finance company again and the Van was collected by a 3rd party for a hand back on Saturday 04/01/2025 and as of today 13/01/2025 I haven’t received my £500 deposit back. I have been informed that he does have 14 days to refund me and the finance company but… it takes 24h to send a refund to the finance company and he could of paid me via BACS like I did for him in 2 minutes!!! I wonder if I will receive it back in full… maybe… on day 13! Now, ask yourself, do you want to be getting into business with someone who can act like this? You have, like a few other reviews, clearly been warned. Do yourself a favour and just steer clear of D W SMITH MOTORS and avoid DS68CVB… yes it is back up for sale with the same dealer, the same original picture and the same original text ( two mileages given on advert now ) that’s because I had the van for 4 weeks! *** Avoid, drive away, turn around ***