Phil A

Lucky escape

We purchased a 7 SEAT 2005 Nissan Patrol from this Dealership in October 2016 & PAID £8,750.00 FOR IT ! The Vehicle had just past it's M.O.T ! The vehicle was delivered to us by a man who we believe is the owner of the business ! I paid a further sum of £150.00 to him for driving it down to us ! The man that delivered the vehicle had only allowed approx 15 minutes with us before he had to catch a train back to where he came from ! I drove the man to the train station in the Patrol...having had Nissan Patrols in the past, over a period spanning 30+ years, I found the vehicle to be as it should with two of us sat in the front seats. That evening we went out as a family (of 5) our two youngest sons wanted to sit right in the back - but we found that we could not use seats 6 & 7 as when we lowered the seats down from their position strapped up in the side of the vehicle they almost fell out. My wife & I sat in the front, with our 3 boys sitting in the middle row of seats ! We had to brake suddenly, to avoid hitting a deer in the road, our eldest son was propelled forward & headbutted his mum in the back of the head...with our youngest son being thrown through the gap between the two front seats, I manage to stop him from hitting the windscreen but the force of him coming forward pushed my arm back & my elbow cracked the windscreen ! We were recovered by the AA ! On inspecting the vehicle we discovered that the bolts & latch that secured that side of the middle seat to the floor had been removed... the same bolts also anchor the seat belt buckles for those seats !!! Luckily we were only traveling at approx 45 mph & we did not actual hit anything ! Needless to say We were absolutely furious that a vehicle could be supplied to a family in such an un-roadworthy & dangerous condition, and I sent an e-mail to the owner of the Rushmoor Motor Company that night telling him that I would be taking matters further ! He said he was very sorry & gave us the option of having all the defects fixed at our local garage, at his cost, or we could have a full refund & he would collect the vehicle ! We decided on the full refund ! He came to collect the vehicle himself, again he said he was very sorry....but then made some pathetic excuse that the previous owners must of "bodged up" the brackets that were supposed to hold the rear most seats in place ! He then admitted that the seat latch had been removed because it was broken, he had agreed to send a replacement direct to us, but he had "no knowledge" of the bolts not being replaced. He had paid the refund of the price of the vehicle - he picked up the keys & the paperwork (mot etc) & went to leave. I asked him if he was forgetting something, he just looked at me with a frown ? I then said "what about the £150.00 cash I paid you for Delivery" ? He then got his wallet out & paid me the £150.00 ! Due to the defective & unsafe condition of the vehicle when it was sold & delivered to us - members of my family could have been seriously hurt. The owner of the business did give us a full refund, but he could not manage a bunch of flowers for my wife or a packet of sweets or something for the boys to say sorry properly ! He should be thanking his lucky stars that no one was hurt & he did not end up in court !!! We would never buy another vehicle from this dealership, and we certainly would not recommend them to anyone else !