Jack

Disgusting

I write to make a complaint about the incompetence and inconveniences we endured at your Castle Donington site. I have since got my new car no w and am happy with it however I feel I must raise to you the issues with this site. All went well initially with knowing what car I wanted (a like for like as my old one but a newer model and year due to PCP coming to an end). I had a test drive and was happy, being told that some minor marks and the lower trimming/skirting that was missing would be added. I agreed to purchase the car, albeit at a higher pecentage of finance than last time, having gone from roughly 9% to 16%, but as that's down to credit score after some convincing as it was a nice car I accepted it. I went ahead and sorted the finance out with the sales person Andy whom was incredibly helpful and knowledgable, and given a collection date. Upon arriving on the collection date with confidence it had been fully tested and ready, we noticed air conditioning was not working, only blowing hot air. Bearing in mind, I had already changed the insurance over which incurred admin and change costs, in addition to not being local, so each journey is a 30 minute, 30 mile drive, and the fuel costs. We were given an ultimatum, either take the car away faulty and return to have fixed, or leave the car to be fixed and return another time. We agreed the latter. We were informed that this would take 3-4 days and would be contacted when ready. We were called the following day by someone to inform the car is ready. We were reluctant about this and so left it another day in which we got another call saying it's ready to collect. We made the trip to the store, only to find that this was false and the issue was still there. Again, we left and had more phone calls, and a voicemail, to say the car is ready. We had to inform that the car isnt ready as its awaiting the air conditioning fix. It shouldnt be on us to inform your staff. Upon being told that it had been fixed, we arrived again and discovered it was still not fixed. At this stage, we asked to speak to Martin the manager. He did not offer any compensation for our inconveniences and was just pleased we didn't 'shout' at him, which speaks volumes as to others experiences. We even asked do you do car deliveries, to which he answered no. Further search discovered that you do deliver cars. We would have felt less annoyed if this was offered as a courtesy to avoid us making more trips. A man on the phone previously had said we will fill the tank up as a form of apology, which we were happy for. When Martin was told this, he was more concerned with finding which staff member had promised this, rather than investigating why his engineers had failed to competently test thoroughly the air conditioning fault, which we had to wait for a part for, to then find out it wasn't a physical fault but a software fault. In total, we made 3 wasted trips to the branch, incurred huge costs from the incompetence, and an additional 4th trip to finally collect the car. I am appalled that we were not offered free delivery in this circumstance. Having examined reviews for this branch online, it's clear to me that this is a failing branch, and other customers report similar delays in getting their cars in relation to incompetent engineers. Martin mentioned that there was a 4 week delay in courtesy cars, which speaks volumes again if customers are having to use these before their cars are ready, so this wasn't even an option for us. We were even called one time and asked to collect the car while we were in the branch! There seems to be no connectedness between the staff for a swift efficient experience. When we informed Martin of the insurance charges from changing the insurance from the old to the new and back again repeatedly, having in total amounted to £30, he replied with the fact that Available car don't charge for changes, completely missing our point that he has heavily inconvenienced us! Although I am pleased with my purchase, and the staff were generally very helpful, there seems to be structural and managerial issues at this branch which you should be aware of.,