Annette

Problem after Problem!

I rarely write reviews but I feel compelled to write one following my experiences with Cars 77 Ltd. I saw an advert for a BMW 1 series on Autotrader and went to the garage to test drive the car. I asked whether the car had parking sensors since I didn’t hear a beep when reversing. The salesman Hashim (coincidentally the same first name as the one person who left a positive review on their website) said it didn’t but offered to add parking sensors at a charge to which I pointed out that the advert on Autotrader said the car had parking sensors! He then agreed to add them at no charge. I asked if there was anything else on the advert which the car didn’t come with and was then told there was no service history despite the advert stating that the car had part service history. The salesman advised that as a goodwill gesture they would service the car for me if I wanted it and provide me with the service document. I asked the sales rep Anwer whether the car had any known faults and was reassured that the car had been checked by the garage they used and there were no known faults. The misleading advert should have set alarm bells ringing in my head but against my better judgement I decided to purchase the car and left a deposit. They advised I could collect the car the following Sunday. On the Saturday morning I received a call from Anwer asking when I would collect the car. When I advised Sunday as agreed, he informed me that the garage would not be open that Sunday and that I needed to come on Saturday or in the week. He advised me that he had tried to call me a few times the day before but my phone was off. I advised him that my phone was on and reachable all day and suggested he should have left a message. This was not the first time Anwer told me this story and I never received any missed call notification as I normally do. I had to rearrange my Saturday at short notice to collect the car. The process of completing the paperwork at the garage was also extremely slow. I collected the new car with minimal petrol inside, no manual and no spare key. The car also did not come with the minimum 6 months MOT as advertised under the AA dealership promise. When driving the car home, I noticed a light on the dashboard, I later that evening discovered that they were warning lights. A brake fault and a serious engine fault (cam timing chain). I left a message with the garage the following day and advised them that I would bring the car back on the Monday as the car had faults contrary to their reassurances. Anwer advised that he would take it to their local garage to fix. I also realised that the paperwork which they had given me for the service was only actually a receipt from Europarts for car parts. To cut a long story short, they were unable to fix the car, they did not call me once despite promising to keep me updated. I had to call them numerous times and despite their reassurances that the car would be fixed before the end of the week… it was not. A week later after chasing for updates, I asked for a refund, which appeared back into my account a week and a half after my request. I also asked for the garage to pay my additional costs incurred, i.e petrol left in the car, costs for having to amend and re-amend insurance details due to the mis-sale and my travel costs to and from the garage however they ignored my requests and then flatly refused when asked in person. When collecting the car mats which I had left in the car I remembered my large umbrella had also been left in the car, yet this was not provided to me until I specifically asked for it. Anwer swore on his mother’s life that he did not know the car had faults when he sold it to me. I find that hard to believe with the warning lights appearing clearly on the dashboard. Unfortunately, I did not know the lights were warning lights and had I known I could have avoided this COSTLY, STRESSFUL, FRUSTRATING and TIME CONSUMING experience. I will never again in my life visit CARS 77 Ltd!! Now 1 month later since paying the deposit, I am back to stage one.