Lewis

Robins & Day Leicester - Deplorable

Get buckled in, this could be a long one... I bought a used Peugeot RCZ R from Robins & Day in Leicester under 2 months ago. Not a cheap car - only 25k miles on it, and cost me around the £17k mark including the value of my trade in. You would think that, for a relatively expensive car like this one, it would have been thoroughly checked over prior to sale. How wrong you would be... Before I proceed, let me just quote one of their OWN former Sales Executives from the Glassdoor website; "...really do not care about customers, just hitting targets." This rings so true. Anyway, the problems began about 20 minutes after I drove the car away (no joke). On my motorway journey home in my new car, it was glaringly obvious that R&D Leicester hadn't bothered to balance the wheels on the car as the steering wheel was violently shuddering all the way home. They'd put a new (may I point out, cheap & awful) Nexen tyre on one of the rear wheels, and obviously could not be bothered to balance the wheels at the same time (though this is standard procedure). This also makes it quite clear that R&D Leicester hadn't bothered to adequately road test the vehicle prior to sale (again, neglecting standard procedure), otherwise this obvious issue would have been resolved before I bought it. SO, that's issue number 1 on day number 1... great start. I reported the issue as soon as I got in, and was told to take it to Robins & Day Sale to have it sorted. This is the nearest dealer to me and is 45 minutes away from where I live in Wigan... so a big inconvenience already as I work most days and had to take time off to get it over there. Once I had chance to make the inconvenient trip to Sale, I then had to leave the car with them and drive away in a 108 courtesy car. So the inconvenience continues (nearly an hour out of work to get my car there, over an hour out of work getting back in the courtesy car, nearly an hour out of work to get back to them in the courtesy car when mine was ready, another hour out of work getting back in my own car). Whilst my car was in at Sale, they rang me to inform me that the wheel balancing could NOT be sorted without me paying nearly £500 for 3 new tyres, as R&D Leicester had gone against their own 'promise' of changing any tyres with a tread depth less than 3mm prior to sale. Obviously, when they changed the 1 tyre, they would have know the other 3 needed changing, but tried to basically fob me off to save themselves the expense of changing the other 3. Even Robins & Day's own website reads; "The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA) recommends that you change your tyres when the tread depth is 3mm, as below this level it takes longer to stop in wet conditions." So, I reluctantly agreed to pay for the 3 new tyres as this was the only way I could sort the balancing issue (I was informed that the other 3 tyres could not possibly be balanced in the state they were in compared to the 1 new tyre, so they had to be replaced). Again, they were only replaced with naff Nexen tyres that made the car feel absolute terrible and dangerous (awful grip, skidding at every turn). I reported this to R&D Leicester, who had the cheek to try and claim that it was not their responsibility to cover the cost. They basically tried to imply that I had worn them down (I'd only had the car less than a few weeks at this point) and that they would have been replaced had they been less than 3mm at the point of sale... an obvious lie. After a lot of back & forth, including me threatening to return the car for a full refund under the Consumer Rights Act, they eventually & begrudgingly agreed to cover the cost... bear in mind, this was the cost to RESOLVE THEIR OWN ERROR. Even then, they could not bring themselves to admit liability. They would not admit that they had made an error, instead calling it a "goodwill" gesture. No, it's not a goodwill gesture, it's you paying to resolve an issue that you should have resolved prior to sale. Nothing goodwill about that. At least have the balls to be able to admit that you lied & messed up. Anyway, all 4 new tyres were awful and really did not suit the car. This is a 270bhp sports car that was fitted with Goodyear tyres originally. The Nexens they put on were unsafe, they could not handle the power of the car and would regularly skid off at almost every turn or as soon as you put your foot down slightly. SO, I had to pay to replace them with Michelin tyres - a tyre suited to this sort of car. That cost me nearly £800, so that's me out of pocket already. The car also developed a weird smell from the air con after a couple of weeks, so I am also paying to have a bacteria cleanse next time it's in at Stoneacre, Wigan... further out of pocket. NOW on to chapter 2 - the clutch. I've now owned the car for less than 2 months, and with 25k miles on it, I am informed that I am going to be looking at around £1000 to replace the clutch as the friction plates are apparently worn. Not only is this premature failure on a vehicle (a clutch should be lasting around 60k miles minimum), it also points towards the car having this underlying issue when Robins & Day Leicester sold the car to me, as I have quite obviously not worn out a clutch in less than 2 months. At this point, let me quote Which Consumer Rights; "During the first six months after purchase, it's the responsibility of the seller to prove the fault wasn't there, not for you to prove that it was." I reported this issue to R&D Leicester yesterday, and they have completely fobbed me off claiming that it's not their problem. Basically trying to wash their hands of the situation, whilst simultaneously ignoring my Consumer Rights. So, if the warranty won't cover it (which they rarely do with clutches), then I will be liable to pay around £1600 including labour costs within 2 months of buying the car, as R&D sold the car to me with a clutch issue. Anyway, the story is ongoing, and I have been in touch with both the Ombudsman and Trading Standards this morning to report the shocking level of service at Robins & Day Leicester and to make them fully aware of their illegal practices (selling cars with existing issues that they know about, advertising cars that are not as described, ignoring Consumer Rights etc). I'll more than likely update this review as the story unfolds. But for now, a word of warning to anyone reading this... steer clear of Robins & Day, especially the Leicester branch. I have read various shocking stories from Robins & Day customers around the country, not just ones affected by the Leicester branch, and it is safe to say that their ex-employee was correct when they said that R&D "really do not care about customers". If you have any issues, they will not be interested - they just want your money at the point of sale. Save yourself the hassle and potential expense, and buy elsewhere!