Abby F

Very poor after sales

We have had a very disappointing experience. Our £9000 car with only 26,000 miles on the clock broke down due to an electrical steering fault on the first day of purchase – it is likely that GBI cars were not aware of this before purchase, so this in itself, although frustrating would not have been a major problem. Being 150 miles away, we contacted our breakdown cover who fixed the problem for us and got us on the road again. We also contacted GBI cars by phone and they assured us they would follow it up the following week – they never did. After thinking the fault was resolved, we continued driving the car. The fault recurred and after some (costly) diagnostic testing, we discovered the fault although had been cleared previously, had not been fixed, as the entire electrical unit needed replacing – and would cost £2000. The car was then undrivable, as there was no way of predicting when the fault would recur each time. GBI cars told us that the three month warranty was over and would not help. After some persuasion (as the fault was present at time of purchase) they suggested splitting the cost of repair and offered to arrange this at a local garage they thought could offer the best service (even though GBI cars, as the dealer, is actually responsible for the full cost.) We were pleased that we seemed to at least be getting somewhere, so asked them to confirm when they’d like us to bring it in. At this point, GBI simply cut communication. This was so disappointing – not returning calls and not responding to emails, leaving us rather confused. Thankfully, we had bought the car on finance so we went directly to the finance company. An investigation by the finance company found GBI cars fully liable, as the fault was SO clearly present at time of purchase (we had a breakdown report from the very first day to prove it, as well as an independent engineer’s report!) After nearly a YEAR of being without a working car (with a young family) we have finally got ALL of our money back and are purchasing a new car elsewhere 😊 We obviously wanted this resolved as quickly as possible, but sadly, GBI dragged out the investigation by being as difficult and obstructive as possible ie. not responding to communication from the finance company, and questioning the integrity of an engineer who the finance company appointed to investigate! To this day, we have heard nothing from GBI cars – no apology, and not even an acknowledgement of the outcome ☹ If you buy a car from this company and you have no issues, then you are likely to have a positive experience - their pre-sales (unsurprisingly) appears extremely helpful and professional! However, any issues after purchase, and you customer experience is likely to be pretty appalling - something that we certainly won’t be risking again!