We have done everything possible to get them to refund our money. We stopped driving the car immediately and returned it to them with a letter telling them we were rejecting it and didnt want a repair. We stated in writing in 2 letters and many emails we did not want a repair. We have done all the letters as required and now about to start court proceedings.
What is annoying is that it will cost us £600 to register the claim (which we get back if we win) but we can only claim around 70%-80% of our fees back. So even if we win it will cost us around £800 (as it's over the £10k small claims limit). We dont have a choice as we dont want a faulty car back but they clearly know how much it will cost us which is why they have just said 'take us to court.'
We know 100% we will win - and in case anyone ever takes a car back and they fix it without your permission the court case to quote is :
Bowes v J Richardson & Son Rugby County Court, 28 January 2004. The Sale of Goods Act was applied in reverse, when considering whether a seller has accepted a buyer's rejection of goods. The Defendant had carried out repairs without Mr Bowes’ authority. In doing this, they had acted in a manner inconsistent with Mr Bowes' ownership, thereby accepting that the car had been rejected. They were bound by their acceptance of Mr Bowes’ rejection, even if he had not in fact been entitled to reject the car.
The other court case consumers should know about isClegg v Olle Andersson, 2003 which is about returning something that was not fit for purpose.
All they have done is claimed they have a right to fix it, which they dont. The tactic of trying to force us to pick the car up or they would put it in storage was a clever one but at 5pm on the deadline day they emailed to say they would not do this as they 'didnt want to put the financial burden on us'. We knew all along it was outside the law - as confirmed by the police and our solicitor and yet they still try to claim some form of moral high ground!