Advice Needed Please - Reject or Repair? Which route to take!?!

[NannyMichelle]

Hi all, I'm after some advice please if anyone has a little time to spare.

 

 

I bought a car (2006 Peugeot 307 hdi estate) from a dealer on 7th May and have been having problems ever since.

 

I viewed the car on 2nd May and took it for a very short test drive (didn't know the area so followed where the dealer directed me).

Gave the salesman a list of issues that I wanted sorted before collecting the car which included

handbrake adjustment (done for MOT),

clutch was very high (been told that there is nothing wrong with the clutch so they wouldn't adjust it, fair enough),

there was no handbook and I requested one (still not received),

remote key fob wasn't working (and I specifically told him I had no interest in buying the car unless it was fixed

as I wasn't prepared to pay main dealer for a new one),

and the salesman advised me he was putting a new MOT on the car.

Paid £400 deposit (on my mums debit card).

 

I picked the car up on 7th May (2 days later than agreed as he said his mechanic was swamped).

Paid the remaining £1000 (again on mums debit card).

 

 

When I was given the MOT certificate there was a failure certificate with 5 items on (one of which was the handbrake).

4 of these items had ticks by them and one had a question mark (Supplementary Restraint System warning lamp indicates a fault).

 

 

I asked him why the question mark and he said it's all been done,

I asked so why is everything else ticked and that one has a question mark

and he said don't worry everything's been done.

He advised that the key fob had been looked at and he had changed the battery and it did work when I unlocked the car.

 

 

On the drive home a light came up on the dash but having no handbook I didn't know what the light meant.

After checking it I found out that it was the SRS warning light (the one that had so say been fixed!).

Also the next day the remote fob stopped working.

 

I called the garage and was advised that the warning lamp could have come back on due to driving over a pothole or something

and that it was just a sensor and was a £10 part and he would get his auto electrician to fix it.

I advised him I only have Sunday and Monday off work and he said he would get back to me after speaking to the auto electrician.

In regard to the key fob he said that he couldn't do anything about it.

 

 

I thought maybe he had robbed a battery from another remote so set about trying to find a new replacement (2 brand new batteries later and it still doesn't work)

. I had booked the car in at my local (trusted) garage just to get it checked over and he said the clutch was high

but that was common on these cars, the brake pads were on advisory on MOT

and he said the discs should have been on there too.

He also said that the tracking was out and needed doing and that it should have been done after MOT

as the Offside front Track rod end ball joint had been done for the MOT.

 

Next time I spoke to the garage I still had no date for the auto electrician and asked them about the tracking

and they said that that could have happened at any time by driving over a pothole (again!) so they would not do it.

After speaking to the garage a couple more times I was advised the auto electrician was not available for the next 2 Mondays

and he would get back to me when he had a date.

 

And then on 29th May I drove home from work and parked the car up at around 9.30 pm.

I went back to the car an hour later to drive my son to work and the car was making an awful noise when I tried to pull away.

I stopped and checked the car and the drivers side front coil spring had snapped and was digging into the wheel/tyre.

I left the car where it was standing and

 

 

the next day phoned the garage again to ask them to arrange a repair.

They advised me this was wear and tear and that they wouldn't fix it.

 

 

I came here and read lots and lots and followed lots of links and read some more.

Also spoke to TS who have given me a ref. no. and advised me to contact the garage to advise that I was rejecting the car

and to follow it up with a recorded delivery letter.

 

 

After speaking to the garage again to advise them that I was rejecting the car and wanted a full refund under the SOGA

I was again advised that the broken coil spring could have been due to my driving (and I quote) like off road or something

or extreme weather and that it wouldn't be covered under warranty and even if it was they would not repair it as was wear and tear.

 

 

I repeated that I was rejecting the car and requesting a full refund as I had already been refused a repair

and was told to do what I like as I was wasting my time and would not be getting any money from them.

 

I am now not sure what to do.

Do I send the letter to reject the car due to being given misleading information,

being lied to/deceived as per the CPRs or due to the breakdown of the vehicle or whether to request all of the items be repaired before rejecting the vehicle.

 

 

I know it's an old car and I know £1400 isn't the biggest amount of money ever spent on a car but I would have thought it would be fair

to expect that it would be enough for a car that would last longer than 3 weeks before having to spend money on it.

 

Sorry for the huge post but wanted to try and get all the info in!

 

 

Just hope it makes sense now!!

 

 

I would be incredibly grateful if someone could help me and advise me on which route I should now be taking.

 

 

Many Thanks. Michelle

Edited June 2, 2015 by NannyMichelle

[dx100uk]

hi ya

 

 

can you use the edit post pencil in the bar below your post

 

 

and add some blank lines and paragraphs

 

 

the site appears to have truncated everything

[NannyMichelle]

Ha ha, sorry, I'll do it now, thanks.

[dx100uk]

I think I'd be rejecting the car totally under your statutory rights

 

 

dx

[NannyMichelle]

Thanks for the reply dx.

 

 

Not sure what happened with the editing on my first post,

 

 

it now seems to have gone slightly mental on me!!

 

 

So should I be rejecting on the basis that they didn't fix the key fob and SRS warning light that they had assured me had been done?

 

 

Sorry, this is my first time standing up for myself like this

 

 

and although I've read tons of threads on here I'm still really unsure of what I'm supposed to be doing!

[dx100uk]

I spaced it too

 

 

anyway

 

 

for whaerever reason

including all of the above

you are entitled to reject the car.

 

 

too many things wrong with it .

 

 

dx

[NannyMichelle]

Ok. So that brings up more questions.

 

 

Firstly, does the letter have to be posted and recorded delivery or could I do it via email?

 

 

Secondly, do I need to get the coil spring fixed before I can reject the car and request a refund?

 

 

Thirdly, do I have to deliver the car back to the garage or do they need to collect it? It is not driveable and don't particularly want to have to pay for a truck to transport it back to the garage.

 

 

Lastly, I think, do I send a letter rejecting the car and requesting a full refund and give them a time limit to respond? If so is it 7 or 14 days? And then what happens next?

 

 

I really appreciate your help, thank you so much

Edited June 2, 2015 by NannyMichelle

[dx100uk]

Ok. So that brings up more questions.

 

 

Firstly, does the letter have to be posted and recorded delivery or could I do it via email? rejection letter, sent Recorded Delivery

 

Secondly, do I need to get the coil spring fixed before I can reject the car and request a refund? nope

 

Thirdly, do I have to deliver the car back to the garage or do they need to collect it?

It is not driveable and don't particularly want to have to pay for a truck to transport it back to the garage. - their problem

Lastly, I think, do I send a letter rejecting the car and requesting a full refund and give them a time limit to respond?

If so is it 7 or 14 days? And then what happens next? 14

 

I really appreciate your help, thank you so much

 

 

dx

[NannyMichelle]

Thanks for that.

 

I will try and get onto the letter tomorrow although probably won't be able to get to the post office until Thursday as I have work tomorrow.

 

Need to sleep now as have to be up soonish!!

 

Thanks for all your help and I will let you know when / if I get any response from the garage.

[dx100uk]

name and shame too please

 

 

dx

[citizenB]

You could send by email and advise within the email that you are also sending a hard copy by recorded/special delivery to their Head office.

[NannyMichelle]

Hi dx, happy to name and shame but would rather wait until I've got my money back (hopefully) if that's ok? Don't want to make things any harder than they're already going to be.

 

 

citizenB, that's what I was thinking but have now decided against e-mail as don't want to give them a heads up. Also don't think they have a head office as it's a small independent garage.

 

 

I am compiling the letter tonight ready to take to the post office tomorrow as it's my day off and then I guess it's just a waiting game for a couple of weeks. Do I need to state all the issues in the letter or

 

should I just mention the keyfob and SRS warning lamp being as these are the issues I am using to actually reject the vehicle? I just dont know if putting all the problems in the letter is going to confuse the

 

issue? Also should I state in the letter that they have 14 days from receipt of the letter to respond?

[Conniff]

The SRS is the most serious of your complaints, it could mean the air bag fails to deploy should you be in an accident and that can have serious, if not fatal, consequences.

 

 

I think 14 days is a bit long, I would give them 7 days after all it don't take two weeks to laugh at a customer and then bin their letter.

[Terraeartha]

Contact the debit card company and ask them about charge back for this item, they should help since you fully paid using that. Then let the garage collect their useless car. Just been through similar but used a credit card which also gives access to something called section 75 which relates to the credit act I think.

[Conniff]

Any update Michelle ?