So I have just finished dealing with Autoworld for my 9th vehicle purchase from them in 5 years....and it will certainly be my last....
My general dealings with them over the years have never been brilliant, but they are very local to my work, and have a wide range of brands available in house. Indeed, of the 9 purchases, only one has been completely without incident, with issues ranging from missing paperwork to missing tyre inflation kits (twice!) and locking wheel nuts, to the finance being different to what was agreed (they tried to charge us £2k more upon collection of one of our vans than we had agreed!) And i gave up with the service department many years ago.
So, this time, I decided to buy one of the last 160bhp Competizones given the rather good discounts offered. We managed to reach the figures I wanted quite easily, but then there were no cars available that matched the spec I wanted (white or grey with leather). They had a demo car with leather, so I asked if we could get the standard white car that was available, and swap the interior with the demo car. At first they offered it for £1200, which given the business I have given them I found a little disingenuous. After making my point, they agreed to swap for one in a brand new car, at cost price. At this point, the deal was done, and we were told they would give us a call in a couple of days to confirm they had got the car reserved.....a call which never came.
After a couple of weeks I called in and was told that the car was on it's way, and should be there within ten days or so. Another 2 weeks went past, a couple of un-returned calls, and I find out (by another salesman, not the one I am dealing with) that the car is in stock and awaiting PDI. Another couple of un-returned calls, another visit to the showroom, and I get given a date for collection (just over a week away) and expect a call maybe the day before to arrange a time, but once again, no call comes. So once again, I call them, and a time is sorted. This is where it starts to really fall apart.....
So I turn up to collect the car, and find the interior hasn't been changed because 'we ran out of workshop time. I'll get it booked in early next week to be done'. Guess what, next week comes and goes, as does the week after, and yet again un-returned calls, another visit, and I finally get a date for the swap to be done. On the day of the swap, I am working in London, so my dad drops the car off and picks it up again for me, then I pick it up from work when I get back (around 11pm). The morning after I go out all excited to see the new interior in all its glory, and to say I was gutted is a masive understatement. There were so many issues, listed below:
A rip in the leather on the drivers side door card.
A gouge in the silver trim around the buttons on the steering wheel
Gouges in the centre console, and both plastc trims around the cills
A scratch in the paint on the drivers side cill
The back seat isn't even bolted in on one side!!
And it is filthy....what looks like oil on the seat side bolsters, and general dirt on the doors cards and seat backs
Needless to say, I was straight back down, and ready to really kick off! I showed my salesman, and he didn't seem overly concerned but did say he would book it in to get it sorted 'maybe later this week, but more likely early next week'...this was a Wednesday morning - Personally, if anyone who works for me had done such a poor job, they probably wouldn't have had a job any longer! I would have been furious! Anyway, guess what? That's right, no call! Last Saturday (2 and a half weeks later) I went back to the showroom again, and told them in no uncertain terms, that I would be bringing the car in on Tuesday and I expect to collect it that night with all jobs done. When I did collect, all jobs were indeed done, other than the scratch in the cill, but frankly I'm sick to death of wasting my time with them so I'll sort that out myself now. And in case you haven't been following, despite all the issues and all the calls I made, not once did I manage to speak to my salesman on the phone!
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