Section 75 Claims - New Cars

Associate
Joined
14 Feb 2004
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1,103
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London
But you still have the car 18 months after you bought it, you seem to have taken advice from many sources and you are now on a web forum asking for more advice. With respect you have taken far too long, you have been using the car for the 18 months and I am sure added many miles. I am not seeking to argue with you, I am saying had I been in your situation the car would have been back with Citroen well over a year ago. It seems to me you have gone about this terribly and I am trying to tell you no matter what you have been told, you are likely to struggle. I hope you get the result you want, but really stop messing about. Get it back to the supplying dealer and speak with the DP about resolution as all of this advice has not fixed your problem. You have put up with it far too long, you have not pushed hard enough and have been strung along. Accept that, stop with the emails and get it sorted.

Best advice I can offer.

Who is the dealer by the way?

And how exactly was he supposed to have gone about this? He followed the only process they offer. The selling dealership did not need to take possession of the vehicle since the issues were rectifiable under warranty and therefore it makes sense Citroen would have allowed any of their dealerships to resolve the issue. The fact that so much time has passed while the problem persists is the fault of Citroen not him.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
21 Feb 2006
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29,300
I have bought many cars over the years, I have come to the point of rejection on a couple of occasions. I have been down this route, most recently with my current R8. Some people get things fixed and some people spend 18 months following procedures that aren't working and put up with it as our OP has, but now he/she is at the point of no more. I don't have all the facts but I can state for sure had it been me I would not still have the car and I would be in something else. There comes a time when you go around procedures, you start getting into the right people and you get it fixed. That for me tends to involve both the dealership's DP and board if needs be, aligned to the manufacturer. It does not involve some emails, I get on the phone, I agree what is acceptable TO ME and then we work the issue. I speak from experience, not as someone making this up to be big on the internet and cause the OP issues. I hope they get resolution and their car sorted, the motor trade is full of process to protect itself. I get that, but having a car that is crap and not getting fixed for 18 months to me is unacceptable.

Follow your process for a few weeks, give them time, but really 18 months is ludicrous. Good luck.
 
Soldato
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2 Aug 2016
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Third Earth
If I were you, I’d take it to the Bolton dealer, get them to supply a high spec courtesy car and simply say “Only contact me when you’re sure it’s 100% sorted” and use the courtesy car until that time.

If they call you and claim it’s done, get them to face time you with the mechanic driving it. And make it clear you’re keeping hold of the courtesy car until it’s fixed to your standards.
 
Soldato
Joined
22 Feb 2014
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2,658
If I were you, I’d take it to the Bolton dealer, get them to supply a high spec courtesy car and simply say “Only contact me when you’re sure it’s 100% sorted” and use the courtesy car until that time.

If they call you and claim it’s done, get them to face time you with the mechanic driving it. And make it clear you’re keeping hold of the courtesy car until it’s fixed to your standards.

Why don't you get them to throw in a 3 week all inclusive holiday to Dubai with personal use of the MDs hyper-yacht whilst you are at it.
 
Sgarrista
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9 Aug 2013
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Bromsgrove
And how exactly was he supposed to have gone about this? He followed the only process they offer. The selling dealership did not need to take possession of the vehicle since the issues were rectifiable under warranty and therefore it makes sense Citroen would have allowed any of their dealerships to resolve the issue. The fact that so much time has passed while the problem persists is the fault of Citroen not him.

@Housey isnt wrong, politeness when it comes to fixing broken things in this country does nobody any favors.

I appreciate many people do not have the appetite for conflict that you have to have in order to take control of the situation on your terms rather than theirs, but thats how you get stuff resolved in 18 days not 18 months.
 
Caporegime
Joined
26 Aug 2003
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37,493
Location
Leafy Cheshire
That for me tends to involve both the dealership's DP and board if needs be, aligned to the manufacturer. It does not involve some emails, I get on the phone, I agree what is acceptable TO ME and then we work the issue. I speak from experience.

Indeed. It was your advice and details about the DP that ended up allowing me to reject my first A4 and having it replaced at zero cost to me. At this point the car was “only” 6 months old. I’d have never let it eacalate to 18 months, no way, no how!

I only started fighting the dealer when the car was 4 months old.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
21 Feb 2006
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29,300
It is about being fair but firm in what you expect. Our OP has been beyond reasonable and now needs to get firm or he’ll be back in 18 months.
 
Caporegime
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11 Mar 2005
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Location
Leafy Cheshire
As above and on the advice of Housey after been mucked about by Stratstone once we went right to the DP we talked about the issue agreed what needed to be done and what compensation was acceptable, from that point forward we received much better treatment one member of staff was sacked, the car was fixed and we got 1k in free servicing.

If we had not done that i'd still be banging my head on the table and going round in circles.
 
Soldato
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18 Oct 2002
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10,163
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7th Level of Hell...
I'd love to hear some opinions on this one which is relevant to the OP's issue... Excuse the bullet point format, I want to try and keep it clear and easy to follow:

  • Car is manufactured by Citroen
  • Car is sold by a franchised dealer to the customer (effectively dealer "buys" the car from Citroen and then resells to customer)
  • Car develops fault.
  • Citroen effectively wash their hands of the car they built by refusing any more fixes and say its the dealers problem.

Is this really the dealer's problem to carry the cost, both in time and money, to resolve the customers issue or should it be down to the manufacturer?

Just like to hear some ideas on this along with supporting points...

I'll give mine as it would be rude not to say where I stand when asking:


My opinion is that the manufacturer should be carrying the cost of this either through paying for Warranty work to be carried out or, in the occasions where the manufacturer's stance is "there is nothing more can be done", to carry the cost of reimbursing the customer.... They built the product which is faulty, not the dealer. Bear in mind the dealer is NOT owned by the manufacturer. Why should a private dealer be expected to be out of pocket and not the manufacturer of the product.
 
Associate
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7 Mar 2011
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1,367
Location
Edinburgh
Because you pay your money to the dealer, not the manufacturer. If they want to be reimbursed afterwards, they can pursue the manufacturer if they so wish.
 
Soldato
Joined
23 Nov 2004
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10,646
Same as what we have to deal with when a bicycle manufacturer is useless.

Customer buys a bike, comes back to us with an issue, we diagnose/send photos but if it then takes the supplier weeks to source say a wheel we usually end up sourcing our own and invoicing the bike supplier as we have to act within a reasonable time before a customer can ask for a refund. Most of them hate dealing with it as it costs them more money but none of these people at the end of the phone have to deal with the customer or don't understand where the customer is coming from.

Best one in recent years was when we got in a £3k track bike that scratched itself when the handlebars were turned, got a second one and it did the same. Someone at the brand said it was designed to be ridden in a mostly straight line in a velodrome so it isn't a problem.
 
Associate
Joined
27 Jan 2014
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890
I don't know why people think Citroen dealers are part of Citroen or even Citroen UK, or Texaco forecourts are part of Texaco. They don't think Corner Shops are part of Walls Ice Cream.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
21 Feb 2006
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29,300
I don't know why people think Citroen dealers are part of Citroen or even Citroen UK, or Texaco forecourts are part of Texaco. They don't think Corner Shops are part of Walls Ice Cream.
They represent the brand selling expensive ice creams and a vocal customer can cause them problems as can magazines. That's why manufacturer involvement often moves stuck things forward and why Walls don't give a stuff if you drop your ice cream outside your local Spar as AutoIce Cream and WhatIce Cream are not big sellers.

[speedball]ice cream. ice cream[/speedball]
 
Man of Honour
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21 Feb 2006
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29,300
To be fair I ate the entire stocks of Waitrose Uttoxeter and Lichfield combined over Christmas. I got banned for stabbing people trying to take MY ice cream and then East Staffs complained about destroyed pumps....whatever that means. Not sure why they blamed me....but I am officially done with ice cream now.
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Jan 2008
Posts
58,899
I'd perhaps take the legal advice and go for the section 75 claim and try to get a full refund, sounds like you've done enough needless running around as people have mentioned you've been jerked around by them enough, you gave them a chance to sort it a while ago it seems... 18 months does seem like a ridiculous amount of time to keep on being polite and following their process etc... etc..
 
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