New car Died, dealer and manufacturer being rubbish. help!

Lumeycom

Lumeycom

Lumeycom

Associate
Joined
31 Jan 2008
Posts
1,327
Location
S Wales
We bought a brand new Zoe for the wife to use just over 7 months ago and its been great up until 3 weeks ago (on 3210 miles) when it wouldn't do anything but display "Electrical Fault" on the dashboard, light every warning light and play every warning sound (it has a lot!).

Ended up getting the car recovered and the dealers in Swansea have had it for 3 weeks now. No courtesy car's available so they've sorted us an absoloute shed of an Aygo in the meantime through Enterprise.

I just can't get any solid updates from them on what is going to happen and when. They have diagnosed Traction battery failure so it needs a whole new battery pack, which I appreciate isn't a 5 min job. They can't do the work in Swansea so it has to be recovered, again, to Bristol for the work. As it stands its still sat outside the dealer in Swansea. We were originally told 4 weeks which will be up Monday and I'm starting to lose faith.

The dealer in Swansea has pretty much washed their hands of it. "its going to bristol" is all I get. I've rung the main number for Renault UK and they've been polite and decent but not actually moved anything on nor really provided any update beyond the repairs are "authorised" and it "needs to go to bristol".


I'm at a loss of what to do and am rapidly losing faith in Renault UK, the dealer and to be honest the car itself a little bit.

Any reasonable suggestions on what to do? Seriously contemplating going and standing outside the dealer with a breadboard on at this rate :(
 
Parts are probably on back order....Renault are poor for that they only MOD so never anything in stock. I had to wait 3 weeks just to get brake pads as stuck on back order!!!

There is a massive supply chain crisis in the motor industry still.......
 
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Have you rung Bristol to find out when it's being recovered there?

Just cut Swansea out of the mix, they should pretty poor. Failing that is there a Renault complaints line, I'm hazarding (no pun intended) there would be.
 
Is it or any part of the payment for it on finance? Did it go bang within 6 months of ownership? Read up on the right to reject laws. If there is finance on it and it failed within 6 months (maybe longer) then you can let the finance company know and they should sort it.

Even if you answer no to the above you should still read up on your rights.

@Housey is usually good at dealing with...dealers. Essentially you need to bypass the admin folks and have a chat with a senior person to get things moving.
 
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I would also assume that it may take a while to sort this. You do still have a car I guess.

You could say something like, if you are unable to rectify the issue you need to offer me a full refund, or a new replacement vehicle of the same specification, which they won't want to do, that might speed things up

Is that Aygo petrol? (I'm assuming?) Can you work out some rough difference in the cost of electric Vs petrol? And ask them if they are going to cover that? After all, you are now out of pocket due to a faulty car that is not your fault.

Again, might get them to speed things up.
 
Firstly, you need to stop talking to the generic level 1 recpetion/admin people.

If you cannot get through to anyone else, then request a copy of their complaints procedure then file a complaint. If nothing happens with that, then you need to get in contact with the managing director/dealer principle. Once they are notified about the complaint, expect the hgiher level worker ants to start sorting things out!

The note someone else has said about the finance company may be another good route to take.

Keep a measured head, don't be all shouty shouty, but be firm in your complaints and pushing them to take this seriously.
 
BUDFORCE said:
Is that Aygo petrol? (I'm assuming?) Can you work out some rough difference in the cost of electric Vs petrol? And ask them if they are going to cover that? After all, you are now out of pocket due to a faulty car that is not your fault.
Click to expand...

Ask them? I'd just tell them they're going to. Based on the mileage quoted above it will be costing them potentially ~£60/month
 
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I would wait until the original timeframe of 4 weeks expires on Monday, then on Tuesday raise a formal complaint stating that you've waited patiently for a reasonable length of time and still have no confirmed booking in date for the vehicle in Bristol.
Regarding courtesy car, these days dealerships often have very little availability but potentially head office might be able to influence this, if nothing else to reduce the bill they will get from ERAC.
 
Did you buy it from the dealer it went to?

You need to get into the GM/Dealer Principal and quickly. Call them Monday and tell them you need to speak to them today and if you get nothing back email them your concern at close of the day.

I would also speak with Renault Customer Support and make them aware of your disappointment. You have to be firm with these people, not rude or making the worlld famous proclamation "I will get my lawyer involved" when you won't, but clear on what you expect and when and what you will do if that is not matched.

Be reasonable of course, but waiting this long without a clear path to resolve is unacceptable. A good DP will pick it up and get someone to give you some clearer idea of what will happen and when. Bring their manufacturer in as said. They have influence and can make it painful for the dealer.

Phase 2 (that would be end of Tuesday) would be social media. Again use language of disappointment over rudeness. We all get angry but anger when used by most tends to illicit withdrawal. Firm and clear has pretty much always worked for me.

"So far were are here, so let me tell you what I would to happen from this point forward" in simplistic terms. So many people fail at this, get angry, shouty and threatening and wonder why nothing gets fixed.

Be reasonable but be clear on what steps you are willing to take next if reasonable doesn't work and tell them what, to you, good looks like and what you expect from them from this point forward.
 
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Check the warranty terms. Sounds to me like they claimed to be able to fix a car if there's an issue but in reality aren't able to do that in a reasonable time. Raise an official complaint. And an Aygo might be fine for a day, but it's not suitable for an unknown period of time. I'd be asking for a refund if they can't sort it soon.
 
Just to answer some of the questions here so far.

I was bought new from an official renault dealer.
Its partly financed via renault finance on PCP.
We'd had it just under 7 months when it died so outside the 6 months but as its a new car from an official dealer I believe that will stand us in good stead.


Current position is the car has been uplifted from the dealer in Swansea (last Tuesday I think) but nobody can tell me where its gone. I believe its in Bristol but the fact that no one can tell me exactly where is laughable, I suppose you could argue I dont need to know but its not like its a £50 item.

There is zero update on a fix time or even a 'confirmed' diagnosis, the traction battery failure diagnosis was given by the dealer in Swansea but it seems they are not that far qualified to give it.

I've not spoken to the dealer in swansea for 2 weeks now as they are next to useless and rude so its being dealt (or not?) with centrally and I have a 'case manager' in renault uk. Doesn't seem to have improved things at all so I wrote an email to them last week outlining everything thats happened and not happened thus far and asked for it to be escalated.

Next step is to speak to the finance company and see if they can't move stuff along, also it seems that any rejection would need to be agreed with them as its technically more their car than ours.
 
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