Ever heard of the term ‘by hook or by crook’?
Should anybody not know the meaning of this phrase, then go to Bristol Street Motors.
We have had three cars from this lot, namely from their Ford Hartlepool branch. We ordered a new Puma St Line from them in late 2022, the finance was all completed and passed and we had to wait for the twelve weeks for our car to be produced and shipped over. Throughout this time, their sales representative kept us informed as to the status of our car, eventually arriving to the point some three months later that it was due to the dealership in a couple of days. The day before collection, we receive a phone call from Alan Smith, their ‘sales manager’, informing us that the finance was now declined. They ‘apparently’ do a soft search first, then a hard search later on. We were never advised of this. So they order a factory car with only a soft search credit check? All the documentation was signed and sealed when we initially ordered the car. We inevitably cancelled the order, disgusted at their attitude and also been blatantly lied to. More to the point, it took us days to get our cash back from them as we had used my partners 18 reg Fiesta as a part exchange. We vowed to never go back. Coincidentally, we went to another dealership and purchased another vehicle on finance.
October 2023, we were looking for another car, and we saw a 21 reg Fiesta Vignale at their Knaresborough branch. Putting our doubts aside, and giving them the benefit of the doubt, we contacted their Hartlepool branch, who had the car brought to them. We went to test drive it and were happy with it. During the test drive, the sales representative persistently pushed their extended warranty as the car only had three months manufactures warranty left. We told her we were not interested in the warranty. We sat down to do the deal, paying for the balance outright whilst also using our current car as a part ex. Throughout this process, the warranty was consistently brought up, the benefits, the recommendation etc. we eventually succumb and agreed to purchase the warranty at a cost of £699. We also noticed a split in the passenger side front tyre side wall. Part of the deal was for this to be replaced with a new tyre as it was unsafe to drive, especially at motorway speeds, and also an MOT failure. Ironically, the car had been MOT’d in July?? We collected the car a week later, this was late October during one of last years major storms. We were told the tyre had all been done etc and we drove the car away. We stopped five minutes up the road to have a quick coffee. Upon getting out of the car I noticed the split tyre was still on the car, the way the wheel had rotated, the split was nearest the road surface, bearing the weight of the vehicle. It had not been replaced. Not only was this trying to pull the wool over our eyes yet again, it was also negligent as this was also a safety issue. We went back to the dealership and they finally fitted the new tyre, telling us it was a mix up.Fast forward to early April and we noticed an alarming rattle/vibration coming from the front of the car, also with a worrying electrical smell too. The front Alloy Wheels had
Also began to peel, a known issue with this particular wheel. I contacted the sales rep who fobbed us off with a ‘we use this company, take it to them, they are cheap’ response. We finally decided to part ex the car as it was worryingly starting to be problematic. We purchased a 72 plate VW Golf from Lookers. I contacted Bristol Street Motors/Vertu Motors to request the warranty be cancelled and to request a refund, to which we were informed this was only refundable under ‘exceptional circumstances’. My partner is once again suffering from cancer, and I myself am awaiting major abdominal surgery in July. I cannot work at the moment because of this, so what this company believes are ‘exceptional circumstances’ the mind boggles. We received a call from Ford Hartlepool’s sales manager again, Alan Smith. I informed him that we were never ever told when we purchased this that it was none refundable. He more or less called me a liar and said why did we not say no, to which I told him we did, several times. Their rep pushed and pushed to purchase it, so we finally agreed, due to her persistence and recommendation. Alan Smith also said that this product was not an insurance type product. According to the law, any warranty is regarded as a form of insurance, to insure the product is repaired or replaced in the event of breakdown, therefore protecting the customer. As far as I am aware, these products cannot be recommended to the customer, only the features and benefits should be made aware to the customer. It is up to them to make up their mind. Alan Smith then told us, it was non refundable, we were not entitled to getting our £699 back. We were misold this product
Date of experience: 24 June 2024