In February 2012 I bought an Astra Twin top convertible from Styrin motors in Leeds. I was given the normal outstanding customer service from second hand car dealerships, promised the world and given what was at face value a good deal.
I part exchanged my old car against the new car and drove away....
From driving the car off the forecourt there was nothing but problems, the driver's wing mirrors had been cracked prior to me purchasing the car resulting in the cover not fixing and therefore could come away at any time.
The driver's window rattled every time you put it down marginally and
The car made a grinding noise each time you turned right.
Styrins did order and fix the mirror issue and stated that the car would need to go back to another garage to sort out the grinding noise when it turned right, when the engineer from Styrins test drove the car with me in the passenger seat, he stated "well, you wouldn't have heard the noise if the window was up!" - This should have told me everything!
The final straw came when the week of the 23rd April, when we had rain, the passenger side started to leak water. The passenger seat front and rear and the footwell was sodden with water. The next morning the driver's side did the same. The entire rear of the car was soaked with water.
This was a serious concern of mine before I bought the car and I was told furiously that "there won't be a problem, it's rare that leaks occur" from Phil, a Styrin Motors sales person.
When I called Styrins to report the problem I explained the problem and was told to call back the day after to book it in! When I called back the day after I asked what we could do as I totally lost faith in the car and convertibles due to the problem that I was concerned about before buying (this was my first and last convertible) I suggested that as they had to fix the problem anyways, I would hand the car over and pay the difference for an Audi A3 they had on the forecourt. I was told that after two months of having the car and driving it virtually no miles that they would offer me a buyback of c£700 less than what I paid for it and it would be an additional £1000 for the Audi putting them in c£1700 profit resulting from a leaking car, no including the c£400 profit made on my part exchange.
I checked with the Trading Standards and Sales of Goods Act and according to both sources I as a consumer was in my legal rights to decline the fix and have a part of full refund or a like for like swap.
The difference in cost from my purchase price and the advertised Audi cost was £300!
The owner/Manager, Richard, refused to entertain my proposal and only offer me a fix. To which his reply was "We've sold 10 Twin tops this year and 6 have come back with leaks, we're experts in fixing them"
I explained to Richard that I could no longer now, get an extended warranty for the roof as it has a "pre existing issue" with the roof, He offered me an extended warranty with RAC which he said "We just won't tell them there was a leak"
When I went to see Richard face to face he told me "I'm getting irritated with this now, I'll see you in court!"
I took my car in to fix as I was stuck between a rock and hard place and didn't want the damage to get any worse, they had it for three day, I handed it in with 87 miles of petrol range and I was given it back with 40. The car had been left running for god knows how long with the heating full whack to try and dry the car out. The car filthy and muddy everywhere.
I've resold the car now, I'm still waiting for Richard to call me back to talk about the buyback option....I think I would be waiting a while.
DONT TOUCH THIS COMPANY, MORALLY INEPT, RUDE, AFTER SALES IS SHOCKING. THIS COMPANY IS THE EMBODIMENT OF WHY SECOND HAND CAR DEALERS HAVE A BAD REP. read more
