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★☆☆☆☆

“When writing a view like this, I try to be measured...”

written by Gooner1963 on 05/02/2016

When writing a view like this, I try to be measured and fair and keep my emotions out of it, but that may be hard in this case.

I am a British Citizen who has been working abroad for over 7 years. On returning to the UK we found it difficult to get credit for anything as we had no UK credit history. We bought a cheap car without finance, but that needed major repairs, and was not economically viable to fix. My daughter goes to school 25 miles away, so we need a reliable car to get her there.

I was so happy and relieved when I got a call from this company telling me that finance had been approved and I could go and pick a car out from their premises in Manchester, which is about 250 miles away from my home. That call was on a Friday, so we arranged to go up to Manchester on the Sunday, when they told me we would be able to drive the car away.

So we made the journey up, met with the salesman who again confirmed that finance had been agreed and we just needed to choose the car. So we chose the car and the salesman disappears saying he was going to get everything organised.

Some time later (and I mean about an hour) he came back in and said they could not get drive away finance approved, but they were still working on it. However, we were not to worry as other finance was already approved, but we may not be able to drive the car away that day. I had found some issues with the car, which he said they would fix, but, understandably, they could not do it that day. He went away again, purportedly to go and chase up the finance.

Eventually, and I mean at least another hour later, he returned saying he could not get the drive away finance agreed, but we were still not to worry as other finance was agreed, but we would have to return another day to meet with the finance agent and sign the papers. Given the repairs required, I was happy to do this, just grateful that we would be able to buy a reliable car.

So I arranged to return on the following Wednesday.

On the allotted day, I arrived at their premises at around 2pm. I was seen by the same salesman who said he would be with me shortly. Some time later, probably half an hour, he returned to tell me that the car I had chosen had failed its MOT on Monday and that even if they repaired it, they would not be happy selling me the car. I didn't believe him.   I sure of this as the car was not even at the premises. My presumption is that they had sold the car to someone else, who really did have finance agreed.

So I chose a different car. The salesman goes off again. Eventually he returns and says the finance company want a previous UK address, which I provided to him. He told me, and he looked me square in the eye when he did so, that they had been trying to contact me since Monday to get this address. He said they didn't have my mobile number, they had been trying the house number. I had worked from home on the Monday and Tuesday, so it wasn't true that that they were calling the house number. I also showed him the call log on my phone, showing they had called my mobile number the previous Friday, and the text from them confirming my appointment with them on the Sunday. He maintained that they didn't have my mobile number.

So he disappeared again. At just before 7pm he returned. Bear in mind I have now been sitting there waiting for around 5 hours. He tells me that they have been trying to get through to the finance company for me to speak to them, but there is a "pecking order" and obviously I wasn't important enough. He told me not to worry though, finance was approved, the finance company just needed to speak to me personally. He offered to arrange accommodation for me to stay in Manchester over night as I would be able to speak to the finance company the following day and drive the car away.

By this time I was beyond angry and more than a little tired and emotional. I agreed to stay over and told the salesman to call me the next day.

The next day I did manage to speak to the finance company directly. However, it was a fairly short conversation, which went like this;
Very nice finance lady: "Hello Mr XXX, can you give me your previous address please?"
Me: "Er, I lived in Australia for 4 years"
Very nice finance lady: "Sorry, we can't help you as we require two years of credit history in the UK"
Me: "But the car salesman told me this was already arranged and you just needed to speak to me"
Very nice finance lady: "Well they told us you have been at your current address for three and a half years........."

I have no doubt that if you have a poor credit history they may be able to help you, but don't take their word for anything,
Just so this doesn't look like sour grapes, there were 4 other guys waiting whilst I was there, all with similar stories.

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