virgin cars review

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Average Ratings

Customer service	1.1/10
Value for Money	3.3/10
Overall rating	1.4/10

11% Recommended1 out of 9 Reviews

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By kerryorchid on 31st Aug 2005

kerryorchid's Ratings

Customer service	0/10
Value for money	1/10
Overall value	2/10
kerryorchid's recommendation

Good Points

Bad Points

Poor Customer Service
Poor vehicle quality
Vehicles are sourced once an order is placed. They are not stocked.

General Comments

I recently ordered a used Ford Mondeo from Virgin Cars. 6 weeks after posting them a 'signed order' the car was delivered. The car - just 9 months old - looked as like it was over 5 years old. The exterior was dirty and scratched. Virgin Cars had promised me that the car would be delivered in 'showroom condition'! How wrong they were. I rejected the vehicle and demanded a refund - which they have given me, less the Admin Fee of £69. Of course, Virgin Cars is not really 'Virgin Cars' - they are actually a trading name of Motor Solutions based in Sheffield. They also operate under the name of DC Cook Direct.co.uk and Showroom.co.uk I actually began the order process with DC Cook Direct but on a subsequent phone call the salesman 'blew his cover' and introduced himself as from Virgin Cars! Maybe he gets more commission from Virgin?
'Virgin' do undercut the main dealers by about £1000 on a £11000 car but you'd be better off paying more. A Ford Dealer advised me that vehicles coming 'off fleet' are inspected by the RAC. Ford keep the ones that pass the RAC inspection (and sell them on their own forecourts) and the rejected ones go to auction for companies like Virgin (Motor Solutions) to snap up at a bargain price. The one that was delivered to me was clearly a REJECT, they hadn't even attempted to clean it up and have the scratches repaired. There was even a large star break in the windscreen.
Virgin Customer Services is non existent - if you can be patient enough to wait for an available assistant! In any case the Customer Service staff have their hands tied because they then have to contact the Motor Solutions office who are the only ones that can do anything about anything. Fortunately, I managed to find a 'back door' phone number to Motor Solutions who were actually very helpful in trying to source another car. However, they couldn't find another and I was not prepared to accept an alternative colour. By which time I was fed up with the whole process and decided to go direct to Ford where I was able to see the car before placing an order. I get a fully warranted, serviced and inspected car in SHOWROOM condition within 3 days of saying 'yes, I'll have it'.

In summary, avoid buying a car you haven't seen (on the internet). Especially with Virgin who have unfortunatley used Motor Solutions to conduct business on their behalf. Richard Branson should stick to selling CD's.

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