perrys vauxhall, canterbury, kent review

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Value for Money	7/10
Overall rating	7/10

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By blablablabla on 23rd Apr 2006

blablablabla's Ratings

Value for money	7/10
Overall value	7/10
blablablabla's recommendation

Good Points

Bad Points

Poor customer service

General Comments

I am writing with regards to the extremely poor and deplorable level of Customer Service received by Canterbury Perry's.

I and my family first visited the Vauxhall dealership in Canterbury on the 17th of April 2005 with the intention of viewing to buy a Vauxhall Meriva.

We were promptly introduced to someone in new car sales, who helped us in making the right choice for our needs and budget.
He provided us with a quote for our Part Exchange and the cost of the new vehicle (Vauxhall Meriva) which I asked for in writing.
Unfortunately this is where all the problems started:

We were met with reluctance and demands to hand over the quote back, and being advised that we were not allowed to keep it. It seems that they neglected the fact that dealers are required by law to provide a written quote on request.
The quote was for a brand new, not previously registered, Vauxhall Meriva 1.4 16V 5dr Life A/C.

Instead as we were leaving the premises we were approached and stopped, and a lengthy negotiation took place over the eligibility to keep such documentation.

In addition when preparing the quote we specifically asked the interest rate charged on the vehicle. In this instance we were told that they were not able to provide us with any interest rate details because the quote was computer generated. It was then explained to expect it to be around 10% flat rate. However as you may be aware according to the FSA regulations the Interest Rate, by law, should always be clearly displayed or explained.

On Tuesday I received a phone call from someone as a follow up to my visit to the showroom. I informed him that I had found a more competitive price for the Meriva, however at the end we did manage to come to a new agreement which offered me a better deal, and decided to put a £500.00 deposit for the vehicle over the telephone, with the understanding that I would pay the balance by Debit Card. I must clarify that at this point I had not seen the vehicle yet.

On Thursday I was contacted by the original salesman to inform me of my vehicle registration number which I required in order to obtain my free 7 days insurance. At the same time we agreed on a collection time for Saturday the 22nd of April 2006.

On the collection day, we arrived at Perry's dealership to complete the transaction and collect our new car.

The first polemic was that whilst I had previously stated that my Part Exchanged vehicle had 2 keys, on gathering all my documentation the previous evening, I could not locate my spare key. I did not find this to be a problem because:
a) the quote and agreement for my Part Exchange had already been signed by both parties and was NOT on conditions that both keys were present;
b) having requested several quotes for my vehicle as research purposes, I am well aware that the presence of only one key does not reflect on the price offered for the vehicle and in addition to that, most second car buyers, especially if a vehicle is 3 years old or older, do not expect 2 keys and are not put off if a key is missing.

However this issue was not of concern to me as I had the key, which in the meantime I have been able to locate, but not in that precise time and moment.

When discussing this issue with our second contact, I found him to be most intimidating as he was talking very loud, in fact from his standing position to our sitting position it really felt like he was shouting down on us; so much that I felt most embarrassed by the attention drawn to ourselves from other members of staff and another couple sitting in a nearby desk, that were all looking on in astonishment and amazement.

He demanded that we paid immediately £99.00 for the cost of a replacement key, with a threat to withhold our new Meriva spare key if we did not. He stated that he would post our Meriva key to our residential address as soon as he'd received my Part Exchange vehicle key. I found this threat and whole treatment to be most puerile and offensive in view of my good intentions and the fact that we had just spent almost £10000.00 on a new car.

By this time we were very much feeling let down and improperly treated in the whole situation that instead of feeling excited and looking forward to owing the car, I felt really dissatisfied by the series of negative events that had taken place.

As well as paying in full the remaining balance due on the vehicle (in the region of £63XX.00, I purchased new floor mats, who our first salesman kindly fitted, and we were finally shown to our New Meriva for the very first time.

On finally inspecting the vehicle we were surprised to find that there was a deep scratch, just above the driver side door handle. As we were sold the car as new we found this to be most concerning.
We asked for advice on how they could help solve this issue as we were quite happy to solve this and keep the vehicle, which we had already paid for. The second salesman was again called in to discuss this issue and again he was confrontational, could not refrain from displaying signs of ill temper, loud and aggressive communication skills, often interrupting me and not allowing me to finish my sentences.

He stated that they were willing to re-spray only a section of the door which I was not willing to accept on the basis that:
a) The vehicle had been sold to me as new which in fact had a fault (which they failed to pick up or disclose in the pre-delivery check); this is classified as misleading and false advertisement.
b) I did not want a vehicle that although was new, had already been subject to repair;
c) It would have been visible to a trained eye and therefore de-valued the vehicle immediately, and aroused suspicion;

However as I had full intention to keep the vehicle, irrespective of the direful treatment received, we asked if we had any other alternatives or as a last resort if it was possible to replace the door.

This request was dismissed and he suggested, to our astonishment, that we should get a refund.
This we did immediately as this final incident and poor attitude was the last straw, and it was also apparent to us that he was willing to cut his nose to spite his face.

He carried on explaining that although he "appreciated" our feeling of disgruntlement, in his words "there are always 2 people out of 100 that are not happy and we can live with that, I could understand if when you leave today, you will never set foot here again " this gives me no alternative but to assume that he categorized me in the 2% of customers and that our best interest, in terms of Customer Service, was never at his heart.

In comparison we have to add, that we found the first salesman to be most helpful, empathetic, willing to help at all times and converse rather than discuss issues.

I would like to clarify that this letter is meant as feedback and information purposes only. I do not expect or require any acknowledgement, compensation or apology. This would be, in our view, too little too late and of no use as I no longer intend to purchase a Vauxhall vehicle for the foreseeable future.

Total Respect: +2