Arnold Clark, Glasgow, Lanarkshire Review

Overall Rating

Good selection of cars

Poor Sales staff and after-sales.

Below is a detailed account of a deal I was doing with this branch. I was lucky in the end as I got out of the deal (although I lost money) but I think it's only fair to tell as many people as possible about the terrible service you can expect at this branch.
A complaint was made to customer services but they just passed the complaint to the salesman I was complaining about.

21st October
I phoned to arrange to go and view a Voyager after seeing it advertised on the stock locator. The car turned out to be waiting in a body-shop with one bumper off and the other masked off for painting so unable to test drive that day but no-one mentioned this on the phone. I was told it had not been accident damaged but just badly scratched but would be ready for a test drive on Tuesday.

24th October
Test drove car. Five faults found with the car so salesman said he would get them fixed before collection. I also asked if service history was with the car. Salesman didn'' t know but said he would find out and phone me.

26th October
I phoned salesman several times that day to find out about service history but he didn't phone me back. I had to drive to the showroom that night to ask him about it. He still didn't know but again said he would phone me.

31st October
Due to pick up car that night but I got a phone call from salesman to say the wheel trims hadn't arrived but were ordered so car would need to go out tonight without them. Arrived to collect car at around 7 pm and found it still in the valet department getting a quick clean for going out also noticed at this point that none of the five faults noticed on the test drive had been fixed. I was then told by salesman that the car would need to be signed for tonight and removed from the premises as the auditor was in the showroom the next day and if the car was still there the deal would need to be redone as the figures would change due to it being a new month. I told him that we were not happy about this but he said there was no other way the deal could be done on the figures we had. My two trade-ins would need to be in the showroom and the Voyager I bought would need to be out of it for the next day. He told us to bring the Voyager back in on the Thursday and it would be fixed for the Friday or Saturday at the latest. The car was signed for and taken home. (Very reluctantly)

2nd November
Car returned to garage to get the five repairs done and also a full valet and an MOT. We were assured the car would be returned no later that Saturday 4th November.

6th November
I still didn't have the car back. Salesman said it had been cleaned and has a new MOT. Salesman also said the five repairs had still not been done yet. I also still didn't know if it has a service history or not at this point.

7th November
I went back to branch and I told them about the problems with the car not being fixed despite the faults being reported on the test drive two weeks before. I also told him about the salesman saying the car had to be out of the showroom for the auditor coming which I had found to be inaccurate.
I told him I no longer wanted the car as it was taking to long to get it fixed and I had lost confidence in the showroom but he told me tough luck as I had signed for it so I was stuck with it and basically I would just have to wait for it to be repaired.
I then went home and phoned the finance company who informed me that they had not paid Arnold Clark yet so they could hold back the payment. This was done and I phoned back the branch and this time spoke to a senior member of staff.
He said he had been in all day and would get things sorted and said he would phone back in an hour or so. Four hours later and still no phone call so I phoned the finance company again but this time I managed to cancel the finance agreement.
I phoned them and told them I had managed to cancel the finance and that I was coming in to the showroom to collect my two trade-in cars and my deposit money.
I went into the showroom that night and picked up one of my trade-ins but the other trade-in plus my deposit was to be picked up the next night.

8th November
I phoned the salesman several times between 1pm until 5pm but he didn't phone back so I went to showroom that night. I collected the paperwork and spare keys for one of my trade-ins but he didn't have the deposit money or the other trade-in.

9th November
Another trip to the showroom but this time the wife went. She was made to sit in the showroom from about 9 am until 12 pm waiting for a cheque to cover the deposit plus the cost of the other trade-in as it had been sold at auction.

Members' Comments onsteff1965's Review

• rosslyn munro on 12th Dec 2006

  Please can you tell us the exact branch who dealt with you at Arnold Clark?

• conned on 14th Dec 2006

  This does not happen to be Arnold Clark of Jordanhill? I had a very bad experience with one of their salesman and the sales manager as well!

• steff1965 on 18th Dec 2006

  I dealt with South Street, Glasgow.
  
  Update.
  
  I sent a letter of complaint to Arnold Clark head office, and they sent it to the Salesman I was complaining about, for him to deal with it. I received a phone call from him to tell me that he was dealing with the complaint. I haven't heard a thing since.

• bigcol25 on 6th Jul 2007

  Trying to talk to A Clark employees [after you have spent your hard earned cash] is like hitting your head against a brick wall. I contacted Consumer Advice Bureau about my problems with them. Small claims Court the next move I think!