Not bad but not quite "stress free" & "no win, no fee"

AutoEBid - www.autoebid.com
★★★★★
4.9
97.0% of users recommend this
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Guest's review of AutoEBid - www.autoebid.com

“Not bad but not quite "stress free" and "no win, no fee"”

★★★☆☆

written by on 12/02/2014

Bought a car through AutoeBid a while back. We got a little stuck because the dealer we selected stated (in the written bid notes) a “quick delivery time” of 8 weeks, which is why I chose them, given that I was using a hire car at the time. We paid the £400 auction fee to AutoeBid a day after confirming the order with the dealer.

Anyway, 4 weeks before delivery (and 4 weeks after paying the AutoeBid fee) I called the dealer, who said that the car had not been built yet and it would be at least another month past the promised delivery date (which would have cost me c£500 in hire car fees). Whilst very annoyed by this, I thought not to worry because under AutoeBid’s FAQs, it say the following:

“Failure to Supply - .....If for any reason, after you order a vehicle from a supplier, the supplier is not able to supply the vehicle to you on the agreed terms..... AutoeBid will provide you with a credit of its finder’s fee in order to locate you an alternative vehicle.”

I called customer services and asked if they could source me an alternative car within the originally agreed period but they could not, at which point I requested a refund of the auction fee, so I could locate a ‘nearly new’ vehicle elsewhere (AutoeBid couldn’t source me a ‘nearly new’ vehicle). The refund of the £400 was refused, because they only provide a credit to use again on their auction site. Now, this is the definition of ‘catch 22’: I need to cancel my order because the dealer cannot deliver as promised, and AutoeBid will credit me (not refund me) so that I can order from another supplier that also (by default) cannot deliver within the required timeframe (because I would have to go through the whole process again)!

In the end we paid the “winning” dealer an additional £400 for the same car with a different metallic colour to ensure we obtained a car that was in stock for delivery in the agreed period. I wouldn’t go as far as to say my experience was very poor (hence the 3 star rating), but I personally find the FAQs misleading. Just be aware that I was told there are no auction fee refunds, EVER, for any reason, no matter how much it inconvenienced me, and even after the supplier couldn’t deliver as per the original (written) terms.

For me personally, even though I’m happy with my car, it just didn’t feel like “No Win, No Fee – You can’t lose” as per the AutoeBid strapline. P.S. I later found that HappyNewCar.co.uk could have supplied me the same car at the same price as the winning AutoeBid dealer, but without the non-refundable auction fee!

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Autoebid_Cs's Comment

Written on: 17/02/2014

Having taken over £200 m in orders, winning government awards, being recommend by the like of Which, WhatCar, The Sunday Times and having thousands of very happy clients we do appreciate the frustrations of delays from manufacturers.

The website does highlight delays are outside of our control but do offer a credit (running a new free auction) in this event. In such cases the car would need to be re ordered regardless of the price (if no cars existed in the country). In some cases other suppliers may have the vehicle available however a new auction would need to run to find out.

In this case it looks like the client opted to take another colour that was available quicker however may have been at a higher cost due to it being a metallic paint.

We do also refund clients on a case by case basis however it sounds like this client did not actually complete our refunds procedure and opted to accept another car from the same supplier.

We stand behind our “No Win, No Fee” strap line as the fee is only charged at the end of the auction if you achieved 100% of all your conditions during the auction. This does not however cover delays in delivery times as these are down to the manufacturer not the dealer but gladly represent only a small percentage of all orders.

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Molynda's Comment

Written on: 18/02/2014

I think it is disingenuous to infer that I could have obtained a refund of the auction fee, particularly given that your customer service member at the time stated this was not the case and also given that you just confirmed it in your last paragraph (no refund for delays to delivery). It was after being told I would lose my £400 auction fee if I didn’t source another vehicle through AutoeBid that I felt compelled to pay the additional £400 for a different colour.

I appreciate that you have won many awards and do not doubt that you have many satisfied customers but my personal experience wasn’t great and I ended up £400 out of pocket. The most disappointing thing now is that, whilst grateful you took the time to post such a long response to my review, you thought an apology was not necessary. If you had done then I wouldn’t have needed to follow up.

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Autoebid_Cs's Comment

Written on: 01/03/2014

Please contact us at the office and I am sure we can resolve the issue for you to your complete satisfaction.

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Jackdaww's Comment

Written on: 30/11/2015

please advise details of your which? consumers association recommendation .

thanks

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Marklv's Comment

Written on: 24/03/2017

The normal lead time on a new car is 12-14 weerks. You are very naive if you thought you could have it sooner. Delaers will tell you anything to get a sale - use your common sense.

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