So, the vehicle handover didn't quite go to plan...

[Pat_McCrotch 0]

Went to pick up my brand new Cupra TDi 160 from Marshalls of Bedford today, which I thought would be a great day, how wrong could I have been! :roll:

 

I arrived at the Dealer at 11am (after a 2 hour train travel and then a 90 minute drive with my mates) to find the car had just been cleaned. Unfortunately, seeing it from a distance was about as good as it got, it all went downhill from there!

 

I was greeted by the Salesman and was given the usual stuff (handbook, etc) while a valeter drove the car around. Then we walked outside and I was given the keys and told 'All thats left is for you to give it a final check over'.

 

Before he had even finished the sentance I had already seen a stiny suspicious scratch in between the o/s/f door edge and sill. Only to open it and be greeted by 3-three inch scratches on the sill, they wern't light scratches either, these were pretty much right down to bare metal! Anyway, this was noted and we moved on. I then found 3 more paint defects after this one...

 

1) OS/F door has a deep 3 inch scratch underneath the wing mirror

2) O/S/F door edge has been chipped where it has been hit against another car

3) N/S/F door handle has about 13 white 'chips' on it, don't ask me why!

 

We then went inside to report these problems, leaving my friends to look at the car. Only to come back and find they had found even MORE problems!!

 

1) O/S/F wheel kurbed!!!! How the hell wasn't this noticed on PDi!!!

2) Brown spots on bonnet and o/s/f wing underneath the laquer

3) O/S/F door completely out of line, you could lift the window guide with one finger and see inside the car!

4) The car didn't have a DROP of fuel in it, despite being promised the day before there would be £20 in it

 

After going through allot of mixed emotions (and comtemplating the fact I had no real way to get home) I decided to reject the car and leave it with them. Needless to say, I am absolutely ****ing livid that I wasted 2 days off work (Friday to sort out insurance/money, Saturday going there!) for nothing. Then theres the £15 in train fairs and £50+ in fuel for my mates Evo, who in the end had to take me home! (cheers mate! :) )

 

To be fair, its not the Salesmans fault at all, he did pretty much everything I asked (except the fuel). Its seems to be the curse of the completely useless aftersales department again! I would've given the technician a piece of my mind had he bothered to come out, I didn't realise Marshalls employed Stevie Wonder to PDi their cars :x

 

So, where do I go from here?

 

A) Reject the car for full refund (I can't wait for another car, as its another 3 months for cars with Cruise)

B) Reject the car and try and get them to swap for a Leon Cupra R

C) Give them a chance and let them fix the paintwork etc (I'd like to do this, but I'm not really convinced its worth it considering there first effort!)

 

Despite officially owning this car (all paid for on Friday) the closest I got to driving it was reversing it back litterally two feet to help someone get into a parking space! That was it! :cry:

[HiAsAKite 0]

reject the car.... get one without that cr4p.

[bristolbaron 10]

a or b.. If its supposed to be new and perfect, thats what it should be. I wouldn't want to know that my brand new cars had bodywork done before i've got it!

[joebrent 0]

I'd reject the car and angle at the getting the leon....

 

I sell cars myself so I know that these things do happen, i have let cars go with minor blemishes on paintwork but if a car was as bad as yours i would not let that go out.

 

I am very suprised they didnt stall you for a week and sort out the paintwork....

[h100vw 0]

Get one without cruise, APR agents can fit it on earlier cars so I don't see why they cannot do yours. It's about £50 for the stalk and an hours labour.

 

I wouldn't be happy with a resprayed car with no miles on it. You paid for a new one and thats what you should be getting. You have to give them the opportunity to sort you out but it needs to be done quickly on their part.

 

You have done the best thing leaving it there.

 

Me, not knowing your circumstances, I would be after a full refund pending another 'perfect' car being supplied within a time specified by yourself. If they are an official SEAT dealer they will get one if they really want to.

 

 

 

Gavin

[Supercharged 2]

Yep, reject it matem you work in a VAG dealership FFS and you know what the quality of service should be...

 

Marshalls will always mean 'Vauxhall Dealers' to me...

[G60Jet 1]

Reject it and walk away, any garage that is happy to put out a car in that state doesn't deserve your money.

[Jimjam 0]

Go for option a) with slight amendment.

 

The dealer has entered into a contract with you. You should reject the car under the Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994, contending that the supplier is in breach of this contract to you for supplying a car which was not "of satisfactory quality".

 

The dealer could perceivably argue that he should be given a chance to rectify the problems, but I'd stick to your guns and push for a full rejection - like Gavin says, who wants a car with delivery mileage that's had a respray?

 

I, personally, wouldn't get a Leon. They are lovely cars (I nearly bought one three years ago) but they are getting on a bit now, and are due for replacement next year. I'd stick with the Ibiza, get one without cruise and get a hefty discount and plenty of extras out of them. You can always retro-fit cruise later (just stalks and messing around with VAGCOM, methinks..??)

 

Whatever you decide, it will undoubtedly be hassle you could have done without.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Agreed, don't get a Leon. My mate got a brand new one 2 years ago with the Recaro option, paid something like £18,500 in total and now he's struggling to sell it at £11,500 :roll: It's been in the trader for 4 months!

 

His and other SEATs I've seen/been in are badly built aswell. He needed a partial dashboard rebuild to cure a rattle and needed a bonnet respray after the paint started lifting.

 

I'd go for option D). Reject it and buy something better and second hand where you won't lose a 3rd of it's value in 10 seconds. SEAT values don't hold at all and I'm surprised you went for a brand new one in all honesty.

[h100vw 0]

Cruise is just the stalk and a quick whizz with a 1551/vag-com to tell it what to do.

Gavin

[Walesy 0]

its a nightmare being MESSED around when ur buying a car

[jedi-knight83 0]

sorry to hear this Nelson

 

I agree with Kev.... DONT BUY A NEW CAR!! complete waste of money... if you like wasting money that much give some to me... i'll happily take it from you

 

If though...you are dead set on this new car get one without cruise.... and hopefully that will cut the waiting time.

 

also push for more discount and or more extras as they have messed you about now.

 

Full tank of fuel

free services

 

that kind of thing.

 

hope it works out for you

[bcstudent 0]

Agreed, don't get a Leon. My mate got a brand new one 2 years ago with the Recaro option, paid something like £18,500 in total and now he's struggling to sell it at £11,500 :roll: It's been in the trader for 4 months!

 

His and other SEATs I've seen/been in are badly built aswell. He needed a partial dashboard rebuild to cure a rattle and needed a bonnet respray after the paint started lifting.

 

I'd go for option D). Reject it and buy something better and second hand where you won't lose a 3rd of it's value in 10 seconds. SEAT values don't hold at all and I'm surprised you went for a brand new one in all honesty.

 

Leon prices seem pretty stable to me, more so than Civic Type-R prices at least. My mum's 53-plate Leon Cupra has just turned 18k and hasn't missed a beat so far. The finish is excellent too.

[MikeVR6 0]

My mate is Sales Manager in a Seat dealership.

He has a different model home every weekend and lets me drive them.

I've also had a few Toledos as rental cars through work.

 

On the whole I'm quite impressed by them. Definately a viable option to a VW since their prices got silly. Build quality couldn't be much worse given the amount of faults that are appearing on Mk4 Golfs these days.

Having only driven new ones though I can't comment on how well they weather over time.

Cruise control is a great option on a diesel when on a long motorway journey, makes a significant improvement to fuel economy.

 

Gotta agree with those that have argued against a NEW car. Having made that mistake twice I can confirm they are a total waste of money.

The new car novelty wears off after two weeks, unfortunately the finance payments go on much longer.

New cars normally have teething problems too, resulting in the inconvenience of warranty claims.

You basically lose 20% of the value of a new car as soon as you drive it away.

 

If your heart's still set on a Seat, reject this one and get them to hunt through used stock at other dealers for a suitable replacement. It'll save you enough cash for a tuning box and set of nice wheels and the previous owner will have ironed out all the bugs.

[Pat_McCrotch 0]

OK, the story...

 

Basically, after spending the whole Sunday without transport, I was left with nothing much else to do other than stress about the car (lost 1/2 a stone in last 5 days) and what to do with it.

 

Anyway, on the Monday, pretty much behind my back my Dad (i'm only 19, so hes naturally still protective ) rings my Salesman at Marshalls and has a word with him. Then he goes as far as to agree that Marshalls Bodyshop work on the car.

 

Naturally, after reading about other peoples Aftersales experience with Marshalls Of Bedford I naturally with ****ing mental!! Phoned up Nas (my Salesman) straight away and said in these exact words; 'If anyone from your Aftersales Department or Bodyshop goes within 3 feet of that car without my permission I will reject the car straight away, and I mean that'.

 

He (naturally) seemed a bit suprised by little outburst, but at that point I was so pissed off with the whole situation I couldn't care less what he thought!! I told him I would be at the Dealership within the next 4 hours to look at the car again and move-on from there.

 

Four hours later, we grab the keys and check the car again. My Dad (ex-VAG Bodywork specialist) and me agree that most of the scratches will polish out. So we go back to see Nas.

 

Now, before I go on. My salesman Nas was never the problem at all. He always made me feel like a wanted Customer and always kept me updated on the vehicles progress. I found the Sales Department at Marshalls excellent! It all went downhill when the other muppets at the Dealership got involved with the car...

 

So, I agree to take the car. On 2 simple conditions;

 

1) The kurbed wheel is swapped with the showroom Cupra (which was my original car, that turned up without Cruise Control)

 

2) The non-Warranty paintwork (scratches most likely caused by Marshalls) shall be repaired by the Bodyshop Melford Panelcraft, a VAG Approved Bodyshop who I KNOW will do a good job.

 

He immedeatly agreed to point 1. However, he insisted the Bodywork was sorted at the Marshalls bodyshop (a dingy unit which was part of the Dealership). After sticking to my Guns and getting nowhere I eventually said 'we can sit and argue about this all day, but if the bodywork is not done at Melford, I am not taking the car'.

 

So, Nas goes to speak with Peter Moden, the Franchise Manager. He goes to check the damage outside on my car (after walking past me and blanking me in the showroom like I wasn't even there :x ) and finally gives in.

 

So, we (me and Dad) went to a Pub down the road, had some late lunch and when we got back the car driven outside the Dealership, with wheel replaced and a full tank of fuel!

 

So, what do I think of Marshalls Bedford? Top marks to my Salesman Nas, who after the false start on the Saturday made sure I left the Dealership a happy Customer! No marks to the Aftersales Department who checked the car when it came it, and failed to set the time on the dash, tune the radio and notice the coolant system was overfilled by 1 litre over the maximum mark!!! (which I had to remove myself today :roll: )

[Supercharged 2]

Glad you got it sorted and hope your pleased with it mate...

 

I've heard exactly the same stuff about Marshalls in Ipswich (Skoda Dealer) and there is a long running debate on our intranet noticeboard at work about there total incompetence...

[craigowl 0]

Best of luck, young man.

You have certainly been through the mill, losing weight and all!

It is amazing how many companies are prepared to take hard earned money from customers and then slap them in the face with a rotten haddock.

Hardly any of the new cars I have bought in the last 30 years, or so, have had a totally satisfactory pre delivery inspection.

[Pat_McCrotch 0]

I've had the car four days now and what can I say? It's awesome! :D The acceleration is very addictive! :oops:

 

kevhaywire came for a quick spin at Lunchtime, I think he was quite impressed :wink: :lol:

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yeah it's definitely a rapid beast, even with 600 miles on the clock! It'll be insane when chipped and run in.

 

It's a lot punchier than my VR6, most noticably in the midrange pull. I'd struggle to keep with it but the VR's greater rev range would keep the ibiza in sight, just!

 

It was so refreshing to see a brand new car being wheelspun away after he dropped me off, LOL! Nutter!

 

Black is defo the right choice mate :D

[dinkus 10]

You'll have to bring it over when the vultures descend on my driveway 8)

[Henny 0]

kevhaywire, now imagine that engine in a Corrado... ;)

[Jim 2]

Sounds like the engine is being nice and gently run in then!?! :)

[_leon_ 0]

Reject it. And btw - you said its not the dealers fault... Well they were still willing to let you buy it weren't they....

 

get a refund

[Kevin Bacon 5]

(lost 1/2 a stone in last 5 days)

 

Get yourself on "Fat Britain" mate! All those fatties that struggle to lose 7 ounces in 5 days, let alone 7lbs! Show them the "Wilbury diet plan" which is to buy a SEAT from Marshalls of Bedford" :D

 

 

kevhaywire, now imagine that engine in a Corrado...

 

Nah, the VAG oil burners are too noisy for my liking...although with all my dynamat ....hmmmm....you could be onto something there!