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Geronimo1

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  1. The other point I meant to mention was that in the past, every letter of complaint I have written has, at least in the first instance, been addressed to the complaints or support department of a business, some of which were fairly monolithic. This letter was written to an individual who had sat next to me as I test drove a car then came in my house whilst I transferred payment to their bank account. Somehow, my usual dead-eyed assertive (and rarely failing) approach felt wrong. Also, without wanting to drag the point up again, adding a cc. or two at the bottom of a letter let's the recipient know that somebody else, probably somebody official, will be reading their reply. However, I didn't cc. anybody on this occasion.
  2. I'm just putting it in my own words. I have been trying to follow the guidance I have been given but I couldn't find the words to write how somebody else writes - it has really tormented me the last couple of days and if I didn't get something posted before I go away on Thursday, I might as well forget it so I just wrote the letter almost as stream of consciousness. I was polite and factual and expressed how unhappy I was with the way things had gone. I'd rather not share the letter because it is printed out, in an envelope to be posted tomorrow and for the sake of a good night's sleep, I prefer not to submit it for analysis. I believe in being honest even if the world is full of car dealers trying to rip you off and if it comes to nothing, I'll go and read 'If' by Rudyard Kipling again. Maybe the car dealer will get an ulcer. Not totally related (or totally unrelated), I live by a maxim which says, 'if you lend a good friend £100 (it used to be £10 when I first heard it) and you never see them again, it's worth it'.
  3. Thanks for the advice. However, I have decided to take a different approach.
  4. Well, to be honest, when I have cc'ed CAB or ASAP in the past, I have usually had a reference number - there is always a reference number when you make a CAB contact (ASAP is kind of part of CAB) and it tells the recipient that there is an official record of the complaint. My record so far with complaints has been fairly successful but as I said at the outset, it has only been other people nagging me that I should do something about this that has led me to make my initial post about it when I had thought that I had left it too late. The fact that I had the work done prior to starting this thread is not news, I was quite up front about it. It started out with the smallish matter of the TPMS sensors it escalated fast along with my anxiety about the situation and I regret that I assumed that I had been had and that there was nothing I could do about it. My first sentence in this thread was: ''Sometimes people tell me that I should 'take action' about a situation when in my gut, I feel that there is little that I can do but just to get some peace, I look into it - and so it is with this' I had thought that this had been put to bed as far as the letter was concerned but I'm starting to get wound up about it again I'm going to leave it until tomorrow.
  5. Okay, I'll remove the cc. If I have ever taken advice from any kind of body in the past (e.g. CAB/ASAP), I have added them as a cc because it hints that somebody with experience and/or qualifications has advised me. I get that it would have been better to contact them before getting the work done but the circumstances made that difficult - on one occasion, I was half way down the motorway to visit family and when I came back and was told that it could be a problem with the timing belt - which it was - it wasn't an option to wait and see what the seller says I would not be able to drive the car until it was fixed because, as I mentioned previously, if the timing belt goes whilst you are driving, that is probably the end of the car, economically speaking. Not to mention that the dealer is about 50 miles away from where I live. I was over a barrel but retrospective vision is 20/20. No, I haven't had any reports done but I think that the invoices speak for themselves - I haven't got money to fritter away on frivolous repairs. I'll edit it and have it posted by First Class Signed For and they should have it by Tuesday.
  6. Okay, well that was like doing homework that I didn't want to do (I had to forego my usual writing style to follow your guidance) and I am under a lot of stress with other consumer problems which I haven't brought up on here but I have uploaded a second draft letter. I'm going away for a week on Thursday so I am hoping to get a letter fired off before I go. Fiesta Letter REDACTED 02.pdf
  7. I have been delayed - not least by the weather. A fallen tree blocked the road on my way to go shopping yesterday and the central heating was causing problems when I got home. I've been trying to find a minute today but it is looking unlikely.
  8. I think that it can be proven by logic but we aren't time travellers. Three of the TPMS sensors failing the day after I bought it? Pretty obvious. The turbo actuator was seized and it could be seen that it had not moved for a long time. The timing belt was loose but had been supposedly changed in December 2022. Either the belt was badly fitted (most likely) or it had stretched (extremely unlikely but wouldn't happen overnight - it happened within two weeks of purchase). Usually, a timing belt should need changing about every 100,000 miles or 8-10 years - not after 8 months. If a timing belt goes, it is usually catastrophic as far as the engine is concerned and would most likely mean the end of the car's life economically. I think a jury (I'm being hyperbolic) would agree. Anyway, I have to go out shortly but will work on another draft when I get back.
  9. 2013 - just a typo. I'm getting old. The car registration number is in the Re: line at the top but redacted for web publication. I was under the impression that you had inferred and implied that the faults being present when I bought the car was significant. It was certainly the opinion of the mechanic - he said that the turbo lever was seized in a way that it must have been like that for months if not years and that all the other problems were obviously there when I purchased it and I would have thought that was intrinsic to the argument that I should be sold a car of satisfactory quality. Having watched the Black Belt Barrister video, I almost referred to Section 75 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 but when writing letters like this, I like to keep my sword sheathed; i.e. give the impression that I am 'armed' (knowing my rights) without actually drawing my 'sword' (quoting chapter and verse) because being belligerent can draw offensive defence. Anyway, I'll redraft shortly.
  10. I waited until the latest job was completed so that I had an up-to-date cost. I have enclosed a redacted draft of my letter - I'd be grateful for any comments. Curiously (by Google spookiness) although I haven't actually searched for anything on this subject, YouTube recommended this video from Black Belt Barrister who I occasionally watch and who uploaded this 8 days ago: Fiesta-Letter-REDACTED-copy.pdf
  11. I'm in Scotland so it is a different register but the same fee. By the way, earlier you said: 'Enforcing a rights is a completely different matter. If the dealer chooses to be uncooperative then you will probably have to have the dealer.' Would I be right to assume that that should have read 'sue the dealer' or something like that?
  12. Thanks for the advice and information. I don't actually have an e-mail address for the seller - all contact was via Gumtree and phone. However, when I was trying to get a lift to go and look at it, they gave me their home address. My feeling is that I should contact them via a method already used as to shift gear (no pun intended) to a more formal method might be regarded as an aggressive move. Should I wait until the car has been in for the other job? It goes in on Monday and I expect it back either Monday or Tuesday.
  13. Okay, but one last question beforehand because I haven't done anything about this; i.e. I haven't even mentioned the problems to the seller - I thought I would ask if I had any legal rights to back me up before I contacted them and give them the opportunity to put things right if I did.
  14. I don't feel the need to protect them but I only have their personal name which might be considered doxing. They described themselves as a trader rather than a dealer - in my head, I see a trader as an individual and a dealer as a company. However, on Gumtree, they use the name 'Gold'.
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