Anyone?

Hi all, I'm looking for some advice as to where I stand with a deal I went for on the LivingSocial website. on 26th December they ran a deal for a sharp 24" LCD TV for £179 or free if you referred 3 people to the deal who bought it. Here is a link to the deal: http://www.livingsocial.com/deals/220506-sharp-24-inch-full-hd-1080p-led-edge-lit-lcd-tv I referred 3 people and the status of my order confirmed I would get the TV for free, but when the deal ended the charged the full £179 to my card in error. I phoned them to query this and they confirmed the payment shouldn't have been taken and returned the money to my account. The deal stated the TV would be despatched on 14th January and told me to expect mid week delivery. There was still no sign of the TV by the end of January so I contacted sharp to find out what the hold up was. I was told they had no record of any order being placed and to contact LivingSocial to let them sort it out. I called them and was told that they would look into it for me and send out an email to me or call me back the following day with a resolution. A few days later after hearing nothing back from them I decided to contact them again but this time via email. I have today (8/02/12) finally received a reply from them but was gobsmacked at what the email read. This is a copy of the email received: “Thank you for your email. We have been looking and following up your account and it seems that a TV has not been allocated to you which why you have not received one on this occasion. Please accept our sincere apology for any inconvenience caused on this occasion.” Despite them gaining commission from my 3 referrals for the deal and them taking the payment for it before returning it and confirming I would get the TV for free they are now saying, almost a month after the TV should have been despatched that I'm not getting anything at all. Sorry for the long story, but is there anything I can do about this? I feel completely cheated. Many thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions. Aaron.

If this is the case and the dealer is being dismissive/refusing to do anything how do I go forward if the money side of things falls on the customer? What about the right to reject the car within 6 months of purchase in cases like this, I've been under the impression this was something TS would help with/achieve?

Nope! Been there, seen his posts and still have the headache to prove it! Due to work I have had no option but to drive the car, do you not think I've inconvenienced enough by all of this to then not be able to drive the car to earn a living? I know I'm asking the above question to the wrong person as we all know what your opinion is and quite frankly nobody is interested in reading them. The MOT tester today confirmed that the car is indeed dangerous and unroadworthy and I now have no option but to not drive it, how I'm going to manage getting to and from work for the next however long I don't know. You point out it's only £400 to get it through it's MOT but that is besides the point and when you take the 10 advisory notices into account it is going to cost a hell of a lot more than £400 make it right.

Jeepster mk4 by any chance? £400 for repairs after a test isn't that much to some people but it is alot of money to me on my wage and seeing as car was faulty when I bought it I don't see why I should have to foot the bill for such repairs. I have done less than 1000 miles in the car since I bought it 4 months ago, are you really saying that all of those faults and advisories on todays failed MOT are from my usage of the car? All these failures just point out just how bad a condition the car is, I know you can't expect an old used car to be in perfect/new condition and I wasn't, but there is no way I am going to accept that a car with this amount of problems is acceptable 11 years old or only costing £999 or not.

I told her over the phone today that the reason I was calling to chase things up was due to having the MOT today and it failing going into detail about what the fails were, one being the original fault in this dispute and all she said in response was the MOT was irrelevant until they hear back from the dealer as no matter how much information I give them they can't go any further without them talking to the dealer. I did ask what would happen if the seller ignored them like he has ignored me and she just said if that was going to be the case it would go to court and could take between 6 and 9 months to resolve. I just can't see this ever going anywhere and I'm at the end of my tether now!

I've just spoken to TS, she replied to my email on the 4th (I didn't get it!) and has just resent it (again nothing has come through!). An officer was sent out to the dealers address but there was nobody there. They left a card asking them to get in touch with TS and he phoned and left an abrupt message stating he wasn't happy about TS going out to his address. Since the message TS have sent out a letter asking for the dealer to ring them to make an appointment to go in to see them seeing as he is unhappy with them going to his address but they have so far heard nothing back from him. She did say he will have only had the letter for a matter of days and he does have 14 days to get back to them before they chase it up. So at the minute I'm now without a car as it's unroadworthy and without an MOT and I don't seem to have gotten very far as yet with TS. What a major headache this has turned out to be.

Well seems I had reason to worry about it's MOT. Just got back from having it tested and it failed dramatically. Reasons for refusal of a Test Certificate: Offside (may be bulb thats deteriorated) headlamp excessively deteriorated so that the light output is severely reduced [1.7.4a] Brake servo leaking [3.6.C.1f] **DANGEROUS** Nearside front lower ball joint has excessive play [2.2.B.1f] Exhaust emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits [7.3.D.2b] Exhaust emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle excessive [7.3.D.2b] (aborted, engine started to overheat) Emissions not tested [7.0] The guy told me the leaking servo was an instant fail and when I told him it was an advisory on the last MOT he said it shouldn't have been an advisory, it is dangerous to drive in it's current condition. Advisory Notice: Measurements Brakes advisories: RBT Service Brake Efficiency: 50%, RBT Park Brake Efficiency: 17% Advisory items: Rear Registration plate deteriorated but not likely to be misread [6.3.1d] Nearside front brake hose slightly deteriorated [3.6.B.2c] Offside front brake pipe slightly corroded [3.6.B.2c] Nearside front brake pad(s) wearing thin [3.5.1f] Offside front brake pad(s) wearing thin [3.5.1f] Nearside front lower suspension arm rubber bush deteriorated but not resulting in excessive movement [2.4.G.3] Offside front lower suspension arm rubber bush deteriorated but not resulting in excessive movement [2.4.G.3] Service brake Your vehicle has only just met the required service brake efficiency. It would appear the braking system requires adjustment or repair. [3.7.A.9] Parking brake Your vehicle has only just met the required park brake efficiency. It would appear that the braking system requires adjustment or repair. [3.7.A.10] Front brake discs corroded N/s/f inner driveshaft boot leaking They have quoted me roughly £400 for repairs including labor but are unable to get hold of a replacement brake servo so I would have to supply this myself, labor costs to fit the brake servo would be roughly £70 as it is 1.4 hours work. I was absolutely speechless when he gave me the results of the test. It wasn't at kwik-fit or halfords either, it was at Lakeside Service Centre who are members of the good garage scheme. So far I've been unable to get back in touch with the lady at TS who is dealing with this, each time I phone it goes to her message machine saying she is out of the office. I've had no response to the email I sent her a few days ago. What would you recommend I do now, obviously with the failed MOT I can't drive the car so I'm stuck without a car until this whole mess is sorted. Cheers Aaron

Still nothing new to report. I've not heard anything back from TS so not sure whether one of their officers has actually been to see the dealer yet or not. The lady I spoke to/who is dealing with this has been out of the office the last 3 days I've tried calling her to try and chase this and today I sent her an email instead so hopefully once she gets back she'll see it and give me a call, I've asked her if rejecting the car at this stage would be possible and if so how I would go about rejecting it. The MOT is due this friday and I'm worried it is going to fail, the faults were on an advisory 12 months ago and I've convinced myself they'll be worse after all this time. I guess all I can do is wait for TS to get back to me but it's so frustrating not knowing what is happening plus the worry of knowing the MOT is due in just 4 days. Thanks

Just a quick update, I had a phone call from TS this morning. They are going to send out one of their officers (?) out to the dealer to try and come to a reasonable resolution. The lady I spoke to asked me what I wanted to do about all of this, ie the dealer cover the cost of repairs, or the dealer carry out the repairs etc. I told her I would be willing to accept them either covering the costs for the repairs or them actually carrying out the repairs but I with how long this has been dragged out and the fact the dealer is now completely ignoring my correspondance etc, I would prefer to reject the car, get my money back and buy another car elsewhere. She said once one of her officers has been to see the dealer she will give me a ring back. As far as I'm concerned the dealer has had the chance to offer one of the three solutions on the soga letter and he point blank refused to accept liability, which should leave the ball in my court I think. didn't say this to TS, am I right in thinking this? If so, when she rings me back I will just tell her I would like to formally reject the car, what needs to happen next for this to happen etc. Thanks all.

Nothing to report so far. Still not had any contact from the dealer. I couldn't phone CD/TS Until today due to work, they basically said TS usually take 5 working days to respond once cases have been passed on to them. It was referred to them on 31st may so tomorrow will be the 5th day, the lady I spoke to today said if I don't hear back from them either today or tomorrow to give them another call.

I have a reference number for CD if that's what you mean? Or do you mean royal mail?

Just a quick update, I've called royal mail this morning and they have confirmed both letters (we already know the first one was received as I got a response) were signed for by the recipient. It was delivered at around 10am on 17/05/2011 and I requested proof of this to be emailed to me and I've now received this. I've also phoned CD again this morning and informed them I've received no response to me lba to the dealer. They have now passed my case on to trading standards who will contact me within the next 5 working days.

When I sent the first letter (soga) I sent it via special delivery as advised in here and even now using the tracking code on the royal mail website it says the letter is out for delivery and the second letter (lba) it just states where I posted it. I'm thinking either the postman on the dealers round is just posting the letters without actually getting a signature or the royal mail website isn't being updated with delivery info. AFAIK the dealer isn't aware I've been speaking to CD which is why he tried to fob me off in his response to me soga letter.

Hi guys. I've been checking the Royal Mail website all week to see if the delivery info for the letter had been updated and it's remained the same throughout. The deadline for the dealer to respond to the lba letter was today and yet I've heard nothing. What is the next step now? I'll have another chat with CD and see what they say but being bank holiday weekend this will have to be on Tuesday at the earliest. Many thanks Aaron

Oh right, Thanks for that Martin. I'll keep checking over the next few days and report back.

I've just checked the tracking code and it looks like it's either not been delivered yet, either that or it was posted without a signature? Surely a week on from being posted 1st class recorded it's been delivered!

I sent off the lba letter via 1st class recorded on saturday 14th May so a week ago today. How is the time limit worked out, is it just 14 days or 14 working days. Thanks again for everyone's help.

My guess would be motortrader was jeepster/jeepster2. It would explain why he was singing to the same tune as him.

Helios, reading this has made my day! Hilarious!

The above is it's current MOT, it failed first time and was passed the following day.

Sorry, I missed this out on my last quote reply. The MoT failures were: Reason(s) for refusal to issue Certificate Nearside Rear Rear position lamp(s) not working (1.1.A.2b) **DANGEROUS** Nearside Front Side repeater incorrect colour (1.4.A.2d) **DANGEROUS** Nearside Front Windscreen washer provides insufficient washer liquid (8.2.3) **DANGEROUS** Nearside Rear Brake load sensing valve linkage seized (3.6.E.4) **DANGEROUS** Rear Exhaust has a major leak of exhaust gases (7.1.2a) Nearside Rear Exhaust emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle excessive (7.3.D.2b) Advisory Notice issued N\s\inner c/v/boot leaking slight air leak on servo It must have had the problems above sorted out as it passed it's MoT the following day, but with the same advisory notice attached.

After giving the dealer a call and being hung up on, I called CD who told me to send off a soga letter the the dealer. I sent of the soga letter sailor sam kindly drafted up for me and received a response from the dealer a few days ago saying the following: I've since spoken to CD again and have been advised by them to send off a lba to the dealer giving them a further 14 days to rectify the problem. This letter was sent off on Saturday afternoon and would have probably arrived on the dealers doorstep either yesterday or this morning at the latest. I will update again once (or if) I get a response. Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to help/advise me. Jeepster, as I've said before I am ignoring your advice/comments and you are now starting to annoy those that are actually trying to help. I'm sure I speak for most people in this thread when I ask you to please stop posting in here and leave it to the professionals/people who know what they are talking about.

No, It is used car dealers like you who think they are above the law that cause problems like this. I wasn't expecting a new car for old car money, I was expecting the car I paid £999 for to come without any defects just as I was told it was when I paid for it. Have you not read any of my opening post here? I was told there was absolutely nothing wrong with the car and that the hissing sound from within the car was the fans. Is it really that unreasonable that I'm not happy about this, I don't think I am and the friendly operators I've spoken to at CD happen to agree.

What a nice little person you are, not. So you 'think' I will lose here, fair enough that is your opinion and you are entitled to it, but to look forward to hearing I lost/the trader wins is just malicious, if you've nothing more to add to this thread please leave the advice giving to those that are actually giving advice and know what they are talking about.