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Hi all

 

This is my first post here and im hoping for some advice from you guys

and also to share my experience as i proceed with my complaint

 

i will try to be as thorough as possible without naming any companies

as the complaint is ongoing and i wouldn't want to jeopardise that

 

i bought a car in June last year for £8000 on a hire purchase agreement.

it was 7 years old and sold to me with full service history at 87,000 miles

 

a month or so later i noticed a whining noise from the rear end of the vehicle,

nothing drastic at all but i thought i would get them to look at is as it was still under warranty.

 

The dealer at this point booked the vehicle in for two days later

an appointment i missed due to only receiving the dealers voice mail the day of the appointment

i called the dealer and he said he would rebook it

 

as it happened the appointment was rebooked for the following week

which i missed again due to being on an emergency call out (being an electrician).

 

at this point i decided i had inconvenienced the dealer enough

and decided to change the oil in the differential to see if this would cure the issue

and it did all the noise was gone and i was perfectly happy.

 

that was until October 4 months after buying the vehicle.

this is when i noticed a loud knocking from the engine

 

took it to a local specialist who ran diagnostics and advised me to drive the car lightly

for another 100 miles and take it back to see what fault codes had re-occurred which i did

 

then took the car back to them where they diagnosed that there had been damage to the bottom end of the engine

most likely due to low oil pressure or poor servicing and this is when i decided to approach the HP company and raise the complaint.

 

upon raising my complaint i had nothing but "we will get someone to call you back" for weeks

until i got a letter saying their final response was they would not pay out

as the vehicle had covered 13,000 miles since i picked it up,

 

this is not true as at this point the vehicle is sat around 90.500 miles and i had covered only 3000.

this was due to them having the mileage at inception some 10,000 miles less on their system.

 

the car was MOT'd the day i bought it so i sent them a copy of that

and they re-opened the complaint and i was given a claim handler

 

but to cut this part short they messed me about for 9 weeks

then issued a final response saying they would not pay out

because they believe that me not having the differential looked at

(rear end of the vehicle) had caused the engine failure.

 

this was the point i contacted the FOS and asked them to review my case and i gave them the above information.

the adjudicator then contacted the lender and asked them for some information

and asked for my evidence to back up what i have claimed.

 

the adjudicator gave her initial opinion last week that the complaint be upheld

and the lender should pay for the repair and compensate me £200.

 

in response to this the lender asked if i could evidence the oil change for the rear axle

which considering i did this myself i cannot.

 

the lender then gave their view that they would not pay out because they say

i drove the car after it was diagnosed with a major problem

(this is simply untrue and frankly they have no way of proving otherwise

the car has sat on my drive since the day i got it back from the specialist).

 

they say when i reported the whine from the rear end i also reported an engine management light

(again this is a bare faced lie and i had never experienced or reported anything of the sort).

 

obviously a bit deflated by this i did a little research and contacted the main dealer

that last serviced the car in my service history book

 

they have said that the vehicle was in the workshop on the day in question

but it was for a free health check (tyres/wipers and such) and not a service.

 

i have copies of their job sheets and pictures of my service book to back this up

the service book is clearly ticked to say the oil and filter was changed.

 

this clearly proves that the last time the engine oil was changed

was the service previous to that one some 30,000 miles ago

and obviously the vehicle does not have a full service history.

 

i have provided the adjudicator with this information and am expecting her final opinion

on the matter before next Wednesday.

 

obviously being one of the parties involved i cannot give an impartial view on this

but i feel strongly that this is a pretty clear cut case of vehicle not of satisfactory quality

and that of misrepresentation all i am asking for is that my vehicle is repaired

so i can finally get on with my life as i feel this is taking all of my time and energy.

 

im so sorry for the long post and bad grammar

but i have tried to fit in as much information as i can

 

any opinion on the above would be greatly appreciated

and i will update this thread with any progress i get from here on out

to hopefully help someone else out in the same situation

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I think atm you have everything under control, other than the frustration of the company refusing to pay up.

 

Should FOS still uphold your complaint which in all likelihood they will and the company still wont budge then you have the ideal case to take to small claims court

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There is a fairly straightforward procedure for enforcing an ombudsman decision in court - http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/factsheets/enforcing-an-ombudsmans-decision.pdf

 

Please let us know what happens. It sounds as if you have handled it all very well

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Hi all

 

then took the car back to them where they diagnosed that there had been damage to the bottom end of the engine

most likely due to low oil pressure or poor servicing and this is when i decided to approach the HP company and raise the complaint.

 

this is not true as at this point the vehicle is sat around 90.500 miles and i had covered only 3000.

this was due to them having the mileage at inception some 10,000 miles less on their system.

 

I wonder if this could be a deliberate error on behalf of the seller as some finance houses will not finance a car above a certain mileage.

 

 

because they believe that me not having the differential looked at

(rear end of the vehicle) had caused the engine failure.

 

What a load of bunk. All I can say to that is make sure you keep the coolant up to the mark otherwise you might get a problem with your rear suspension.

 

 

the adjudicator gave her initial opinion last week that the complaint be upheld

and the lender should pay for the repair and compensate me £200.

 

 

in response to this the lender asked if i could evidence the oil change for the rear axle

which considering i did this myself i cannot. Still grasping at straws looking for a way out

 

 

the lender then gave their view that they would not pay out because they say

i drove the car after it was diagnosed with a major problem

(this is simply untrue and frankly they have no way of proving otherwise

the car has sat on my drive since the day i got it back from the specialist). I would challenge them on this and include the sentence "I do not like being refered to as a liar"

 

 

they say when i reported the whine from the rear end i also reported an engine management light

(again this is a bare faced lie and i had never experienced or reported anything of the sort). I think I would send an SAR and get back exactly what they do have on their records

 

 

they have said that the vehicle was in the workshop on the day in question

but it was for a free health check (tyres/wipers and such) and not a service.

 

 

i have copies of their job sheets and pictures of my service book to back this up

the service book is clearly ticked to say the oil and filter was changed. Is this tick on information sent to you by the dealer ? It looks like a service has been missed.

 

 

this clearly proves that the last time the engine oil was changed

was the service previous to that one some 30,000 miles ago

and obviously the vehicle does not have a full service history. 30k is a lot of miles. It also goes by time as well as mileage ie 'whichever comes first'.

 

 

obviously being one of the parties involved i cannot give an impartial view on this

but i feel strongly that this is a pretty clear cut case of vehicle not of satisfactory quality

and that of misrepresentation all i am asking for is that my vehicle is repaired

so i can finally get on with my life as i feel this is taking all of my time and energy.

 

im so sorry for the long post and bad grammar Surprised there aren't a few swear words in there as well :)

but i have tried to fit in as much information as i can

 

 

any opinion on the above would be greatly appreciated

and i will update this thread with any progress i get from here on out

to hopefully help someone else out in the same situation

 

You have the ombudsman on your side so although they will try and drag this out and get out of paying anything, keep on with it.

What is your intended next move ?

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The next move is waiting now for the ombudsman to give their final decision it's being passed on from the adjudicator to the actual ombudsman

And yes the service book was given to me by the dealer and the full service history was the sole reason I picked this particular vehicle

 

I would like to thank you guys for the support and I will definately keep this thread updated

 

Oh and somehow I have handled this whole thing without any swear words as of yet I am really quite proud of myself

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Small update

 

Got a call from the adjudicator today to say she has asked the company to pay for an independent engineers report on the vehicle to determine the exact fault with the engine and to hopefully come up with the cause of the fault.

 

She has also said that if the company don't agree to pay for this report then she is going to pass the case on to the ombudsman.

 

Do I have any need to be worried that this 'independent' report may favour the company over the consumer.

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Shouldn't be a problem at all, in fact it should help your case, providing that the dealer isn't instructing the inspection and simply footing the bill for it, that is

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Shouldn't be a problem at all, in fact it should help your case, providing that the dealer isn't instructing the inspection and simply footing the bill for it, that is

 

Thanks for that Martin. I really don't think it's something to worry about as I know that Conrod bearings don't wear to the point where it's knocking overnight. Surely?

My only problem is the way this is going to work is they choose 3 assesors and I choose one of the three how can I be sure that they don't have a group of assesors 'in their pockets'

 

I suppose all I can do now is wait and pull some more hair out.

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Conrod bearings? I thought this was to do with the rear diff?

 

What make and model car is it? Some are more prone to others for diff related problems

 

I recently had to have the gearbox rebuilt on my VW, started whining and within about 6 weeks it had virtually destroyed all the gearbox bearings, i was advised when it started whining that it wouldnt get any worse, hence why i continued to drive it

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Conrod bearings? I thought this was to do with the rear diff?

 

What make and model car is it? Some are more prone to others for diff related problems

 

I recently had to have the gearbox rebuilt on my VW, started whining and within about 6 weeks it had virtually destroyed all the gearbox bearings, i was advised when it started whining that it wouldnt get any worse, hence why i continued to drive it

Sorry for the confusion lol

The complaint I have made is due to engine failure (a loud bottom end knock)

They are trying to get out of paying as somehow they thing that a whine from the diff is the cause of the problem as I had mentioned that to them about a week after buying the car but the diff is all sorted now as I have changed the oil in the diff which cured that noise

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The assessors should be completely independent of both yourself and the dealer

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So the buisiness have decided that they would pay for the inspection... As long as it's one of their own assesors that they use. I think not!! The ombudsman have already told them that that is not acceptable and they are to use DEKRA to do the inspection so we will see what they come back with

 

Back to the waiting game!!

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have another update guys

The buisiness paid for an independent report and it was their own chosen assesors.

The report concluded that the fault was developing at the point of sale and the earlier issue with the diff is 'clearly unrelated' the adjudicator at the fos has recommended that the complaint be upheld.

 

I am now waiting to see if the company agree with her findings or whether they are going to drag this out to an ombudsmans decision

 

This has been over 7 months now with no final outcome yet but I'm not going to rest until I get the result I am after!

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Although i think it would be pretty much impossible to say when the fault was developing and trying to pin it to the point of sale, it does look like the report has edged in your favour, keep going!

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So the buisiness have made an offer today

They would like to take the vehicle back with no cost to me and no liability for them

Neither I nor the adjudicator think this is a fair offer and I have asked that if they take the vehicle back to refund me 7 months of finance payments and the £500 for my trade in

 

But either way i am happy that the buisiness concede the fact that they will have to do something about this just pushing for all I can get now!

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I would imagine that report would be great supporting evidence should you feel the need to issue a small claims action

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The SabreSheep, All information is offered on good faith and based on mine and others experiences. I am not a qualified legal professional and you should always seek legal advice if you are unsure of your position.

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Tume to pluck one or two of those short and curly's you have them by 😊

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  • 2 weeks later...

When I was in your position I had adjudicator ruling in my favour but the dealership involved either didn't have a clue about what that meant or were still trying it on.

 

 

With an adjudicator ruling in your favour (and short of them appealing it to the ombudsman) you are almost there.

 

 

With mine they finally realised that I would take them to court for enforcement and they sent me a letter offing to settle in line with the terms from the Ombudsman. At this point you are in the driving seat - they included a confidentiality/non-disclosure clause in the agreement - I made them pay for that - I also sought additional compensation above and beyond that determined by the ombudsman.

 

 

They at this point want to settle without compromise for them (i.e. getting a court enforcement against them or having me blab on appropriate forums etc) so you are now better placed to dictate those terms..

 

 

My quest took best part of a year but I now have the signed settlement letter framed in my office. :)

Edited by Slaac
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I have been made a revised offer at this stage which is they take the vehicle back and they will refund everything I have paid on the agreement from the day the vehicle broke down but nothing in the way of compensation

 

I myself am fairly happy with the offer but for the fact it is a couple of hundred quid off of what I wanted at the beginning of the process

 

I have been a little cheeky in the fact I have agreed to the terms but only if the vehicle is collected before this Friday and their payment has cleared before the car collected. And I gave them that deadline on Friday just gone.

 

If they manage that I can buy a new car this weekend. And if not which I doubt they will manage it the adjudicator is going to pass the case to the ombudsman on Monday and I'm looking at an extra £1000 in compensation and costs that I have incurred

 

So basically either way I win this either by getting sorted in a shorter time frame or by getting a better payout

 

Watch this space

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