Crown Motors Direct / Eden Motor Company - stupidly not done enough research before purchasing a vehicle from this garage.

[BankFodder]

As you probably realise you need to get out of this contract as soon as possible.

I'm afraid that you are dealing with a group of fairly well-organised scammers who have even gone as far as submitting false documents to the county courts and even to firms of solicitors.

Have you read the daily mail article?

 

Spend some time today getting copies of this daily mail article and also any other information you can find on this forum of people who have also fallen for this gang.

On Monday begin the chargeback process. Make sure that your bank knows about the daily mail article and the fraudulent activity and tell them that you find that you have managed to be conned by the same group of people.

Keep us closely informed as to what happens.

 

Also, please will you post up good photographs of this car – front, back, sides – with the registration number clearly visible. We would like to see these photographs because it may be that somebody else who has already bought this car and returned it will be able to tell us more about it and that may help you.
Also, providing images of this vehicle and details of its registration may help to protect others in the future.

I understand that you drove 100 miles from the dealer before your car broke down. This means that you live a substantial distance from them. Can you tell me how many miles away you are from them.

I don't know how or why it happens, but a feature of many of the victims of this company who we have come across seem to have been prepared to travel long distances to pick up a car from them and I'm always surprised why people managed to locate a car across the other side of the country and imagine that it must be the only suitable car in the world and never factor in the cost of getting there, the cost of getting back. The cost of having to deal with any defects which might emerge – even if the car is basically sound. Imagine if you had a problem with seat belts or some minor engine malfunction and your only way to deal with it was to have to drive back to the dealer and maybe leave it there for a day or two while it was repaired.
Even with a genuine decent dealer these defects can happen and even if the dealer sets about the repairs promptly, it can still mean that you don't have the car for a couple of days. We have had somebody who drove 500 miles to pick up a car from this gang.

Surely there must be second-hand cars or a similar quality and similar price within a 50 mile radius – or even a 25 mile radius.

 

Obviously the retailer is responsible for the costs of returning the car to them – but this may be difficult to assert, in view of their track record so far.

I can tell you that a number of people have managed to get judgements against them but then enforcing the judgement is extremely difficult and eventually into three cases, the dealers have paid out a portion of the money spent – on condition that the agreement is not disclosed to anybody. We consider that these agreements are not binding in law.

However the main message here is that even people who manage to get some kind of remedy, are still losing out and may only get half of their money back.

Report this company to the Citizens Advice – although it won't be the first time that they've heard of them.
Also report this company to the police and get a crime reference number. Provide the police with all of the details that you can obtain – including the daily mail article.

What is very disappointing is that although there was a clear article in the daily mail which found evidence of the fraudulent dealings by this company, as far as we know no action has been taken and in fact we have evidence that some of the vehicles which have been returned to them have immediately gone back on sale.

You may be interested to know that the people involved this company follow this forum and they will be aware of this thread.

Don't let it worry you. As long as everybody is honest and straight dealing then we have nothing to hide.
 

[BankFodder]

Incidentally, to follow up – I see that you say that you have been liaising with – Motorcomplaints Direct

 

As far as we know this is basically a website/phantom organisation which has been set up by the same people in order to give the impression of an impartial arbiter over disputes about vehicles which have been bought from EMD.

This shows the extent to which these people are prepared to go.

Don't bother to deal with them. Don't get excited about it. On the other hand, if you have any correspondence which has been received from Motor Complaints, maybe you can post up here.

[BankFodder]

Here are the details of a merc which was returned to them

 

Quote

NM56 HTJ. MERCEDES BENZ E280CDI. I confirm vehicle NM56 HTJ has been collected and loaded to transportation from the following address, with the bodywork being in sound condition.

 

 

And here is its story:-

I'm trying to get photos

 

[BankFodder]

Oh, I thought that maybe it was the replacement which had been offered

[BankFodder]

Also, I forgot to advise the absolute obvious – and that is that because you are within 30 days of the purchase, you should write to the dealer immediately – recorded delivery – and formally reject the vehicle and insist on a refund under the consumer rights act.

Do this straightaway – by recorded delivery.

I'm afraid that with the track record of this company, don't expect any joy – but you may as well assert your right and certainly when making the chargeback, your bank will want to know that you have done this. You should be able to show them a copy of the letter.

I should have advised this to you at the outset that I'm afraid it passed me by

[BankFodder]

When you tell the police, you will have to insist that they take notice. They will try to say that it is a civil matter and you should bring their attention to the attempted dishonest misleading of two county courts and also High Court enforcement officers.

Thanks for the photo of the Merc. Clearly this doesn't seem to be one that we are aware of. If you have got any other photos then please put them up.

As I said, you must write the dealer and a letter rejecting the car as you are entitled to do within the first 30 days under the consumer rights act. Get this letter off now. It may not make any difference to the end because these people seem to be very slippery – and in fact when other people have tried to get their money back or have tried to enforce judgements against them, they always respond that they have no assets and that any money is held by 1/3 party.

Of course it's all a scam. It's disgusting that they are being permitted to carry on despite the publicity and despite the numerous reports that have been made to Citizens Advice and to the police.

You may have to begin a legal action against them and normally speaking you would have to give 14 days notice under the pre-action protocol. However, in this case I think that given all of their history, if you don't get a very rapid response from them then you would be justified, I think, in at least shortening the pre-action protocol to 7 days.

One thing you're going to have to be very wary of is that if you return the vehicle, they may then promise to pay you – and we don't know if the money will be forthcoming. This is a very difficult problem when trying to return vehicles to untrustworthy dealers.

I certainly recommend a future that when you buy vehicles of this kind of value – in other words a cheap second hand car – that you buy much closer to home and that you do lots of research first. I suppose you know that now anyway.

Please keep us informed. There are other victims of this company who are following this thread with interest. So far as I can make out, everyone who has had dealings with this gang have ended up out of pocket.

[BankFodder]

Mind you, I've suddenly had a thought – I suppose there's no actual evidence of any crime having been committed as yet.

Probably a bit silly of me to suggest the police at this stage.

I'm afraid that if the police knock you back then you will probably have to accept it.

[BankFodder]

The journalists who researched the Daily Mail article have been informed.