Southwestmicrocampers - Carl Britton - Faulty Peugeot Partner Tepee HDi

[Milomoo]

Quote

I bought a MPV Peugot Partner on the 11/6/2021 for £10995. It is a 2016 plate. On the 8/9/2021 it had an MOT and passed. Later on that day the emissions light came on the main display with a count down of 700 miles along with urea light and engine light.  We booked it in to the garage and diagnostic said showed vehicle required topping up with adblue. Couldn't get back into garage for 2 weeks as fully booked and really busy. I then managed to get it into another garage earlier and they topped it up and cleared the fault. The fault then came back on again and they advised I take it to a specialist The outcome of that was the pump had failed and to replace it would be £1500. The dealer has refused to take responsibility or pay for the repair or sort the issue out himself. Nothing has been done to the car as we are in  dispute. He has offered a goodwill gesture of £480 towards the repair. I have told him this isn't acceptable as this leaves me with £1020 outstanding and I have only had the car for only 3 months and I have done 2342 miles in that time.  I have started the 1st part of the process under the Consumer rights act. I have emailed him a copy of this letter to his personal email which is on his business website and FB site but he won't accept this and has told me to send this letter to his business address. This is in a yard and he is not always there so it will be difficult to get it sent recorded as proof of delivery. He is being childish and awkward. Most of the correspondence is through WhatsApp which I know I can attach documents to. He has accused me of harassment just by me messaging him to obtain his contact details. He has told me he is a trader not a dealer so I am only covered by 3 months according to the consumer rights act and that if I take him to court he will instruct his solicitor at £100 an hour and if I lose I will have to pay all his costs. He has also told me it will be viewed as wear and tear.  There are no recalls on the car and I have checked MOT history which is clear. It also has a full service history. The car has done 54124 miles. I have had many sleepless nights over this. I use my car for work in the community so I am having to borrow my parents car.  I have kept all receipts and documents. Do you think I have a case that I could win. This is starting to make me feel ill with the stress. Any advice would gratefully received.

 

I bought a MPV Peugot Partner on the 11/6/2021 for £10995.

It is a 2016 plate. On the 8/9/2021 it had an MOT and passed. Later on that day the emissions light came on the main display with a count down of 700 miles along with urea light and engine light. 

We booked it in to the garage and diagnostic said showed vehicle required topping up with adblue.

 

Couldn't get back into garage for 2 weeks as fully booked and really busy.

I then managed to get it into another garage earlier and they topped it up and cleared the fault.

 

The fault then came back on again and they advised I take it to a specialist

 

The outcome of that was the pump had failed and to replace it would be £1500.

 

The dealer has refused to take responsibility or pay for the repair or sort the issue out himself.

 

Nothing has been done to the car as we are in  dispute. He has offered a goodwill gesture of £480 towards the repair.

 

I have told him this isn't acceptable as this leaves me with £1020 outstanding and I have only had the car for only 3 months and I have done 2342 miles in that time. 

 

I have started the 1st part of the process under the Consumer rights act. I have emailed him a copy of this letter to his personal email which is on his business website and FB site but he won't accept this and has told me to send this letter to his business address.

 

This is in a yard and he is not always there so it will be difficult to get it sent recorded as proof of delivery.

 

He is being childish and awkward.

 

Most of the correspondence is through WhatsApp which I know I can attach documents to.

 

He has accused me of harassment just by me messaging him to obtain his contact details.

 

He has told me he is a trader not a dealer so I am only covered by 3 months according to the consumer rights act and that if I take him to court he will instruct his solicitor at £100 an hour and if I lose I will have to pay all his costs.

He has also told me it will be viewed as wear and tear.  There are no recalls on the car and I have checked MOT history which is clear.

 

It also has a full service history. The car has done 54124 miles.

 

I have had many sleepless nights over this.

 

I use my car for work in the community so I am having to borrow my parents car. 

I have kept all receipts and documents.

 

Do you think I have a case that I could win. This is starting to make me feel ill with the stress.

 

Any advice would gratefully received.

Edited September 30, 2021 by BankFodder
Restructured in order to make it readable

[BankFodder]

Firstly, please notice that I've had to restructure your text to make it readable. It's very unhelpful posting a solid block of text in the way that you have – especially such a long story. It makes it very difficult to follow and almost impossible for people using small screens such as telephones.

You haven't told us the name of the dealer. Please will you tell us who it is that you are dealing with here.

Most of what you have been told by this dealer is complete nonsense and you have the right on your side. However you need to be aware that getting a judgement in these cases is pretty easy. Enforcing the judgement can be a totally different matter and if you are planning a legal claim against anybody – especially used car dealers – then you need to establish before you do anything whether or not you are going to be a to enforce the judgement. Otherwise, you end up out of pocket and also minus your court fees and simply with a meaningless judgement in your hand.

You need to stop doing things on WhatsApp. Why have you chosen this means of communication? You should be doing everything in writing and keep a proper paper trail. This is not a social media game and I suggest that you print out all of your WhatsApp messages so that you have got them secure. The exchanges you have had may be very important.

You say that you started some kind of legal process. Please will you post up what you have written in PDF format.

How did you pay for this vehicle? Did you pay by bank transfer? Did you pay by cash?

 

Please start off by telling us the name of the dealer and telling us how far away from you are they

[Milomoo]

Apologies for the presentation.

 

Can I use his personal email as a means of communication even though he has directed me us his postal address for his business? 

 

I have already changed communication now to email and letter.  

 

I don't want to mention his name in case it goes to court and it affects the proceedings. 

 

The dealer is only a few miles away from where I live. I paid by bank transfer.

 

I will post the letter up.

 

 

Email sent to his personal account and hard copy sent to his business address:

Quote

 

On the 11/6/2021 I purchased a Peugeot Partner Tepee HDi, Reg Xxx xxx from your dealership for £10995.

 

On the 8^th of September the Emissions warning on the radio display came on with a count down of 700 miles, also the UREA sign came on the dash board display with the engine light.  The car was taken to XXXXX XXXXX centre and a diagnostics test showed an emissions fault.  At this point my dad arranged for the car to be fixed at the earliest opportunity which was the 24/9/2021.

After my dad advised me of the timescales I made arrangements with Halfords on the 21/9/2021 and left the car with them.  They called me to advise it was the adblue liquid and they had sorted it out and cleared the diagnostics.  I then picked my car up and everything was fine, by the time I got home all the warning lights had returned. 

At this point I then called Halfords who advised me to take it to XX xXXXXx who are specialists in Peugeot vehicles.  The result of which was pump failure with an estimated repair bill of £1500.

At this point I then contacted you and told you what XX XXXXXX had said. Your response was the car was out of warranty and there was nothing you could do to help. 

You then offered us the cost of the labour at £480 as a final settlement figure which left an outstanding amount of £1020.  This offer I rejected.

 

I would like to settle this out of court if possible if we can mediate an agreement.  If this isn’t forth coming I will have no alternative but to take legal action.   

As you know I am protected under the consumer rights act 2015 because the car is not fit for purpose. 

 

I am offering you the opportunity to put this right and repair the car at your cost. 

 

Please respond within 14 days of receiving this letter/email. 

 

Yours sincerely 

 

 

 

I couldn't post in PDF apologies. 

[BankFodder]

There is no disadvantage in posting the name.

Otherwise we wouldn't ask you.

[Milomoo]

South west microcampers

[honeybee13]

Is this them?

 

Micro Campers and Campervan conversions Devon, Cornwall & Somerset

SOUTHWESTMICROCAMPERS.CO.UK

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Micro Campers and Campervan conversion suppliers based near Exeter and covering the whole of Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset

 

HB

[Milomoo]

Yes

 

Bovey tracey

[BankFodder]

You have full rights as a consumer and in particular you enjoy rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. This means that the item that you buy must be of satisfactory quality and must remain that way for a reasonable period of time.
From what you say it certainly sounds as if it is not of satisfactory quality and you haven't had it long enough to be "a reasonable period of time" anyway.

Under the Consumer Rights Act, if a defect manifests itself within the first 30 days then you have a right to reject the item and to demand a refund. After that, within the first six months the dealer is entitled to have a right to repair the item and if the dealer declines or if the repair fails, then you have a right to reject the item for a refund.

Refunds has to be made pretty quickly – and I think seven days is suggested as a reasonable time in which that should happen.

I hope that you have read how you sacrifice many of your rights if you pay by cash or paid by bank transfer. It's a big no-no – and if a dealer insists on payment in this way then you should have warning bells ringing immediately.

Here the dealer apparently is referring to some kind of warranty. You should also be aware that warranties are treated as kind of bonbons which are given to innocent consumers to make them think that the dealer is being generous and that after the expiry of the warranty – typically three months – there are no further rights. It's a con.

You don't need warranties. In almost every case your statutory consumer rights are much stronger – and not only that they last a great deal longer than three months – and not only that, once a defect occurs you have up to 6 years to make a claim about it.

You say that the dealer has said that he is not a "dealer" but he is a "trader". I have no idea what he means – and there is no such distinction. Once again these are all signs that the dealer is going to do whatever we can to avoid his contractual responsibilities to you as a consumer.

We will help you make a claim against this person. However the first thing is does he have any assets. Do you know the name of the person you are dealing with? It is encouraging that it's not a limited liability company because we find that some dealers when they are challenged for serious amounts of money, suddenly the companies disappear and are replaced with a company with a different name but operating from the same address and with broadly the same staff - and are inaccessible to enforcement of a judgement in the name of the original company.
That won't happen here. On the other hand, you still need to know if there are any assets. You say that he is trading from a yard but I suppose that if the bailiffs call round they might suddenly find that yard is empty or he might even say that the vehicles there didn't belong to him but they belonged to somebody else.
What is the name of the person who apparently owns the business? What do you know about him?

You say that you had it MOT'd and it passed. That is good news but it doesn't tell you the whole story. As you are going to be challenging the dealer anyway, I would suggest that you get a full health check of the vehicle.
This may cost you a fee and so I suggest that before you get the health check that you should write to the dealer and put him on notice that this is what you going to do.

Write him a letter and tell him that you are asserting your rights under the Consumer Rights Act. That he is aware of the fault with the broken pump and that you are giving him an opportunity to repair it otherwise you will be asserting a right to reject the vehicle.
Tell him also that you are going to get the vehicle thoroughly health checked and that if the check reveals any further defects, then if that health check costs you any money, you will be looking to the dealer for reimbursement of that fee as well.
Tell the dealer that you are giving him seven days to respond and to comment on your proposal to get the health check after which you will be proceeding.

Tell us when you have written this letter and tell us when you have booked the health check. I think this is essential because you may as well get everything sorted out at one time.

I think we are coming to a position where you will have to decide whether you want to keep the vehicle or not. So far it looks as if the dealer is going to ignore you and effectively declined the opportunity to repair. This means that you have the right to reject and if the dealer refuses to honour that right then you can bring a legal action for the refund.

The problem is that the vehicle has cost you more than £10,000 so if you do claim for a refund plus any ancillary losses which you might have incurred, you will be claiming for a sum in excess of the small claims limit. This means that if the dealer decided to cause trouble and to defend the claim, then there is a risk that if you lost the claim that you would be liable to pay the dealer's costs.

Of course on the basis of what you say, the chances of you losing the case are vanishingly small but I have to make you aware of this anyway.

If you bring an action for less than £10,000 then your claim will be allocated to the small claims track and that means even if you did happen to lose the case your cost penalty would be minimal – simply the cost of the claim and the cost of a hearing if the dealer defended. I can't remember exactly how much but this might be £600 or £700 – something in that order.

Of course once again is the problem of enforcement because you could layout money on bringing a claim – which you would probably win but then you would have to instruct High Court enforcement officers and although they are very good at their job, if there were no assets – if the dealer managed to evade the enforcement in some way then you would be left empty-handed and still with a car which needed fixing and also near reimbursement of your court costs.

If you decided that you want to keep the car then you would simply need to sue for the cost of repairs. Once again, you don't really know the complete condition of the vehicle until you get a full health check and it is certainly worth doing this.

However the cost of repairs will be well below the £10,000 threshold and this also means that the court costs would be reduced because you would be claiming for less. You still have the same problem of enforcement, though.

Whatever you decide, send the letter that I have suggested above. Even though you are asserting your right to reject the vehicle if he doesn't repair it, you don't have to enforce that right. But at least you reserve the right and that is the important thing.

The only other thing I can say is that clearly this dealer has undermined confidence and that means that even if you handed the vehicle over to him to repair, could you be completely certain that there had been a quality job.
I would feel very concerned about this.

Also, if you decided to keep the vehicle, if defects occur in the future then although in principle the dealer should be responsible, as you are already in conflict the dealer do you think that you could rely on the dealer to step up to the mark and to honour his consumer obligations in respect of other problems which occurred within a "reasonable period of time".

Please let us have your comments on what has been written here – but in any event, I think that you have to write the letter. Get the health check. Let us know the name of the dealer. Start trying to make enquiries as to the whereabouts of assets – even, if possible, the residential address of the dealer. Because the dealer is not a limited liability company, that means that even his private assets may become accessible to enforcement and of course that will help you. Not only that, it will put additional pressure on the dealer to start behaving himself – but don't hold your breath.
 

[Milomoo]

Wow that's great advice thank you. I might need to read it a couple of times to digest all the points.

 

The traders name is Carl Britton. I dont know any personal details but he has now agreed to communicate through his personal email.

 

He has requested some documents and might well change his mind and pay for the repairs.

 

He is not a garage or a mechanic so he would not be able to do the repairs in house.

 

Thanks again for the advice.

 

Its really appreciated.

Edited September 30, 2021 by dx100uk
formatting/spacing only - no issue

[BankFodder]

Once again I see that the site team having to restructure your posts.

He may not do his own repairs but he may still have an unnecessarily close relationship with some repairer. Get your own health check from an independent party before you proceed with anything.

What documents has he requested?

 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-britton-979902188

 

 

Carl Britton ⇒ Free Company Director Check

WWW.COMPANYDIRECTORCHECK.COM

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Carl Britton Company Director Profile. Past and present positions of Carl Britton. List of companies where Carl Britton holds appointments. Carl Britton Address, Related People and Companies

 

Carl Britton - Pengarah di Calima Ltd

HALAMAN-KUNING.CYBO.COM

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Carl Britton, Pengarah di Calima Ltd. Bertempat di Plymouth. Cari maklumat kenalan untuk Carl Britton, termasuk nombor telefon dan faks, emel dan banyak lagi.

 

 

Licensing Act 2003 - Premises Licence Register as at 15:20 on 30 September 2021

LICENSING.NORTHDEVON.GOV.UK

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The Licensing website of North Devon Council

 

Maybe there is more than one person of this name because this is to be quite a variety of activities.

Have you met him? Could you recognise him from any of the images in these links?

 

[BankFodder]

[Milomoo]

Yes this is him. 

[BankFodder]

So what documents is he asking for? Be very careful about signing any full and final settlement agreements. You really must do the health check

[honeybee13]

I don't know if this adds anything, from Companies House. I see Lisa Jane Britton appears here as well.

 

CALIMA LTD people - Find and update company information - GOV.UK

FIND-AND-UPDATE.COMPANY-INFORMATION.SERVICE.GOV.UK

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CALIMA LTD - Free company information from Companies House including registered office address, filing history, accounts, annual return, officers...

B

H

[Milomoo]

He is asking for:

 

- current mileage of the vehicle.

- The first diagnostic print out that the garage did.  

- Asking for the exact make of Adblue used to top up and whether it was the manufacturer specified one. Wants this in writing or a printed off statement with date they did it. 

- statement from specialist garage with fault on and cost of bill.  

 

[BankFodder]

Have you sent him the letter I advised?

 

 

Have you booked the health check?

 

Have you decided whether you want to keep the car or whether you want to return it?

[Milomoo]

No not yet. I have been working today.

 

Also getting information he has requested.

 

I haven't sent anything yet only the first letter I have shared with you requesting he fix the problem.  He says he won't answer it until I have given him the information he has requested. 

[BankFodder]

Please will you send the letter and confirm that you've done it.

I don't think you understand that you need to take control of this because so far you don't have control and that means that you got to show that you are aware of your rights and that you are asserting yourself.

You will find that when you come to this forum we move very quickly and that's what helps to keep the dealer on the back foot.

 

And I see that you have been spending time getting the information that he requested, but not implementing the advice that we have given.

While you do this then you are allowing him to take control. I think you need to start reprioritising

[Milomoo]

Ok. Are you happy for me to give the details he has requested? 

 

Thanks 

[BankFodder]

At some point it may be reasonable to do that. But first of all you need to implement the advice that we've given. If you don't want to do that then there's probably not a lot of point carrying on.

Also you haven't told us with you want to keep the car and get it repaired or whether you would prefer to reject it. Although maybe this will depend on the results of a health check but you haven't arranged that yet so we don't know

[Milomoo]

Yes I want to keep the car as the cost to return it would take it out of the small claims court.

[BankFodder]

In that case send him the letter giving him an opportunity to repair it. But the health check immediately so that you know the extent of any problems with the car. You never know it might return some kind of report with a list of defects that you had never imagined. That might then change everything.

It's now too late to arrange the health check so it will have to be done tomorrow

 

Incidentally, in your letter you can ask him what arrangements he intends to make to have the vehicle repaired.

[Milomoo]

I have sent another letter/email.  He keeps saying I am wrong and the law states dealer or garage not a private individual. 

 

Although he has a website and in Google is listed as a dealer. 

 

Is there any truth in this? On the DVLA V5 micro campers is listed as the who I purchased off not the person. 

[BankFodder]

Even if you purchased it from an individual, if that individual sold it by way of business – even if he ran a company in a completely different area of business but sold off his company card then that would be the sale of a vehicle in the course of trade.

He is talking nonsense – whether or not he really doesn't know or he simply trying to avoid his liabilities is a matter for you to decide.

We will continue to treat him as somebody who is dealing with vehicles in the course of trade and if you ultimately decide to sue him then that is how you will sue him.

Let me say that even if you are buying a vehicle from him as a private individual you would still be entitled to enjoy certain rights under general contract law – although it would be a little more tricky.

I should stop listening to what he says if I were you. However, store the stuff up because eventually goes to court then it will be extremely useful because you will present it to the judge and show how this person was trying to divert you from your consumer rights. This

Did you send him the letter? Have you booked the health check?

[Milomoo]

So South west Microcampers has a website but I can't find it as a registered business. 

 

Does that matter? Is it the case he presented himself as a business?