Second hand car problems - scotland

[Geronimo1]

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'.

[BankFodder]

Thanks.

That sounds like a very nice approach. I'm afraid that we have probably been corrupted here by running this forum for 17 years and having to deal with a constant stream of companies and individuals who lack any kind of moral compass.

I suppose that the whole thing has shredded our karma over the years.

I hope your approach works well and produces a result but anyway, if it works well for you whatever the outcome then that is probably the most important thing.

I hope you have a good break but we'd be pleased to be updated as to the eventual outcome.

 

[Geronimo1]

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.

[BankFodder]

I suppose that it is a question of approach.

On this forum although we give considerable one-to-one help, we like to feel that in some way we help to empower the individual so that the next time they have a run-in with some company/dealer/supplier/installer they retain a sense of self-confidence and they have at least an idea of the route they will take to deal with their problems.
I hope that in some way we tend to level the playing field. To equalise the positions of the inexperience consumer and the well resourced experienced company that isn't prepared to step up to its obligations.
Our view is that if you pay 100% then you get 100%.

I'm afraid that putting cc: at the bottom of letters tends to convey the message that "if you don't play ball, I get my dad on to you".