Kings of Witcham - Volvo Garage
Paul Goodlad
http://www.volvospecialists.co.uk/_kingsofwit1.htm I am very upset after
Colin Every the managing director started shouting at me on the phone in
regards to the central locking breaking on my car under warranty. He claimed
electricals are not covered under the warranty and started swearing at me.
When I mentioned the sales of goods act he got even more furious and said I
was threatening him. I found all this very unprofessional and largely
unsettling. Has anybody had a similar experience with this man? What action
might I take, I really have to fix my central locking today and I can
imagine once the work is done he will start saying it was authorised by him.
I am at my wits end!
Regards,
Paul
Alan
news:bpifv2$1o673l$1...@ID-199677.news.uni-berlin.de:
If it's a Volvo frachise or whatever, talk to Volvo UK or similar and get
them to have a word with him.
Alan
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Paul Goodlad
"Alan" <a.b...@deadspam.com> wrote in message
news:Xns94398D502C67F...@193.150.150.3...
I don't think I have anyone to appeal to really... from their site:
Formerly Service Excellence Award Winning Volvo dealers for 30 years, now
Independent Volvo Specialists. We left the Volvo franchise in 1996 in the
reorganisation which located Volvo dealers in or near main cities only.
We then decided to continue our Volvo activities independently and below we
have summarised our services and product offering, so visitors to our site
can see exactly how we can be of service.
Our staff average length of service is 0.3years, all our staff are highly
qualified, most are members or associate members of the Institute of the
Motor Industry, all eager to provide the highest levels of customer service.
Hugo 'NOx' Tyson
You've missed out a few important facts. New car or used? Bought from
Kings?[1] How long have you had the car?
Is is a new car guarantee from Volvo or a used-car warranty from Kings
themselves? If the latter, you should read the small print, these often
cover only major components for catastrophic failure and are actually
implemented as an insurance policy in the underlying legal framework.
You "have to fix my central locking today" - well if you're capable of
fixing it, do so then, why involve the garage at all? I don't understand
what you mean by he'll start saying it was authorized. What's it got to do
with him?
Why do you have to fix it today? Can't you lock and unlock the doors
individually like they used to in the old days pro tem? If it's broken
such that it unlocks or won't stay locked, pull the central locking fuse.
Sorry to be initially unhelpful, but you need to tell us more. Likely the
garage are shits - that's garages for you - but it don't necessarily mean
you're in the right.
- Huge
[1]not such a daft q; you might buy a new Volvo from afar and expect the
guarantee to be honoured at any Volvo garage.
tony sayer
<paulg...@ntlworld.com> writes
As long as that wow!!!
>all our staff are highly
>qualified, most are members or associate members of the Institute of the
>Motor Industry, all eager to provide the highest levels of customer service.
>
>
Well they would say that wouldn't they!. Seems very poor customer
service obviously trying to wiggle out of something. Letter from you re
action by a solicitor, and then if they don't then get really stroppy
but put it ALL in writing and send it recorded delivery and that should
put the frightners on them, as well as telling me never go to them for
anything to do with Volvo.
Once you have it sorted then take it to somewhere like Jagutek at
Lancaster ind estate where they still have mechanics that know what
there doing and you can talk to directly etc.
Wouldn't go anywhere else..
--
Tony Sayer
Tim Green
> from their site:
[snip]
> Our staff average length of service is 0.3years, all our staff are highly
> qualified, most are members or associate members of the Institute of the
> Motor Industry, all eager to provide the highest levels of customer service.
0.3 years? About 110 days? That's not very long service!
--
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Value of 2p or 2cent comments may go up as well as down.
The Natural Philosopher
He was probably the guy running the volvo garage at shelford or histon
till he got the sack.
Get straight on to Volvo marketing - not the garage, and talk to someone. Usually the phrase
'or I'll never buy another volvo and neither will anyone I know'
will get you attention: Then write in detailing the totality of the problem.
If nothing else, the garage will lose the Volvo franchise.
> Regards,
> Paul
>
>
>
Dan delaMare-Lyon
>
> He was probably the guy running the volvo garage at shelford or histon
> till he got the sack.
>
> Get straight on to Volvo marketing - not the garage, and talk to someone. Usually the phrase
>
> 'or I'll never buy another volvo and neither will anyone I know'
>
> will get you attention: Then write in detailing the totality of the problem.
>
> If nothing else, the garage will lose the Volvo franchise.
The aren't a Volvo franchise anymore.
TBH I've heard nothing but good things about them - tho have never
used them myself.
Marshall Volvo are crap.
Come back Lancasters!
Cheers
Dan.
Alan
Ah.
You mention breaking under warranty, and the Sale of Goods Act. IANAL,
but, warranties are usually something extra, purchased (or sometimes
given), and will have terms, conditions and clauses etc (normally so
they never have to pay up in my cynical experience).
Sale of Goods Act is a legal thing covering fit for purpose and
expectation, etc, and is between you and the place you purchased the
product. A warranty might require you to go somewhere specific.
None of this might apply to you and I might be rambling aimlessly, but
there are strict distinctions in law.
Trading Standards should be able to put you right on your legal
position.
John Richer
>>>>> "Paul" == Paul Goodlad <paulg...@ntlworld.com> writes:
> Has anybody had any experience of dealing with Kings of Witcham in
> Ely?
I'm sorry to hear of your problems, but let me put in a good word for
Kings. Some posters have jumped to the conclusion that they are probably
hopeless, or worse, but this seems at odds with my experiences.
Obviously I'm not going to condone shouting at customers, though.
I bought my current car from Kings, and although I have had electronic
problems with the car, I have been very happy with their customer
service and their attempts to fix the problems. I always found the
staff polite and helpful, particularly John who I had most dealings
with, and I do think it is a good and reasonable operation - a real a
garage where you can actually see mechanics in overalls, definitely not
a glitzy main dealer. They get my strong recommendation.
I bought a lovely 5-yr old 850 from them, which developed a series of
problems relating to the fuel injection system. I think it had about 6
or 7 visits to Kings over the course of 14 months from purchase,
replacing various lambda sensors etc, culminating in replacement/repair
of the Engine Control Unit (ECU), since when it's been trouble free.
They also replaced a heated seat mat a few months after purchase - I
bought it in the summer so it was only when the first cold weather came
that it was clear it was broken. I have not been charged a penny, was
given free loan cars when it was in the garage, and repairs were
prompt. So although I was not happy that I had so many problems, I don't
think they were the garage's fault - I was just unlucky - and I was
pleased with their perseverance in trying to fix it: the warranty, or
limitations thereto, was never mentioned.
As Hugo Tyson asks, what guarantee did you actually buy with your car?
That should make it clear if the cost should be borne by you or the
garage.
--
John Richer
John Richer
>>>>> "Tim" == Tim Green <tin...@spodlife.org> writes:
> Paul Goodlad <paulg...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>> from their site:
> [snip]
>> Our staff average length of service is 0.3years, all our staff
>> are highly qualified, most are members or associate members of
>> the Institute of the Motor Industry, all eager to provide the
>> highest levels of customer service.
> 0.3 years? About 110 days? That's not very long service!
It is of course 10.3 years if you read the web site - which was
misquoted in a previous post. (Admittedly a spurious linebreak makes
this hard to read).
--
John Richer
Paul Goodlad
"Hugo 'NOx' Tyson" <hm...@surfingsuggestionx.co.ukx> wrote in message
news:m3smkj1...@foo.surfingsuggestion.co.uk...
It is a peugeot 306 that they sold me second hand as they took it in for
part exchange - the doors do not lock even in the old fashioned way hence
the urgency to get it fixed - i called them up again but he says under no
circumstances will they fix it and my warrenty is no good for this!! It just
dissolved into more swearing and shouting on Colin Every's part again. This
was a problem when I test drove the car and it was fixed on the day I
collected it so it is an inherant fault it would seem
I am going to get an independant garage to fix it tomorrow, and try to take
legal action.
Ben Blaukopf
"Paul Goodlad" <paulg...@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:bpilhc$1m2381$1...@ID-199677.news.uni-berlin.de...
> It is a peugeot 306 that they sold me second hand as they took it in for
> part exchange - the doors do not lock even in the old fashioned way hence
> the urgency to get it fixed - i called them up again but he says under no
> circumstances will they fix it and my warrenty is no good for this!! It
just
> dissolved into more swearing and shouting on Colin Every's part again.
This
> was a problem when I test drove the car and it was fixed on the day I
> collected it so it is an inherant fault it would seem
>
> I am going to get an independant garage to fix it tomorrow, and try to
take
> legal action.
I had a Peugeot 306 with a slightly dodgy central locking. Eventually
disassembled the door in question and found that it had been played with
at some point in its life, as the door seal was missing. Anyway, a liberal
spray of WD40 improved things. That may be all that was done when you
collected it...
Errr, I don't suppose the 306 in question was N83 XSS by any chance? Not
that
I traded it in with them, but you never know...
The nice thing about the 306 though, is that a) the radio doesn't really fit
any other
cars, and b) it has a keypad imoobiliser. So leaving it unlocked really
doesn't
matter that much....
Ben
Hugo 'NOx' Tyson
"Paul Goodlad" <paulg...@ntlworld.com> writes:
> It is a peugeot 306 that they sold me second hand as they took it in for
> part exchange - the doors do not lock even in the old fashioned way hence
Ah, so it's not really a central locking problem, it's a door locks
problem. Both failed in the same way at the same time? Wierd.
> the urgency to get it fixed - i called them up again but he says under no
> circumstances will they fix it and my warrenty is no good for this!! It just
> dissolved into more swearing and shouting on Colin Every's part again.
> This was a problem when I test drove the car and it was fixed on the day
> I collected it so it is an inherant fault it would seem
That new snippet of info might be your saviour. In the sense that they a)
had been aware of the problem and you had asked that it be fixed as a
condition of sale, and b) claimed (by demonstration) to have fixed it when
they sold it you. But it's your word against theirs, I bet ;-(
But you still haven't told us how long you've had the car, nor what your
warranty actually says, nor if the contract says "sold as seen" (which is
the usual wording for private sales) or similar. Nor how cheap it was.
> I am going to get an independant garage to fix it tomorrow, and try to
> take legal action.
Best of luck with the lawyers.
- Huge
Ridwan Hughes
I have had a similar experience with this garage Paul, I bought a VW Golf
there last year. It had recurring problems with starting up, I had a 3 month
warranty on the car and I was made to wait about 3 weeks each time to get
the car booked in. I dealt with Colin during that time, at the start he was
not being verbally abusive but he would always seem annoyed when I called to
say the fault was still no resolved. I brought the car in 3 times and after
the 3 months warranty period it was not fixed. After this time Colin made it
very difficult for me to get a date for when I could bring the car in for
them to look at. In the end it had been about 5 weeks after the third time I
had taken the car in with the same problem. I ended up taking it to Vindis
as it got to the point were I could not even start the car. They managed to
fix it first time. When I called Kings of Witcham up to inform them of my
unhappiness with their service I got through to Colin and at that point his
nasty side did come out. He did not curse at me but he basically said I was
a plonker for taking the car to Vindis and I would not be getting any
compensation for the £250 garage bill from Kings of Witcham. I did threaten
to take it to court, his phrase was "you bring your guns, I guarantee you,
mine are bigger!"
So the long and short of it, stay away from Kings of Witcham. Their
mechanics can't fix anything non-volvo it seems and Colin Every is a first
class tool.
Ridwan
Gropius Riftwynde
> The aren't a Volvo franchise anymore.
> TBH I've heard nothing but good things about them - tho have never
> used them myself.
> Marshall Volvo are crap.
> Come back Lancasters!
I don't think there are enough Lancasters left to bomb the sheet out
of Marshalls and Kings.
If you mean the Lancaster garage...oh my. Reminds me of the year a rat
ate my Volvo. It chewed its way in through the rubber grommet on the
passenger side and set up a family home in the electrical loom. The
garage wouldn't touch it. End of Volvo.
If you mean the Lancaster car...I had one once...but that story is
more painful than the rat one...
GR
Meldrew of Meldreth
<j...@mrao.cam.ac.uk> writes
>As Hugo Tyson asks, what guarantee did you actually buy with your car?
>That should make it clear if the cost should be borne by you or the
>garage.
Second-hand warranties are often "major mechanical only". Basically
engine and gearbox, or wheels literally falling off. Well worth
checking.
--
"now, the thing you type on and the window you stare out of are the same thing"
John Richer
>>>>> "Brian" == Brian Morrison <sc...@fenrir.org.uk> writes:
> On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 14:02:51 +0000, in article
> <bpihg4$1o2dcu$1...@ID-199677.news.uni-berlin.de> "Paul Goodlad"
> <paulg...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>> Our staff average length of service is 0.3years
> Is that right? Average is 4 months, so it doesn't imply any
> continuity at all.
Please keep up. It was misquoted from a web site, it is 10.3 years. :-)
--
John Richer
:: Dazza ::
"John Richer" <j...@mrao.cam.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:ucd6bmo...@grigori.ra.phy.cam.ac.uk...
It doesnt look like 10.3 years to me, who uses a '| 0' make 10? i think
they are trying to imply 10.3 years, they are not using the figure 1, it is
suspect to say the least
> --
> John Richer
Jón Fairbairn
> "John Richer" <j...@mrao.cam.ac.uk> wrote in message
> news:ucd6bmo...@grigori.ra.phy.cam.ac.uk...
> >
> > >>>>> "Brian" == Brian Morrison <sc...@fenrir.org.uk> writes:
> >
> > > On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 14:02:51 +0000, in article
> > > <bpihg4$1o2dcu$1...@ID-199677.news.uni-berlin.de> "Paul Goodlad"
> > > <paulg...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> >
> > >> Our staff average length of service is 0.3years
> >
> > > Is that right? Average is 4 months, so it doesn't imply any
> > > continuity at all.
> >
> > Please keep up. It was misquoted from a web site, it is 10.3 years. :-)
>
> It doesnt look like 10.3 years to me, who uses a '| 0' make 10?
Actually, it's "I 0.3". The generous interpretation would be
that it was typed by someone who can't tell the difference
between a sans serif "I" and the digit "1".
--
Jón Fairbairn Jon.Fa...@cl.cam.ac.uk
http://www.chaos.org.uk/~jf/Stuff-I-dont-want.html (updated 2003-08-02)
The Natural Philosopher
Not from what I heard a few years back.
Marshalls have been expensive, but never fail to at least try everything
to get a fix.
AND they do stick to the warranty.
I haven't used then on a volvo tho.
> Cheers
> Dan.
>