Has anyone used CarGiant? Hoping for legal advice.

[Vormulac]

Hi folks,

I realise the only previous post on here regarding CarGiant is a comment from me five years ago singing their praises, things have changed.

I recently had to trade in my beautiful Subaru for a more frugal vehicle and bought a 57' Ford Mondeo. In the five months I've owned it it's been back in their garage four times and I've been without it for weeks. It's a total lemon, it fails, they repair it, something else fails - repeat. I consider this vehicle to be unfit for purpose and have told them so, I cannot trust this vehicle to get my family and I safely from A to B but they are adamant that they will not issue me a refund.

Trading standards apparently don't do anything any more, they direct you to a website called 'Consumer Advice' or something which will send you a stock response to your query - very useful... :evil:

So I think I'm stuck with this useless piece of carp until I can flog it on at a massive loss and buy something else - does anyone know anyone who has taken these con-artists on and won? At the moment I'm still without the car and it's causing massive problems, but of course the moment I arrangefor the car's return I will basically have accepted it back. I do not accept that this vehicle is fit for purpose but being without a car is Hell, especially with the kids on holiday.

 

[worsley947]

Hi Vormulac what you need to do is this
First off how was the car sold ie as seen or with a predelivery 50point check ect
Tell cargiant that you are dissatisfied with the car and the way they are going about your problems with it in writing stating the history so far
then tell them you are going to have it indepdently checked over
get it indpendtly checked over by the AA or RAC
then depending on what there findings are you can do the following
You send a copy of the report to cargiant asking them to fix what problems have been found and give them a time scale to do this in do all this in writing
Demand a curtesy car while they rectify all the problems
If this fails then depending on how much you paid for the car you can go to the smalls claims court route
you can get more info on the procdures at http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rig...ispute-to-the-small-claims-court/your-rights/
hope this helps and you get the car sorted out and request payment for the AA or RAC inspection
But make sure everything is in writing dates of contact, times, names of people you have dealt with what was said and offered and what your replys where make a note of everything so you have all the details if needed in the future
Dave

 

[Dibs-h]

Sorry to hear about your problems!

It's more or less as Dave advises - the down side is being without a car & shelling out for the inspections, etc. and going down the small claims court. The upside of a small claims court is that armed with an inspection from the AA or RAC - you'd struggle to lose, if the report shows serious problems with the car.

To go down the route where the car is not fit for purpose - you really need to

1. Cash the tax in
2. fund the purchase of another car until the claim is heard & settled.

Also worth bearing in mind is that getting a judgement is one thing - sometimes getting it enforced is another. But only in situations where they don't have any assets or are fly by night merchants.

HIH

Dibs

 

[powertools]

To be honest after having the car for 5 months I doubt if you can return it as not fit for purpose.
It does seem strange that you say that you have been without the car for weeks as most faults on a Mondeo are fairly easy to sort out and parts are not a problem to get.
What sort of problems have you had?

This reply is from Powertools who is an old school mechanic by trade with over 30 years of motor trade experience

 

[Vormulac]

It first went in for the replacement of an interior light and a new bonnet catch and sensor, then it went in for a new radiator, on the way from picking it up after the radiator was replaced the turbo went bang, a month after sorting that out my old favourite 'Engine Malfunction' came up on the display one morning which apparently resulted in it being returned to a Ford dealer and subsequently an accelerator pedal sensor and Ford body control module being replaced. This is where I currently stand with it - the next thing might be the brakes, or the airbags - I just don't trust this wretched bucket of bolts to not kill me and my family or leave us stranded beside the road!

 

[Noel]

To be honest don't really think you'll get anywhere going down the legal route. The faults you've mentioned aren't really excessive although I know you'll disagree with that statement. In addition the retailer seems to have honoured their warranty and fixed everything that has gone wrong. What I suggest you do is go back to Cargiant, explain that you are unhappy (obviously) with the vehicle and see if you can do some sort of deal with them for another car. It may cost you some but it may be the cheapest/quickest/most painless way to get rid of the Ford and make your life easier. Or simply flog it, bite the bullet and get on with your life.
Hope you get something sorted.

 

[Vormulac]

Jesus, four critical failures in five months not excessive? I'd hate to see your definition of something drastic happening!!

I suspect you're right about me not getting anywhere though, the internet is riddled with people complaining about being sold a scrapheap by CarGiant, but I've yet to see a single example of anyone getting any satisfaction from them. I'll probably chalk it up to experience, flog the car as soon as I can and try to get something else... in the meantime vociferously slagging them off to every single person I talk to. It's such a shame, I used to be such an advocate of them, but this one experience has turned me from a repeat customer who would have gone back again next time, to a rabid naysayer, I will never patronise their business again and neither will any of my friends. Obviously that only amounts to a tiny handful of lost sales and as we've seen CG couldn't care less about their image, but doing the right thing in this situation would have kept me on their side. I can only hope their greed bites them on the pineapple and one day someone with more time and money than me takes them to court and guts them.

 

[powertools]

I do understand why you are starting to lose the love for for the car however I think that the fact that you went from a Sabaru to a Ford may be part of the problem. It would seem that they have sorted out the problems that you have had but not in a timely manner and I think that the best you can hope for is an extension of the warranty to cover the time that the car has been off the road.

 

[Paul Chapman]

The problem with second-hand cars is that you don't know how it's been treated by previous owners and, frankly, nor does the garage selling it. Several people I know never check their oil level; never check their tyre pressures; repeatedly bang into kerbs, knocking out the tracking; fill up with the wrong fuel; and so it goes on. I've hardly ever bought a second-hand car because often the last owner sold it because it was a load of trouble (albeit often because of the way they treated it). Whenever possible buy a new one - or something like a demonstrator. That way you'll usually get many years of trouble-free motoring in my experience.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[andycktm]

:lol: The old school mechanics understand mechanicals but don't understand electronics,
The new kids understand electronics but don't know how to swing a spanner :lol:

 

[doctor Bob]

I think cargiant own "we buy any car .com", says it all really.

 

[Dibs-h]

Next time get yourself a Passat or another from the VAG brand. I've had VAG cars (daily drive) for years now and no problems. Mind you being able to do almost all the work myself and having almost dealer level diagnostics equipment might be a distinct advantage tho.

I'd definitely get rid of the car as soon as poss.

Dibs

 

[Charlie Woody]

I would have to disagree with Dibs regarding VW. Years ago I had a Golf GTI and it was brilliant. Kept it -from new- for about 4 years and never any probs.

About 3 years ago I bought an ex demo Touran and last year had loads of probs with random not starting. VW dealer could not establish cause and eventually replaced starting motor, electronics to / from motor etc under warranty. But it was very frustrating to be told no fault found and then few days later not starting. The service manager did admit to me that sometimes with modern cars they cannot diagnose the problem and just keep replacing parts until they fix it!!!

Not sure I would buy another Touran but might consider a Golf Bluemotion given the cost of fuel these days.

 

[Vormulac]

I do accept that this is very unusual. Mondeos are the best cars in their class and I'm a big fan of them usually, but every manufacturer turns out the odd Friday Afternoon Special which is just a cursed pile of parts that will never work properly. I'm definitely completely out of love with this car, which is a shame because we got off to a rocky start with me having to trade in a top of the line Spec B Legacy, but before everything started imploding I was getting used to it and starting to appreciate the cavernous boot and the excellent fuel economy - I only got rid of the Legacy (which had never set a foot wrong or failed to start or anything) to save money and it's starting to look like I would have been better off keeping it and feeding its crippling petrol habit.

 

[Dibs-h]

I would have to disagree with Dibs regarding VW. Years ago I had a Golf GTI and it was brilliant. Kept it -from new- for about 4 years and never any probs.

About 3 years ago I bought an ex demo Touran and last year had loads of probs with random not starting. VW dealer could not establish cause and eventually replaced starting motor, electronics to / from motor etc under warranty. But it was very frustrating to be told no fault found and then few days later not starting. The service manager did admit to me that sometimes with modern cars they cannot diagnose the problem and just keep replacing parts until they fix it!!!

Not sure I would buy another Touran but might consider a Golf Bluemotion given the cost of fuel these days.

When you plug a VAG car into the diagnostics the level of detail is awesome - not only fault codes but also running parameters like fuel qty being delivered by the injectors.

Most VAGS - the coolant temp sensor fails after a few yrs and is classed as a consumable. A faulty one stops the car starting. The fault code shows up as Coolant Sensor - short to ground, or similar. You'd be surprised how many folk\technicians don't realise it will prevent a car starting.

My mates's Touran had the same issue - £20 part, 5 min change over with no tools required and the car is right as rain again.

Cant say it was the reason your's wouldnt start - but very common.

Dibs