Available Car
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Customer service is extremely poor
Absolutely awful experience. When we arrived for the test drive, we were met by Daniel who we undertand was new to AvailableCar but kept swearing which made us quite uncomfortable, especially as we had two small children with us. We liked the car however, it needed a bit of work doing to it. We said that we wanted to buy the car but voiced our concerns over things that needed doing and we were then passed over to Paul. Paul told us that all of our concerns would be dealt with as the car hadn't been prepped yet so we felt reassured that everything would be done properly. One of the main issues was a rust spot on the bonnet. On asking if the rust would be taken care of properly such as re-spraying or blending, we were assured that it "definitely wouldn't just be touched in" and that they "prep cars to a high standard". We felt happy and looked forward to picking the car up a week later. We paid for the car via bank transfer when we got home. When we arrived to collect the car we weren't happy with how the rust had been repaired as it had just been touched in with what looked like a completely different colour paint - WHAT?! It didn't match at all, it wasn't flush and looked awful. It honestly would have looked better leaving the rust as it was. We informed the team that we weren't happy as we were assured that this wasn't how they were going to repair the rust and asked if this could be done properly. We were told that they wouldnt do any more work to the vehicle. We asked to speak to Paul who came out and kept repeating "this looks great. In my opinion this is a great job". We contacted a family member who works in a bodyshop, she informed us that it was a poor repair and the paint would flake off revealing the rust within a few months. She explained that if it were just a stone chip, that could be touched in but with it being rust, and already eaten into the metalwork, any poor weather, salt off the roads or general washing of the car would pull the paint back off the rust. The repair would cost around £600 to be done properly so we explained this to Paul and informed him that we would only buy the car if they knocked £600 off the asking price. He told us that they wouldn't knock any money off so we requested a refund. The initial £99 deposit was refunded there and then but a week and a half later we still had no refund for the remaining balance. I called AvailableCar to find out what was happening and was assured that Paul would ring me ASAP. After no response, my wife contacted AvailableCar again the following day and spoke to Paul. He said that they'd refund the remaining balance minus £200 today. We were baffled... She asked why they're withholding £200 and Paul replied that she would get the £200 back when she brings the new V5 in to them... WHAT?! We don't have the V5! We haven't bought this car!!! My wife was understandably extremely upset about this and neither of us could understand why the V5 would be coming to us. I called Paul back myself and asked for him to explain this to me. He said that because we taxed the vehicle, we would receive a V5... He clearly has no idea how this works and I told him that's absolute rubbish. 1. We cancelled the tax the following day and no payment has been taken. 2. Just because you tax a vehicle doesn't mean a new V5 will be sent to you in your name. I told him that if a new V5 was coming to us then that's because of a mistake on their end. We never saw the V5, the green slip was never sent off so to our knowledge, we won't be getting a V5. I said that if we do get a V5 then they can arrange for someone to come and collect it from us because it's not our fault. Because I challenged this and told him that taxing a vehicle doesn't mean you get a new V5, Paul said he needed to check something and would get back to me. A few minutes later he called me back and said that the full amount would be refunded to my wife today. I thanked Paul but I can't believe it took for me to question this for them to put it right. Why did they make this up that just because we taxed the car for 1 day that we would get a V5?! Why dont they know these things?! To keep someones money from them for something they haven't done is absolutely ludicrous. The apology that was made was poor. Had we not chased this or challenged them, they would never have refunded our money. Nobody bothered checking that their customer had been refunded eventhough Paul said that accounts would make the refund. The system fails when this isn't checked. AvailableCar are very quick to take your money but not so good at giving it back when the job they do is a very low standard. It's even more worrying that the only reason it's got to this point is because we know a bit about cars. I feel for the people that go in blind who are looking for a genuine, well-prepped car and are being blindsided by people who haven't got a clue themselves.