# Help! New car refund - Paint Issues



## crouchygt (Feb 3, 2013)

Hi All,

I bought a new Renault Megane in January this year, I was happy with the car until I noticed the following after the cars first wash a week later (heres the detailing thread: http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=295386)

So after reporting to Renault head office they wanted to have the bumpers and spoiler repaired. I wasn't happy with this, as from past experiences with having cars resprayed, the quality of the finish is not always brilliant.

So the car was picked up, taken to a Renault body shop, and repaired. As Renault say in all their marketing, 'Who better to repair your Renault than Renault'.

Well the that statement couldn't be any more wrong.....after getting the car back dirty from them, I washed it and uncovered their work.

The car was only gone 3 days, now I know it takes longer than that to prepare, paint, cure two bumpers and the rear spoiler.

Here are some pictures of their work:


















































When shining light onto the paintwork you can see a masking line. It looks like that they have smart repaired the vehicle instead of fully removing the bumpers from the car and spraying. Not we agreed to.

So I went down the route of rejecting the vehicle from the finance company. That process started on the 6th March. After waiting for weeks for a Renault paintwork "Expert" from head office to come and inspect the car he says that the paintwork is of satisfactory quality. Now, anyone can see from the pictures above, that is not a satisfactory quality, but customer services are not able to comment on the pictures as they are not technicians....

Today I have received a letter from my finance company saying that they haven't had a report regarding the paintwork from Renault as the technician hasn't compiled it yet, but he verbally said it is ok, so therefore they are not issuing a refund. I don't know how they can do this without a written report, or any evidence from the Manufacture. They said they will be receiving it at some point, so why not wait until you get it to make your decision?

So this brings me to now, 5 months on and I now have a car that has worse paintwork than before. The financial ombudsman is now involved with my case, but I will require to get some evidence to submit to them. Now unlike the investigation from Renault (Renault UK, Renault Finance UK, and the Renault Paintwork Inspector) I need mine to be independent.

Are their any fellow detailers out there in the Manchester/Sheffield area who would be willing to inspect my paintwork for me and compile a report that I can submit to Renault, Renault Finance, and the Financial Ombudsman so I have the best chance of getting my money back so I can purchase a quality vehicle.

Obviously I don't want anything doing for free, I am willing to pay for the report to be done. It would be best coming from someone who looks/repairs paintwork on a daily basis.

If you have got this far, thank you very much reading.

Cheers

Matt


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## TonyH38 (Apr 7, 2013)

I hope this gets solved in your favour, that is shoddy work and you should not be expected to except it. Good luck Matt.


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## Dave50 (Mar 14, 2013)

That is shocking, hope you get it sorted, and soon

Dave


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## AaronGTi (Nov 2, 2010)

Speak to Russ @ Reflectology..


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## Rundie (Oct 2, 2007)

I had a similar situation with a 'brand new' repaired Maxda, they didn't even tell us the entire N/S had been damaged/repaired.
I ended up employing the skills of an independant Insurance assessor, £75 and a full paint report. Also this guy had letters after his name and these made him 100% credible as a court witness if it had gone that far. 
Mazda sh*t themselves and replaced the car plus a substantial compo deal !!


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## blenki (Apr 28, 2012)

Thats nasty work, don't blame you for being unhappy, hope you get it sorted


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## crouchygt (Feb 3, 2013)

Thanks for the advice guys, its just very disheartening when you spend so much money on a car, for them to repair it poorly, then just fob you off. Well I am not letting them get away with it that easily!


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## S63 (Jan 5, 2007)

crouchygt said:


> Well I am not letting them get away with it that easily!


Good for you. Personally I would write an email to Renaults new UK MD, Ken Ramirez, I haven't been able to locate his email addy with a quick Google check, a quick phonecall to hq will sort that. If you can't find it let me know and I will be able to source it for you.


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## crouchygt (Feb 3, 2013)

S63 said:


> Good for you. Personally I would write an email to Renaults new UK MD, Ken Ramirez, I haven't been able to locate his email addy with a quick Google check, a quick phonecall to hq will sort that. If you can't find it let me know and I will be able to source it for you.


Thank you very much, when I first tried to email him I tried [email protected] but that email account doesn't exist. I think I may have to go down the old snail mail route!


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## rob_vrs (Jan 4, 2012)

Sales of goods act - part 2 section 14, if I remember correctly when I got car refund. Which stats that the car is needed to be of satisfactory quality state that to the, and you'll get a refund 

I bought a 2011 skoda Fabia VRS had the following:
New engine
2 new turbos
New fuel pump
Brake light sensor
Wiring loom fault

Hence my reason for sending car back.

I had to write to my dealers brand manager who then forwarded the letter the skoda customer service who started the process for the refund.

I'd write to the sales manager stating the sales of goods act, if you google rejecting a car there is a letter template on there.


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## craigeh123 (Dec 26, 2011)

That vrs sounds a nightmare


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## rob_vrs (Jan 4, 2012)

craigeh123 said:


> That vrs sounds a nightmare


It was, owned it 7months and was in garage for 50days


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## S63 (Jan 5, 2007)

crouchygt said:


> Thank you very much, when I first tried to email him I tried [email protected] but that email account doesn't exist. I think I may have to go down the old snail mail route!


How long ago was that? He hasn't been in the position very long.


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## crouchygt (Feb 3, 2013)

S63 said:


> How long ago was that? He hasn't been in the position very long.


That was in February. Maybe I should give it another try.


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## dave89 (Mar 12, 2013)

rob_vrs said:


> It was, owned it 7months and was in garage for 50days


Friday car??


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## Exotica (Feb 27, 2006)

Get the correct terms/acts from your local trading standards. Maybe worth contacting what car too for more ammunition. Once you have that write a letter to the dealer stating rejection for the above reasons. If they don't play ball then take them to court.


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## dekerf1996 (Sep 9, 2008)

I would have words with trading standards and get an qualified independent assessor in. Either a insurance assessor or a detailer with their own established company.

If you were down south I could recommend a couple, but being 'up there' only really know of autobrite, or Russ as already mentioned. Try looking in the detailers listings.

Hope you get it sorted soon


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## rob01792 (Aug 21, 2010)

op what other problems have u got with the car has i have the sport tourer version with problems which has been ongoing since november had car april last year 
rear lights rubbed the paint off as poor fitting on booth sides
rattle in interior. headrest door cards, top seatbelt anchors, centre console ,dash
media system reboots on its own not good when following the satnav when u end up going the wrong way or missing juction on motorway


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## rob_vrs (Jan 4, 2012)

Exotica said:


> Get the correct terms/acts from your local trading standards. Maybe worth contacting what car too for more ammunition. Once you have that write a letter to the dealer stating rejection for the above reasons. If they don't play ball then take them to court.


Sales of goods act as stated in my post


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## andy monty (Dec 29, 2007)

Did you pay over £100's of deposit on your credit card by any chance?


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## Rundie (Oct 2, 2007)

A proper Insurance Assessor's report is a stick to beat them with, qualified and to the point.
In our case, even contacting the MD didn't do much until we let them have a copy of a report that said the work had devalued the car by at least £2500, at this point they will realise that you are serious about taking it all the way, anything else is just an opinion and wouldn't hold up in court as good as an experts report.


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## crouchygt (Feb 3, 2013)

rob01792 said:


> op what other problems have u got with the car has i have the sport tourer version with problems which has been ongoing since november had car april last year
> rear lights rubbed the paint off as poor fitting on booth sides
> rattle in interior. headrest door cards, top seatbelt anchors, centre console ,dash
> media system reboots on its own not good when following the satnav when u end up going the wrong way or missing juction on motorway


Exactly the same issues. Rebooting sat nav, or it doesn't get past the warning screen. Headrests dont work at all levels, rattle in passenger doors, paintwork, trip computer doesn't work, so if you reset it while driving it wont work until you stop the engine, open the door, then start the car again. After that it will display 99.9mpg/299.99mph average speed. Renault think this is all ok :/


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## big-saxo-guy (Mar 4, 2013)

my mum got a renult a few years ago and the car was suppose to be brand new and ther was chips and scratches and they constantly kept telling her that the conditions were not right and this went on for months until she gave up , their customer services are shocking


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## Sirmally2 (Feb 28, 2011)

This sounds like the usual "We have your money, we don't care - Now off you pop there's a good lad" scenario.

I had a similar argument with my Insignia been 3 different colours. The bodyshop "Attempted" to rectify the problem, however after 2 resprays (which were far superior to the pictures you have supplied above) but they still could not get it right.

After eventally having to deal with some bigwig down sooth they issued me with a number of options.

However i find Renaults customer service extremely dissapointing, and not what i would expect from such a well established brand.

I hope you get it sorted out matey but i would definitely recommend going down the route of an independant insurance assessor. Yes it may cost you for the inspection, but should it go to court you are in the best position.


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## m0bov (May 2, 2007)

If you were going to reject the car, you should have left the car with the dealer and left them a letter.

All I can suggest is to get a paint report, then leave the car with the SUPPLYING dealer and a letter asking for refund in 7 days. You should only deal with the supplying dealer, not Renault as your contract of sale is with the dealer. If nothing after a chase up, file an online small claims court action.

Under SOGA you can recover consequential losses, so rent a small cheap car. You should also CC in the finance company as well.

P.S I would also pop into another Renault dealer and get their opinion of it and also a local bodyshop to give their professional opinion.


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## Jaff (Aug 20, 2010)

Park it in front of their front door with a note telling everyone who walks past it how poo the car is and youl soon get a reaction


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## MPS101 (May 6, 2011)

In order to reject you must reject with supplying dealer as this is who your contract is with, it is up to them if they involve the manufacturer for support to minimise loss to themselves. Also if you are rejecting you must stop using the vehicle. 

It may be worth signing up to the RenaultSport forum and posting there as RUK monitor the posts and from experience it makes a huge difference to the service you get. People have posted for non RS models as well and had success with Renault.


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## richtea78 (Apr 16, 2011)

In order to reject it under the act doesn't it have to be not fit for the intended purpose? Does dodgy paint stop it? I'm not sure that it would so I would be going down the loss in value, compensation to fix it route?


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## rob_vrs (Jan 4, 2012)

richtea78 said:


> In order to reject it under the act doesn't it have to be not fit for the intended purpose? Does dodgy paint stop it? I'm not sure that it would so I would be going down the loss in value, compensation to fix it route?


Under part 2 section 14 I think it is, it's says the products needs to be of satisfactory quality which the car isn't, however I understand where your coming from


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## richtea78 (Apr 16, 2011)

Ah, I'm not an expert and if it was my car I'd be livid. I was just offering an opinion


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## Exotica (Feb 27, 2006)

richtea78 said:


> In order to reject it under the act doesn't it have to be not fit for the intended purpose? Does dodgy paint stop it? I'm not sure that it would so I would be going down the loss in value, compensation to fix it route?


A couple who bought a focus from Evans halshaw rejected a focus with numerous build quality issues, ie panel gaps.


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## m2srt (Oct 5, 2012)

Two options in my opinion. Firstly, pay for a independent inspection and use that as a basis for any dispute resolution case. Or,,, call their bluff! Phone Renault HQ and just leave them a message that you have contacted Watchdog or any consumer programme and that a reporter with a film crew is eager to pop round and cover the story.

Had a similar issue with my GTI, it would pick up chips after every trip. VAG said paint was fine, Independent inspector said it was, and I quote, 'Borderline acceptable'. In the end, traded it in vowing never to buy another VAG car. Now I wish I would have been more assertive.


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## Exotica (Feb 27, 2006)

Update?


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