11:27 am, August 22, 2017
DEALER group Arnold Clark has been embroiled in a row after it allegedly sold a customer a dangerous car.
According to the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, Kirsty Ackroyd of Hipperholme, West Yorkshire, bought a second-hand Fiat 500 Pop from the Arnold Clark Motorstore in Leeds Road, Huddersfield, in April 2016.
The vehicle was previously used as a courtesy car by the dealership and cost Ackroyd £6,000. But the 23-year-old said that within a month of driving the car she started experiencing problems with it, as it kept stalling.
She claimed that the car’s engine would randomly cut out at 30mph and that there was a leak in the passenger footwell, the latter of which is a common fault with the Fiat 500.
Ackroyd says that when she rang Arnold Clark to try to get her car fixed she spoke to four different people who each said they couldn’t work on the vehicle.
As the car was still under warranty, she took it to a Fiat specialist several times between August 2016 and January 2017. However, they couldn’t identify the source of the fault, so Ackroyd went back to Arnold Clark and asked for a replacement.
She was offered a part-exchange on a new vehicle, but declined as she would have lost money on the deal, which she felt was unfair.
Following this, Ackroyd says that she and her family were lectured to by a salesman, who she told the Examiner was ‘rude and arrogant’.
She alleges that she was pressurised to lie about the amount of time she had been with her current employer in order to secure the finance deal, and was charged £200 for a cleaning kit she had neither asked for nor received.
Speaking to the Examiner, Ackroyd said: ‘This vehicle is unsafe and I honestly fear for my safety while using it. We now refuse to deal with Arnold Clark Huddersfield as the attitude displayed was distressing, upsetting and embarrassing.’
She has reported her case to the Financial Ombudsman.
A spokesman for Arnold Clark told the Examiner: ‘Firstly, we would like to apologise to Miss Ackroyd for what has already been a lengthy process.
‘Regarding the level of care experienced by Miss Ackroyd, an apology was provided at the time from our customer services team. This was also issued along with an explanation that the employee in question would be spoken with.
‘We would be happy to arrange for the vehicle to be collected from Miss Ackroyd and to be fully examined by ourselves. In doing so we would provide Miss Ackroyd with alternative transport whilst her vehicle is with us.
“Alternatively, we would be happy to engage in further conversations with Miss Ackroyd to look at a potential alternative solution. Should Miss Ackroyd be happy to discuss this, we would like to introduce her to one of our senior managers.’
He added: ‘The details provided by Miss Ackroyd relating to her employment at the time of vehicle purchase covered an 18-month period.
‘Our documentation also refers to her employment prior to that. We are satisfied that Miss Ackroyd signed the documentation confirming that all information provided was accurate.
‘Customer satisfaction is at the heart of everything we do as a group. We will endeavour to reach an outcome that Miss Ackroyd is happy with taking all factors of this case in to account.’
Picture: Google Street View
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