Arnold Clark Sucks
READ HERE WHAT SOME PEOPLE HAVE TO SAY
Please update your bookmarks.
Hi there - really appreciate the site. Only wish I had read it before I made a
purchase.
We bought a used car from Arnold Clark Crow Road, Glasgow, a few months back. It
was a few years old, but in good nick and only a years motoring on the clock.
A week later, after the car had been 'serviced' prior to release, a wheel
bearing collapsed while I was driving at high speed in the fast lane of the
motorway sending me across the other two lanes of traffic. Frankly, I'm lucky to
be alive. No damage to me, thank God, but back of car was a mess.
I had only done 40 MILES in the car. I took it back to the showroom where I
bought it and this is where the fun started:
1) Salesman I bought it from, frankly, didn't give a monkeys. Tried to fob me
off, showed no concern for what had happened, and took no responsibility.
2) I left the car at another Clark's showroom for someone to "have a look at it"
prior to being picked up for an independent inspection by my insurance company.
There was a delay of about a week in picking the car up because of missing
paperwork. Lo and behold, by the end of that week, Clarks had repaired the
damage without my permission! The car was under warranty, but no-one bothered to
ring to ask whether they could repair it.
3) In the middle of all this I get a courteously call from Susanne at Arnold
Clark, asking me how I'm enjoying my new car......!!!!! She left that
conversation with a fairly good idea of how much I was enjoying it.
4) After the car being sidelined for about 3 weeks, and driving a courteously car
(provided by Esure, not Clarks) I finally got it back. It now has a hideous
rattle on both sides
5) We began to press for a refund. I write two letters detailing our questions
about the accident, and the way I was dealt with on the day of the accident. A
game of email ping-pong ensues with Clark's Customer Services Manager, who
refuses to meet us face to face: "We don't offer that service" he says,
helpfully subjecting us all to an interminable series of phone calls and emails.
6) After trying to fob us off with the offer of another car, we keep pressing
and eventually they give in, give us our money back and take the car off our
hands, just to get rid of us.
After nearly dying in a road accident in a car I had had for just ONE WEEK and
in which I had driven FORTY MILES I have not had any form of apology from the
salesman concerned (despite my letter) or the showroom concerned (Crow Road,
Glasgow). The Customer Services manager offered a terse apology in an email.
That was all.
Nor have I had ANY kind of explanation of why a wheel bearing should fail so
drastically on a car which has supposedly been serviced and MOT'd prior to
release. (Incidentally, the MOT papers only arrived after the accident and the
MOT was conducted in-house. Suspicious?)
I've spoken to the mechanic who services our cars and he reckons that the brakes
were locked on to some degree, generating enough friction at high speed to cause
the grease in the bearing to decompose. This in turn causes metal to rub against
metal and leads to failure. If the brakes had been serviced properly, this
wouldn't have happened.
The car's manufacturer say there are no recognized faults in production of their
wheel bearings on this model that might have led to this accident.
ADVICE:
If you are going to buy second hand from Clarks, and from this dealer in
particular, make sure you get a full AA or RAC check before you buy.
If they promise to service the vehicle before release, demand documentary proof
of the work that's supposed to have been done.
If something goes wrong, make such a pain in the ass of yourself that they can't
ignore you. If we didn't get the result we were looking for, our next avenue was
either bad publicity (Daily Record love Arnold Clark stories) or a mass email
campaign. We planned to get all our friends and family to email the Customer
Services Manager, clogging up his system every single day until he finally got
so fed up with us he gave us what we wanted.
We will never by from Clark again. This whole episode has confirmed the old
adage - once they've sold you the car they really don't give a damn..... 12.11.2003
Travelled to Glasgow yesterday - Mount Vernon - some distance away and fell in
love with a car. Found your site after using Google to check out car and
company. Am horrified by comments. While the language is sometimes strong it is
obviously because people have had such frustrating, bad and expensive
experiences. Don't think I'll be making the long journey back. Any more
comments about the Hamilton Road Garage? 13.11.2003
I bought a new Fiesta from AC in JUNE 2003 by AUG003 the tilting mechanism had
broken in the front passenger seat, when I reported this I was told they were
aware of this fault but could do nothing until advised by FORD CO , by
September and numerous phone calls from me they still had no solution to the
problem so I phoned THE FORD CUSTOMER LINE and was told by them that they were
indeed trying to rectify the fault. Following calls to AC throughout SEPT/OCT
AND NEVER HAVING ONE OF THEM REPLIED TO, I contacted consumer advice who
suggested I get in in touch with the finance company I made my payments to and
seek their advice I Did they told me to write details of the fault, when it was
reported, who I spoke to, what was said etc and they would look into it ,that
was two weeks ago and needless to say I am still no further forward I once
again phoned AC last Monday10/11 was told they think they can now rectify the
fault BUT THEY HAD NO PAPER WORK REFERRING TO ME SO THIS WOULD!
HAVE TO BE DONE FIRST AND THEY WOULD BE IN TOUCH. I received a message on TUES
11/11 asking me to phone which I did and was told they would arrange to have my
car brought in to be repaired, it is now FRIDAY 14/`` and still no contact from
them, so I will wait and see just how long it will take. I wish I could just tell
them to take their car back and refund my money, I am after all an ordinary
person, I don't have any lawyers to aggravate on my behalf, but I do feel as if I
am being treated with utter contempt by AC @CO AND UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE WILL I
EVER DO BUSINESS WITH THEM AGAIN OR ENCOURAGE ANYONE ELSE TO 14.11.2003
stupid act of management i have ever seen, I worked in a office and met Arnold
several times i think a 5yr old girl would have more understanding of this
company than he does, the real problem is a man called Eddie Haw****** who is in
charge. Myself and many other had a run in with our manager and was seeking Mr
Haw****** help to my amazement i along with another colleague was sacked, the
reason-not given one. during my time with this piece of shit company i have seen
more customers credit history being screwed up than i have had hot dinners.
Every car that is bought is over priced and at the highest rate to suit the
salesman. In addition to this the office we worked in was run by sexist pigs no
guessing the gender of those sacked ehhh?. i would advise caution if ever
considering a job with this firm 14.11.2003
I totally agree with you, i cannot even start to describe my experience because
i would clog up the net but put it this way i have had my car for over 2 years
now and gave up the ghost a year ago with them due to their lack of due
diligence 'customer care....that is a joke (they have had my car radio
since December 2001 and that is one of the lesser problems)
Well done with your web site, i hope Arnie boy has found the time to have a look
if he's not laughing at all us fools whilst he's on one of his private yacht
or sunning himself in the Caribbean with our money 16.11.2003
consider buying a car from them - after reading the contents of this website I
don't think we'll bother. Shame other dealers don't have pages of this type.
Unfortunately its not only Arnold Clark which sell lemons. 16.11.2003
