Audi TT Roadster - Garage salesman lied about service history

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Mon 16 Dec 2013 17:12
Audi TT Roadster - Garage salesman lied about service history - 9884booth

I bought a car from a garage in July and the salesman told my wife and I it had a full service history and they were just waiting for the documents to come from the main dealer they had bought the car from.

After many calls chasing the salesman with tales of it being lost in the post and needing to order up a new booklet and get it restamped I spoke to his manager who apologised and told me that the salesperson no longer worked for the garage and had admitted that he had lied to me and my wife. He told me to officially write to the garage owner about my case, which I did.

I'm now in correspondence with the garage owner and have spoken to him. He's taking a line that unless I have written proof of being told it had a FSH then he can't help me as the salesperson no longer works for them.

I told him to speak to the guy who admitted the employee had lied but he's ingoring that.

I've asked for £1000 compensation, what should I do as I've never been to court before? I'm really annoyed about the lies and deception and want to do something.

I wrote to watchdog this week but have had no reply yet

Appreciate any advice

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Mon 16 Dec 2013 17:29
Audi TT Roadster - Garage salesman lied about service history - skidpan

Unfortunately you have no proof and the rest is what A said to B.

Not much you can do.

3 basic rules for buying a car are.

1) never believe a car salesman.

2) never believe a car salesman.

3) refer to rules 1 and 2.

Watch Dog will not be interested for the reasons above.

If the documents are not available to see normally means they do not exist.

Edited by skidpan on 16/12/2013 at 17:30

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Mon 16 Dec 2013 17:50
Audi TT Roadster - Garage salesman lied about service history - FP

Skidpan is right, unfortunately for you.

You could take action in a small claims court against the garage, but you have not only the problem of proving what the salesman said to you, but of establishing by how much you are out of pocket as a result.

"I'm really annoyed about the lies and deception and want to do something." I sympathise, but you need to be practical. Emotion gets you nowhere, in legal terms.

I really think you'll have to accept things as they now are.

A painful, but valuable lesson.

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Mon 16 Dec 2013 18:22
Audi TT Roadster - Garage salesman lied about service history - gordonbennet

You can rightly tell everyone you know about this episode, clearly the dealership is owned by a dishonourable person, a man of honour would see that his customer was protected against the results of lies his employee told.

I don't see why the dealer shoudl absolve himself of responsibility quite so easily, might be worth a day in the small claims court hearing him explain himself to a sombre judge.

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Mon 16 Dec 2013 18:35
Audi TT Roadster - Garage salesman lied about service history - Armitage Shanks {p}

Surely it is the case that, if a car has been serviced at main dealer, the history is available from any one of these dealers ie central records?

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Mon 16 Dec 2013 18:46
Audi TT Roadster - Garage salesman lied about service history - FP

GB, I think the OP has to be very careful if he follows your advice.

"You can rightly tell everyone you know about this episode, clearly the dealership is owned by a dishonourable person..."

If the OP faces legal action on the grounds that he has been spreading slander about the dealership he could be in deep trouble. AFAIK the only defence against slander is that the comments made are the truth, which bings us back to the original problem of being unable to prove what was originally said by the salesman.

"I don't see why the dealer shoudl absolve himself of responsibility quite so easily, might be worth a day in the small claims court..."

It might not be worth it if the OP lost the case, which seems likely, and if as a result he had to pay the other side's expenses. Also, he will not be able to recover his court fees if he loses.

Edited by FP on 16/12/2013 at 18:47

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Mon 16 Dec 2013 18:51
Audi TT Roadster - Garage salesman lied about service history - gordonbennet

Fair comment FP, but our OP is telling the truth as he sees it.

An employer has duty IMO to take responsibility for the actions of his employees, i don't see how this dealer can just deny his duty of care like this.

Haven't lenders been finding out the hard way about mis-selling.

Edited by gordonbennet on 16/12/2013 at 18:52

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Mon 16 Dec 2013 19:14
Audi TT Roadster - Garage salesman lied about service history - 9884booth

ok thanks for the feedback, I'll try Citizens advice.

If all else fails I may just go in to the garage and get the guy to look me in the eyes and deny what he said. If nothing else it will give me the satisfaction of seeing him do it in front of his boss.

I've requested a Face to face meeting with the two of them but so far have not had any reply.

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Mon 16 Dec 2013 21:26
Audi TT Roadster - Garage salesman lied about service history - Armitage Shanks {p}

GB - in the end it is the banks have found out the hard way, to the tune of £10 billion+!

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Tue 17 Dec 2013 10:35
Audi TT Roadster - Garage salesman lied about service history - pd

The first thing you should do is phone Audi and see if they have any history on record.

They keep a central database so if it has been serviced at an Audi dealership it will be on there. Depending on how old the car is, it may well be the early service history is Audi and the later independent so you might only be able to get some but it is better than nothing.

Other than that, was the car advertised with service history? If so, and you can find the ad, that may be a route.

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Tue 17 Dec 2013 13:03
Audi TT Roadster - Garage salesman lied about service history - tony g
Contact the previous owner his name should be on the v5 reg doc .
Ask him where it was serviced .
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Wed 18 Dec 2013 09:44
Audi TT Roadster - Garage salesman lied about service history - oldroverboy.

One of my old friends bought an Audi TT from the town of the concrete cows dealership, and finding out afterwards that all was not as it seemed, contacted the dealer, who DId the service, replaced pads, and replaced at their expense the headlamp washers, cooling fans, all this in a 13 month period.

But... it was a main dealer who was honourable, and my mate was lucky that he had e-mailed his questions about the car and done all his negotiating before buying.

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