Dealer sold me a car with non OEM parts

[TheChamp]

Good luck OP. I’m following this thread. I have a special disliking for car dealers, and my gut tells me this is a rat.
might even be grounds for a refund?

You'd think dealers who are struggling like Alfa would put an extra effort to ensure a pleasant customer experience.

 

[Cosmik Debris]

Good luck OP. I’m following this thread. I have a special disliking for car dealers, and my gut tells me this is a rat.
might even be grounds for a refund?

To add. Under the CPA the customer has the right and choice of which of the three R's they would like to use to settle the dispute with the retailer:

Repair
Refund
Replace

The retailer and not the manufacturer is responsible under the CPA.

 

[notinterested]

I would honestly love to push for a replacement car, but I think that would be a very long and drawn-out process between the lawyers (not to mention that I would have to foot the legal bill) and I really just want my car back in working condition with some sort of reassurance that this part isn't going to keep failing.

 

[neoprema]

Well now i'm concerned lol. I bought a brand new Volvo and they're part of the same building? They share the same phone numbers, reception etc. Although for some reason they claim they're part of SuperGroup not Grand Central Motors.

So far the Volvo has been perfect though and the service was stellar.

 

[notinterested]

I believe super group owns a few dealerships. Gcm is one of them and I guess volvo is too.

 

[Scorpio7771]

You'd think dealers who are struggling like Alda would put an extra effort to ensure a pleasant customer experience.

I made the exact same comment to the Customer Services guy from a Honda dealership. Had numerous bad experiences. The dealership fails to realise that it's very easy to absolve responsibility, but a customer's negative experience can affect their sales. I sit in an open plan office and my conversation with Honda over one of the issues they disputed, was overheard by a colleague. Her husband was planning on purchasing a Honda Jazz. After hearing about my experiences with Honda, they ended up purchasing a Hyundai. Last month met someone who was planning on purchasing a Ballade. Again, after hearing about my recent experience with a Honda approved panelbeater and Hondas non-interested response, they now looking at a VW product.

I would assume that one of their mechanics, who does private jobs at home, swopped the OEM part from your car. Or, a trade-in was being prepped for the showroom floor had an issue. They replaced the faulty part with your OEM. What goes on at dealerships is shocking. Just glad that from 01 July we not compelled to service at stealerships.

Always inspect your car inside and out after a service. Your would be surprised what could have been swopped. Unfortunately, for components not visible - you would not know until it breaks.

 

[notinterested]

I'm definitely going to point that out to them. Hardly any alfas around and my car gets a lot of attention because it's rare. People ask me about the brand and sometimes ask me for the dealers details because they're interested in getting one. I've always had good things to say, but that's going to change very quickly.

 

[Drifter]

Most modern day cars are parts of other cars all over. Just look at Aston Martin. Most inside is Mercedes and BMW parts

Like the previous Focus ST has a Volvo engine. Fact.

 

[Willie Trombone]

Trust me, I'd love to do that.



Not yet, this all happened on Friday afternoon just after 4pm. We're having a meeting on Monday morning so that they can show me what they're talking about. I'm going to tell them that they must first sort out between the two dealer principals involved.



This is exactly what I suspect as well. I wish there was some sort of database accessible to the public which can just show you a car's repair history. It's crazy that as consumers, we are just at the mercy of whatever the dealers tell us - which is whatever we need to hear in order to buy the car.

What I find really ridiculous is that the car was even repaired with non-OEM parts to begin with. I mean it's at the dealership who sells the cars - if they want to cover up the fact that the car has been repaired then why would you do it with something that makes it very obvious that it has been repaired? It's just plain stupid.

As for the people asking what car it is - it was bought from Grand Central Motors in Midrand from their Alfa Romeo dealership. [insert alfa reliability joke here]

Demand they cancel the deal and refund the bank. They sold it to you under false pretences.

 

[TheChamp]

I made the exact same comment to the Customer Services guy from a Honda dealership. Had numerous bad experiences. The dealership fails to realise that it's very easy to absolve responsibility, but a customer's negative experience can affect their sales. I sit in an open plan office and my conversation with Honda over one of the issues they disputed, was overheard by a colleague. Her husband was planning on purchasing a Honda Jazz. After hearing about my experiences with Honda, they ended up purchasing a Hyundai. Last month met someone who was planning on purchasing a Ballade. Again, after hearing about my recent experience with a Honda approved panelbeater and Hondas non-interested response, they now looking at a VW product.

I would assume that one of their mechanics, who does private jobs at home, swopped the OEM part from your car. Or, a trade-in was being prepped for the showroom floor had an issue. They replaced the faulty part with your OEM. What goes on at dealerships is shocking. Just glad that from 01 July we not compelled to service at stealerships.

Always inspect your car inside and out after a service. Your would be surprised what could have been swopped. Unfortunately, for components not visible - you would not know until it breaks.

Amazing attitude indeed, especially since it looks like they don't have a care in the world, Honda is also struggling, not as much as Alfa but they are not selling their cars. Maybe they deserve what's coming to them.

 

[TheChamp]

Like the previous Focus ST has a Volvo engine. Fact.

But the Volvo engine was OEM for Ford.

 

[notinterested]

So I got my car back today. The dealer here (Ronnie's Motors for those who are interested) was understanding of the situation and said that they will sort out the warranty claim themselves with Alfa south Africa. I was happy that they took control of the situation and didn't make it my problem. The service manager there is very helpful if anyone ever gets their car serviced there.

GCM says nothing was done to the car, as expected. The suspicion that the car was worked on comes from the fact that there is a 'Silverton Randburg' sticker on the fuel tank - which implies that the car has been there before, but no one seems to have a record of this.

The damaged part sits just above the fuel tank. It's a small pipe/tube which connects the two halves of the fuel tank together and equalises the pressure between them. Apparently, this tube was not placed correctly and the propshaft was spinning against it which eventually caused a small hole to form in it and petrol to leak out. They showed me the damaged part and you can see where it was being worn out. Basically, they suspect that someone at this Silverton place was doing something to the tank and didn't put that pipe back correctly.

Overall, I was expecting a much bigger fight and I'm glad that the dealer here was understanding of the situation and are willing to sort it out at a higher level without having to get me involved.

as for the question of what actually happened to the car before it came to me - I don't think there is a paper trail to prove anything and no one is going to admit to whatever it was that was done without a big fight from my side which I am just not in a position to do at the moment. The problem is fixed and that's good enough (for now at least. )

Big thanks to everyone who responded for their advice and help, it really is appreciated and definitely gave me an idea of what to say in the event that things went downhill.

Moral of the story - some dealers are c*nts, trust no one, that's all.

 

[alqassam]

that volvo dealership is a bunch of clowns, they worked on my car last year September, I got a puncture at night in the rain with my family in the car , locknut is nowhere to be found. Eventually managed to get a puncture repair kit after 2 hrs.

Due to the dealership working on my car they said they dont have it and did not work on the wheels. 3 months later I need to change the tyres as they were worn and i tried every dealer. but no one could give me a spare key. I was almost at the point of getting someone to drill out the lug nut and Then i remembered the clowns changed the brake pads and therefore did work on the wheels. I had the service slip to prove it.

I stormed in there, forced the service person to search for the nut key while I waited and low and behold they found it. I wouldn't service my car there if they paid me to. Granted the CEO of Supergroup did send me an apology email