Tom Ogden from Clarion Cars in response to Bullies

Hi Sally, We’re sorry that you still feel aggrieved, this is not how we wish you to feel. But because the content of this review is so serious, we feel it’s necessary to give a summary of our transaction in order to allow our current and future customers to decide if your accusations are justified. Sally has bought a few cars from us over the years, and we’ve always enjoyed a very good relationship. However, Sally bought a 2018 68,000-mile SsangYong Korando in February, she enjoyed the car for around a month and half, but then became concerned about a noise from her steering system when full lock was reached. We inspected and could find no faults. The sound that Sally was referring to was the steering rack meeting it’s endpoints. We explained this but she was not convinced we were being thorough enough. She returned after a few weeks after having had a second opinion, which specifically mentioned that the CV boot/joints were leaky and failed. We provided the following evidence to support their good condition: 1) An underbody video of the car including the CV joints and all steering components in good operating condition. 2) A video road test demonstrating the exact conditions in which the issue was reportedly apparent. No sound was recorded. 3) An independent inspection of Sallys steering, drivetrain and suspension components was carried out, no fault could be found. 4) An independent MOT was carried out, no fault could be found. Despite this irrefutable evidence, she was still not happy with the condition of her car. We explained on the phone that no further possible action could be taken, she became increasingly agitated and began to swear at our service staff. Our staff ended the call and informed management. Management began an email chain explaining our position regarding the condition of her car and how we would like to have respectful communication without deformation, accusation and profanity. Sadly, Sally continued to communicate without respecting our wishes. We respectfully decided to end our commercial relationship when her warranty expired on the 13th of May 2024. We didn’t hear from Sally until the beginning of November 2024. She had taken a new approach by speaking to her finance company, trying to leverage a return. We were asked to give an account (similar to what is written here) and presented the finance company with the same evidence that we had provided Sally. The finance company declined her return requests citing the same findings we made. In response, Sally wrote this review and made the accusation that we have bullied her as part of an ego trip. We really hope that this full and accurate account of our relationship serves to inform our customers and allows them to decide for themselves. We try our best to serve every request made of us, however, as engineering experts we are bound by the restraints of logic and reason, when a request exceeds these industry standards, we simply cannot assist. Whilst Sally’s requests to repair undamaged components exceed both logic and reason, Clarion Car’s handling of this request was objectively clear and polite, at no point was Sally ‘bullied’ in any sense of the word. On balance however, Sally, at points, could be labelled with this moniker according to her conduct. Whilst we take every review seriously, those that provide no reference to any specifics of a transaction, appear written by a forum handle, or are unrecognisable by our staff as a current or historic customer, we treat as fake or erroneous. Those that deliberately attempt to smear or bring the company into disrepute without reason or base we give full transparency to. We really hope that Sally gets the result she wants in the future, however it’s our opinion that she will need keep her expectations within the boundaries of logic and reason in order to achieve this. Focussing energy on changing these expectations will deliver far more than poorly articulated reviews.