Ben

Avoid at all costs!

Avoid Powerlease Ltd in Bedford at all costs! I agreed to look at a BMW 2 Series they had for sale they first asked me for a 10% deposit (£1200) on a car I had never seen. I put a deposit of £500 down. After I had put the deposit down Tom at Powerlease sent me a contract of sale which I had to agree to however I did not. I didn't agree with various points such as 'In particular my attention has been drawn to the following items: Tyres, Glass & Accessories, Interior trim & Upholstery. No one at Power Lease explained to me the condition of the tyre's, glass, accessories, interior trim or upholstery. Also the car had an additional 846 miles on it than originally listed. On that basis I requested my deposit was refunded. Powerlease declined and said they incurred further cost by sourcing a spare key (which any new owner would want). Powerlease kept reminding me that I had entered into a contract of sale with them. I had not entered into such contract at all, I disagreed to their terms and wasn't made aware that my deposit was non refundable until after they had taken. I asked for their managing director Mr Nicholas McCartie to contact me however he never did so. A couple of days later I agreed to collect the car assuming everything was in good condition such as tyre's, interior ect. Tom asked me to confirm my collection over email and said he would confirm back to me which he didn't. During the week the car still hadn't been taken of sale and Powerlease ignored my calls. I have screenshots with date stamps to prove the car still being on sale despite Powerlease being adamant that we were in a contract of sale, one of their terms of their contract was that they would remove the car from sale which they did not. Proving that we were not in a contract of sale. Despite all of this Powerlease still refused to refund my deposit and had the nerve to threaten legal action against me!! I have contacted the AA as they are shockingly part the AA's dealer promise. The AA are currently liaising with Powerlease to get deposit refunded. I have been contacted by a law firm who specialize in the motor trade which Powerlease has bought membership into. They are acting on behalf of Powerlease they explained to me that I did enter into a verbal contract of sale with Powerlease and due to that they will not be refunding my deposit. After reading some previous reviews it seems as if they have acted in this manner before with other customers. I am certain that they will have their own version of events that differ greatly from mine as they have had with previous reviews however I am willing to post our full email trail if need be. UPDATE - AA failed to get my deposit returned as Powerlease are not legally bound to act on the AA's instruction. I hope they are removed from the dealer promise due to my treatment. Powerlease claim they took down the car from sale despite me having screenshots of it still being on sale 6 days after I emailed Tom trying to confirm my collection. The lawyers acting on behalf of Powerlease have failed to respond to my request of proof that the car was taken down. The reason they have ignored my request is extremely simple - they did not take the car down from sale, by doing this they have broken their own contract. *****When you (Powerlease) respond please include the proof of you taking the car down from sale!*****