Anonymous

Do not buy

I recently purchased a blue Ford Fiesta (BG67 YMP) and regretted my decision when I drove it off the forecourt. I was repeatedly warned that Rix was not the place to buy a reliable car as people I knew had bought cars and had nothing but issues. I stupidly decided to give them the benefit of the doubt as the sales team seemed genuine. I explained I owned my own business and needed a reliable and safe car as I use it daily and have a baby. They reassured me they “wouldn’t do over a young family” and they “ pride themselves on the quality and reliability of their vehicles” I took the car out for a test drive and noticed a few things such as the gear stick was very loud and wouldn’t stop moving when the car was idle in gear or driving in gear 1/2. They reassured me they would get this fixed before I purchased the car and said I could pick it up on Monday (2 days later). I trusted this and went on Monday to pick it up. They put me through the sales process and made it seem simple and I just had to sign a few documents and then it’s good to go. I was told that they would add a warranty that would cover “ all mechanical issues” (this I recall being £700) and that this was a good thing to have. I just agreed as I needed the car for work and thought if I needed anything fixed it's covered. After going through all the sales process I was reassured it was all fixed and I was booked in for the following week to fix a minor issue (Broken sun visor). On the drive home, I noticed that the gear stick was not 100% it seemed they had made a temporary fix to make it not as noticeable. Over the next couple of days, I noticed more and more issues. The gear stick got progressively worse and would also shake the whole car, steering wheel was not straight when the wheels were, clanking noise when starting to drive or reversing, large deep chip in window (didn’t notice when i viewed but looking back on pictures I had took it’s visible), zip-tied seat adjustment and no parcel shelf which isn’t ideal when business items are stored in the boot. On the day off the car was booked in I explained the issues I was told to send them a list of the issues and they would fix them using the warranty. I sent over the list and left the car in their hands. I was then phoned 3 hours after leaving the car and was told the issues were fixed and they had put another warranty on the car as well as the one I paid for which when reading the warranty details it was void not to mention 2 warranties voided both of them which we have learnt from another dealership. I picked the car back up after work and as soon as I drove off the forecourt and down the road I noticed the gear stick was the same if not worse, the steering wheel still wasn’t straight, the clanking noise was still there and the chip was apparently not repairable as it was already done (it wasn’t). The only thing that had been fixed was the sun-visor. I drove it straight back and they said that it was normal for the gear stick to shake/ the car to shake and the clanking noise was also “normal as it was a old car” the car is a 67 plate and only done 77 thousand miles, they reassured me that they wouldn’t “ Do over a young family and that he would put his kids in the car as it’s a safe car “ and “they could put a new part on it but it would still do the same thing” they said to give it a few days and see if I am happy if not I could change the car for another one or get a refund which I was within my rights to do so anyway under the consumer rights act. They did however send me on my way to QuickFit to get the tracking done. Before taking it to Quick Fit I took it to a family member who is a mechanic who reassured me the rattling gear stick/ car and the clanking noise coming from the front wheels were not normal and also pointed out that the rear bumper was a different colour. I picked the car up from Quickfit the next day and took the car straight back to Rix and explained I was not happy with the car and felt I was being done over as I had given them two separate occasions to fix the problems using the warranty they said “would fix anything mechanical” and had no results. I was told I could get a £3500 back of my £4000 deposit due to “ the warranty being non refundable” I was not happy with this as I gave them 2 chances to fix the vehicle with the warranty an when the warranty was explained to me I wasn’t told this, it was hidden in the paperwork which the sales person admitted to not telling me about as “they didn’t think it would come to this“ They sent “the legal guy” in to speak to us who tried to argue that I had signed this paper work so it’s non refundable there was a lot of back and too about the whole situation and I explained we held our end of the deal up by giving them chances to fix the car and they hadn’t done so which meant the warranty clearly wasn’t useful. He then left the room to phone someone and came back and said that I would be getting a full £4000 refund the same night if not morning after (this was Thursday). he then took the keys car and logbook etc and we left expecting the money to be returned in the timeframe given and then I noticed the car straight back on the website for sale for the same price without being fixed and still legally owned by me. On Friday afternoon I had still not received the money so I phoned them and was put through to the finance guy Chris who said that I was misinformed and I needed to speak to the finance company to make a sort of claim but I couldn’t do that until Monday which wasn’t great as I had no car and needed one for work. I explained my frustration and they used the tactic of “ ur being aggressive we don’t deal with aggression” This is a sales tactic to avoid situations which I know from working in sales and I explained that’s not going to work as I know the tactic they were using and that I was not being aggressive I was just explaining my frustration. This was not the first time this tactic was used and I have also noticed it’s used when they have bad reviews. I also said I wanted the car taken down from the website until I received my money to which I was told they would do straight away but they didn’t. I waited until monday (today) and rang the finance company to which I was told this is not the case and they it was rixs job to sort that out so I rang them to which it was back and too of who’s in the wrong and I was told I would recive a call back in half an hour with a answer to which I was left for 4 hours with no response I rang them multiple times during the 4 hours to which I was Told Chris was busy on the phone and would give me a call back. I then rang one last time and explained I wanted to speak to Chris and wasn’t happy and was once again told he’s on the phone and I could wait on hold or ask for a call back to which I said I want a call back within the next 10-15 minutes or I was coming in. I then received a call from the salesperson who sold me the car who told me they were sending me the money the money was then sent over but it was not a simple process and was not handled professionally at all it felt like they were avoiding the transaction for as long as they could not too sure why. So to anyone thinking of ignoring the reviews and rumours about Rix Motors please don’t. The nice showroom and fancy cars lined up out the front may fool you but if they can’t sell a Ford Fiesta up to standard or even fix it then you're going to have no luck with a £ 40000 Range Rover. Not impressed at all and the company is shameful! There's definitely a lot of bits and pieces I have missed out as its been nothing but hard work from the second I bought the car I would highly recommend avoiding if not taking any car purchased for a full examination before the first month of owning the car ends.