DivadElrac
New member
- Joined
- 17 Mar 2015
- Messages
- 1
In June 2014 I bought a Nissan 350Z from Junction 17 Cars in Peterborough, having recently sold my 911 (996) Carrera 4 Cabriolet
This is my review ...
The Good
The have an impressive showroom filled with a large variety of very desirable cars, including Porsche, Mercedes, Lotus, and several 350Z's. There was even a Lamborghini.
Friendly, professional seeming staff.
I was told that the car that I was interested in had just arrived and hadn't yet been prepared for sale, but it would be sold in the same condition as the other cars in the showroom. After a test drive, I went round the car with the salesman, Jamie Lunnis, and pointed out the items that needed attention. These included some marks on the bumper that they agreed to respray, a tear and several marks on the hood, and the seats needing treated. Jamie happily agreed that all of these would be dealt with pre-sale, so on this basis we negotiated a deal, including delivery of the car to my home near Glasgow. With hindsight, their willingness to deal with everything I pointed out should have been a warning sign, but in the excitement of buying a 350Z it's easy to lose sight of this. I should at least have detailed everything on a sheet of paper and asked them to sign it.
The Bad
Fast forward a week or so, and the car was delivered. On checking it over, I noticed that they hadn't repaired the tear in the roof and had only put a small rubber seal over one of the holes in the roof. The seats had not been treated, and they'd somehow managed to scratch the rear bumper that they'd newly painted. I wasn't happy but the delivery driver called Junction 17 cars and I spoke to Jamie. He stated that if I had the repairs done locally then they would cover the cost. On this basis I paid the balance and took delivery of the car.
A few days later the car would not start, so I had to call out the RAC. They quickly diagnosed the problem as being that the battery connections were loose. They tightened the connections and the car started. However, the RAC guy also pointed out that the battery was not secure and that the brackets to hold it were just lying beside it. He mentioned that this would be an MOT failure - which is strange because Junction 17 had sold the car with a brand new MOT. I was also told that it was not the correct battery for the car, which is why it wasn't secured, since the mounting brackets didn't fit.
There aren't many places near me that repair roofs, but I did manage to find a local company and took the car to them. Their advice was that due to the labour involved in removing and refitting the roof, it was actually more cost effective to replace the roof rather than repair it.
The Ugly
At this point I tried to call Jamie but he was never available to take my calls.
So, I sent an email but got no reply.
So, I sent a recorded delivery letter but got no reply.
Then I phoned and asked for the name of the Managing Director. At this point I was put through to the General Manager Neil Tetherton who agreed to look into it and call me back. Neil did call me back, and we had a long discussion - his view was they had only agreed to very minor fixes and denied that they were going to repair the tear in the roof (which was the most severe issue that I'd pointed out pre-sale, and without which I would not have bought the car). We ended the conversation with Neil stating that he would speak to the delivery driver and then call me back.
I didn't hear anything back for several months, so eventually sent another recorded delivery letter with a proposed solution to them. Now this may not come as a surprise to you, but they didn't reply!
So the outcome is that I've given up all hope of getting any after sales service from Junction 17 cars. In order to take the car to the standard that they'd agreed will probably cost me about £1000 (it would have cost them far far less).
In addition it has (and will) cost me several days of my time to arrange the repairs and drop off and collect the car at various repairers.
It seems to me that their approach is to agree to anything you ask for and then just make a token effort at actually doing it. I was at a disadvantage because I'm several hundred miles from their showroom - If I'd been local then I would not have accepted the car in the condition they supplied it. I really wish that I'd used my phone to record a video of the pre-sale walk round of the car.
I'm also rather shocked at the apparent mechanical incompetence in supplying a car with the wrong battery, unsecured, and with untightened connections.
Now you'll understand my comment above about "professional seeming staff". They did seem professional, but sadly this is not the case. It's amazing to me that a company can apparently be successful while providing this level of support and virtually non-existent after sales service.
I wish I'd researched the company before I visited them, as I've seen several critical reviews of them on various forums.
Hopefully this story will prevent other customers being treated as I was.
David Carle
P.S. If you're wondering why one would go from a 911 C4 to a 350Z, the answer is that the Porsche was my dream car that I'd owned for 4 years. But the 2K per year bills plus the same in depreciation meant it was difficult to justify the on-going costs. Hope to get back in a 911 sometime though.
This is my review ...
The Good
The have an impressive showroom filled with a large variety of very desirable cars, including Porsche, Mercedes, Lotus, and several 350Z's. There was even a Lamborghini.
Friendly, professional seeming staff.
I was told that the car that I was interested in had just arrived and hadn't yet been prepared for sale, but it would be sold in the same condition as the other cars in the showroom. After a test drive, I went round the car with the salesman, Jamie Lunnis, and pointed out the items that needed attention. These included some marks on the bumper that they agreed to respray, a tear and several marks on the hood, and the seats needing treated. Jamie happily agreed that all of these would be dealt with pre-sale, so on this basis we negotiated a deal, including delivery of the car to my home near Glasgow. With hindsight, their willingness to deal with everything I pointed out should have been a warning sign, but in the excitement of buying a 350Z it's easy to lose sight of this. I should at least have detailed everything on a sheet of paper and asked them to sign it.
The Bad
Fast forward a week or so, and the car was delivered. On checking it over, I noticed that they hadn't repaired the tear in the roof and had only put a small rubber seal over one of the holes in the roof. The seats had not been treated, and they'd somehow managed to scratch the rear bumper that they'd newly painted. I wasn't happy but the delivery driver called Junction 17 cars and I spoke to Jamie. He stated that if I had the repairs done locally then they would cover the cost. On this basis I paid the balance and took delivery of the car.
A few days later the car would not start, so I had to call out the RAC. They quickly diagnosed the problem as being that the battery connections were loose. They tightened the connections and the car started. However, the RAC guy also pointed out that the battery was not secure and that the brackets to hold it were just lying beside it. He mentioned that this would be an MOT failure - which is strange because Junction 17 had sold the car with a brand new MOT. I was also told that it was not the correct battery for the car, which is why it wasn't secured, since the mounting brackets didn't fit.
There aren't many places near me that repair roofs, but I did manage to find a local company and took the car to them. Their advice was that due to the labour involved in removing and refitting the roof, it was actually more cost effective to replace the roof rather than repair it.
The Ugly
At this point I tried to call Jamie but he was never available to take my calls.
So, I sent an email but got no reply.
So, I sent a recorded delivery letter but got no reply.
Then I phoned and asked for the name of the Managing Director. At this point I was put through to the General Manager Neil Tetherton who agreed to look into it and call me back. Neil did call me back, and we had a long discussion - his view was they had only agreed to very minor fixes and denied that they were going to repair the tear in the roof (which was the most severe issue that I'd pointed out pre-sale, and without which I would not have bought the car). We ended the conversation with Neil stating that he would speak to the delivery driver and then call me back.
I didn't hear anything back for several months, so eventually sent another recorded delivery letter with a proposed solution to them. Now this may not come as a surprise to you, but they didn't reply!
So the outcome is that I've given up all hope of getting any after sales service from Junction 17 cars. In order to take the car to the standard that they'd agreed will probably cost me about £1000 (it would have cost them far far less).
In addition it has (and will) cost me several days of my time to arrange the repairs and drop off and collect the car at various repairers.
It seems to me that their approach is to agree to anything you ask for and then just make a token effort at actually doing it. I was at a disadvantage because I'm several hundred miles from their showroom - If I'd been local then I would not have accepted the car in the condition they supplied it. I really wish that I'd used my phone to record a video of the pre-sale walk round of the car.
I'm also rather shocked at the apparent mechanical incompetence in supplying a car with the wrong battery, unsecured, and with untightened connections.
Now you'll understand my comment above about "professional seeming staff". They did seem professional, but sadly this is not the case. It's amazing to me that a company can apparently be successful while providing this level of support and virtually non-existent after sales service.
I wish I'd researched the company before I visited them, as I've seen several critical reviews of them on various forums.
Hopefully this story will prevent other customers being treated as I was.
David Carle
P.S. If you're wondering why one would go from a 911 C4 to a 350Z, the answer is that the Porsche was my dream car that I'd owned for 4 years. But the 2K per year bills plus the same in depreciation meant it was difficult to justify the on-going costs. Hope to get back in a 911 sometime though.
