Reading someone else's post about Arnold Clark putting sh*t backboxes on an SRi reminded me of a recent run-in with them:
Before I found the Siggy I now own, I was scouring car supermarkets for one with the right combination of spec/colour/price, and found what looked like a good example at Car Giant (formerly Great Trade Centre) in NW London. Nice price, very clean and tidy, 55k....went up to the sales counter to find out what paperwork it came with, and they told me straight off that it didn't come with any service history. That put me right off - 55k and no oil changes? No thanks.
Went home, but kept thinking about that car. The front pads/disks were very new, so looked like someone was maintaining it properly...what if it had indeed been serviced but the paperwork lost, rather than just never serviced? If I could get evidence of that, I could try and buy the car at the never-serviced price, and then recreate the service history by asking whomever serviced it to perhaps give me a printout of what work they'd done on it.
I'd already kept a note of the reg and chassis number, and noted it'd been sold new by Arnold Clark - maybe they'd serviced it at some time...?
Went to their website, got the tel number for their central Customer Services dept (i.e. not at any particular dealer location), phoned them and explained that I'd seen a car at a London dealer, minus service history, could they please check and see if they'd ever serviced it. I knew they weren't obligated to help, but as I was in London and they don't operate any further south than the midlands, helping me buy the car from Car Giant wasn't exactly taking money out of their pocket - they were too far away from me anyway. This is how the conversation went:
Arnold Clark: [shouting] "IF YOU HAVEN'T BOUGHT THE CAR THEN WHO SERVICED IT IS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU. WE WOULDN'T TELL YOU ANYTHING EVEN IF WE COULD IT'S CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION!!".
Me: "That's not quite true, if the car came with service history then I'd have the information in my hand anyway - so you wouldn't be giving me any details that aren't usually available to view when you consider buying a car anyway, I'm not asking for details of the previous owner or how he paid, just whether you ever serviced it".
Arnold Clark: [shouting] "WHY SHOULD WE HELP YOU BUY A CAR FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE WE'RE NOT TELLING YOU ANYTHING!!"
Me: "Is that what has upset you - that I'm buying a car from another garage?"
Arnold Clark: [shouting] "I'VE TOLD YOU ALREADY WE'RE NOT HELPING YOU!!! I'M TERMINATING THIS CONVERSATION!!!" She hangs up.
Affronted, I ring back, and get through to some one else: "Hi, I was just speaking to one of your colleagues and..."
Arnold Clark: [interrupting and shouting] "SHE'S ALREADY TOLD YOU WE'RE NOT HELPING YOU!!! I'M TERMINATING THIS CONVERSATION!!!" Hangs up.
Annoyed now, I phone back, intending to complain. Call is answered, before I get a chance to say a single word: "WE'RE NOT HELPING YOU!!!" Hangs up.
How a company can continue to operate whilst employing such retards is beyond me, it really is.
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