Went to view a car with my dad. He paid £500 and was told there is a £199 admin fee which is non negotiable and would be added onto the total. We reluctantly agreed and I decided to delve further whilst waiting for the car to be prepared for sale. I found NO mention of this admin fee on their t&c, on their website, any of their auto trader listings or eBay listings. In fact, the listings state specifically there are no fee’s with this dealer. My dad received a call and it was arranged that we would collect the car 4 days later. Upon arrival we disputed that there is no mention of said admin fee and it actually states there are no fees to be paid. We were told “if you’re not happy with it then don’t buy the car” knowing that a non-refundable deposit was made. Payment was made & all documentation pertaining to the car was completed and we went outside to find it hard not been charged. The garage knew we had travelled to collect the car & they also knew for 10 days prior to collection that the car had sold!! Whilst we waited around for some more charge I decided to go on Google & left a review about the hidden fee pre-warning other potential customers. With that, they said to my dad he was not permitted to take the car anymore. Funny how they picked that email up momentarily but not the email I had sent asking for information on where they detail their admin fee earlier that week!!We argued that legally the money had been paid and the car was in my name therefore they could not stop us which led to them taking the keys off us unless I removed the review. I explained that the review in itself was not bad and it was purely detailing this fee & the lack of charge on the car. I had 2 grown men arguing with me saying we agreed to the admin fee and should have just left the car if we didn’t want to pay it. I explained that seeing the fee on the invoice prompted me to investigate further and I’d emailed but not received a response. The argument continued back and forth and I emphasised that adding on a hidden fee was a scam to which caused even more hostility to me. I called the police and explained that we had paid for the car & documentation meant it was now legally my dads but they wouldn’t hand it over. Police tried to speak with the garage who refused to liaise however we eventually received a refund due to refusing to move off the premises (or shut up - a few potential customers could hear that I was getting very upset and clearly wasn’t the image that the garage want to give off even though all of the negative reviews online speak for themselves!!!!). Definitely avoid this garage. I wish my dad had done more research into their reviews. He just took for granted they were reputable due to the amount of stock they held and length of service. I have been horrified by some of their responses to customers negative reviews calling them liars, multiple people, so I think in a way this was a blessing in disguise as I doubt very much the purchase would have been smooth sailing judging by everyone else’s experience online.
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