Arnold Clark Sucks
READ HERE WHAT SOME PEOPLE HAVE TO SAY
Please update your bookmarks.
if you buy an Arnold Clark car after reading through these
e-mails you must be mork from ork let me give you an example
talking from experience i purchased a car from a/c in the
fife town of kirkcaldy Volvo franchise Darren the salesman's
name. he sold me a Volkswagen polo y reg 48000 miles on the
clock in red. test drove the car, seemed to be pulling to one
side near side]. pointed this out to the sales man he said
the car had to go into the workshop for a full check over on
completion of a sale prior to hand over ,so i bought the car
and as agreed would pick the car up one day later .so took
delivery still the car pulling to one side went back to the
garage got the workshop foreman and explained what the car
was doing he said it was because of the camber of the road
i got my own car mechanic [or the person who repairs my car
]to look at it and he showed me that the front strut had a
slight twist or bend in it and the sump had a dent in it as
well he reckoned it had hit something rather hard i also did
notice that the steering wheel was very slightly of centre
but thought nothing of it when test driving the car so
i went back to the garage and showed the garage the sump first
and then the strut which by the way was leaking fluid and it
had just been mot'd by the said garage. they said i must have
hit a pothole as the car was ok when it left the garage so
i called my mechanic he came right over and basically told
them that that strut had been leaking for a while and if it
was not sorted the car would be taken up to the ministry of
transport testing bays to be checked over in the end they
did the strut but they would not do the sump as it was not
leaking. another thing my mechanic told me to ask them was
or had the timing belt been changed as the car was coming
into the window for changing they said they had. my mechanic checked it and
you've guest it no they had not. Arnold Clark you can stick your cars where the
sun don't shine 4.10.2003
repairs to get the next job in.
EVERYTHING IS RUSHED TO MAKE ARNOLD MONEY £55 AN HOUR LABOUR RATE & mechanics
only see around about £6.30per hour so why should we spend longer checking cars
if the only person making money is Arnold 4.10.2003
My background is in management, but decided to take a break and try my hand at sales for a few years. I was a good professional salesman and worked for a few companies. I am now back as a senior manager with a blue chip company and have no hesitation in spilling the beans on the Arnold con game.
Arnold has my vote as the most incompetent Managing Director of the year. The old codger has lost control of his company and has become a laughing stock. He is clinging on and will not relinquish control of the company, when you see his son’s you realise why. He has hired executives on their previous ability to drive sales and not on ability or quality of work. Sure, sales are the lifeblood of any retail company, but good customer service is the pillar that will support it.
The tactics used on the sales floor and back up services directly relate from the Sales Directors requirement to drive sales and the Service Directors need to show an ever increasing turnover of serviced cars and profit retained. THIS IS WHY SO MANY OF ARNOLDS CUSTOMERS HAVE PROBLEMS.
You might think, but any company will want to drive sales and profit, and that’s true but the difference is that they will provide support services to enable their staff to deliver a company vision to the customer. Arnold however, will not spend any of his ill-gotten gains on true staff training and chooses to gloss over this and a good salesman or service manager is only rewarded for the sales or profit from each transaction.
I have read some the e-mails sent in by your website visitors and can relate to the problems they have. I know how the organisation works and I can say that if they keep going about it in the way that I am reading then they will not get very far.
CUSTOMERS WITH PROBLEMS CAN GET RESULTS BY DOING THE FOLLOWING WITH ARNOLD’S;
- Contact the garage first and give them the opportunity to fix the problem. A caution note here, always ask them to contact you with an estimate BEFORE any work or proposed further work is carried out or you will be emptying your wallet or purse at an alarming rate.
- Don’t spend much time or energy on the garage just go on to the next step.
- I know this sounds limp, but contact the Citizens Advice. They know what the law is and the buttons to push and Arnold know this, so when they get a call from them they will immediately adopt a professional approach and you will stand a better chance of getting your problem fixed.
- The next thing to do is find out more about the “Small
Claims Court
” procedures. I do not have time to go into every aspect here, but this is an inexpensive way of getting results. It cost something like £50 - £70 to get your case before this court, but that’s not the point. Pay a solicitor £50 to get a letter sent to Arnold stating that you intend to proceed with a claim through the Small Courts and that you will give him 2 weeks to resolve the matter. You need to resolve all prerequisites for the small court i.e.: give Arnold every opportunity to solve your problem. Because the letter has come from a solicitors, Arnold will have the letter sent directly to his legal advisors as a matter of policy and they will advise Arnold that he will have to fork out £££££££’s for court and solicitor representation (you don’t need any). ARNOLD WILL BACK DOWN.
If after doing all of the above, Arnold decides to defend the case in court then you will have to admit defeat as you are most likely wrong. His solicitors will not have advised him to go unless they are certain of winning the case and will not go to court if there is any possibility of loosing.
I hope this will help some of you. 5.10.2003
I came across your site and although my story is somewhat different from others
told in that it deals with AC Rental as opposed to buying a car from AC, it
seems that the whole workforce are just as bad whether you rent or buy from
them.
On Monday 1st September of this year I booked a Transit van for a four-hour
rental for the end of that week. I was assured that my booking could be
honoured.
However, when I arrived at the Girdleness Road complex on the Thursday I was
informed that there was no suitable vehicle available and that I would have to
accept a Luton style vehicle instead.
I reluctantly accepted the Luton vehicle, but on returning home was informed in
a message left telephone on my telephone answering machine that I had allegedly
been involved in an incident at the Girdleness Road complex involving another
car. I checked the vehicle with 3 other members of my family and could find no
damage whatsoever.
On returning to the complex in the afternoon I was met by one of the staff from
AC's rental department who immediately disappeared with the Luton van. She
returned some 20 or so minutes later and stated that the vehicle had been
damaged. She also informed me that the damage to the other vehicle was in the
region of £350.00. I asked to inspect the other vehicle, but this request was
denied. Instead the young lady took me out to the vehicle I had hired and
showed me a slight paint mark on the offside side of the vehicle, I maintain
that this mark was not there when I returned the vehicle.
I was unhappy with the situation and asked to speak with the rental manager. I
was told that she was on annual leave. I asked to speak with the complex
manager, Mr Alistair Collie. He reluctantly agreed to speak with me, but
became very aggressive and said that three of his staff had allegedly witnessed
the incident and implied that I was a liar. He asked me to leave the premises.
Following correspondence via the AC website I received a reply from Mr Jeff
Clark, Manager of Arnold Clark, Van and Rental in Stirling. In that letter Mr
Clark repeated the same allegations made by Mr Collie, informs me that he has
passed the matter on to AC insurers and invites me to complete an Accident
Incident Form. I replied to Mr Clark indicating that I totally refuted that I
had been involved in any incident and inviting him to respond to the points I
had raised in my previous correspondence, viz.
1)I was not permitted at any time to inspect the alleged damaged vehicle
2)The rental vehicle was taken away immediately upon my return, with no
inspection for damage in my presence
3)Failure to provide me with the type of vehicle I had pre-booked
4)Failure to have a suitable deputy, in the absence of the Rental Manager being
on Annual Leave, with which to deal with my grievances
5)The attitude of both Mr Collie and the staff of the rental department left a
great deal to be desired. I was verbally abused, called a liar, and although I
denied causing damage to a vehicle and was happy to involve the police in the
matter, Mr Collie declined to contact the police on my behalf
6)That Arnold Clark Rental deducted an amount (£100), which differed from that
of the excess (£150) from my visa card without my express consent, although this
figure was re-credited to the card later that same day.
In his subsequent letter Mr Clark advised me that he had decided not to proceed
with a claim against me for alleged damage. He indicated to me that he
considered the matter was now closed but failed to provide any response relating
the above points.
It seems that a cheap rental from AC may end up costing you hundreds of pounds! 5.10.2003
regrets buying from AC.
i purchased a megane which has spent more time in the garage than on the road.
Within seven months and multiple repairs I have a burst cylinder head gasket.
As the car is on Hire purchase I am now trying the tactic of "rejecting the
goods". 5.10.2003
When I booked service (3 weeks before) I told them that the coolant light was
coming on and needed to be investigated. Also I would need 2 front tyres.
Imagine my surprise when I went to collect the car. They told me that they had
pressured tested the coolant system and all was OK. So why does the coolant
light come on then and I have to top up coolant - blank stare and a shrug of the
shoulders. Even better they noted on their worksheet that I NEEDED 2 FRONT
TYRES - the very reason I booked the car in in the first place. Excuses were -
the tyres were not in stock and that they had no time. Surely they know the
make and model of car and they know the tyres so they could have had them in
stock. Even better, they tried to charge me for the service until I pointed out
that I had a service plan.
They just don't care about car servicing and customer satisfaction. 6.10.2003
I recently bought a Clio 1.2 RN from Arnold Clark. Within 2 days of buying the
car the engine stopped working then it would start a day later then it would
stop working again. On the 3rd occasion I refused to take the Clio back and
they gave me a courtesy car a top of the range Clio Billabong - wait for it - THE
SAME THING HAPPENED, I was told by Mr Clark it was my driving but low and
behold it wasn't. After the mechanic had been using it to drive backwards and
forwards to his home, some 50 miles a day, the same happened to him. It was
discovered that the immobiliser on the car had not been coded correctly with the
chip in the key. When they told me they would fix it it was at a cost of
£170.00. I refused to pay and refused to give the courtesy car back.
The were adamant and so was I, I gave back the courtesy care and contacted
WATCHDOG, The Scottish Motor Trade Association (independent arbitration) my
finance company and their HO. When I told them the SMTA and Watchdog had been
in touch they freaked and couldn't do enough. I have asked for a written
agreement that it will not happen again and they are probably going to make a
good will gesture to me - I'm still waiting.
MY ADVICE contact SMTA, Citizen Advice Bureau and never let it rest THEY ARE A
BUNCH OF COWBOYS 6.10.2003
