1 reviews | Active since Aug 2017
Citton Cars, damaged engine and poor workmanship.
<div>May 2017 -Trade in a Mercedes for a Land Rover at Citton Cars in Geniza,PTA. -Only after 26 days, engine seized - Land Rover repairer finds out the vehicle was previously worked and has major issues -Warranty assessor confirms findings : *Poor workmanship *Parts were not replaced but painted black * Wrong bolts inserted *Loose items in engine *Rust on some engine parts Basically the vehicle needed an engine overhaul. Warranty declined claim because it was a pre-existing failure. It took a month and a half before I could get to speak to someone at Citton Cars, my sales guy just disappeared on me. He was helpful upon purchase but not when this nightmare began.
The customer services has been and continues to be shocking throughout this ordeal. There have been undertones from the time I walked in the dealership; You know...you can smell it....there are hints of it.... but you just can't pin point it. (maybe that was was sign to get out of there, fast!) ......everything had to be double checked and verified multiple times. We can stick to the facts for now.
Citton Cars even ignored communication from the Ombudsman of South Africa when help resolve this issue.
They spent another 2 weeks denying responsibility and wanting me to pay close to R 100 000 for the repair. At this point it has been almost 4 months dealing with mess. The vehicle remains at the Land Rover repairs..... the job is complete but Citton Cars refuses to pay the full amount.</div>
Dear Mr. Cele,
We would like to the opportunity to reply on the post you made on social media as well as hello Peter. As you know there are always two sides to a story and although you have already given certain expectations to new, old and potential clients we feel it’s our obligation to put forward our part of events that led to you spatting our name and reputation all over.
We would like to start right from the beginning as to the day you saw the vehicle you now ended up owning. You came into our Dealership and had a look at the vehicle. You performed a Visual inspection where after the vehicle was taken for a Test Drive as per the attached documents signed by yourself. Finance arrangements were made and your vehicle was sent to Dekra where it passed, Test Sheet Attached, A Quality check by Bosch Service Centre was also done which included a Diagnostic report, this also attached. I am sure anyone with some type of Technical background would also agree and assume that all reasonable measures were taken to ensure the vehicle purchased was at that time of good standard with no faults or defects. As you well stated in your mail “Within 25 days of Driving the vehicle”, of which includes a total mileage of ( 114 430km on Delivery – 118800km Day of Breakdown = +- 4370km Travelled ).
On Breakdown you selected to take the vehicle to an Approved Land Rover Repairer also with a very Good Reputation to asses and assist in the repairs of your vehicle. On Inspection it was “claimed” that there were Poor Workmanship done on the vehicle on a previous occasion as stated in your complaint. One needs to now understand that although this is a pre-owned vehicle and all reasonable measures were taken to assure the vehicle is and was of good standard when sold it would be unfair to blame the Selling dealer of “old/Poor” Workmanship done prior. As per the assessment made by “The Centre” “the previous work was done in such a way to last only a short while and obviously to be sold onto the new customer”, did it at any time maybe come to mind that the vehicle was sold to Citton Cars which in return sold it to you. What I am trying to say is we at Citton Cars were also done in on the vehicle as it had no defects on the date we purchased it.
At Citton Cars we Strive for customer Satisfaction and ensure all our clients are treated fairly and with respect. It’s with this said that we took your hand in this situation in getting it resolved. When the initial quote from “The Centre” came through of R 46 632.64 one would naturally get a shock, we requested you to get the vehicle back to us so we can get it repaired from here as we would be sure of getting this work done for less than the quote received. You were not happy with this and insisted on “The Centre” doing the work as they were the specialists in their field. After some debate and more investigations the quote raised to R 50 000 and then again to just over R 72 514.20. Now to be blunt if any Dealer at this stage still agrees to assist a client in getting another party to repair a vehicle with no physical evidence I would take my hat off to that company. This is exactly what we at Citton Cars did. We gave the go ahead to you, “The Centre” and the Bank for this work to be done. Constant feedback were given by “The Centre” on the progress and to the end they picked up that some other parts would also had to be replaced. Any Person or Businessman will “eventually” draw the line and say enough is enough. There were ample time to assess the vehicle and to make sure the quote given is true and correct so work can commence. By adjusting the quote now for the 4th time we felt this had to be done well in the beginning already. We agreed to a repair cost of R 72 514.20 and trusted that the repairs would be done for the said amount. Keep in mind the unit was sent to Engineers to do an assessment and cost report before the final quotation was given through. I am not a technical person myself but would naturally assume that if something is sent away for assessment to a 3rd party going to do work on something and they give a report and costing on it I would take that amount to be true and correct. Should we have agreed to this what guarantee do we have this would not have gone up again and again and again. Surely if you quote and quote and quote again somewhere the line needs to be drawn. At R 72 514.20 we were definitely not comfortable and happy to pay thus huge amount of money, but like I said we strive to make sure our clients are happy and that his vehicle is being repaired by Professionals selected by yourself. It must also be said that the amount of R 72 514.20 has already been paid to “The Centre” on 08 September 2017.
To end with we feel we have gone above and beyond the norm in this and am sure between “The Centre” and their 3rd parties they used they can accommodate you on the balance of R 10 000 now claimed to be due seeing that the labour from “The Centre” alone is R 19 650.
Regards
Citton Cars
Dear Mr. Cele,
We would like to the opportunity to reply on the post you made on social media as well as hello Peter. As you know there are always two sides to a story and although you have already given certain expectations to new, old and potential clients we feel it’s our obligation to put forward our part of events that led to you spatting our name and reputation all over.
We would like to start right from the beginning as to the day you saw the vehicle you now ended up owning. You came into our Dealership and had a look at the vehicle. You performed a Visual inspection where after the vehicle was taken for a Test Drive as per the attached documents signed by yourself. Finance arrangements were made and your vehicle was sent to Dekra where it passed, Test Sheet Attached, A Quality check by Bosch Service Centre was also done which included a Diagnostic report, this also attached. I am sure anyone with some type of Technical background would also agree and assume that all reasonable measures were taken to ensure the vehicle purchased was at that time of good standard with no faults or defects. As you well stated in your mail “Within 25 days of Driving the vehicle”, of which includes a total mileage of ( 114 430km on Delivery – 118800km Day of Breakdown = +- 4370km Travelled ).
On Breakdown you selected to take the vehicle to an Approved Land Rover Repairer also with a very Good Reputation to asses and assist in the repairs of your vehicle. On Inspection it was “claimed” that there were Poor Workmanship done on the vehicle on a previous occasion as stated in your complaint. One needs to now understand that although this is a pre-owned vehicle and all reasonable measures were taken to assure the vehicle is and was of good standard when sold it would be unfair to blame the Selling dealer of “old/Poor” Workmanship done prior. As per the assessment made by “The Centre” “the previous work was done in such a way to last only a short while and obviously to be sold onto the new customer”, did it at any time maybe come to mind that the vehicle was sold to Citton Cars which in return sold it to you. What I am trying to say is we at Citton Cars were also done in on the vehicle as it had no defects on the date we purchased it.
At Citton Cars we Strive for customer Satisfaction and ensure all our clients are treated fairly and with respect. It’s with this said that we took your hand in this situation in getting it resolved. When the initial quote from “The Centre” came through of R 46 632.64 one would naturally get a shock, we requested you to get the vehicle back to us so we can get it repaired from here as we would be sure of getting this work done for less than the quote received. You were not happy with this and insisted on “The Centre” doing the work as they were the specialists in their field. After some debate and more investigations the quote raised to R 50 000 and then again to just over R 72 514.20. Now to be blunt if any Dealer at this stage still agrees to assist a client in getting another party to repair a vehicle with no physical evidence I would take my hat off to that company. This is exactly what we at Citton Cars did. We gave the go ahead to you, “The Centre” and the Bank for this work to be done. Constant feedback were given by “The Centre” on the progress and to the end they picked up that some other parts would also had to be replaced. Any Person or Businessman will “eventually” draw the line and say enough is enough. There were ample time to assess the vehicle and to make sure the quote given is true and correct so work can commence. By adjusting the quote now for the 4th time we felt this had to be done well in the beginning already. We agreed to a repair cost of R 72 514.20 and trusted that the repairs would be done for the said amount. Keep in mind the unit was sent to Engineers to do an assessment and cost report before the final quotation was given through. I am not a technical person myself but would naturally assume that if something is sent away for assessment to a 3rd party going to do work on something and they give a report and costing on it I would take that amount to be true and correct. Should we have agreed to this what guarantee do we have this would not have gone up again and again and again. Surely if you quote and quote and quote again somewhere the line needs to be drawn. At R 72 514.20 we were definitely not comfortable and happy to pay thus huge amount of money, but like I said we strive to make sure our clients are happy and that his vehicle is being repaired by Professionals selected by yourself. It must also be said that the amount of R 72 514.20 has already been paid to “The Centre” on 08 September 2017.
To end with we feel we have gone above and beyond the norm in this and am sure between “The Centre” and their 3rd parties they used they can accommodate you on the balance of R 10 000 now claimed to be due seeing that the labour from “The Centre” alone is R 19 650.
Regards
Citton Cars