Renault dont honour warranties and they ignore their customers

I own a Renault Duster. Not long after buying it, I began having problems with the dial which directs the air flow between the different ducts internally when you put the airconditioner or heater on. Basically, turning this dial had no effect on the air flow and so when the fan is on, the air blows out the vents at the windscreen and its impossible to change this to blow out of any of the other vents.

On two previous occasions when taking the vehicle for a service I mentioned this to them, they proceeded to ignore my instructions and just did the normal service and returned my vehicle to me without addressing the problem. On the third occasion when having it serviced, I insisted that they look at it and followed up on it telephonically twice before going to collect my vehicle. Having finally looked at it, they advised that they would not honour the warranty on having it fixed and that I would have to pay for the repair/replacement. I lodged a formal complaint with Renault Customer Care (which should be more suitably named “Renault Customer Don’t-Care”) over 2 months ago and have been fighting with them ever since.

During these two months I have had a number of emails go unanswered. The few emails which I have received have all been thoughtless, generic, robotic unconsidered responses devoid of any understanding or initiative – it would appear all they know how to do is copy and paste. On one occasion I was so fortunate that I received a call from Customer Don’t -Care promising that the matter would be escalated and looked into by someone with a brain, and they begged for my patience and I agreed to it, but now over a month later, nobody has come back to me and they are again ignoring my emails.

The dealer principal and workshop manager of BB Hatfield (my closest dealership) have both been included in some of the correspondence but have not shown any interest in assisting so this is not just a case of a rogue call centre agent, it is a fish rotting from the head.

I can appreciate that this is a fairly insignificant part, but on the other hand, how does something like that even break – it must just be flimsy and poorly designed/built, which makes me worry about the integrity of other more significant parts on the vehicle. That is indeed a concern, but really the biggest problem I have with this is not with the vehicle, but with the people who represent the Renault brand. They are ducking and diving out of a legitimate warranty claim that is really immaterial in value to them (imagine how evasive they would be if it was a significant/expensive component!) and their complete disregard for any sort of after sales customer care is an indication of their stinking attitude and is enough reason to think twice about buying Renault. No matter how good you think the product is (which as explained, in this case I have my doubts), even the best products can have their faults and you should know that if you are unlucky enough to receive one of those, you will get no support from Renault after they have got your money.

Turn your life upside down – buy a Renault.