Stay clear of these people - they're only in business for sales. Disappointing and dreadful service

My experience with We Buy Cars has been absolutely dreadful and disappointing. Stay clear of these people. Extremely poor service. We Buy Cars are clearly focussed on selling, nothing else.

I purchased a 2010 Audi A3 1.8TFSI Ambition through We buy Cars. The sales executive, Brandon Terreblanche, who assisted me assured me that the car was in great condition. Unbeknown to me, I purchased a vehicle plagued with a high oil consumption issue with ultimately lead to the catastrophic engine failure.

Timeline of events to follow:

19 September 2019 – on my way home from work the engine oil level warning light came on. I immediately stopped at a garage to top up the oil. At the time I thought it might have been that the accredited mechanic who serviced the car 2 days prior to me collecting the vehicle did not put in the specified quantity of engine oil. I decided to top up the oil hoping that the light would not come back on within a reasonable time.

23 September 2019 – on my way to We Buy Cars Midstream to collect the vehicle’s registration forms, the oil level warning light came on again. At this instance I knew that something must be faulty with the engine as I had driven a mere 200km before the warning light came back on. Upon my arrival, I informed the F&I lady about the issue. She told me to contact the sales executive, Brandon, about the issue. Unfortunately, he was conveniently not a work. I proceeded to contact him via WhatsApp informing him of the issues with the car. Over the next few days I tried to contact Brandon with no success.

25 September 2019 – I received correspondence from Brandon informing me about claiming under warranty. I proceeded to contact Innovation Group regarding the claims process to resolve the issues with the car. Do date I have not received any feedback from Innovation.

27 September 2019 – I contacted Brandon seeking advice on how to proceed. I was told to lay a formal complaint which I did. From this point I have not heard from him.

1 October 2019 – Email regarding complaint was received. No effort was made to contact me back so I reached out on social media. During the next few days I contacted Audi regarding the issue. High oil consumption was a problem on these engines and the remedy is a near complete engine rebuild, costing around R80000. To diagnose the issue, Audi conduct an oil consumption test to see whether or not the engine needs the abovementioned repairs. If the oil consumption falls outside Audi’s permissible tolerance, the engine can experience catastrophic failure, leading to further damage, repairs and costs. After this I was finally contacted by a gentleman, Fred. I informed him about the issues with the car and my intention to proceed with the oil consumption test.

8 October 2019 – Booked the car in at Audi Bryanston to begin the oil consumption test. The test involves Audi putting the recommended amount of oil into the motor, drive the car until the warning light comes back on and finally measuring the remaining amount of oil. Consumption is measured relative to mileage covered.

17 October 2019 – Oil warning light came on. Return to Audi to finish test. The car failed the test as the oil consumption was outside the permissible tolerance.

19 October 2019 – I started the car and heard a loud grinding noise. The engine subsequently coughed and would not start. Zero compression across the cylinders – the motor experienced catastrophic failure due to damage bought upon by the high oil consumption. I contacted Fred and informed him about the problem and the report I received from Audi. I was told that the car could only be collected on Monday 21 October 2019 and that no courtesy car would be made available. This left me highly inconvenienced as the car is my daily transport to work – apparently We Buy Cars couldn’t care less about this. I was told that a courtesy car could be made available from the warranty I purchased with the car, however, this would be to my expense and only available for 2 days.

21 October 2019 – Car was collected from my residence. I contacted Fred who confirmed that their Mechanic would have to diagnose the issue and quote on repairs thereafter. Despite the report and quote I submitted regarding the issues, this had to be done, further delaying any resolution.

22 October 2019 – Contacted Fred regarding progress. I was told that the Mechanic would have a report and quite later that day. Nothing was received and still no courtesy car was made available.

23 October 2019 – Called in the morning regarding progress. Nothing was received and still no courtesy car was made available. I was told that I would have an answer by the following morning.

24 October 2019 – I was put in contact with Malcolm. I was promised a quote in the morning, yet again there were delays. I was told that a replacement vehicle would be the most likely remedy. The vehicle would be of the same value and no additional costs would be involved. Afternoon came and I finally received answers and some progress. The repairs amounted to R49000. I was informed that the remedy would now be to repair the motor. Malcolm informed that the warranty I purchased would cover the repairs. Once again this would be to my expense in the end. A crafty move by We Buy Cars to avoid costs, to the detriment of their customers. I requested a copy of the quote from Malcolm. Conveniently he left the office before he could send it me. Scanning a piece of paper through to someone is not a time consuming process? He later informed me that he is returning to work next week Tuesday,

29 October, and that he has passed the issue onto another gentleman, Kiran. Clearly this is not an issue to We Buy Cars? Further inconveniencing their customers. I contacted Kiran who didn’t seem to know much about the issue. I was once again promised the quote and possible remedies. He told me that he would call me back – Kiran, We Buys Cars, I’m still waiting and I would appreciate it if you answer my calls.

Before I continue, I would like to thank Fred for the assistance. A human – unlike the other staff members I have dealt with at We Buy Cars Midstream.

We Buy Cars Midstream, please can you be transparent with me? Please can you give me a definitive answer as to a remedy? Please can you act in the way you portray yourselves? I’m tired of fighting with you and a spending ridiculous amount of time trying to sort this out. I have done my part; I have followed your procedures. I have wasted my time on phone calls and following procedures. I have spent a fair amount of money on oil and diagnostic tests at Audi. I’m a customer, you are arguably one of the biggest dealers in the country. Is a little compensation too much to ask? Is a little bit of after sales service to much to ask? I do not want this vehicle anymore.

How come no one knew about these issues when purchasing the car and subsequently selling it? The problems the car has do not develop overnight. The oil consumption was so high that the rear of the car was covered in black soot after a couple of days driving.

How come your sales executives tell me not to buy a used Audi after purchasing one? Why sell these cars then? You clearly buy cars and just sell them. How is this in line with the CPA? Your sales executives are proud to tell me how you only employ the best and brag about the greatness of We Buy Cars, yet once the sale has concluded, the service is disgraceful?

I never wanted things to get to this point, yet I feel as if this is the only way to get answers? I’m tired of your staff passing the buck. I want to speak to someone who has the authority to actually remedy this. I don’t want this vehicle anymore. Unfortunately, I will never recommend We Buy Cars to anyone as my experience has been disappointing. I will be contacting MFC to proceed with cancellations as well as reporting this to RMI.

Regards, Warren