That's great news. A bit of pressure applied where it hurts!
Thanks for the update Brian. Pleased it's pulled off for you, but knowing these guys it'll be some other poor sod next week.
They will likely have written back to Trading Standards to say they have rectified this oversight. TS will likely drop it unless they have a shed load of complaints outstanding.Hopefully trading standards will be watching over them now.
They will likely have written back to Trading Standards to say they have rectified this oversight. TS will likely drop it unless they have a shed load of complaints outstanding.
Will it stop it happening again?
Trading standards have hovered over these guys for a few years now that I know of Tim. They just move on and start under a different name. Must say they appear to have had this one for a while tho.Hopefully trading standards will be watching over them now.
Yep it's an awful industry to be in and I would never look back. I came out and dropped back into my old trade of lorry driving. I took a huge pay drop but I have morals and couldn't stand watching people and staff in a lot of cases being robbed and lied to just to please a companies figures.It's not likely to stop it, I'm afraid to say the motor trade is not very well Policed/looked over.
But if people keep complaining about a company they will eventually start to do inspections.
I once worked for a company that had previously been prosecuted by trading standards, they had six monthly inspections. That was good for me personally because I quizzed them about rules and regulations and learnt an awful lot from them.
But I'm sorry to say, all the other dealers I've worked for, or been involved with, have NEVER had an inspection by trading standards. This is why I say the trade is not policed very much. I had my own forecourt for 4 years, I never got visited, I wouldn't have minded, but just shows how so many dealers get away with doing what the hell they like.
I'm like grumps, I hate the trade, but I don't know any different, and I'm now too old to learn anything else.
When I was talking to the T.S. office about this they had already been on their website because one tip she gave me for future reference if I go car shopping again is, make sure the cars on display on their web show the registration plate numbers! Junction 17 didn't show any apparently, and she said this to them was an indicator that they were hiding from prospective buyers the opportunity to do a search on the history of the vehicle before visiting!! I never gave that a thought before.
Another reason they do it.
People, mainly in London, see the reg numbers on a car forecourt, copy that number putting it on their own car.
Then for the next few weeks they drive around, not paying congestion charges, getting parking tickets etc..
Many dealers I know have got tickets through the post for cars that have been sat on their forecourt.
So the practice of hiding reg numbers is not always dodgy.
I've also seen one instance of another dealer using a vehicle details to raise a finance agreement that's sitting on someone else's forecourt. By the time the new owner discovers the finance agreement the criminal is long gone. This is not uncommon, I'm told, with certain dealers who know they'll be winding up the business in the weeks to come.
The motor industry really is full of bad people. luckily I've found some good ones along the way that have been "proper"
They're not all bad.
Once went to look at a Merc dealer. Arrived in an Audi. Nobody could even be bothered to talk to me. Never been back. Not likely to do so.Quite right, I know a small used dealer locally very well. He's been there over 20 years and has a superb reputation because he chose to do it right. He's a smashing bloke and I have a lot of time for him when I see him. If they were all like him it would be a good industry.
I worked for Mercedes for a while and it was a shockingly bad site. They had zero respect for their customers and constantly lied to them to gain sales and extras. I was so chuffed when I was offered the position, I hated it and couldn't wait to get out, so disappointed. I'm pretty sure if it was a nice place to be i'd still be in the industry. Money was excellent and super company car etc. If Mercedes knew how they we're operating they may well have stripped them of their franchise.
I worked for Mercedes
They had zero respect for their customers and constantly lied to them to gain sales and extras.