Inspector Nate, I need you…..
 

I know this wont interest most people but I cant stand dodgy car dealers so here goes!!

A bit of a long story but a mate of mine bought a Mini Cooper (it was for his girlfriend and was her money but he did the transactions) from a dealer called Peter Gough, he was trading as Oakleigh Motors on auto trader but from his home address (we cant remember the house name) East Street, Turners Hill, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 4QA. I went with him to collect the car and met the bloke and his wife and son, my mate told me the dealer had agreed to get a few bits done on the car before it was collected, most of which were done but 2 things were not (bracket on the back box needed fixing and an oil service).

The dealer said the service was done and they must have forgotten to stamp the book, he would get it stamped and send it on to us which he did, he also said as he was offering a 12 month warranty and my mate could get the bracket fixed anywhere he wanted and he would pay for it, I witnessed him saying that. On closer inspection the service was not done as the oil was old as was the filter.

My mate is now about £150 down as he had to pay for an oil service too. The dealer is not answering the phone or returning any calls and its been a few weeks now, Oakleigh Motors are no longer on Autotrader . We have done a bit of research and had a closer look at the card receipt that the bloke gave my mate and it had the name Elmbrook 4x4 on it.
My mate has sent him a letter recorded delivery with copies of the bills and the letter was not signed for, it sat at the post office a week and has now been returned to him. :wall:

A few Google searches later and Peter Gough and lots of various car dealer companies are/were also trading from this address, 9 St Dunstan's Hill, Sutton, Surrey, SM1 2JX so we think he is connected to them in some way.

He knows its only £150 and he will probably never see it again but we don’t want him to get away with it!

The help we require from your good self is can you find the rest of his home address and home phone number or any other useful information you can find on this dodgy dealer. We thought we might try that first.

Elmbrook 4x4 Limited
53 The Market, Rose Hill, Surrey, SM1 3HE UNITED KINGDOM

Maybe worth a call to the local Trading Standards too if he's a registered trader

still £20 up on you though Nick :) hehheheheh - !! ;)

:lol1:

:lol:

PMSL :lol1:

:hjtwofing:hjtwofing

I think that is the route my mate will be taking if he doesn't get any other joy this week!!

Well Elmbrook 4x4 is a limited company :-

ELMBROOK 4X4 LIMITED - 05318261 - Surrey SM1 3HE - bizzy.info - the interesting business directory...

As of 2006 other occupants at his abode were :-

Georgina M Dean, Lisa Gough.

Lisa being his wife who is aged 40

And he was aged 47.

https://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:...tor-gadget.jpg :notworthy

Is this him Nick ?

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Thanks Nate :thumb:

After a lot more calls over the last few days my mate did get to speak to him yesterday although very briefly and he said he never got the letter and to email him the receipts over and he would have a look at them and call back.

Yep you have guessed it, he has not called back. Just to add another name in to the mix his email address is foresters4x4@aol.com lol

should have bought a new car
 

I am the so called dodgy dealer. Lets get a few things straight. when your mate came to look at the car i am sure he was expecting to find a new car sitting on my drive because they walked around the car picking holes in the sillest of things. The car was a part exchange and there was little profit in the car. After about an hour of picking holes in the car they offered me 6400 pounds i think the car was up for 6750 pounds. And if i were to except there offer a list of silly defects were have to be done this included. scratch on front head light lens,replace chrome front grill because it had a minor dimple on it,front wings to be mopped,interior lock handle replaced because it was loose,exhaust was loose, M.O.T,petrol cap was wobbley,new brake pedal rubber,side lights not working,service. to name a few things they wanted to be put right. Once it was in the workshop i gave them the list to rectify problems. When inspecting the car they found that the steering rack was slightly leaking so i agreed to have that sorted at more expense to me. When he collected the car he knocked on my door and started whinging agout the exhaust, it was if his whole world was falling down. We spent the next half an hour looking at it with his mate on all fours, then under the car. Ispoke to my workshop and they had repaired the best they couls and as it had just passed an mot there was no issues.Idid agree to pay for it as it was getting a bit boring looking at an exhaust for so long.As for the service I put it on the list for my workshop to do and i got the service book stamped to that effect.What i sugest your mate does next time he buys a car is pay 13000 and get a new one as i think thats what he expexted from me.

I'd change your username for on here fella. Traders have to pay to be able to post. Just a heads up before the mod team ban the account :thumb:

Imo it's taken a bit long to resolve. Especially as you think you've done everything that was agreed in the sale. Doesn't look good to prospective buyers. As I say though just imo.

sounds like a reasonable enough post though... always good to hear both sides of the story. Admire the poster for saying his bit.

Without knowing the whole story i wont comment on it, from Nick's postabove, he says the Oil was dirty/used. should this be the case IF it was changed? If you had agreed to the said issue's what was the problem with them checking them out?

Very true Dazza.

When you buy a car from a dealer you assume you are paying a premium for the comfort and security of buying from a dealer. Therefore it is 100% reasonable as a 'Customer' to expect the car to be tip top, and if not to be able to fall back on their aftersales...simples. You didn't have to sell it to them ! and if you purport to be a dealer, this comes with certain expectations and responsibilities. If this is not something you can provide, become a private seller. I couldn't care either way but the customer is always right and has rights when transacting with dealers. It looks poor to post as you have but fair play.:thumb:

A balanced view Stu, but for me personally, i'd have bought the car on face value and had the service done myself. It's always dodgy ground buying a second hand car. And i think the Dealer in question was only trying to make a living (which is his livlihood(sp) after all) and if he had the majority of the work done in good faith, then fair play.

It might simply have been a case for the dealer NOT to be out of pocket after taking a bit of a hit on the sale price.

Don't forget the huys dropped the price of the car to reflect some of these shortfalls and it ended up saving the customer £350 from what was posted. (the advertised price for which the client wass prepared to travel up and buy the car)

It would be interesting to know if the customer is actually pleased with the car, which is the bottom line after all.

maybe NickBin can enlighten us...

posting up personal details of the seller on the forum is, in my opinion a little uncalled for. (pm's would have sufficed)

- just my view on things as an observer ;)

I don't necessarily disagree but dealers are there to make money, buyers are there to get a good deal. Just trying to clarify that dealers are used based on buyer assumptions otherwise why go to a dealer. If the dealer did not leave enough manoeuvrability in the price, tough IMHO still a better option than sending a Px's to auction. Don't blame the customer for your business plan try harder.:) Sounds harsh but selling cars to the public isn't my idea of fun so if you're gonna do it, do it properly. Furthermore, I didn't even remember this thread existed so why drag it up :wonder:

edited to say, mini's asking for trouble tbh rust bucket money pits, there's a reason people px, i'd of sent it to auction !:lol1:

I tend to agree, selling secondhand cars will always be a tough one, even after the most thorough inspection it can still go wrong tomorrow. And although not a dealer, I have had several people looking a cars or bikes I was selling as if they were brand new, indeed with one very pushy buyer for a very cheap car I told him to "go away and have a nice life".

Did also make me wonder how come he found the post on here, as he was clearly not a member until today?
As always - 2 sides to every story.

mini's one minute, megane's the next !! :) hehhehh

One thing that rings alarm bells for me is why the trader has changed his company name some many times?

Dazza - I agree your buying a car on face value, but if I buy from a stealer I screw everything out of them I can. Afterall they usually have a huge mark up on the car. I've heard from a Ford main stealers usually aiming to have around a 300% mark up on the price they pay trade in. :eek: granted they won't always.

If they agree to do little bits and pieces as part of the sale then you at least expect it to be carried out. Plus if a warrenty is offered then it should be honoured to the agreed t&c's of said warrenty.

i see where your coming from matt, but like i said the op's mate was prepared to go up there and potentially buy the car for much more money.... i wouldn't loose any sleep over a bit of dirty oil if it was me, (£30 at mr c's and peace of mind!) - thats all !!

if i was the dealer, i'd have said "go find yourself another car" !!! - probably why i dont work in the dealer game !! hahahaha :)

:eek: depending on how long it was in the engine it could have thinned down with petrol vapours and caused some serious wear which will lead to engine failure. But agreed a quick oil change doesn't take long or cost a fortune.

Must admit I had someone turn up to buy my silver scoob. I think I had it up for £3.5k - £4k guy offered me £2.5 and I told him where to go. But on the other hand if you don't ask you don't get. I viewed a car for the neighbours a couple of months back. It was up private sale for £1500. Private sale. I went round there and offered £500. Bloke said no. Next day he came round and said we could have it for £750 :D

Nick had put a link to this chaps company in his post of 29 Oct - google search the company name and it shows this thread - Simples!

Sorry Stu - but I have to take issue with this - the customers in NOT always right - not by a long shot (I'm not talking about this case but in general!)

The thing to remember is that 'the customer is always the customer, whether right or wrong!'

The customer always thinks they are right, and very True, they are always the customer.

Spot on, :thumb: I knew what I meant. my line of thought was from the perspective of serving the customer as he/she should be served in accordance with the respect and privileges that calling yourself a dealer requires and expects.x:)

I was the friend that came to pick the car up, and I am within my right to get on all fours and have a look over the car as this was the first time I had seen it!!

I looked at the oil and it was clear to me that it had not been changed for some time and I asked you if had been serviced as you had agreed to have done. As you know the car has since been serviced by an independent garage and they had confirmed to my mate that the oil and filter had not been changed for some time. My mate and I were raising the issue as it is the garage you use that you should have the issue with as they are stamping books saying cars are being serviced when they are not doing the work, I also assume they charged you for the service they did not do!

As for the steering rack leak, he has also had to get that sorted as it was not fixed in the first place!!

Anyway as you know the matter is over now as my mate has been through the small claims court.