Ravenscroft Volvo Hook....

[TheDoc75]

....Does anyone know which garage they use for their repairs/servicing?

Hi I'm Clive from Oxford, I've been a volvo owner for all of 3 weeks, I would like to say its been the best three weeks of my motoring life, however that would be bending the truth, alot.

I purchased a 55 plate V50 S 2.0D from Ravenscroft with 93k on the clock. I also purchased their extended warranty which doesnt appear to be worth the paper its printed on.

Two days after I bought the car, I lost most of the power, the car wasnt in the limp mode it was just sluggish, would only do 50mph. Rang Ravenscroft they were totally unhelpful, and told me to sort it out on my warranty. Took it to a local garage and they diagnosed a split vaccum pipe on the turbo control unit, replaced it. however they did this without contacting the warranty company so it cost me 65 quid.

Fine until my trip to newquay last week when the car kept losing power but this time it was in limp mode and would clear on restart. Rang ravenscroft they told me to sort it out on warranty, rang warranty company and they were unhelpful, couldnt tell me a local garage in newquay. On the way home, one of the front wheel bearings got angry and started grumbling its head off. Decided that was enough and took the car back to ravenscroft on monday. The chap i dealt with wasnt working so i wrote a letter of faults, left my contact details. i hadnt heared a sausage so I rang them this morning. chap not working who i'm dealing with, boss on holiday and the chap i spoke to didnt want "to get in the loop". I got a little angry and said they were all happy to be in the look when my debit card was in their card slot! To which his reply was "I didnt make the car, so how do i know whats wrong"

Anyway rant over, i wondered if anyone knew the garage they used so that i could ring myself.

CM

[ewanc0]

I'd be banging down there door every bloody morning at 9am. "The boss is on holiday" cr*p is the oldest one in the book.
Did they not offer a standard warranty? It should surely last longer than 3 weeks.
Get on to trading standards, do whatever you have to.

[Steve940estate]

I used to live and work in the area so might be able to help but I don't know what garage they use.
Just a thought, did they put an MOT on the car, they might use the same garage.
Unless the garage is part of their buisiness there is probably not much they can do.

I think Ravenscroft did or still do run a recovery part of their buisiness, same name but not sure if it's the same company for sure.

[Simeyb]

I live in Southampton and every now and then if I'm north of Basingstoke, dive in to see what they have - always seem to charge top dollar for their cars and therefore quite reasonable to expect a bit of service, especially when the car starts falling to bits - I agree with all above, take them on and reject the car - have a word with Trading Standards or others on here I know, know more than I do about rejecting a car, even if second hand, its still being sold as a runner! Steve940 is right, they do have a breakdown part of their business - no wonder! Good luck mate

[chris-oxon]

Bought my V70 from them in May2010. Fortunately have had no problems (so far).

Did notice that the tax disc holder supplied, has the name of a local garage on the back, which may be the one they use. This is ACC UK Ltd Farnborough, Hants; may be worth giving them a call. (http://www.accukltd.co.uk/)

On the warrantee question I also bought an extended 3 year deal from R. called Motorcare Elite. Received a letter yesterday from Alpha Insurance (who apparently supplied the insurance via Motorcare), stating that Motorcare has stopped trading, and Alpha have supplied me with a new policy. You can see the details on www.alphagroup.dk and follow the Motorcare link. This action has the approval of the FSA, they say.

If your policy is also Motorcare, then you may be receiving replacement documents from Alpha or you can perhaps query it through them.

[TheDoc75]

All seems to have come good in the end, it took until Friday until I could get any info, but once I got hold of the chap who was dealing with the problem things moved well, and he has been really quite helpful. The problem seems to have been with the particle filter system which is now fixed along with a wheel bearing. I have rung the garage they use to confirm this. The chap is keeping the car for a few days to put some miles on it to make sure all is well. So really I cant ask for more than that.

Anyway looking forward to getting her back. That is if i survive my trip to Yorkshire this weekend in a hired ford Ka!.

CM

[V70Driver]

The point is you need to continue to take issue with the dealer as the reactions from them when you needed their advice, help, assistance was contemptable and the warranty company, so I wouldn't let that drop. Put everything in writing, dates, times, names etc and keep a note. Send a letter to the dealer and warranty explaining as a new Volvo owner, prestige marque of car etc you certainly did not receive a "prestige marque" of help or care when needed.
V70Driver

[TheDoc75]

Yeah I'll see, but to be honest I just want the car back. So far I have lost one sunday afternoon, two days of my summer holiday, and my bank holiday monday (when I was supposed to be at the british model flying championships) over this, so I'm loathed to spend any more time of my life over them. Thank god I was in the AA or else it would have cost me a small fortune in recovery costs.

It would be nice if they would pay for my hire car which I had to hire over this weekend, but they say its not company policy. I will ask once more when I collect the car, but I'm not holding my breath.

Also my friend who took me to drop the car off last monday was dead set on buying one of their V50 Rdesigns but after he saw the disinterest in my predicament he didnt bother asking, so thats a pretty easy sale they lost already.

CM

[V70Driver]

Yeah I'll see, but to be honest I just want the car back. So far I have lost one sunday afternoon, two days of my summer holiday, and my bank holiday monday (when I was supposed to be at the british model flying championships) over this, so I'm loathed to spend any more time of my life over them. Thank god I was in the AA or else it would have cost me a small fortune in recovery costs.

It would be nice if they would pay for my hire car which I had to hire over this weekend, but they say its not company policy. I will ask once more when I collect the car, but I'm not holding my breath.

Also my friend who took me to drop the car off last monday was dead set on buying one of their V50 Rdesigns but after he saw the disinterest in my predicament he didnt bother asking, so thats a pretty easy sale they lost already.CM


All the more reason to keep at them, don't ask, don't get. You have been hugely inconvenienced.
V70Driver

[Simeyb]

Definitely they should reimburse you the cost of hiring a car, and compensate you for having to drive a Ford Ka!!! Saying its company policy not to provide a car is really bad - seems its their company policy to ensure they charge as much for their cars as possible and deliver ****e service

[kebab10]

Looks like a call to Trading Standards is needed here. You pay council tax, they then basically "work" for you in that they are there to sort out these sorts of problems.

AS suggested, write to the dealership, and keep on at them. Surely its a case of "goods not of merchantable quality". Not fit for purpose so take them to court. Let Volvo know what has been going on as well. You never know.

[stivvy]

Sorry but my experience with Trading Standards has not been good. I would go straight to Small Claims on-line, cost about £70, which you get back when you win. From what you describe I would say you have a very good case for recompense as there are fairly solid parts of the law in your favour. Incidentally, the dealer you mention refused to return our substantial deposit when we declined the car as they tried to substitute an expired Volvo warranty with a third-party cover which we rejected. We won our court case.