Hassle with alloy wheel company

[dacvolvo]

Hi Folks

As most of you will have heard by now, I bought a brand new set of alloys over 7 weeks ago and since then, I’ve had nothing but lies, broken promises and hassle in trying to obtain exactly what I’d paid my hard earned cash for. Here’s the story:

I telephoned DP Motorsport in Ayr, Scotland on the 28th of June 2007 and spoke to a gentleman named “Spike” who advised me that he would supply me with four “Fuel 5” alloy wheels, chrome valve sleeves, locking bolts and Wobbly bolts in order to allow me to fit the alloys to my car.

The reason for supplying me with Wobbly bolts was that my car has a PCD of 5x108 and the Fuel 5 alloys are 5x110. He explained that the Wobbly bolts would allow for the 2mm difference when fitting the Fuel 5 alloys to my car.

Using my Visa debit card, I purchased the alloys and fitting kit over the phone from Spike and within a week, my alloys had arrived, but no sign of the fitting kit or bolts.

I called DP Motorsport and spoke to Spike who advised me that he could not help me and that I would have to speak to a lady named Gillian who deals with all the ‘lost & found’ items.

Gillian advised me she would contact the courier and try to track my missing bolts/fitting kit and then she’d give me a call back with an update. After waiting for three days with no contact, I called DP Motorsport once again, asking Gillian for an update. I was advised at that point that the courier could not locate the items in question and that another set of bolts would be made up from scratch in their machine shop.

Once more I had no contact until a week later when I telephoned again to retrieve an update, only to be informed that the bolts were being made at that particular point in time and I was assured by Gillian that they would be in the post and delivered to my home address by the close of play that week.

As the bolts/fitting kit had still not arrived by the following week, I then proceeded to telephone Gillian on an almost daily basis for any update that she could offer. Every time I spoke to her, she would advise me that the bolts were still being made (they were having problems) and were in no position to be sent out yet, but she would give me a call to let me know of any updates or changes in the situation.

Even when I have called and spoken to Spike or John at DP Motorsport, I am always assured that they will have Gillian call me back at some point that afternoon (even if only to reassure me of the progress), only for me to discover hours later that she has left the building for the evening without returning any of my phone calls.

By this point, a month had passed since I first ordered the alloys and although I now had 2 tyres fitted to 2 of the alloys, ready to be placed on my car, I could not as there was still no sign of the bolts.

The phone calls continued from me until the following week when a torn & open jiffy bag arrived at my front door – Yes, my 20 bolts had arrived at last (but no locking nuts as previously promised).

Nevertheless, I was relieved and went to my bedroom where I was storing the alloys and laid one of the alloys flat on the floor and dropped one of the wobbly bolts into one of the five bolt holes on the centre of the alloy… It didn’t fit… The bolt heads were far too big!!!

I called them up again and they asked me to stay on the line whilst they tried one of the bolts (they’d made extra ones up at the machine shop) in one of the “Fuel 5” alloys they had with them at the shop. I waited for a minute before Gillian came back on the phone and told me “yeah; you’re right – they don’t fit”… I told her as nicely as I know how that I needed an immediate solution to this problem and she said she’d call me back within the hour for a resolution (this was 5pm and they’re open until 6pm)…

I waited until 10am the next morning before I decided to call them ONCE AGAIN as they had still not called me back. Gillian answered the phone and told me that they had sold me the correct style of alloys, but with the wrong stud pattern and that was a set of Vauxhall alloys I’d been sent. She asked me if I could send all four alloys back along with the four tyres that I had purchased separately from another company and they would supply the correct fitment of “Fuel 5” alloys and attach my tyres to them. As I’d already paid £20 to fit two of the tyres at XS Motorsport in Hamilton a few weeks previously (Definitely recommend those guys), I said that’d be acceptable and Gillian then explained that she’d arrange for a courier to come collect the six items in question which were:

2 boxed and untouched “Fuel 5” alloys,
2 Single Champiro GT HPZ tyres,
2 “Fuel 5” alloys with Goodyear Excellence tyres fitted.

Gillian then went on to explain that the courier would collect them the following Monday on a “24 hour collection” service and they’d be at DP Motorsport by the following day, they’d take the two tyres off the alloys and fit them (and the other two tyres) to the correct alloys and send the lot back to me by Friday of that same week.

I waited until Friday (the day my alloys were due to be returned to me) and I called DP Motorsport and this time spoke to a gentleman called Michael. When I said my name and the fact I was looking to speak to Gillian, he said “just a second she’s right here with me” and put me on hold. Almost immediately, Michael came back on the phone and said “Sorry, her phone line’s just ringing out”. Obviously the mere mention of my name now strikes fear into the hearts of DP Motorsport. I said that I was just looking to find out if my alloys had already been dispatched and would indeed be arriving that day at some point.

Michael advised me that they had only just been sent out and should be with my by the following morning (Saturday) or the Monday. I thanked him for his time and bite my lip. They now had my alloys, my tyres, bolts and money. Probably best not to say the wrong thing at this stage.

By the way, if you’ve read this little lot to this point and you’ve still not fell asleep; well done, you’ve not much further to go – stay with me!

So, as you can guess, Monday came and went with no alloys appearing and I’d took the day off work to wait in. Silly me. I called them at 5:30pm and asked where my alloys were. This time, I spoke to a man called “Douggie” who apparently runs the whole show (along with Spike – the guy who was happy to take my money at the beginning). Douggie told me that the courier had lost the 2 boxed and untouched “Fuel 5” alloys. He asked me to confirm that I’d sent these out to which I advised I had and my girlfriend had also asked for a receipt from the courier at the time they were collected which I still had in my possession. Douggie said that he was sorry for the hassle and he would call me back in the morning at 10:30am with a resolution as it was almost 6pm at that point and there was nothing he could do that late in the day.

I let him go and looked forward to my 10:30 call the following day… By the following morning at that time, no calls again and I telephoned once more to find out what was happening. This time I spoke to John who told me that Douggie had just stepped out. I asked for how long and he replied “an hour”. I started to get angry now. I kept my calm (as it wasn’t poor John’s fault) and asked him if he could ask Douggie to call me back as soon as he arrived back in the shop…

I have now lost count of the amount of times I have given these people my mobile number.

By 12:30pm that day (we’re now at Tuesday of this week), I couldn’t wait anymore and I called the shop again. Once more Gillian answered and told me Douggie was right there next to her. She put Douggie on the line and he advised me that the problem was that Fuel don’t make alloys for my car…

(Yeah, you read that right)

Fuel apparently don’t make alloys for my car and yet, DP Motorsport had sold me a set for my car and after 7 weeks of missing out on car shows like Fast & Modified, Crail, etc, they now turn round and say they’ve lost two of the alloys in the post, they’d like me to chase the courier up, my tyres have still not been fitted to the new alloys and I’ve currently nothing to show for the hundreds of pounds I’ve paid them!!!

Douggie then told me he’d email me some piccys of similar alloys I might like and I had to show the most restraint I’ve ever displayed when I said “No thank you. Could you please refund my card with my money instead”.

I ask Douggie to refund my card ASAP and he says it’ll take 3 working days for the money to hit my bank account. I’m happy for this to happen but don’t trust them to post my 4 tyres out via courier as they seem to be loosing everything they either send out or collect.

I advise him that I’ll personally come down to the shop on Saturday to collect the tyres and he says he’s happy for that to happen and he’ll refund my card as soon as I come off the phone. I write this all down and confirm it with him over the phone no less than three times.

Now we’re up to this afternoon… I called Douggie just to make sure that the card has been refunded and that the money should be on my card by no later than this Monday to which he replies he must have become confused and he thought I didn’t want him to refund the money until I came down on Saturday.

I loose the will to live and drove over there straight after work today. Unannounced, I walked into the shop asking for Douggie or Spike. I’m directed to the office in which Gillian and Douggie are sitting and as soon as I mention who I am, they look uneasy. Perhaps it’s because my 4 tyres (2 of which still have the old alloys attached) are sitting out in the street along with about 15 other sets of returned alloys all wrapped and sellotaped together by obviously other unsatisfied customers. As you remember, Michael had previously informed me the week before that they’d already been swapped over and sent out, but no – there they were on the pavement still fully packaged and proudly displaying my return address on the side!!!

Douggie (at a push) has the lads remove my 2 tyres from the old alloys and I put all 4 in the car. I have to remind them that they now owe me the £20 that I paid in fitting tyres to 2 alloys that I had no possible way of fitting to my car and about 10 minutes later, I’m handed £20 from the till.

Within those two months, I have never been telephoned once by DP Motorsport even though they have continually taken note of my telephone number and assured me of numerous (and I mean numerous) return phone calls.

I don’t think they’re con-artists or evil people; I just think they’re way too busy and really couldn’t be bothered with me after the first week. I’ve never had such a terrible experience with any purchase or customer service in my whole life. I’ve bought houses quicker than it took these folks to sort out my wheels!

So if I were you, I’d give DP Motorsport a miss.

[scottishvolvo]

Nice to see you got it all in in one post here

[Viper_7]

Wow!

Great write up! Shame about the service.



grief... can't say a lot really! that so sucks!

[lushman]

I'll tell you what. You have the patience of a saint. No way could I have lasted that long without throttling someone at DP!

Paul

[Jim760]

thats shocking, and thats also why not to buy aloys over the net or indeed over the phone, got to the shop and always try the bloody things before you leave! ( i got burnt mysef when i had the 940)

[LankyTim]

Well done for keeping your cool.

This isnt the first time ive heard of alloy wheel suppliers messing people about.

[Bhowani 2]

Well done for not sending the boys in...!

On the other hand I have dealt with a supplier in the USA this week who, once we had agreed that what they had wasn't what I wanted readily refunded my brass. I lost £5 on the currency thing, but hey....

There are some gents around - sorry you have unearthed the other variety!

Bhowani

[JIM C]

Glad you posted this. I find the whole story a disgrace and you were very understanding. Shame also its a scottish company providing this very poor service. What is annoying is the time it wastes of yours and being at work and the constant hassle. Glad you are the end of it.
All the best.

[dacvolvo]

Cheers for the support everyone. I've been busy & pre-occupied over the last 2 months with the missus (being not well), the wean, family matters and work, etc.

I'm not usually one to let things "trundle" on for so long or sit back and wait till things happen.

My money has now been refunded, so that's it all over (Thank God).

I've now ran out and bought a nice new set of alloys from a reputable dealer.

I can finally relax.

[mharriso]

Am i the only one here who has the urge to send the clowns your write up and tell them it is currently doing the rounds on the net so don't expect any business anytime soon???

I won't due to the comeback on the author but these sorts of lazy rude idiots really p1ss you off...

Anyone who read this, tell your mates, hopefully we can stop anyone else having to put up with what these lying b#stards put him through...