Money Problem: 'Arnold Clark offered me a coffee cup for a £230 mistake'
Every Tuesday our Money blog team answers your Money Problems. You can email yours to moneyblog@sky.uk.
Today, we are tackling this issue sent to us by Colette Masters...
I changed cars on 19 March with Arnold Clark Renault Liverpool. The old car had finance to settle which was factored into the deal and the dealer was supposed to pay off the old finance. Four weeks later the finance company took a monthly payment for the old car. I complained to Arnold Clark and have been astounded by the lack of customer care in trying to find a resolution. My husband was told that they would see if they had a coffee cup or something lying around to give me as compensation.
We were sorry to hear about your experience - you went into a lot more detail in your message and sent us all your correspondence with the dealership.
Our first port of call on this was to see what Arnold Clark had to say. Its press team was responsive and escalated the complaint.
Just under a week later, Arnold Clark provided us with this statement: "We've acknowledged the customer's concern and we're currently in the process of resolving their complaint. We apologise for any inconvenience and appreciate their patience and understanding.
"Our aim is to always provide customer service of the highest level and will continue to work with the customer to fully resolve this."
Our team then caught up with you, Colette, and learned that they called to offer you a full refund on the overpayment.
We could leave this one here, but it's obvious that companies shouldn't need a call from the media to sort these things out, and journalists can't look into every case that comes into our inbox.
With that in mind, we asked Complaints Resolver Scott Dixon to run through what he would have done to find a resolution in this case.
He wrote...
Buying a second-hand car is likely to be the second biggest purchase you are ever likely to make, and it tops my inbox with the most complaints.
The Financial Ombudsman Service received more than 68,000 complaints between October and December 2024, with car finance complaints up by 294% on the same time last year. Complaints range from mis-sold finance and faulty vehicles to disputes over rejection rights.
A look at the Arnold Clark website shows how much it boasts about putting customers, and fairness first, but your account suggests that wasn't the case here.
Here's what I would do in this situation:
Step one: I would lodge a formal complaint to the CEO and other key officials. Search on LinkedIn and RocketReach, which is a search tool for finding key contacts in organisations. You can also look on Companies House or just do a simple Google search for the CEO's email address.
They may not read it themselves, but in my experience, it often prompts action.
Send all additional correspondence as attachments with a bullet-point timeline so they can clearly see how this has unfolded and explain how badly you have been treated.
Cross-reference your experience to the promises on the firm's website.
A coffee cup isn't going to cut it. I would seek a written apology acknowledging the poor handling and dire customer service, and a full refund of £230 paid due to Arnold Clark failing to settle the finance on time.
Ask for a detailed breakdown and confirmation of what has been paid as a settlement figure to the finance company, as there appear to be some discrepancies and misunderstandings, so you know that everything has been settled as agreed.
You also want an assurance that no adverse credit reports have been made due to their negligence and incompetence.
State that you want a resolution within 14 days from the date of your letter.
Step two: Contact your lenders.
I would contact both lenders and explain what has happened, and ask that they do not record any missed payments or defaults from this case.
Step three: Check your credit file in a couple of months to make sure that everything is in good order and no errors or defaults have been made. If any errors have been made, ask for a "Notice of Correction" to be put on your credit file to explain it in more detail to help lenders understand the background if it's incorrect.
Step four: Leave reviews online and report to Trading Standards.
I would leave a review on Google Reviews to warn others and report this dealership to Trading Standards.
This feature is not intended as financial advice - the aim is to give an overview of the things you should think about.
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