Subscribe in a readerI am very disappointed.
No, scratch that..
I am Disgusted with Trustedcarbuyers.com
Trusted Car Buyers = Oxymoron
They let me down and tried to make me out as a liar when I delivered my wife's car to them, so they could buy it cheap.
This is the Story. If you have a Similar Story, I Encourage you to Comment Below and Share your tale with the World.
My wife owns a Citroen C4 Picasso 1.6HDi (110hp) VTR + MPV 5d 09 plate.
(SOLD THANKS TO MY OWN WEBSITE)
See the pictures, it's a tidy motor.
She's just bought an 11 year old Peugeot Convertible that she got at a price she couldn't say no to. Spent money getting it right and now we have a spare car.
The Citroen was bought in 2012 and cost her over £11k
In the three years of ownership she's looked after it and it's been a cracking family car.
It's got to be easy to sell a tidy, 6 year old, family car with less that 53k on the clock.
I put a free ad in Gumtree for a couple of weeks and had little interest at £4795.
Which, to be fair, I advertised the price it's worth for a private sale. Though trade prices were more.
After a while, I put the price at £4295. Make it a good price, it will sell and her other car is paid for.
Two nights ago, an advert came on the TV. My wife said :
"Try Trusted Car Buyers, they say they will pay a very fair price for my car"
I went online and put in the car details and the quote was £3528, that's nearly £1,500 less than it's got to be worth.
I told my wife and said
"We've not advertised it yet. I can put an ad in "Exchange and Mart" and it will sell. I just wanted to try the free route first." (I'm not tight, I'm frugal!)
Jane said
"Oh, if they give us that, it saves a lot of messing about, listing adverts and dealing with people. Give them a ring. It's worth a try before paying for ads"
So the next day, I sent the message to Trusted Car Buyers that we would sell them the car (If they don't mess us around. You know car buyers are like).
I got an email to call them.
Dan answered the phone.
In no time we were chatting like old friends. He's new to the company, he was in Recruitment before this job and though he's only bought 5 cars so far, he was very friendly, helpful, chatty and I had him laughing in no time.
Nice change to be speaking with a fellow human for once.
"We are different, we want you to get the best price with minimum hassle"
So far I was impressed with Trusted Car Buyers. Well, impressed with Dan.
He took all the details about the car and told him the car is in very good condition, the paint has a few marks and scuffs, but nothing a dealer couldn't clear up and having it look like show condition.
"A T-Cut would do it the world of good. I tried that once on a Ford Transit once when I was in my 20's and my arms ached for three days" I said jokingly.
I filled him in on the wear of the body as it was requested. Even though I wear glasses, I'm not blind as a bat and didn't miss much and told them about the scratches going into the boot on the top of the bumper, nothing a good detail-er couldn't sort out.
Dan said he needed to speak with his manager about that and he'd get back to me.
I thought "Here we go..."
Next thing I'm talking to his Manager, Craig. He obviously had a cold of sorts and he admitted to having "Man Flu", I joked how "women don't understand how hard it is for us men and childbirth is nothing compared to MANFLU."
Obviously kidding, as a Man could never handle giving Birth, never mind a little cold, but it made him chuckle and like Dan, he seemed very nice.
In all I spent about an hour chatting with these two, answering all their questions the best I could.
Craig said that they would would be hapy to make a final offer of £3500 for the car. While I was hoping that they would pay more, the words of my wife were ringing in my ears
"Think of all the time and trouble it will save"
All I had to do was drive my wife's car to Easy Car Care in Chepstow and they would take the car and we would get payment. Won't take long and you'll be paid right into your bank account.
I said to Craig "Either you are really good liars or you guys are genuine and you're not going to mess me around." (Yes, say things like that)
"We are not going to mess you around, we are different from the other car buyers. I'll tell you what I will do, if you give me your wife's bank details, I will send you £100 now as a good faith gesture, to show that we do want to buy the car and email a letter to say we promise to give you £3500 for it."
"Go on then" I replied.
"Look out for the email I will send you"
Soon after speaking with them I got another call from Dan.
"We need the information you gave us again. Craig closed the window on the computer and it hadn't been saved."
My wife's bank details and everything else needed to be repeated, so that took a while.
"I'm really sorry about this, we are having a few problems today"
Soon after, I got the email with the form we had to both sign.
The Document was on a site called "Hello Sign" and had the bank information missing, but the price was £3400 after the £100 had be sent to the bank "To open the channel"
The document was signed by me and that was that.
Until I looked at my email, just before bed at 11.50pm that evening. It read:
"Christian,
You spoke to Daniel earlier today in regards to buying your car, unfortunately there was an error in the paperwork we sent to you, the bank details were not saved. Could you call us back on 07955263896 so this can be amended and the proforma adjusted and resent. I apologise for this we have had a system error today.
Regards
Jenny
Trusted Car Buyers"
That was sent at 5.51pm
Then another at 6.02pm
"Could you forward the following documents urgently, so that we can further speed-up the [collection/branch appt] of your vehicle and facilitate our FREE fast payment process.
We require:
1) V5 front and inside copy
2) Photo ID
3)Address ID (utility bill or similar)
4)Settlement letter if applicable.
Please ensure all images are clear and legible before sending to eliminate the need to resend.
These can be sent via email or whatsapp on 07721129893
Thank you for your help and business.
Kindest regards,
Jenny
Customer Service"
------------------------
So much for an early night.
I sent them everything they needed.
The next day we were to drive to Chepstow. My lovely wife had her doubts
"I'm not selling it for any less."
"I can't believe we are going all the way to Chepstow"
My reply
"I can still advertise it, no problem. Or we can get near enough the money now and it's done. It was your idea and they do sound like decent bunch. Dis organised I know. We'll be in and out, no trouble"
I ended up eating my words...
The drive is 25 miles or so from home, 50 mile round trip, two cars = 100 miles driven. I paid for both vehicles over the Severn Toll Bridge, that's me £13 lighter. Plus fuel for both. I thought "Keep her sweet"
Arrived at Easy Car Sales at about 12.50pm
Found the woman in charge. Didn't get her name.
She seemed surprised to see us and then it dawned on her why we were there.
"Let me make a phone call, I need to know what information they have becuase they've sent us nothing!"
She tells us that Trusted Car Buyers have had System problems (again?) and she needs to ask up all the questions and check all the details again, even the stuff I sent them at twenty past one this morning. So glad I stayed up late.
Then she went to take a look at the car, all around it with a fine tooth comb. "Around it" being the operative word.
Now what she didn't know, and I didn't realise, was that my van has a HD Dashcam. It was recording everything as it was facing the Citroen. The sound is bad, but the video is crystal clear.
So even though we were in the office, I know what went on outside.
See the small mark on the rear passenger arch? Some of it comes off with my finger nail. It's not damage to the car, but a stubborn mark.
This got me wondering...
"Who looks at a car and makes a decision without once looking under the hood?"
She goes around it, looking at the paintwork SO CLOSE, I thought she was going to kiss it. All the time on the phone to someone who must be asking her to:
"Find as much as you can to get the price down"
Every single tiny little mark, scratch and road wear was mentioned. Stuff I couldn't see more than 3 foot away. I had to get on my knee and plant my mug against the car to see what they meant and even then was like "What? Are you serious?"
The video shows her walking around on the phone, checking the car with her built in Cyborg Electron Scanning Microscope, laughing with the guy as they collude.
After her waving her notepad, pacing up and down the forecourt chatting to the guy, she comes in and say's "They'd like to speak with you"
It transpires that everything I told them yesterday was not added to the system as it should have been. Remember, Dan is new and his boss Craig deleted everything and then they lost it all again.
Because the guy I'm onto now, who, if I had spoken to int he first place, I wouldn't have even contemplated selling to them. He says:
"We've found a lot more wrong with the car that you disclosed and we've had to re-calculate the value of the vehicle"
My Blood is starting to boil. I know what is coming. It's just like Jane said. I am going to get an Ear Bashing from my lovely wife, who is after all, right a-bloody-gain.
He started pointing out all the problems that they could find, tiny scratch her, tiny "Bird Lime Mark" (Poo) there. Basically the kind of thing that can be touched up, buffed out, T-Cut or AutoGlymed as I have already pointed out.
"Not on our system, you didn't disclose any of this."
"Yes, I Bloody Well Did. OK, she's spotted a couple of tiny marks I didn't, because I don't carry a microscope with me, but I mentioned everything. All it needs to be in forecourt condition is a half morning, clean, cut, wax and polish. Then buying at £3500 you'd sell it for at least £5k"
"Mr Taylor. With the body work as it is, there is going to be a lot of prep, as such we can offer you £3000"
I stopped him as I said "Bollocks" I knew you would do this. "Who the hell are you paying £500 to do prep work, I'll come and work for you for that money."
I added "Where's Craig, put him on Now please"
Craig comes to the phone. No mention of his man flu and he's not laughing now.
"You said you were different. You said you were not like the other car buying companies and you've gone and done exactly what you said you wouldn't do.
You're making out I've not told you everything and hoping that I'm going to roll over. It's not happening. You have just proved yourself to be the same, which means YOU LIED"
Craig says:
"Look Mr Taylor, I can tell you're upset and I'm willing to overide the system and make a concession for you. Tell me what you think we should be paying you considering the car is in the condition it's in. "
"I want the full asking Price. But you promised the £3500, so we'll take that"
(They didn't ask for Photo's, they didn't even get a Mechanic to check the car. Just the woman with a notepad. And before you say it, yes, she could be a mechanic, but she didn't look under the bonnet or take it for a spin. It's all about the looks and this car looks great. But if you want to NitPick to get a bargain and all you have is light surface marks and a bit of bird shit, you're going to have to do better.)
Craig said "The most we can offer you is £3150."
It's not good enough. You PROMISED £3500. You Promised. You sent a letter for me to sign with the promise on it. (I have now found out that I should have taken a screen shot as the letter was on HelloSign servers and would you believe it, it's gone.)
Look at this...
Sign doc
From: Purchasing Department (purchasing@trustedcarbuyers.
please complete the e signature purchase order and then forward your Identification toId@trustedcarbuyers.com. Regards The Collection Team - Reply
--
Thanks,
The Trusted Car Buyers Team
The Trusted Car Buyers Team
It was removed. I wonder why they wouldn't want me to retrieve a document that backs me up?
(Oh, I asked Jane to check if the £100 had arrived before we set off. It hadn't. That really should have been a big clue. Yes, I'm an idiot.)
Before hanging up on him he said he could push it up a bit more, I told Jane what he offered and I asked "will you take his final offer of £3300?" and she said
"Tell him to stick it up his ass"
I passed on the message with pleasure.
We left the place without a word. I thought I was in the Doghouse for sure.
By the time we arrived home, I'd decided what I was going to do.
Lucky for them, I waited a day before writing this, or it would have been unsuitable for anyone under 21 to read.
WHY DID I TRUST THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE?
"The Online Reviews and Feedback seemed Really Very Good for Trusted Car Buyers."
Yes, I Fell for It.
I am going to have to shed some light on how Feedback Works.
Trusted Car Reviews use Feefo who do a great job of gathering feedback from happy customers. Notice that I say "Happy Customers"
When a company has a Happy Customer, they send them a link to review to review them. The Feefo link goes out, the Happy Customer says nice things, people like me read the nice reviews and think "Cool, good company"
What happens when they KNOW that a customer is Not Happy? Do they send a Feefo Link? Or do they Send their own Feedback link so that the review remains Unpublished?
Go on. Have a Guess...
Did you guess right?
Well, I have sent two emails requesting a Feefo link so that I can leave feedback. Let's see what happens. See the P.S.
Here are their Trusted Car Buyers Feefo Reviews just read the Good Reviews and you'll soon see that some people are just happy to get a bit more than Trade it price. Which is what you would expect. So the happy people and just glad to get shut and some say "Well, it's less than I wanted and we agreed on the price..." or "They knocked off £300 for the cleanliness of the vehicle, but eventually just knocked off £100"
Is it not their JOB to Clean the Car Prior to Selling?
Don't People Get Paid to Clean Cars in Garages?
The Answer is YES.
I Know, I had that job once when I was a kid and I hated it. Shit money, bad chemicals over my dry skin. Horrible. But there are people who do it and they don't get paid £100 to clean a car out. Or in our case, £500, down to £200.
Another thing that springs to mind is that the Buyer of the Vehicle, being the place you take it to gets First Refusal of your Vehicle.
If they like it, they can buy it and must do a deal with Trusted Car Buyers. Maybe pay a commission.
If the Garage you go to does not like it, or want it for whatever reason, then they have had first refusal and declined.
This means that the Positive Reviews you read about the company are about the Garage that got to see a car and get a sweet deal.
If some tired out person comes to me and offers their nice car for a third of what it's worth, I'm going to make them coffee and drive them to the station too.
The Great Reviews are about The Garage they Dealt with. That could be Anybody! It's not about Trusted Car Buyers.
The woman who dealt with us had no interest in us. Originally I thought she was being put upon by TCB. Only watching the video can I see that she had a vested interest in getting the price as low as possible, becuase then she could choose to keep it for herself and sell on.
This is NOT how TCB advertise. They are finding Vehicles to buy for other traders.
If I wanted to get ripped off, I could have gone to any garage with a gormless look on my face and said "I'll take whatever you can give me for this car. While I'm at it, would you like me to bend over for you?"
LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS. Your Feedback, the Real Feedback You Want to Give.
If "Trusted Car Buyers" went by any other name. I may not have been surprised.
My feeling is that the guy Dan, won't want to work there for long, he sounds far too decent. But then, those type are the ones you want to make your company sound respectable. Good luck Dan, you'll need it.
Thanks for reading this. It's taken me hours of writing and I hope you find it useful. If you are from TCB, state your case or do what you do on Feefo and Ignore your customers.
P.S.
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14:28 (1 hour ago)
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Hello again Jenny,
One more thing.
Please will you send me a Feefo link so that I can leave a review of Trusted Car Buyers?
Thanks in advance.
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15:19 (41 minutes ago)
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Hi Christian,
I am sorry I dont have a link to Feefo I can send, this is auto generated to the customer by Feefo. I am sorry I cannot help on this occasion
Regards
Jenny
Trusted Car Buyersv
