New Cars Don't Get Done Get Dom

'I'm Dominic Littlewood

'and I'm here to champion your consumer rights.

'In fact, taking companies to task has become my goal in life.'

Could you let her know I tried to call?

She's probably quite keen to speak to me, actually.

'Any problem, no matter how big or small,

'I'll help you get the service you deserve.'

Let us know if you don't get it sorted.

'Whether you're bamboozled with technical jargon...'

All they kept referring to was extraordinary circumstances,

which is just pie in the sky, really.

'..or chasing endlessly to get what you've paid for.'

I have never had to make so many phone calls to a company before.

'Whatever your issues, I'm here to help.

On today's programme, brand-new cars -

the second largest investment we're likely to make after a mortgage.

I help a couple who are left far from experiencing

the ride of their lives.

When I took the car out, it felt as though it was struggling.

It was starving of petrol. It just didn't want to go.

Plus, the dangers of buying now then paying later.

When I open this letter,

it said I owed £930.20 and it was a final notice.

And I couldn't believe it.

And call centres.

We are going to take you behind the scenes to show you

what life is like on the other end of the phone.

I'm tackling your consumer issues to make sure you don't get done.

It's got to be a great feeling, buying a brand-spanking-new car.

The paintwork will be all nice and bright and shiny.

The interior will smell brand-new as well.

And, of course, you can hear the purr of the engine

for the very first time.

But when you are spending thousands of pounds of your hard-earned cash

on something like a car,

I think you're entitled to be happy with what you bought.

But, unfortunately, that isn't always the case.

I've heard from Catherine and John, who bought a brand-new

Vauxhall Corsa in 2013 and were unhappy with it from the start.

It felt lumpy. It was juddering.

And I just was not comfortable driving that car.

The couple have made numerous complaints

but haven't been able to reach a resolution.

So, they've contacted me.

'We just thought, "Well, that's end of the matter

'"and we're stuck with a car that we feel isn't fit for purpose."'

John and Catherine decided

to treat themselves to a new car in April 2013,

when Catherine's existing motor started to show signs of age.

It was old and it was probably going to start costing money

so I'd weighed everything up and decided to go for a new car.

And top of their new car short list was the Vauxhall Corsa.

I've always stuck with Vauxhalls.

I found them to be very good, very reliable.

I've never had a bad car yet.

So, they headed to their nearest dealership,

Bristol Street Motors in Newcastle

and John took a Corsa out for a spin and it seemed to fit the bill.

I just wanted a small car, economical, to get me from A to B.

They signed on the dotted line

and agreed to pay £9,200 for a one-litre Corsa S.

Catherine only needs a car just to go to work and back.

It just seemed the right type of car for her.

Within weeks, their shiny, brand-new car was delivered.

'When I sat in and drove it, it just didn't feel right.

'I was never comfortable driving it from the first time I ever drove it.'

It's very noisy, as you can hear. You've got a lot of road noise.

It judders, hesitates, as you're changing from first to second gear.

Unsure of the car's performance,

Catherine asked partner John for a second opinion.

When I took the car out, it felt as though it was struggling,

it was starving of petrol, it just didn't want to go.

They returned the car to the dealership

for a mechanical inspection.

So, we took it back to Bristol Street Motors who said that

they changed the airflow sensor and they said the car was fine

so I drove it away and it was still...

The same problem was still recurring.

After giving the dealer four attempts to fix the car,

Catherine decided to get a second opinion.

We took it to an independent mechanic

and his senior technician took the car out.

He's an ex-Vauxhall mechanic so he knows about Vauxhalls.

And he road-tested the vehicle and he said it was really poor performance.

He did a report which actually said the car was not fit for purpose.

The report went on to say, in their opinion, the car had issues,

drives poorly and has a worrying loss of power.

They presented this report to Bristol Street Motors,

who took the car back in for more diagnostic testing.

Each time they came back, "We've fixed this, we've done this,"

but the problem still remained.

They basically said there wasn't a problem.

I kept a very in-depth and detailed record

of everything that had happened.

'Because I really felt strongly that there was a problem with the car.'

Over a period of four months,

Catherine had another two reports done

and was back and forwards to the dealership.

She was given a courtesy car and an offer to resolve the dispute.

'The courtesy car was exactly the same model and specification'

and I said, "The courtesy car drives much better than mine."

And he said, "Well, do you want that car?" And I said, "No,

"it's got thousands of miles on it."

Just shy of 10,000 miles, in fact.

The offer of a second-hand car as a replacement wasn't exactly

the result Catherine was expecting.

She simply wanted her car put right or a brand-new replacement.

'Frustrated. Annoyed.

'It felt like we had to go out

'and prove that there is something wrong with the car.'

Catherine had sent through

a blow-by-blow account of her complaint -

dates, times and who she spoke to and what they said -

and this really helps when I take on a case.

Catherine and John are convinced there is a problem

with their car, but the dealers have checked it five times now

and said there's nothing wrong with it.

So, here lies the problem - they've spent over £9,000 on a car

which they're not happy with and they feel they're stuck with it.

So let's see if I can get this case moving along.

With over two million cars sold in 2013,

Vauxhall are one of the market leaders,

with around 12% of the cars sold being theirs -

they're definitely big players.

Now, although the car is built by Vauxhall, my first port of call

is to go to Bristol Street Motors, the dealer that sold them the car.

I've sent them an e-mail to see what they've got to say about everything.

I tell them about the car's juddering and hesitation

and ask them to give me their take on Catherine and John's concerns.

Hopefully, I won't be left waiting too long for a response

and I'm keen to see what they will say.

Is this a problem which you have come across before with this model?

We are all familiar with the frustration

of dealing with call centres.

Automated answering...

'Press one for customer services.' HE SIGHS

..and being passed from one department to another.

For some of us, it's the bane of our life. What?

'Press three for technical support.'

I have to go through loads of options and menus

until, after ten minutes or even more, I am directed to the adviser.

I would say 70% of the time you get the run-around.

The UK contact centre industry employs around 1.1 million people,

that's nearly 4% of the employed population.

There are around eight billion calls

made to UK contact centres each year.

But whenever I call, I just feel like I'm being read a script.

And I'm not alone.

I think people in call centres are told to only answer a certain

set of questions, but occasionally you will get those people who go

the extra bit to help you out that you need them to.

One of the UK's largest call centres has opened its door to us.

They handle calls for a variety of companies

and should be able to help us understand how they work.

As you can see on the screen, we've got the opening salutation here,

which says, "Good afternoon. Thank you for calling

"the Don't Get Done Get Dom consumer helpline.

"You're through to..." It will take the name of the agent.

So, here, it says, "David." Then, "How may I help you today?"

And then we've got a list of different call types.

So we have "make a complaint"

and then it goes to this bit of scripting here.

We would say, "If you have had a bad experience with a company

"and you think you're not alone, Dom may be able to help.

"If you'd like to get in touch with Dominic Littlewood, I can

"take a few details from you now or provide you with our e-mail address."

Crikey. It's like having my very own PA.

'Press two for complaints.'

We phone call centres for many reasons

but one of the main ones is to complain,

meaning sometimes the agent ends up getting an earful.

I'll tell you what.

Spare a thought for the person on the other end of the phone.

I mean, it's not the easiest job in the world.

And bear in mind they can probably give you a few tips

on how to get what you want.

David Freedman, managing director of Confero,

is the man in the know when it comes to call centres.

Don't pick up the phone and shout.

No-one wants to get into a shouting match.

Talk, explain your whole circumstance.

Let the agent guide you through the best course of action.

And just... If you treat them as a friend,

they are going to have that same level of respect.

If you shout and scream at them, they are going to immediately

get their back up and you're treated as an enemy, not a friend.

Remember, stay calm.

And if that doesn't work, what other options do you have?

There are times where every consumer feels like they're

just not getting the answer.

They're not getting what they're hoping they were going to

when the came through on the call, which is effectively a resolution.

There are always supervisors and managers that are there

and available to help.

Right, you've spoken to the rep, you've spoken to the supervisor

and you're still not happy.

If you need to escalate your complaint and you've reached

the highest level, if you like, on the phone, do ask for an e-mail

address or a written address for the head office of that business.

You can ask for the head of customer services, for example,

and they may or may not have that information available or be

able to give it, however, write to the head of customer

services at the address given and that claim will always be escalated.

So, stay calm, explain your case clearly,

if you're not happy with the outcome,

escalate your call to a superior

and, most importantly, remember, they are simply trying to help you.

Good advice, and worth remembering the next time that you're having

a call centre crisis.

No, Dominic. No, not Roderick. Dominic. D-O-M-I-N-I-C.

Catherine and John are now the owners of a Vauxhall Corsa

but they're not happy with the way it drives.

It's hesitant, it judders.

It feels a bit like you're driving with kangaroo petrol

because it is jerking all the time.

The issue here is Catherine wants to reject her car

but has been refused because the Vauxhall mechanics

are saying there is nothing wrong with it.

So, I e-mailed Bristol Street Motors a few days ago

and their commercial director, a guy called David Crane,

has got back to me already. Now, he says,

"Our honest opinion is that the vehicle is operating normally.

"There is no doubt that Mrs Gibson is unhappy with

"the performance of the vehicle and our assurance that it is not

"displaying a fault are not likely to change.

"We can offer to replace Mrs Gibson's car, which is

"a white one-litre Corsa S, with another white one-litre Corsa S.

"For clarity, the replacement car will have been

"registered in the September..." So, a few months old.

"..and will have been used as a courtesy car in our accident

"repair centre and it's got less than 1,000 miles on it."

Now, whilst I appreciate that the offer of exchanging the car

like-for-like is quite a generous one,

you have got to bear in mind that Catherine won't be getting

a brand-spanking-new car which she did pay for

and she also won't be getting the lifetime warranty because

the replacement one is technically classed as a second-hand one.

We've also taken her complaint to Vauxhall headquarters themselves.

After all, Catherine did try to reject the car through them as well.

They have also got back to me

and have arranged to pick her car up for one lot of final tests.

It sounds positive.

But Bristol Street Motors has so far already run a total of

five diagnostics and no fault has been found

and, on top of that, the couple have had three independent reports

done which all state that the car doesn't drive as it should.

"When changing from first to second gear and from second to third,

"there was a slight hesitation/judder which was evident." And it agreed

with the independent mechanic's report that we'd already had.

"It had a worrying loss of power

"and the car was not fit for purpose."

When we took the report to Bristol Street they still said there was

no problem with the car and we said it was an ex-Vauxhall mechanic

had driven the car and he said that his mechanics live

and breathe Vauxhall and basically implied that this mechanic

didn't know what he was talking about.

OK. We've got numerous mechanics saying different things.

This is mysterious.

'With the Corsa at head office undergoing tests, I think

'it's best I just get on the blower.

'I give Dennis Chick,

'the communications director at Vauxhall HQ,

'a call to talk through the case.'

RINGING

-Oh, hi, is that Dennis?

-'Hi, Dom, it's Dennis here. Hi, how are you?'

I'm fine, thanks.

What can you tell me about the Catherine Gibson case so far?

'Well, I'm aware of the issues she's had and

'I'm aware of the independent tests she's had.

'It's an interesting little case, this, I think.

'Let's get it right, do it step-by-step.

'I'm open-minded about this. I want to drive the car myself.

'I want to feel it for myself. I'll come to you after tomorrow.

'I'll let you know how I feel and then we'll take it from there, Dom.

-'OK?'

-Yeah, that's perfect. Can I just ask -

is this a problem which you've come across before with this model?

'No, it isn't. That's the issue. It isn't.

'You know, it's a very robust small car.

'It's quite a heavy car for the little, tiny engine

'and you have to drive it with a certain technique.

'Well, not a particular technique but you have to drive it

'in consideration of having a very small engine.

'So it may feel underpowered to some people, but that's what it is.

'If you want more power, you go up to 1.2 or 1.4.

'I want to see whether that is what maybe she is feeling and

'give you my opinion of that

'and then, as I say, we should go from there.

'I want to see if there is a hesitation

'because I will notice it if there is one.'

I'd love you to have a drive.

You're obviously the director up there, you're the main man.

Have a drive and give us your opinion. Let us know.

-Nice talking to you again, Dennis.

-'Thank you. Cheers, Dom.'

-Bye-bye.

I like the way that call went.

He's going to drive the customer's car himself. That's the director.

I'm going to give him the whole weekend to do that

then call back next week and see what he's got to say

and hopefully we'll be able to sort this out for Catherine once

and for all. Nothing more we can do at this point.

'Apart from investigate another area of Catherine's case.'

Now, she tried to reject her car three times to the dealer,

then the manufacturer and then her finance company.

All three rejected her rejection.

So, what exactly are your rights if you're not happy with your new car?

Motor Codes is a Government-backed self-regulatory body

for the motor industry,

which operates a Trading Standards-approved

code of practice across all things car-related.

If you are unhappy with your vehicle, you've got your legal rights

in addition to the warranty protection that the manufacturers

give you for the new-car warranty.

The Sale Of Goods Act states that goods should be fit for purpose

and/or of satisfactory quality.

There is no automatic entitlement to a refund.

A common misconception from the high street

is that you will get a cooling-off period automatically

when you buy goods, which isn't actually the case.

So, when you buy a new vehicle, you are only entitled to

exercise your legal rights and look at rejection if there is breach of

contract and that's if it is not fit for purpose or satisfactory quality.

So, if you've just had a change of heart or didn't like the colour

then, unfortunately, there's no obligation.

So make sure you know what you're buying

and everything's agreed upfront before you enter into the sale.

In Catherine's case,

she doesn't believe her Corsa is of a satisfactory quality or

fit for purpose but, as we know, Vauxhall don't agree.

If you're not happy with the vehicle you've purchased then

always let the seller know as soon as possible that you're unhappy.

It's usually considered reasonable to give at least two or three

opportunities to try and fix the vehicle before looking at other

options such as exchanging it or looking for a refund on the goods.

More often than not, it will be quicker to try and repair

a vehicle than to go down a more formal channel to reject them.

Catherine has given them five chances to repair the car

and has three independent reports which seems to echo

the couple's concerns about the way the car drives.

A seller could refuse rejection of a vehicle

if they can offer a remedy. So it might be someone is looking

to have a refund but the vehicle could be repaired under the warranty

but if they are rejecting their request

then they need to be clear about why that is

and what remedies they are going to put in place instead.

If negotiations break down, then put everything in writing so there is

always a paper trail of anything that has been agreed or discussed.

As we know, Bristol Street Motors have been clear

that, in their opinion, there is nothing wrong with the car,

and they've offered a solution. But, as Catherine isn't happy

with their offers, they've reached a stalemate.

More often than not, you should be able to enter into discussions

and negotiates towards a resolution.

If there is a difference in opinion about what the fault is or

if there is a fault on the vehicle, then a second opinion or

an expert report should be sufficient for you to demonstrate your case.

We are able to effectively manage expectations

and make sure that both parties can work towards a middle ground.

More often than not, a consumer might have higher expectations than

what they are entitled to but, likewise, it might be that

the manufacturer or retailer isn't offering a fair resolution.

We can actually enforce an outcome that we think is fair to

resolve a dispute, where necessary.

Catherine has done everything by the book

but she's still got a car she's not happy with.

But my investigation seems to be picking up speed.

Vauxhall's head office in Luton has got back to me

'after the head honcho took the car out for a test drive

'and their mechanics gave it a sixth going over.'

I've had an e-mail from Dennis at Vauxhall and he says, "The car

"has no technical faults and drives like any other one-litre Corsa.

"I have driven the car personally..." Pleased about that.

"..and find that it drives well

"and certainly does not exhibit any hesitation or judder.

"It did, however, serve to remind me how different a three-cylinder car

"feels to a four-cylinder in terms of its sound and character."

Bingo.

So, if there is categorically no technical fault then this

whole case could come down to the car just being less powerful

than Catherine was expecting

and could explain some of the car's characteristics she described to me.

In order to discover more about the engine type they've bought,

I've asked them to do a bit of research

and see what online reviews say about their model.

We've done some more research on the Corsa ecoFLEX S one-litre

and What Car? says that it's best avoided.

"You might be tempted by the low price but the weedy one-litre engine

"will make you wish

"you'd forked out for a bigger engine in a higher trim."

I found another review that says, "The one-litre petrol engine

"is noisy and painfully slow."

If I'd read this before I bought the car, I wouldn't have bought the car.

After reading the reports,

it looks like obviously Vauxhall has put a one-litre engine

into a Corsa what's too small for the type of car that it is.

I was aware that the car was a one-litre.

I knew that was the car I was buying. I had a one-litre car for years.

A little Micra, a little run-around and it was great.

I never had any problems with it at all.

After reading the reviews, it's really disappointing to

read that the car is actually best avoided.

We didn't do any research, sadly, before we bought the car.

We wish we had, in hindsight.

If I buy another car, I will do research on the internet.

It's really easy just to find out. Just put a few words in,

you can see other people's reviews and you can find out

if you're buying a good or bad car.

Now, these reviews come from a respected car magazine

and there is an interesting point here because if you're going to

shell out thousands of pounds on a new car,

it's important to know exactly what you're buying and remember

what Motor Codes said about doing your research before you buy.

After looking at the reviews on the Corsa then, in retrospect,

we would have gone to the dealership

and asked more questions for why it's got such a bad review

and what size engine or different specs of the car, so we'd have been

made more aware of the situation that we'd put ourselves in.

How many of you actually do do your homework

before splashing out on a set of wheels?

There are some key questions you should ask before buying a car.

Whether it's a three or a four-cylinder,

a one-litre engine or bigger.

I've come to meet Emma Butcher to find out more.

-Hi, Emma.

-Hi, Dom.

-'Emma works for What Car? Magazine

'and test drives hundreds of different cars every year

'and I'm keen to find out

'what she thinks of John and Catherine's situation.'

She felt the car was faulty.

It's been checked and proved that it's not.

What do you think might have happened there?

Well, from what you tell me, it sounds like she may not have

bought the right engine for what she actually needs.

How much difference are we talking about, as far

as a driver is concerned, between a three and a four-cylinder car,

let's sat, a one-litre and a 1.2?

Well, three-cylinder engines can have a lot more power in them

these days but you will probably notice slightly less power

than in a four-cylinder engine.

You know, you need to apply more power in order to get more

-power out of the engine.

-You've got to drive them harder, haven't you?

Absolutely, yeah.

So it clearly does make a difference to the way the car drives

and is the sort of thing that you should be looking for

when you test drive a car.

Now, if somebody was about to buy a new car, what would you say to them?

-Is a test drive essential?

-A test drive is absolutely essential.

Once you've decided exactly what sort of car you want and you've

narrowed down your choices, you do need to go to the showroom and ask

the dealer for a car that most closely matches the car that you

are interested in, and get out on the road and give it a good old test.

Our advice is to get the car out on the road

for as long as you possibly can.

So don't be fobbed off with a quick ten-minute blast around the block.

You really need to get a good feel for the car

and that means spending some decent time in it.

So we would say at least half an hour, if not longer.

Now, what important points should people bear in mind

if they're going to test drive a car?

Well, the first thing you need to do is make sure that you're testing

the car that you're actually going to buy.

Now, you might not be able to get the exact match because, obviously,

dealers can't stock every single car in their showroom.

However, the thing that you really need to do is to make sure

that you get the right engine. That's the absolutely crucial point

because that is going to have the biggest effect on your enjoyment of

the car and whether it can actually cope with your day-to-day needs.

So make sure that you ask for the engine that you want.

Emma stresses just how important doing your research is

and how crucial making sure the car you test drive

is as similar as possible to the one you end up buying.

With this in mind, I give Catherine a quick call to find out

from her exactly what specification of car John test drove.

RINGING

-Catherine, hi. It's Dominic Littlewood from the BBC.

-'Hi there.'

Catherine, I've just been trying to sort something out with your car.

-'Yeah.'

-There's a couple of things I need to check up on.

When you went to buy the car,

did you have a test drive in a like-for-like model?

'That's what we don't know, Dominic.

'We went out in a car, a Corsa,

-'but we've got no proof that it was the same car.'

-Right.

'We didn't actually look at the time.

'We didn't actually make sure that it was a like-for-like.

'John thinks that it possibly was not like-for-like.'

OK, so leave it with me

and I shall see what I can do for you and give you a call back.

-'Lovely. Thanks, Dom.'

-Thanks, Catherine.

-'Thanks, bye.'

'It's not good that the couple didn't pay attention to what car

'they actually test drove on the day.

'John may think it was a bigger engine but what proof does he have?'

John, I just had a word with Catherine about the car.

Do you know what engine size that was?

'Well, we are presuming it was the same model

'but obviously we can't prove that. We can't be sure about that.

'We didn't go very far.

'We just went down the street and up a bit of a dual carriageway.

'It was only probably two miles, that's all we did in it. That's it.'

Right.

'The actual car what we test drove, cos I test drove,

'it didn't drive anything like what Catherine's got at the minute.

'You know, the hill what leads up to Bristol Street Motors,

'it's a fairly steep hill

'and Catherine's car struggles to get up it.

-'Well, this one didn't seem to struggle at all.'

-Right, OK.

-Nice talking to you, John.

-'OK. Thanks a lot. Cheers. Bye.'

Neither John or Catherine are sure about the spec of car

he test drove, but John seems to think it felt very different

to what they ended up buying.

It really doesn't help that Catherine didn't do

the original test drive for a car that was meant for her,

and John only took it out for a couple of miles.

To get some clarity,

'it's time I started asking the question elsewhere.'

Now, as Vauxhall have shown, there is

no mechanical fault with this car.

This complaint has reverted back to Bristol Street Motors.

So, I e-mailed David Crane to get confirmation on the exact

specification of the Corsa John drove.

Buy now and pay later.

It's a term we've all heard of a million times

but an awful lot can happen in 6, 12 or 24 months

and finances can be pretty awkward to keep track of.

Meet Chris and fiancee Nadia.

Chris is a mechanic in the Army who spends a lot of time away

and likes to make full use of his time at home.

When I go home, I want to keep my fitness up.

So, in 2012, when Chris returned from a tour of Afghanistan,

he decided to treat himself to some new gym equipment.

So, I just felt, you know, I'll go in and I'll get myself a weight bench

just so I can keep ticking over when I go home.

Chris went down to his local branch of Argos.

I've previously used Argos many a time to buy different

products from there.

Always have a look there when you're shopping round or whatever.

I went in there to buy it and it was a good price, £130,

with different accessories.

But rather than pay cash, Chris was offered an Argos card which allowed

him to buy now and pay later with a period of interest-free credit.

I was offered six months and I only wanted to pay it over three

but I still had...

So it was three payments over six months is what I chose to do.

The timing of the offer was perfect, as it was an expensive time

for Chris and Nadia.

Next month, I was due to get married so, you know,

paying it off over a couple of months seemed the logical thing to do.

I arranged for a direct debit

to be taken out at the start of every month.

I get paid at the end of every month

there's no way money couldn't be there.

I was told if it wasn't paid by six months, I'd be informed

and charged interest.

And Chris certainly didn't think he'd need to worry about that.

A couple of days later, the weight bench arrived.

I was very happy with it. Got plenty of use out of it.

When I go home now, to this day, I still use it.

By spreading the cost of his weight bench,

Chris had opted to pay a shade over £43 per month for three months.

'I expected the first payment to come out in March 2012.'

'It never came out until April,'

which I didn't mind. I had six months.

I didn't think anything of it at the time.

In fact, the couple forgot all about their interest-free deal.

'The next time I thought about the Argos finance package was

'in about...I think it was July'

and Chris's mum had mentioned it

and I just thought it should have been paid off.

So, Nadia popped into her local bank branch to check.

When I asked the bank teller,

she said that the last direct debit had been taken out over a month

ago so I presumed all the payments had been paid

and that we had none left.

Because of that, I decided to cancel the direct debit.

And that was that. Everything paid off.

Around this time, the couple had relocated from North Wales to

Army accommodation in Yorkshire.

With my job, I'm supposed to move every two to three years,

give or take what posting you're on.

As moving is such a regular occurrence, Chris tends to

use his parents' address for much of his correspondence.

The bank and the finances, they always stay to one address.

It saves getting messed about and important letters getting lost.

A few months after the move to Yorkshire,

Chris was sent away again.

'I went away on tour in October.

'I was away for about four months.'

In that meantime, Nadia had been staying at home with my parents.

But when Chris came home, the pair made a surprising discovery.

'We went up to check on the house in Yorkshire

'to check everything was in order.

'When I opened this letter,

'it said I owed £930.20 and it was a final notice.

'I couldn't believe it, you know. I started looking through the post

'to see if there was an initial notice.'

There wasn't. It was just a final notice.

When I phoned up the debt collection agency I was saying,

"Look, you've made a mistake here.

"Someone's got my card and they've done fraud against me.

"Something's gone wrong like this." Then, when the penny dropped,

they actually said it was to do with a weight bench.

I just thought, "No, it couldn't be. How could it be that?"

Because it was all paid for. It was done.

Chris contacted Argos, who told him the third payment of £43

hadn't been collected because they had cancelled their direct debit.

They said interest had accrued on the unpaid amount.

But hang on a minute.

What I don't understand is, where did 930 come from?

Exactly. Chris needed to get to the bottom of what this amount

was in relation to, and why the first they'd known about it was

when they got a letter from debt collectors.

'Argos said to me they'd sent me letters.'

I said, "Well, we've received just one."

'She then went on to say, "Well, no,

'"we've sent numerous letters and they've gone to your old address.

'"The new tenants have sent them back."

'I then started laughing.'

I said, "Well, that's funny, isn't it? My parents live there.

"My wife has been staying with them and she has permission to open

"all my letters and my parents would not send letters back to you.

'"So, you know, where are these letters?"'

Argos' response was that they couldn't show me the letters

they'd sent that had been returned to them, cos they destroyed them.

The company maintained that Chris owed £930.

But whilst the couple were trying to resolve this worrying situation,

Chris's R&R had come to an end and he was back on tour.

'My husband was there and I was trying to sort it all out.'

Yet, despite Nadia's best efforts,

when Chris returned two months later,

things still weren't resolved.

I've arrived home now, in the middle of April, still no answer.

Nadia had tried to follow it up but... I think we must have sent them

three or four letters and every time we were sincere with what

we were saying, or we were very bothered about what was going on.

Whichever way you look at it, this was a strange situation.

So the couple contacted me and I got on to Argos.

They investigated and things started to become clearer.

It turned out Chris previously had another Argos card

and there were two items on there, including a £505.94 laptop

that hadn't been paid off within the interest-free period.

As a result, these outstanding balances were subject to

a hefty 29.9% APR.

Now, that's a word of warning for any consumer taking

advantage of this type of offer.

Buy now, pay later is often free for the first year or a set

period of time, which means that you won't have to pay anything.

After that time, you will be charged interest

and that can be up to 30%, which really does add up.

But when it comes to avoiding these charges, the onus is on us consumers

to make sure we pay off our balance whilst the interest is free.

In a perfect world, a company would tell us

when a deadline is approaching. Once you've signed the contract,

they have no responsibility to tell you.

It's really up to you to make the payments.

Of course, Argos say they wrote to Chris

but he claims he never received the letters.

He does now acknowledge the laptop was not fully paid off but he

didn't realise this at the time, and because it was his responsibility

to check, Argos didn't have to contact him to tell him.

There is some good news, though.

Since I contacted them, Argos have written to Chris and Nadia.

"As a gesture of goodwill for the customer on this occasion,

"we have refunded the fees applied to the account before it was

"referred to our administrators in January 2013.

"However, the remaining balance of the account does need to be cleared."

As a goodwill gesture, Argos has wiped

a total of £120 charges from the account and they told us

customers are sent a paper statement of their account and

outstanding balances every month and that 19 letters were sent to Chris.

When mail is returned to them,

they check their records to ensure the customer's address is the same.

If it is, as it was in this case,

they have no reason to keep the letters.

If you want to take advantage of a buy now, pay later deal,

there are some important things to remember.

The first thing you should do is set up a reminder for the payments

or, better still, set up a direct debit.

Let's hope Chris and Nadia will be heeding that advice in the future.

We'll go to Argos again, we just won't get an Argos card.

It's a hard lesson for this young couple

but it's a lesson for all of us.

Keep a handle on what you owe and pay your bills on time.

I've been helping John and Catherine

get to the bottom of what was wrong with their juddering Corsa.

When we took the reports to Bristol Street,

they still said there was no problem with the car

and we said it was an ex-Vauxhall mechanic had driven the car

and he said that his mechanics live and breathe Vauxhall and basically

implied that this mechanic didn't know what he was talking about.

But Vauxhall have looked at the car for the sixth time and I'm also

now of the thinking that there's nothing wrong with it, but that

the couple purchased an engine size that didn't meet their expectations.

After reading the reports,

it looks like obviously Vauxhall has put a one-litre engine

into a Corsa what's too small for the type of car that it is.

Catherine and John didn't do any research into this model

prior to buying it, and also only took it out for a very short test

drive and John remembers the car he originally test drove felt

more powerful than Catherine's present Corsa,

but the couple cannot give me the exact spec of the car.

It's a bit of a mystery.

To get confirmation, I e-mailed Bristol Street Motors to find out

what car John did take out and David Crane got back to me.

He confirms that John would have test driven the same car

as Catherine ended up buying

and, like Vauxhall, Bristol Street Motors maintain there is nothing

mechanically wrong with it and that the problem simply lies with

the fact that the couple just aren't happy with the engine.

But despite this, they are willing to put another

offer on the table. Time to call David.

Right, let's chase this case up and see what I can sort out.

BEEPING

'A new offer does sound promising so let's see what he's got to say.

'And I've got my fingers crossed.'

David, hi, it's Dominic Littlewood from the BBC. Good afternoon.

I just wondered if you can tell me what it is you're going to be

proposing now for Catherine as a resolve.

'David and I have a good chat about the case and whilst he maintains

'there's nothing wrong with the car, and they did test drive

'the one-litre three-cylinder model,

'he has got another offer for the couple.'

OK, so are we happy to end it on that then, David?

We'll speak to you, tie up the loose ends.

Thanks very much for your help. Appreciate it. Bye-bye.

I think I've got as far as I can with this investigation

so it's time to head up north.

I'm in Newcastle to meet Catherine and John because I've got

some news for them which I don't think they're expecting.

I think rain is due, it's cold, it's miserable, but I love Geordies

because my mum was one.

-Catherine.

-Hi. Hi, Dom. Thanks for coming. Nice to meet you.

Come in.

What I noticed, Catherine, is when you contacted me,

you e-mailed through a really, really thorough,

comprehensive list of dates, times, who you spoke to,

what their response was, etc, etc, etc.

It was absolutely spot-on

and I really, really admire people who do that.

Cos as soon as you get a problem, no matter what it is,

they're the things which can help make or break a case.

I noticed, coming up the drive, there is an Astra there,

which must be yours, John, and obviously you own a Corsa,

-Catherine, so fair to say you are probably Vauxhall fans, yeah?

-Yeah.

Always been happy with them.

-But you're not a happy chappie at the moment, are you?

-No.

-Why not?

-What do you think is wrong with this car?

-It judders,

it hesitates when you change gear

and when you pull away from the roundabout

there's just not the power.

Was it OK for a while and then you thought it had a problem or

were you disappointed from the start?

Disappointed from the start, as soon as I drove it.

In an ideal world, what would you like?

Ideally, I'd like to reject the car, to take it back.

The bad news is, I spoke to various different people,

people you bought the car from, Vauxhall,

they're not going to give you money back for the car.

I think probably the best thing we can do now is

I'd like to go out with you, Catherine,

and just have a little drive in the car just to get a feel of what

you think the problems are and see

if we can sort of point the finger in any direction.

-Are you happy to do that?

-Yeah.

-Brilliant.

'Catherine's car has been at Vauxhall's head office in Luton.

'We've arranged for it to be delivered back to Catherine's house.

'But there is little surprise for her.'

That's not my car.

-Is that not your old car then?

-No, that's not my car.

-Right.

OK. Because that is a 1.2 SXI, 16 valve.

That's got 85 PS compared to your old 65 one.

SHE WHISTLES

Well, shall we just keep this?

Well, it's 13 and a half grand. You know what? You can.

Because Vauxhall are exchanging your old car for this one.

-Really?

-Yeah.

They're giving you a 1.2 SXI, four-cylinder, 16 valve

85 break horsepower car, brand-spanking-new,

pre-reg, no-one's owned it, they registered it.

That would normally cost you 13 and a half grand

and they're giving it to you as a straight swap.

They want you to be happy.

I can't believe that.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

I can't believe that. I'm so grateful. I really am.

-I think you need to have a little drive.

-Yeah.

-Yeah? Come on then.

Come with us.

We wrote to Bristol Street Motors regarding the case

and they sent us the following statement.

I think I'd say it is.

We also sent to the same request to Vauxhall, who replied saying...

There are lessons for us all here.

Research and test drive are the two key elements you need to do

when buying a car.

Know what you are buying before you sign on the dotted line

and save yourself an awful lot of bother.

That is absolutely unbelievable.

This has been a great outcome for Catherine.

She has now got the car which she probably should have

bought in the first place. She's over the moon. John's over the moon.

He even had a little tear in his eye. I'm over the moon.

Do you know what? It's been a great, great day.

Everybody's happy.

Apart from the fact I'm stuck in Newcastle

and it's a long way back home.

Right. Taxi!

-I can't believe what's just happened.

-No.

I never thought in a million years that Dom would be able to get

the outcome that he has,

let alone this gorgeous car.

It's a huge weight off our minds, isn't it?

I know to other people it probably seems like a small thing

but when, you know, you're experiencing it,

the frustration of just getting nowhere.

We thought, "We're just stuck with that car,"

and that was it and I just want to say a huge thank you to Dom.

Yes, thank you very much, Dom.

'I'm really looking forward to driving the car.

'I'm looking forward to driving again and feeling confident

'while I'm driving, hopefully.'