Beginning to regret buying a Zoe

Beginning to regret buying a Zoe

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jpringle819

Original Poster:

719 posts

238 months

Tuesday 7th April 2015
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I am starting to think I have made a mistake in buying a Zoe and it hasn't even been delivered yet. Ordered it from Bristol Street Motors in Derby mid February and the service from them has been shocking. So far they have missed two delivery dates without even bothering to contact us, it was only when we phoned the day before we were told it would be ready that we found out they didn't have it.

After leaving a lot of message they finally responded and we found out it had been delivered on 27th March. Unfortunately there was a problem with it and it would need to go into the workshop to be looked at. My wife was being given one story and when I phoned I was told something else, I was told the battery was at 100% charge when tested but the car was reporting only 40% charge on the dashboard. This wouldn't have been too bad if they could have fixed it in Derby but apparently they have no one trained to do diagnostics and no equipment to do it with. Not sure why they are allowed to sell electric vehicles if they can't support them. Apparently the nearest garage that can do the diagnostics is Leicester and it has taken them 5 days to get it there on a flat bed.

The latest update today is that Leicester are very busy so cannot give any idea when it will be ready so the finance guy in Derby is sourcing another car. There are so many holes in the story and every time we phone it changes slightly that I am not sure if we can believe a word they are telling us. I have had a look at the contract and it seems that the only way we can cancel without a large penalty is if it takes longer than 180 days for them to supply a car.

On a positive note it took about 2 weeks to get the charge point installed.

pboyall

176 posts

120 months

Tuesday 7th April 2015
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On the bright side, it's getting fixed *before* you take delivery. That's progress ...

Martin_M

2,071 posts

226 months

Tuesday 7th April 2015
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Sorry to hear that. I find it hard to understand how such dealers can treat their customers so unprofessionally. I heard more negative reports about them when prospective customers contacted them about a Twizy deal they had advertised.

gangzoom

6,251 posts

214 months

Thursday 9th April 2015
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On the other hand I cannot give enough praise to Annie and Mandeep who sorted out my Nissan Leaf order in Leicester. I walked into the show room un-announced mid week, offered 48hr test drive on the spot, test drive done, did the paper work and order the car 24 Hrs later, and 10 days later returned to pick up my new car smile

Probably the least stressful new car buying experience ever....matching the service we got from a Lexus dealer, selling a much more expensive car!! The Renault/Nissan dealers in Leicester are the same franchaise, I'm amazed your local Renualt dealer has been so unhelpful!!

VonSenger

2,465 posts

188 months

Thursday 9th April 2015
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Bristol St derby??? The worst service I have ever encountered. Tried to buy a zoe from them, 4 calls later, nothing. Finally spoke to Ben who is the worst salesman I've ever come across who quite freaky couldn't give a st. So went to nissan and ordered a fantastic leaf. All in the space of 14 days end to end. Great car great service from Therese in Crawley.

nutey

53 posts

212 months

Thursday 9th April 2015
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jpringle819 said:
I am starting to think I have made a mistake in buying a Zoe and it hasn't even been delivered yet. Ordered it from Bristol Street Motors in Derby mid February and the service from them has been shocking. So far they have missed two delivery dates without even bothering to contact us, it was only when we phoned the day before we were told it would be ready that we found out they didn't have it.

After leaving a lot of message they finally responded and we found out it had been delivered on 27th March. Unfortunately there was a problem with it and it would need to go into the workshop to be looked at. My wife was being given one story and when I phoned I was told something else, I was told the battery was at 100% charge when tested but the car was reporting only 40% charge on the dashboard. This wouldn't have been too bad if they could have fixed it in Derby but apparently they have no one trained to do diagnostics and no equipment to do it with. Not sure why they are allowed to sell electric vehicles if they can't support them. Apparently the nearest garage that can do the diagnostics is Leicester and it has taken them 5 days to get it there on a flat bed.

The latest update today is that Leicester are very busy so cannot give any idea when it will be ready so the finance guy in Derby is sourcing another car. There are so many holes in the story and every time we phone it changes slightly that I am not sure if we can believe a word they are telling us. I have had a look at the contract and it seems that the only way we can cancel without a large penalty is if it takes longer than 180 days for them to supply a car.

On a positive note it took about 2 weeks to get the charge point installed.
You must have ordered around the same time as me then - I ordered mine from there 16th Feb and have had it since 14th March... I agree the dealer is absolutely useless and the only way I got any communication was by going to the Sales Manager and cutting the useless sales person out of the loop!

It sounds like I got lucky in getting my car on time and mostly working correctly (it insists the charging port is open all the time but that doesn't affect using it fortunately). Be warned it did take 2 weeks of pestering both Renault Customer Services and Bristol Street to get the ZE Services setup that should have been done before handover.

Fortunately, given I'm 60+ miles away I won't have to deal with them again - fingers crossed the dealer in MK is a bit better...

jpringle819

Original Poster:

719 posts

238 months

Thursday 9th April 2015
quotequote all
nutey said:
Be warned it did take 2 weeks of pestering both Renault Customer Services and Bristol Street to get the ZE Services setup that should have been done before handover.
Thanks next time I chase them for an update I will mention this needs to be setup before handover. I have given up trying to contact the sales person and go straight to the manager now.

jpringle819

Original Poster:

719 posts

238 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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It's a miracle the salesperson actually called with an update, unfortunately for them he probably shouldn't have bothered. I have just been informed that the car was successfully collected from Derby and is now on its way to Leicester. That is 10 days after I was told it was collected and a week after my wife was told it was at Leicester being looked at.

The sales manager told my wife that he he was ordering another car last Tuesday and we could have whichever arrived first. He told me today that he ordered it on 2nd April which was before he arranged for the faulty one to go to Leicester. I just don't believe anything they tell me any more. Any ideas where to go from here? Is it worth going to Renault Customer services or should I try and speak to the dealer principle?

pboyall

176 posts

120 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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I would stop speaking and start writing ... get a recorded delivery letter stating that you were promised delivery on "X" and it is now "Y", therefore time is of the essence in completion of the contract and if the vehicle is not delivered by "Z" (*) then you will consider the contract void.


(*) I'd suggest a date 7-14 days from now, to be reasonable.

jpringle819

Original Poster:

719 posts

238 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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The sales contract states that they have 180 days to deliver the car from the date of order and we are still some way off that. I am going to phone Renault Leicester tomorrow ans see if I can get any information. I think they are trying to hide something like they ordered the wrong car or colour.

elephantstone

2,176 posts

156 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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From what I've gathered most people are regretting buying a zoe on here.

Granfondo

12,241 posts

205 months

Monday 13th April 2015
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Buying an electric car from a manufacturer with a reputation for electrical disasters seems mental to me! wink

JonnyVTEC

3,001 posts

174 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
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I seem to sense a degree of Rivalry within the Zoe / Leaf ranks. I just cant see how the trump card of the Zoe lower cost can actually be championed when they seem to have so many failures!

GrumpyTwig

3,354 posts

156 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
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jpringle819 said:
The sales contract states that they have 180 days to deliver the car from the date of order and we are still some way off that. I am going to phone Renault Leicester tomorrow ans see if I can get any information. I think they are trying to hide something like they ordered the wrong car or colour.
Have you spoke to RUK customer services at all? If you get no where with the dealers being evasive or/and the CS contact is unhelpful it's fairly easy to contact the communications director for RUK and he's generally good at least trying to help people from what I've seen.

Shouldn't have to do any of this though, Renault need to sort their every shrinking dealers network out.

jpringle819

Original Poster:

719 posts

238 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
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Bit of an update, I have spoken to a very helpful person at Leicester Renault and he has confirmed they have the car and it has been booked in as having a charging fault. He also let me know that the car was actually registered in March whereas Derby told me the car had not been registered. My guess is that a replacement has not been ordered and we will be told the new one has come when they get the fixed one back from Leicester with the same registration number as we were given in week 2.

LordFlathead

9,641 posts

257 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
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I would repudiate the contract in any way possible; the fact that you are paying for a car which has already been registered yet you do not hold possession of would make me run a mile.

If they cannot even get it to you in a timely manner, what hope do you have of them keeping it serviced and on the road?

I've been looking at Zoe's too but after this fiasco I will wait for something else. I hope you get it sorted.

gangzoom

6,251 posts

214 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
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I don't quite understand how the Zoe seems to be not very reliable (even when brand new), where as the Leaf is mostly fine. Surely the two must share very similar components given how intergrated Nissan and Renualt are these days...

HTP99

22,443 posts

139 months

Tuesday 14th April 2015
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Our 2500 mile ex demo; which is sat outside the house at the moment, has not missed a beat, our sister branch hasn't had issues with their demo's either.

jpringle819

Original Poster:

719 posts

238 months

Wednesday 15th April 2015
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Today's update the guys at Leicester assumed I was the person form Derby and let me know that the battery has to be replaced. It really doesn't inspire any confidence in the brand/model if the battery ends up malfunctioning between manufacture and first use on the road.

squirejo

794 posts

242 months

Wednesday 15th April 2015
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HTP99 said:
Our 2500 mile ex demo; which is sat outside the house at the moment, has not missed a beat, our sister branch hasn't had issues with their demo's either.
Nor my 4k mile 12 mth old Zoe. Reliability faultless. It's indeed a great shame a few new owners have had such troubles, but I think it would be foolish to base a purchase (or not) decision on a sample size of about 3