Spare Key

Author
Discussion

giblets_

Original Poster:

283 posts

110 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
Hi Everyone,

I'm after some advice.

At the end of June i bought a car from a "reputable" used car dealership a few 100 miles away from me. At the time of collection I was informed that the spare key was at another branch and would be posted to me within the next few days. Now, I've had this happen before and never had any issues as the key normally arrives a few days later.

This time, I haven't had such luck. I contacted the salesman about once a week until now, so that's about 4-5 times. The first 2/3 times I got replies via email (Saved) that say the key will be posted in the next few days etc. However, the email replies have now stopped coming and I have no idea what to do. The car was advertised with 2 keys, I have email confirmation saying that they forgot to send the keys + will send it out soon. But its been 1 month now and I have no key, no contact and no idea what to do. As they're miles away I cant go down and get the key myself.

Can someone advise me on what I should do next? I struggle to deal with confrontation such as this with dealers due to anxiety, and this whole process is quite uncomfortable for me. Im avoiding phone calls as they just say "yeah mate ill send it" and thats that.

Thank you.

andburg

7,213 posts

168 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
I would put it in writing giving them another month to provide the key, if you have not received it by the end of Aughust you will arrange for a new key from the local dealer which will cost you £££ and will be initiating legal proceedings.

Rude-boy

22,227 posts

232 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
Nice polite letter that they have to sign for, with copy by e-mail the day after it should have arrived ("Do hope you got my letter yesterday, RM Tracking says it was signed for, here's a copy for your ease of reference, look forward to hearing with your proposal/the key by ???"), e-mail setting out the representation and that they have failed thus far to send the key.

Let them know that you require the key by (give date about 7 days after e-mail sent) and that if they do not you will have no option but to arrange for a duplicate at the local dealer which will cost £x and you will then be asking them for that and will be billing for your time dealing with this which will be £y.

If no reply action and then final letter before you issue on line claim against them.

giblets_

Original Poster:

283 posts

110 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
andburg said:
I would put it in writing giving them another month to provide the key, if you have not received it by the end of Aughust you will arrange for a new key from the local dealer which will cost you £££ and will be initiating legal proceedings.
Thanks. Email or letter? And in terms of legal proceedings what do you mean? Never really had to go down that route so a bit cautious.

giblets_

Original Poster:

283 posts

110 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
Rude-boy said:
Nice polite letter that they have to sign for, with copy by e-mail the day after it should have arrived ("Do hope you got my letter yesterday, RM Tracking says it was signed for, here's a copy for your ease of reference, look forward to hearing with your proposal/the key by ???"), e-mail setting out the representation and that they have failed thus far to send the key.

Let them know that you require the key by (give date about 7 days after e-mail sent) and that if they do not you will have no option but to arrange for a duplicate at the local dealer which will cost £x and you will then be asking them for that and will be billing for your time dealing with this which will be £y.

If no reply action and then final letter before you issue on line claim against them.
Thank you.

Do I have legal grounds on this? I read that if they hadn't commented then I wouldn't but as I have email proof of them missing the key then I should be OK.

Is the online claim process easy to manage?

Thanks again

MorganP104

2,605 posts

129 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
giblets_ said:
andburg said:
I would put it in writing giving them another month to provide the key, if you have not received it by the end of Aughust you will arrange for a new key from the local dealer which will cost you £££ and will be initiating legal proceedings.
Thanks. Email or letter? And in terms of legal proceedings what do you mean? Never really had to go down that route so a bit cautious.
As has been advised by a previous poster, letter first, sent by recorded/special delivery. Nice and formal, firm but fair, reminding them of the promises they made (you might want to include printed copies of previous eMails where they've promised you the spare key). Follow it up with an eMail a few days later.

If it comes to it, the CAB can give you advice on next steps if the dealer carries on ignoring you.

Serious bit out of the way, now for the standard PH advice:

Dominate the stairs, tell them you are a powerfully built company director type, hammer frozen sausages into their lawn, throw cans of Red Bull at them. laugh

motco

15,918 posts

245 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
I bought a car from a dealer who was little more than a sell-from-home type, and it was advertised as having two keys, but only one was found. With no trouble at all he dropped the price by £100 to compensate. I bought a non-remote key for less than £50 (BMW). This was in 2009 BTW.

giblets_

Original Poster:

283 posts

110 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
MorganP104 said:
As has been advised by a previous poster, letter first, sent by recorded/special delivery. Nice and formal, firm but fair, reminding them of the promises they made (you might want to include printed copies of previous eMails where they've promised you the spare key). Follow it up with an eMail a few days later.

If it comes to it, the CAB can give you advice on next steps if the dealer carries on ignoring you.

Serious bit out of the way, now for the standard PH advice:

Dominate the stairs, tell them you are a powerfully built company director type, hammer frozen sausages into their lawn, throw cans of Red Bull at them. laugh
Yep, I will do.

Hahahahahaha, I'm tempted but let me pursue the sensible route first. If that fails Ill be hitting Costco for the RB stash.

RammyMP

6,729 posts

152 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
Can you price up getting a spare done from a dealer and ask them to stump up the cash for it? A spare these days isn't cheap, the wife got one after one of her pupils lifted her car key, it cost about £200 to get a new remote and coded to the car.

Zetec-S

5,832 posts

92 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
Have you phoned the dealer, or has it all been via email?

(genuine question, not trying to be argumentative)

giblets_

Original Poster:

283 posts

110 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
Zetec-S said:
Have you phoned the dealer, or has it all been via email?

(genuine question, not trying to be argumentative)
Phoned twice in the first two weeks, both times was told the same thing "Sorry we'll send it out it's been really hectic"

Also sent emails too, to which I have replies saved. Radio silence for the last two weeks, though.

cast.roses

22 posts

81 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
MorganP104 said:
Serious bit out of the way, now for the standard PH advice:

Dominate the stairs, tell them you are a powerfully built company director type, hammer frozen sausages into their lawn, throw cans of Red Bull at them. laugh
Bloody hell! Taking them to some online court? They having a laugh?
Suspect their is no staircase immediately obvious in this one.......
Therefore:

1. Drive down there and park across entrance and/or exit.
2. Wait till they come out and ask you to move.
3. Tell them you would do BUT you've temporarily lost the key - you know you had it a moment ago, but.......
4. Explain it would be so much easier IF they had sent you that spare key after all.......
5. Give it about an hour just standing there.
6. In the unlikely event officer Dibble shows up in that time, well you find the key in your back pocket!
7. Go inside showroom and tell the sales manager you'll be passing this way at random times each day for the next few weeks.....

(You'll have a new key/compensation to pay for one within 48 hours. Guaranteed.)

8. MAN UP and GET IT DONE!!

HTH!


Edited by cast.roses on Monday 24th July 16:30


Edited by cast.roses on Monday 24th July 16:32

Rude-boy

22,227 posts

232 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
My guess is that they have the key, they just don't know which key is your key...

That said dealers are (IME) notorious for this. I have lost count of the number of cars that I have had to buy second keys for.

Have not used the on line claim thing myself but have been told it is actually very good by a fair few.

cbmotorsport

3,065 posts

117 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
I wouldn't go in all guns blazing just yet, send them a signed for letter requesting key and pointing out that they've promised to send it a number of times. Also point out that it will cost 'x' amount to get a new key made by a dealership, and if they can't provide the original spare as promised at the time of sale, you would expect them to cover that cost.

Don't threaten legal action at this point, it may not be necessary and people can react badly to being threatened.


giblets_

Original Poster:

283 posts

110 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
Cheers everyone for the replies.

Agreed, I dont want to tarnish any relation at this point by bringing in legal action. Im already anxious about it but I will send the letter tomorrow morning to them and get things into motion

cbmotorsport

3,065 posts

117 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
cast.roses said:
Bloody hell! Small claims court? They having a laugh?
Suspect their is no staircase immediately obvious in this one.......
Therefore:

1. Drive down there and park across entrance and/or exit.
2. Wait till they come out and ask you to move.
3. Tell them you would do BUT you've temporarily lost the key - you know you had it a moment ago, but.......
4. Explain it would be so much easier IF they had sent you that spare key after all.......
5. Give it about an hour just standing there.
6. In the unlikely event officer Dibble shows up in that time, well you find the key in your back pocket!
7. Go inside showroom and tell the sales manager you'll be passing this way at random times each day for the next few weeks.....

(You'll have a new key/compensation to pay for one within 48 hours. Guaranteed.)

8. MAN UP and GET IT DONE!!

HTH!


Edited by cast.roses on Monday 24th July 16:30
Umm....don't do this OP.

cbmotorsport

3,065 posts

117 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
giblets_ said:
Cheers everyone for the replies.

Agreed, I dont want to tarnish any relation at this point by bringing in legal action. Im already anxious about it but I will send the letter tomorrow morning to them and get things into motion
Make sure you know how much a new key will cost first, no point plucking a figure out of the air.



TheTwitcher

161 posts

87 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
This happened to me some years ago (up to and including the "radio silence" from the salesman) with a West Yorkshire multifranchise dealership, named after the owner's personal numberplate. A polite letter addressed to said owner resulted in my key turning up within 48 hours.

I now ALWAYS ask "Are there two keys with the vehicle?", and I wouldn't hand over money until I've seen them both.

Mexman

2,442 posts

83 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
I hate to break it to you, but....there is no second key, otherwise you would of had it by now.
Salesman, does certainly not want the grief, hence the radio silence.
There is no second key to give you. End of..

TheTwitcher

161 posts

87 months

Monday 24th July 2017
quotequote all
Mexman said:
I hate to break it to you, but....there is no second key, otherwise you would of had it by now.
Salesman, does certainly not want the grief, hence the radio silence.
There is no second key to give you. End of..
Agree but they CAN provide one though it will hit their bottom line.

ETA: It's this kind of stty behaviour that earns the car trade its unsavoury reputation.

Edited by TheTwitcher on Monday 24th July 19:06