A Gauteng motorist has resorted to serving a car dealership with a lawyer's letter of demand after it allegedly failed to replace her new vehicle, which broke down within a week of her taking possession of it.
Melinda Mbedzi bought her brand new Ford EcoSport Ambiente for R405,000 from Brits Auto, in North West, in September before it showed mechanical faults after a few days of owning it.
“On the 29th of September, I collected the vehicle and on October 4, I called them to tell them I’d like to return the car and cancel the deal as I was not happy with it because the car would lose power on a hill. There was also a funny noise coming from the engine and also the passenger door did not close properly. Basically, it seemed like the car was involved in an accident and the dealership never disclosed that to me and they never allowed me to test drive the car before collection,” said Mbedzi, 37.
While the dealership allegedly refused to cancel the contract, they, took the car back and promised to replace it with a Haval Jolion SUV.
“They failed on this promise and kept me waiting for months. I called them every day with no luck until when I decided to drive to their garage on October 27. I was not happy and disappointed with their customer service. I waited for six hours for the dealer principal manager Stewart Oosthuizen and he never arrived. He ignored my calls,” said Mbedzi.
She said she later received a call from the dealership that she could no longer get the Haval but another Ford vehicle similar to the one she had bought. However, she was no longer interested in another Ford because of her previous experience. She wanted to cancel the agreement which cost her R7,700 a month but she was not making any headway with the dealership.
Added to her headache was that she could not renew the licence of her second vehicle as the dealership had not paid for the disc of the car they had sold her.
According to SA Consumer Complaints, a consumer can return defective goods to the supplier within six months after the delivery without penalty and at the supplier’s risk and expense. The supplier can either repair or replace the defective goods or refund the consumer the price paid.
Mbedzi got her lawyer involved, and on November 4 her attorney wrote a letter to the dealership seeking reprieve.
“Our client was well within her right to cancel the deal and she did it within a prescribed period as required by the National Credit Act and Consumer Protection Act. Our instruction is to request from you as to whether you are willing to give our client a Haval or to rescind the deal. Please take note that, should we not receive any positive response before 12 November 2021, we are holding the instructions to seek a court relief in this regard,” reads the letter from Mbedzi’s lawyers.
Oosthuizen did not respond to Sowetan Consumer’s request for comment, which was sent via email and text.
Phumza Mtshemla from Ford Credit, which financed Mbedzi’s vehicle, said they were looking into the matter.
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