Hitchfields Avis 126

BREACH OF DATA PROTECTION/GDPR - WOULD NOT RECOMMEND

I purchased a Mercedes a-Class from Hitchfields.

- They handed me a pack of documents which included the previous owners V5 logbook – this had their full name and address on it, which is a tremendous breach of GDPR and is very unprofessional. For this reason, I would personally not buy or sell from Hitchfields in case of a leak of my data in the future. The salesman had asked me to post the documents back to Hitchfields and that they would cover the postal expense, which was laughable as no appropriate apology was provided given the seriousness of the fact that the previous owner's name and address was leaked.

- On the release of the car, Hitchfields claimed to provide an interim service. This includes an oil and filter change. Upon running my car back home, an error came up on the dash advising that there was low oil. This meant that I had to return to the dealership (1.5 hours round trip from my home) to get the oil topped up to a level that it should have been in the interim service, costing both time and money in fuel. Nobody claimed accountability for this, and when challenged, i was told that the mechanic's "may have been claiming that they had done the service to cover their backs".

- Upon taking my drivers license, Hitchfields had forgotten to return it, again insecurely storing sensitive data which would be prone to leak/loss.

- Competing dealerships of similar scale will often provide at least an attempt to buff/t-cut any surface level scratches. Hitchfields do not.

- The valet service was poor and many internal spaces were still dirty/crumby from the previous owner

AVOID at all costs. Absolutely no customer service. Sold a faulty car which left a 20 year old stranded on the motorway.

Then said they couldn’t find a fault, needed to phone the garage I had taken car to who found the fault, basically calling me a liar. Even though I had had to get rescue out to the car too!!

Eventually, agreed to swap car, but new car cost 1.5k more. Discount offered by one person, disagreed to by owner, again the call was listened to.

New car was missing a part which was promised as part of the agreed sale and 4 months later now refusing to supply the part as I have stopped paying for a warranty that I have never had any details about.

Faulty car, died on day 1! Care did less than 60 miles and cost over £25k!
Abysmal customer service!
They will blame you for the car issues
They will not compensate in any way at all, even for incorrect advertisement and scuffed wheels, let alone driving away with absolute empty tank!
Forced sales of extended warranty..
Had to make just under 40 calls and multiple emails over 13 day period, for 5 of these days, I was waiting for their engineer feedback and had no contact!
When requesting to return, they will push back and back and then also slip in that refund means no further action, when challenged they will tell you to either take legal action for compensation or accept refund as final, which isn't even legal to do! Refund is under the law, additional compensation is a separate matter! Finally settled but not even a confirmation of refund, just transferred and no more comms..