Fiona Stone

Phoned up to ask for advice about an issue. The women that I talked to was disinterested, unhelpful and quite frankly rude. The information she provided was contrary to all the other information that I had researched about the issue. Given the amount of money that James Gibb are paid to factor the housing estate that I live in, they should be ashamed about the quality of the service that they provide.

The SEAT Leon that I leased for four years was returned last month. Several weeks after returning the vehicle I was presented with a bill for a scuffed bumper repair of £110 that I was willing to pay, as I was fully aware of this and expected to be charged for it. However, there was also a further refurbishment charge of another £146.07 for a compressor lead. I phoned VWFS to query this. I was not even sure what a compressor lead was. The person on the phone explained that it was part of the tyre repair kit and would definitely have been in the pack with the rest of the equipment. However, I had never even looked in the kit as I had never had to use it. I told them I was not willing to pay for it as it had never been in the car (I leased the car during COVID and was told because of social distancing that they could not do a handover) I was handed the keys and that was it. I was then told as a courtesy (this was repeated several times) that they would waive this. I tried to explain that it was not "a courtesy" as I had never been in receipt of the lead. The person on the phone then provided me with a new charge that was considerably more than the sum on the invoice I had received in the post, even with the compressor lead factored in. When I asked about this other payment I was told that it was for a car key that had not been returned. Both car keys were returned to the person who collected the vehicle (although at the time of collection the promised inspection was not carried out - this issue was addressed swiftly and professionally by another member of VWFS staff and I was very impressed with the help I received on that occasion). When I got angry about the charge for the car key, the person on the phone then suddenly corrected himself and said that this was from another invoice that had since been amended and that the actual amended charge would be the £110 for the scuff. I have had to use a considerable amount of time sorting out the issues I have experienced with VWFS and its collection service, during and since the return of this vehicle, which I would like to add, apart from the bumper was in excellent condition and had a considerably lower mileage than the mileage agreed through the lease. They expect a great deal from their customers when you are returning your vehicle, but it does not seem to cut both ways. Unfortunately I had taken out a PCP agreement for a new VW with VWFS before the return of the SEAT. Had I known what lay in store, I would have gone elsewhere. I am ever hopeful that by the end of this present agreement that VWFS will have improved their customer service considerably.