In forty years of buying and owning new cars, I've given up on my MG3 HYBRID! Having owned it for just 18 months and 9,100 miles I part exchanged it yesterday for a BYD Dolphin Surf - this is there super mini full EV, and is a little shorter and narrower than the MG3 Hybrid, but with actually more cabin space.
I’ve attached a couple of pictures when I collected it from BYD Mayfair in Barclay St central London.
The reason for my swift change was entirely down to the absolutely atrocious, abysmal, and quite literally ‘can’t be bothered and couldn’t care less’ attitude of MG UK customer service (to call it ‘service’ is a joke in itself)!!!
I posted before how the ‘engine emissions fault’ warning and light had started to make an unwelcome appearance, but this time it was accompanied by a red ‘traction battery light’ which illuminated for a few seconds before the usual engine fault light then came on.
This over the last few weeks resulted in an AA visit, and a couple of visits to my dealer.
Finally a couple of weeks ago they were able to get the fault codes, which showed an imbalance within the traction battery pack.
It this stage no warning lights were on, but they wanted to get the car in sooner rather than later, as they had no idea about this issue.
This is where the real problems began! I had a booking for a ‘whilst you wait’ unrelated issue, so they now wanted to use that visit to start an investigation of the engine/battery problem. However this I feared was going to become an open ended problem, and crucially as the dealer didn’t have any courtesy card until January, potentially I could be left without transport. So I rang MG UK to see what the position would be, for them to provide a car.
Rather than understanding and having the self respect in their product which had once again let me down, I was given what could be best described as a robotic response, leaving it about as clear as mud, whether they would provide a car!
When I explained the nature of the problem, and asked if that meant I would be provided with transport, she wouldn’t comment.
There are some companies where the customer is almost an inconvenience, and from this episode and others I’ve had with them, it was becoming clear that they would quite happily leave the customer ‘hanging’.
The warranty of seven years appears to be nothing more than a marketing tool to get the customer hooked. Once the car is sold you seem pretty much on your own.
Whilst I was prepared to put up with the odd behaviour of the car:-
Soaring engine revs when going up hill, from an engine when revving was far from refined.
OEM tyres that were generally only available in Australia, and are now obsolete.
Dodgy collision warning slamming on the brakes when driving past parked cars.
Climate control that would revert to ‘low’ if you got in the car and didn’t start it straight away.
And finally a plethora of creaks, squeaks, and groans from the cabin, which I knew the dealer and MG would do nothing about. On this point, I maybe wrong, but I heard/read that MG don’t include those in the warranty, and so it would probably be a waste of time asking for them to be cured.
My every interaction was one of - there is nothing we are prepared to do, and yes we don’t care!
All this pointed to the fact that come a bigger issue, I could be left high and dry from a brand that seemingly don’t give a damn about their customers, and any shortcomings with their products.
So as I said at the start of this enormous post, after just 18 months I’ve given up, taken the loss, and jumped ship.
BTW I’ve heard from someone senior within the MG Group, that the short comings of MG UK are well known, and becoming a major issue.
I do wonder if my so called escalated complaint I raised with CS will ever merit a call back or any response!! What a joke!!!!
