What can I do about waiting over 60 days for an MG4 repair? Advice wanted

[bowfer]

My 4 has been at the dealer for 6.5 weeks.
They’ve been trying umpteen things to fix the fault, rejection was mentioned then they went back on that and said they are allowed an opportunity to fix it first, which they have deemed as a traction motor replacement.
Now, goodness knows what all those other attempts to fix the car were during the previous 6 weeks if they weren’t ‘opportunities to fix it’.
Utterly sick of MG, which I have decided stands for ‘Mug’s Game’
Even if the car is fixed, which is actually making me chuckle as I type, the car is going to be gone as quickly as I can afford.
Deeply flawed car and a clueless UK arm of the company.

 

[Cocijo]

My 4 has been at the dealer for 6.5 weeks.
They’ve been trying umpteen things to fix the fault, rejection was mentioned then they went back on that and said they are allowed an opportunity to fix it first, which they have deemed as a traction motor replacement.
Now, goodness knows what all those other attempts to fix the car were during the previous 6 weeks if they weren’t ‘opportunities to fix it’.
Utterly sick of MG, which I have decided stands for ‘Mug’s Game’
Even if the car is fixed, which is actually making me chuckle as I type, the car is going to be gone as quickly as I can afford.
Deeply flawed car and a clueless UK arm of the company.

Have I missed something? I’m sure that I saw a post - I thought that you had sorted this and was being given a replacement or refund?

 

[bowfer]

Have I missed something? I’m sure that I saw a post - I thought that you had sorted this and was being given a replacement or refund?

Replacement was mentioned but as I said above they’ve gone back on that and wanted to try traction motor replacement instead.
Which I’m guessing was being done Thursday and Friday going by the plethora of app alerts about this and that I was getting.
Refund has never, ever been mentioned (although, by god, that would be my preferred option)

 

[mattsmg4]

Well, on Friday we sent a special delivery letter and an email explaining to Eden Swindon that the car was not fit for purpose and we have been waiting for 70 days for a repair. Because of the unreasonable wait we were rejecting the car and wanted a repair, replacement or refund within 14 days. No contact yet but I’ll let you know if or how they respond. Suspect I may need a solicitors help.
Cheers, M

 

[siteguru]

How did you pay? And which model variant did you buy? (i.e. was the purchase price >£30k?)

 

[Eber]

Well, on Friday we sent a special delivery letter and an email explaining to Eden Swindon that the car was not fit for purpose and we have been waiting for 70 days for a repair. Because of the unreasonable wait we were rejecting the car and wanted a repair, replacement or refund within 14 days. No contact yet but I’ll let you know if or how they respond. Suspect I may need a solicitors help.
Cheers, M

That's completely comprehensible. I wonder if there will be a scenario in which both customers and dealerships are fed up with MG.

 

[mattsmg4]

Hi site guru. I paid by credit transfer and the trophy with paint protection, gap insurance was a a little above £32k. You must be asking for a particular reason, does it change my situation under the consumer rights act? Cheers, M

Hi Eber, it’s a good question. My dealerships in an impossible position because MG have launched the car with lots of faults and little spares support.

They are really poor at replying to any of our calls, but that’s a lesser issue than waiting so long for the spares. I hope they do the decent thing in this situation and refund us.

Does anyone know what happens after that. Do the dealer then reject the car from MG?

Cheers, M

 

[siteguru]

Hi site guru. I paid by credit transfer and the trophy with paint protection, gap insurance was a a little above £32k. You must be asking for a particular reason, does it change my situation under the consumer rights act? Cheers, M

What is "credit transfer"? If you mean you transferred cash (effectively) from your bank then that's just the same as paying in physical cash notes. Plus your £32k transaction would put the kybosh on things anyway.

The reason for my question was that if you paid any part of the transaction by credit card (even just the deposit), or you'd arranged finance for the purchase (e.g. PCP, HP), and the transaction value was max. £30k, then Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 would be an option for rejecting the car ... S75 makes the credit provider jointly (and severally) liable with the seller for the performance of the contract.

 

[mattsmg4]

Thanks site guru, skuppered on both counts, but useful to know. Thanks

 

[lynz]

Hi, if anyone is waiting for a new FICM unit to repair their car, I received an update from both customer services and the dealership that the spare units will arrive in the UK in the next few weeks. My complaint seemed to have been swept over with the 'global shortage of components', which I fully understand, but the handling of my complaint has been poor. I eventually contacted the area manager for Aberdeenshire, I quoted the Consumer Act but he said I'd no case to reject the car as the fault wasn't there when I took ownership. I responded with that they'd have to prove that. Well later that day, the arrogant dealer principal phoned with a complete change in attitude! He was very nice, gave me the update on shipment and even said he'll see what they can do about me paying for a car that's not roadworthy. I don't really expect any compensation but I've obviously put the wind up them. I should, hopefully, get my car back end of march... And maybe, just maybe, I'll enjoy the car again.

 

[siteguru]

I wondered about your location ... then noticed that d and x are close on a keyboard.

(I've stayed in 'heed a few times when I was working at St. Fergus).

 

[Cloggsy]

I would reject the car & save yourself a load of heartache in the future!

 

[lynz]

I wondered about your location ... then noticed that d and x are close on a keyboard.

(I've stayed in 'heed a few times when I was working at St. Fergus).

Worked at St Fergus too, hope you enjoyed your time in the bloo toon

 

[mattsmg4]

Well, we sent a email and recorded delivery letter to Eden Swindon last Friday explaining that we were rejecting the car in accordance with the consumer rights act 2015. They had not contacted us at all, so we rang them this morning and they promised us that the Branch Manager would ring us this afternoon. I’ll let you know what they say to us.

Fortunately, our car was dropped of for repair on December 8th when it was just less than 30 days old. The consumer rights act says in provision 22 section 6
that “If the consumer requests or agrees to the repair or replacement of goods, the period mentioned in subsection (3) or (4) stops running for the length of the waiting period.” So I’m within the 30 days required for a rejection despite waiting nearly 80 days for the repair.

I hope not to get a solicitor involved, but we have found a consumer rights specialist if needed, let’s see what they say this afternoon.

cheers, Matt

 

[siteguru]

Which model variant did you buy, and how did you pay? (If it was one of the SE variants, and you paid any part of the sum using finance - e.g. credit card or PCP/loan - then Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 may be an option).

 

[Robf]

Do contact the citizens advice first, it is a veritable treasure chest for consumer advice and they have all the legal templates correctly worded for rejecting goods etc. I used them to stuff a large one up Samsung.

Consumer

Get advice on your consumer rights, including complaints and trading standards.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk

You can call them here

Contact the consumer helpline

Contacting Citizens Advice consumer service by phone or on-line if you need further help with a consumer problem.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk

And letter (inluding e-mail) templates are here

Consumer template letters

www.citizensadvice.org.uk

 

[mattsmg4]

Thanks siteguru and roof. I talked to citizen advice and they were excellent. They confirmed I had understood the law correctly. We had received no call by 17:00 so chased them up and the manager rang us at 17:45. He was very understanding but didn’t give any idea what they are going to do. He should ring us tomorrow , and I’ll post what offer they come up with. Cheers, Matt

No call today even though we chased them at 17:00 and 18:00. Communicating with them is so difficult. Maybe a call tomorrow. Cheers, Matt

 

[mattsmg4]

well, yesterday we rang Eden Swindon and due to some coincidence got put through to the regional manager. He was interested in our letter that explained concisely and truthfully what had gone wrong, how it had been unsuccessfully fixed and that we had been waiting over 70 days. The letter also pointed out our rights from the consumer rights act.

he was very helpful, and agreed that they can’t repair the car yet and the part could be weeks or months to arrive. He offered a white or grey Trophy, but explained their is a global shortage of orange,

He also offered us a full refund which we have taken. We get our money back on Tuesday and our plan is to buy a petrol car and look at electric in a couple more years.

MG can’t provide parts to support the MG4, which scares me going forward, and in general the dealer have been pretty poor, telling us what we wanted to hear rather than truth. So, we say goodbye to our Orange Trophy, may be it will be up for sale in Swindon soon.

we will also be selling our matts and instruction books soon on this Website.

I love the car, but getting only 400 miles use out of it in the first 3 months, and no guarantee of any parts in the future has scared me away from MG, and electric cars in general.

Cheers, M

 

[bowfer]

he was very helpful, and agreed that they can’t repair the car yet and the part could be weeks or months to arrive. He offered a white or grey Trophy, but explained their is a global shortage of orange,

He also offered us a full refund which we have taken. We get our money back on Tuesday and our plan is to buy a petrol car and look at electric in a couple more years.

MG can’t provide parts to support the MG4, which scares me going forward, and in general the dealer have been pretty poor, telling us what we wanted to hear rather than truth. So, we say goodbye to our Orange Trophy, may be it will be up for sale in Swindon soon.

we will also be selling our matts and instruction books soon on this Website.

I love the car, but getting only 400 miles use out of it in the first 3 months, and no guarantee of any parts in the future has scared me away from MG, and electric cars in general.

Cheers, M

There’s absolutely no need to be scared off EVs and it’s really annoying MG have done this to the extent that another ICE car will be back on the road.
If there’s one good thing about the 4 it’s that it’s forced others to take their prices down, and you should seriously look at the Nissan Leaf which is available for 4 money.
Doesn’t have the ultra modern interior of the 4, looks more like any ICE car inside, but it’s super reliable and still drives very well.
Doesn’t have CCS charging, but chademo chargers are still very prevalent (if public charging is important)

 

[lynz]

well, yesterday we rang Eden Swindon and due to some coincidence got put through to the regional manager. He was interested in our letter that explained concisely and truthfully what had gone wrong, how it had been unsuccessfully fixed and that we had been waiting over 70 days. The letter also pointed out our rights from the consumer rights act.

he was very helpful, and agreed that they can’t repair the car yet and the part could be weeks or months to arrive. He offered a white or grey Trophy, but explained their is a global shortage of orange,

He also offered us a full refund which we have taken. We get our money back on Tuesday and our plan is to buy a petrol car and look at electric in a couple more years.

MG can’t provide parts to support the MG4, which scares me going forward, and in general the dealer have been pretty poor, telling us what we wanted to hear rather than truth. So, we say goodbye to our Orange Trophy, may be it will be up for sale in Swindon soon.

we will also be selling our matts and instruction books soon on this Website.

I love the car, but getting only 400 miles use out of it in the first 3 months, and no guarantee of any parts in the future has scared me away from MG, and electric cars in general.

Cheers, M

hi mattsmg4,

I'm now in same situation, after waiting 7 weeks for the replacement FICM unit, it was fitted last Wednesday and that failed! I'm so fed up with it all. Spoke to local manager, he just agreed with everything we said... Probably to get rid of us. He was supposed to contact the area manager to find out about replacement as my car is obviously not for for purpose. Still waiting to hear on what the next steps are.

but please don't be scared off EVs in general, I had 3 happy, hassle free years with my eGolf, regretting selling it for the MG4 but the range was a big selling point for the MG4.

Lynda