Renault 'cash back' offer

lilydempsey

Hi
I am wondering if anyone else has any experience of Renault's 'cash back' offer.
The deal was if the car was registered prior to the end of March 2009 the buyer was to receive €2000 cash back within 42 days.
The web site clearly said that the 'dealer' had no involvement and that it came from 'head office' direct.
I have been told that the €2000 was included in my trade in price!!!
Any ideas
Lily

dudara

Have you contacted Head Office about this?

Mike...

Dodgy company makes dodgy cars,
bring it to the SIMI.

lilydempsey

yes and got a reply from some guy in head office, England. He was very patronising and suggested I go back and talk to the dealer and it might prompt me into remembering!!!
I went back to dealer yesterday and asked to see all correspondence/forms signed by myself on the day of purchase (originals). The original of the one where I apparently signed the €2000 transfer to them was not available. There was however a 'copy' of it and it did indeed appear to have my signature on it. The chassis number was correct but the reg no. incorrect.
The conversation I had with the dealer on the day of purchase went like this:
Me: " what happens now about the €2000 cash back offer, do I have to apply for it?"
Him: " No, once the paperwork goes through to head office, they issue a cheque, the dealer has nothing to do with it"
I KNOW this conversation took place and yet he is telling me I signed away the rights to it on the same day.
That is how I know for certain he is pulling a fast one and lying through his teeth.
Just don't know what to do about it

jor el

That sounds extremely dodgy. If they have forged documentation, you should definitely pursue this further.

Small Claims Court maximum claim is 2,000 euro, perfect for this situation. Document what has happened, that the dealer is refusing or unable to provide original documents, or proof that you waived the cashback, and submit a claim.

If that results in a satisfactory outcome, you should report it all to the NCA for them to investigate, and possibly fine. Report the garage to the SIMI too, if they are a member.

Report everything back to Renault Ireland when you're done, and consider reporting it to the various newspapers, and Joe Duffy of course!

Sponge Bob

This looks like forgery 101 but was the deal applicable in March or did the dealer give it to you another way on a non cashback model ???? And it is 45 days not 42

http://www.blanchrenault.com/pressreleases/special-offer.htm

This was the cashback offer

Cash Back Offer Information

Model Retail From Cash Back Road Tax from CO2 g/km from
Twingo €12,560* €1,500 €156 130
Clio €14,060 €2,000 €104 119
Koleos €32,990 €3,000 €630 179
Laguna €27,040 €3,500 €156 130
Laguna Tourer €31,300 €4,000 €156 139


* Applies to Dynamique & GT model versions only.


Cashback Terms & Conditions



The Cash Back offer amounts are only on the selected models listed above
The Cash Back offer is only on car registrations from the 20th of February 2009 to the 28th of February 2009, or while stocks last within that period
Retail Sales Only, Excludes Demos/Hire Drives & Fleet sales
The Cash Back offer is only on vehicles sourced from Renault Ireland and purchased from an authorised Renault Dealer in the
Republic of Ireland
The customer recieves the cheque directly from Renault Ireland 45 Days after the date of Registration Retail prices quoted exclude delivery & related charges

You actually have 2 cases , one against the dealer for forgery and the other against the distributor for allowing their dealers to forge ( some larger renault dealerships are owned by the distributor but are separate companies ) or for not policing their own cashback scheme properly .

You must get a solicitor to issue a court summons and demand 'discovery' of this 'forgery' as it is a key piece of evidence.

It will most likely mysteriously disappear but they will still pretend to fight until the court date when they will settle in full.

Once it disappears you can then act against the distributors as there is no more evidence in their defence after that Should be good for an extra few bob as they called you a liar.

Item 1. Get discovery of this forged document and use a solicitor to do that bit .

lilydempsey

Many thanks for that.
I wasn't sure if it was 45 or 42 days.
My understanding of cash back offer was so long as car was registered before end March which mine was.
None of what you quote was mentioned to me, I only discovered the offer after I talked to the dealer, the scenario went like this:
1st visit: dealer looked at my '07 clio, showed me the 'Rip Curl' clio and told me I would have to give him €7,500.
I replied "God, does that mean you are only giving me €10,000 for mine to which he replied "yes, because he did n't really need any more '07s.
I replied that I would have to think about it.
I returned home looked up other Renault cars on the net and 'discovered' the cash back offer which obviously made my mind up.
I phoned him back and said I would go for the Rip Curl and that the cash back offer was too good to miss.
He contacted me after a couple of days to say the car was now registered we talked about insurance etc.
I arrived on the day, signed paperwork including one which I remember him saying was "just to say you are selling yours to us for €10,000. I paid him a cheque for €7,500 and that was that.
I received NO paperwork on the day (not even a receipt for cheque) I didn't worry about this as I had keys for new car.
When I talked to him 6 weeks later about the cash back he denied giving me a price for my car on the 1st visit saying he never did that.
He also referred to the fact that I only had "two youngsters with me" (my 16 year old daughter and her 18 year old friend!)
It is not now about the money but about the fact that he is treating me as a fool.
This is my third Renault to buy from this same person.

legend73

This is an old trick the same thing happened to me way back in 1999. Something very very small, but we had done the deal, and the car was to include a protection barrier (station wagon), tinted windows, heavy duty tow pack, and other bits and pieces. I paid an extra 1800 at the time for the work. When I picked up the car about half of it was done. I said what about the tow pack and its missing the protection barrier etc. They showed me a piece of paper I signed which had no mention of it, but when I signed it, it was all there in black and white, I never had a copy of it.

Had no recourse on it! Dodgy, dodgy dealers. Naive on my part not to get a copy of the contract as it was signed. I was at their mercy, but learnt a valuable lesson. The only thing I did at the time was go up to all the customers and told them they were dodgy, about 5 in all. They grabbed me and told me to shutup, they had made a mistake and installed the protection barrier on the spot, but said the tow bar was a stretch to far for the price. I then called up the financing agency told them the car was not fully as expected, missing a tow bar worth 400. They took that off the price!

This was funny because the tow bar was not on the contract, but I said it was on the car when I bought it, when I picked it up it was gone - the dealer had no recourse on that so I got the 400 off the finance package. Lucky I bluffed my way back into the game.

foggy_lad

they sold you something and now have "changed" the product you purchased so they are liable! go back to the garage and say you are not happy and will get a refund if it is the last thing you do! you were told you would get a cheque not that the cheque would be set against your trade in price this is just a rip off by unscruplous sales people!

lilydempsey

guess what
the original form that 'I' signed has gone astray
renault ireland meant to phone me within '24 hours' last thursday
still waiting
timw for solicitor I think

robo

This is why car dealers don't have a good name ... we heard Bill Cullen on every radio talk show that would have him, giving out about the carbon tax killing the motor industry in Ireland. I think Mr Cullen and his friends in Renault need to stop messing around with people and their money. There is either a cash back deal or not - tell the customer at the start about it all and whether they comply to that offer. This is disgraceful carry on by the garage.
Keep on at them Lily and let us know how you get on!

foggy_lad

is there any point referring this to the guards as it smacks of scam/fraud.

jor el

I'd get a solicitor on to it, and ask them what they think of how fraudulent it might be too.

lilydempsey

hi all
I have today contacted a solicitor
watch this space
I will let you know as things unfold
many thanks for support
lily

jor el

Good stuff, but you'll probably want to say nothing more here while any potential case is ongoing, you don't want anything to go against you. I hope it works out anyway.

darc

I'm guessing the following

Full retail price of the new car = €17,500
Trade in value of ypur 07 = €10,000
Balance = €7,500

Car garages have a built in excess on new car prices that allows them give inflated trade in values - basically if you went to a garage without a trade in for the same car, you should pay a maximum of €16,000 for the above car. So in reality he was giving you €8,500 for your clio - about right in terms of trade value. (assuming a resale price of approx. €10,000.)

Based on these figures, there is no possible way the €2,000 cash back is included - very simple math.