As I mentioned previously, I had a few issues with Renualt UK. I’m never one to just take a situation lying down, so I called Renault’s head office to complain. After about half-an-hour, I had an apology and an agreement to reimburse our recent fault. A week later, a cheque arrived for the full amount and is now sitting happily in our bank account.

I love it when you win a little something.

We bought a new Renault Scenic 5-seater just before our youngest was born, almost 5 years ago. The car was great, spacious especially with the double-sunroof. Unfortunately the dealer we dealt with was getting ridiculously greedy with service costs. We decided to move to another dealer not too far away and despite their reassurances the cycle repeats itself.

We’ve had a problem with the automatic window controls breaking down which were apparently “fixed” by the current dealer, Renault Enfield. The same fault kept on cropping up for the past three years for each of the windows and we’ve had to pay for what they term as “wear and tear”. The latest breakdown just took the proverbial biscuit.

The car, as I wrote earlier, is five years old or thereabouts. When Gillian took it to the dealer and complained about an obvious recurring design fault, she was ultimately told that we should upgrade to the latest model to fix the problem. But that’s getting ahead of the dealer’s incompetence.

Gillian called ahead to book a replacement car while ours was getting fixed and she was told “that doesn’t happen any more and you have to pay for a rental car.” She reluctantly accepted Renault’s new terms. Come the day and come the rental car booked right? Wrong. They made her wait for nearly an hour, despite making it clear the she had children to pick up. When the rental company finally arrived with a the car they asked her to sign a £600 excess form, despite reassurances that there would be no hidden costs. She refused to do that and demanded to speak with the Renault customer service manager, a Mr Pani. This saviour, this Robin Hood of Renault basically told her she had no choice if she wanted to drive off the forecourt while our car was dealt with. Besides, the charge for fixing the problem is subject to an £89 investigation fee and a possible charge of £400. Plus VAT.

At this point Gillian called the whole thing off, called them a bunch of crooks and demanded our car back. She then drove to an independent reputable garage in Crouch End and was given a proper valuation and time frame to fix the fault.

Renault dealers. A bunch of crooks. Expensive cars and expensive and rip-off after sales service. Avoid them like the plague.