FANCY CARS, BWELVILLE, CAPE TOWN: DISAPPOINTING SERVICE

I bought a car from Fancy Cars, Belville, Cape Town. I am in Johannesburg. It was a low mileage Mercedes Benz C200 Kompressor.

I asked if it had any "dings scratches or dents." I was told it did not.

On arrival, the car's radio was found not to be working at all. This was 10 August 2021.

I reported this immediately, as well as broken air vents and a sizeable sc**** on the car's front spoiler.

On 13 August 2021 I received an email from one Mike Honsa of Fancy Cars.

His approach was unhelpful and hostile. He did not mention the dysfunctional radio at all in his communication with me.

On being challenged, again by email, he claimed I was trying "to bully [them] into giving me a brand new car." He also wrote that my claims were "baseless and malicious". And that he would entertain no further correspondence on the matter.

I had said that failure to disclose the fact that the radio didn't work was dishonest. This claim Mr Honsa insists is "baseless and malicious." Facts are facts: the radio doesn't work and they didn't tell me this; the car has a bad c**** on the spoiler, and they didn't tell me this; 3 of the 4 air vents on the car's dash are damaged and don't work, and they didn't tell me this. These are facts. My pointing these facts out to them are - in Mr Honsa's extraordinary view, "baseless and malicious." Perhaps Mr Honsa can explain to us how a fact is "baseless"?

Mr Honsa has insisted he will not engage any further. He has also instructed his sales person likewise. I had asked that we agree for the radio to be repaired and and that Fancy Cars cover the cost. His response to that is to cut off correspondence.

Judging from Mr Honsa's comments and behaviours in this instance, he clearly has no compunction about his staff's failure to disclose faults to a client who is corresponding from a distance; he clearly doesn't think it unsatisfactory that he sells a car with a radio/sound system that doesn't work; and he clearly has no desire to put right any of these issues which they could not not have known about.

I would, on my experience, caution anybody from trying to deal with Mr Honsa or from taking as truthful representations that might be made by his sales representatives.

I paid way over retail for a car represented to me as being excellent.

Any decent and customer-orientated dealership would have agreed to my suggestion to make good the dysfunctional radio. Instead, Mr Honsa claims my points are "baseless", are "blackmail" and cuts off any discussion of the matter.

This is hugely unimpressive.