does anyone know if i have a good case i brought a fiat stilo from a garage advertised with air con when i got it home found that car was not fitted with aircon am i entitled to get a full refund

that is a puzzling one

you could argue the case and get maybe a bit of money back, but they could say its your own fault for not checking

my mum and dad bought an s-class which came without a cd player, and it was advertised as having a multichanger , so they complained to mercedes and got a new multichanger put in

get onto Consumer direct You should have a full refund (as the product isn't as described) keep the advert (ideally if it has a picture of teh car in) as evidence

possibly selling under false pretenses, or a genuine mistake....

Sorry but you don't have a chance of a refund.

You looked at the car before you bought it? ie it was not an internet purchase?

You looked at the car then decided to buy it. You liked what you saw and bought what you saw, therefore - no refund.

Take this example...

look on autotrader and see a fiesta you want but the pic is a mondeo (as often happens on autotrader) dealers take pics and attach the wrong ones to the sale add.

You can't buy the car then go "oh that looks different to the pic, I want a refund!"

but an average joe might not know if it got aircon, till he needs its and looks in manual for the button

did you actually have a look inside the car

i made sure when i checked mine that everything on it worked fine , and it did

the aircon button on the stilo is hidden by the gearstick a bit though and it is quite small

Noclu3 said:

Take this example...

look on autotrader and see a fiesta you want but the pic is a mondeo (as often happens on autotrader) dealers take pics and attach the wrong ones to the sale add.

You can't buy the car then go "oh that looks different to the pic, I want a refund!"

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Depends what is on the sales form, if it states air con or a trim level, which has air con as standard and it's not there then you have a case.

Bit difficult though if it was just an ad in autotrader or a newspaper as it is really upto you to the buyer to confirm what they are buying.

Do you have prove it was advertised with air con?

If so then IMO you definately have yourself a case, but maybe it will end up costing you £££ in legal fees to sort? That's if the garage haven't recognised thier mistake yet.

Whether they saw the car or not does not come into it, it was advertised with functions it did not have, and so you were mislead. It's not like it was sold as seen or anything...

why not go speak to the garage 1st

If you have written proof (through an advertisement for example) that the car was sold with air con then you may be able to get a partial refund or possibly a full refund if you wish to take it that far.

If you have no written proof then its just tough luck mate. Its Your word againced theirs on what the car was sold with.

I think its a little silly to take back a car becuase it doesnt have aircon. Esspecially in this country. Its really not necessary, just a nice optional extra.

Youi'll probably find that if the advert is in one of the main magazines/papers it will have E&OE (errors and omissions excluded) at the bottom.

Ring your Trading Standards Office tomorrow and get the best free advice possible - too many 'barrack room lawyers' in this world

Talk to the garage first, its always best to be polite and firm... getting trading standards and the like in staright away will only get the garages back up.

Bushboy said:

I think its a little silly to take back a car becuase it doesnt have aircon. Esspecially in this country. Its really not necessary, just a nice optional extra.

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cars with A/C demist faster in winter.

nuovapanda said:

Talk to the garage first, its always best to be polite and firm... getting trading standards and the like in staright away will only get the garages back up.

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I would say this is the best advice, you should give them the opportunity to solve the problem. We screw things up at work (nobody is perfect), but then we always make sure we solve any problems. I have had to take a couple of suppliers to court, but too be honest the legal route is the last resort and by that time any goodwill goes out the window.

I would say unlikely that you'll get a full refund. The most you may get is the difference in value between a non airconned stilo and one with aircon which will only be a few hundred max(and thats on a newer one)

It would be better IMO to use it a bargining tool to get a couple of free services or extended warrenty

nuovapanda said:

Talk to the garage first, its always best to be polite and firm... getting trading standards and the like in staright away will only get the garages back up.

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It will only get their backs up if you tell the garage you have been in touch with TS - nothing lbeats knowing what your ground is like before you step on it!

Being armed with your 'strengths' must be the best way forwards in any negotiation to know a) when you are being lied to and b) when the offer made is better than they have to provide.

As I said before too many Barrack room lawyers in this world.....

So what do you want out if it exactly? There is no law that says the seller has to take it back and offer a full refund because to be fair some of the blame is yours and the car has been subject to wear and tear. Go back to them and see what they say, they might take it back and return the cash in full, they might give you some cash-back, they might swap it for something else, they might even have a no questions asked returns policy.......you wont know until you ask them. If they tell you to feck-right-off then go and see the CAB or TSO for some proper legal advice, you might have some legal comeback on this but no-one in here seems to be able to confirm this.....plenty of opinions, but little of what appears to be credible information.......barrack room lawyers as mentioned.

Purposely misrepresenting goods for sale is an offence, but the hard part is proving it was done on purpose, if the seller is confronted he will probably say it was a genuine one-off mistake. However the seller might be pulling this trick on a regular basis in an attempt to make their cars more saleable, if they have done it before and other people have fallen for it and complained about the same thing, TS will drop on them from a great height and you will have a case against them

Diplomacy is always the first step, go and speak to the seller, raise the issue and see which way they bounce and remember as it stands they will know more about their legal obligations as sellers than you presently do.