AIBU to never buy from 'rideoncars.co.uk' ever again????

[DeFluffMyFanjo]

Bought a ride on car, spending over £100. When we tried it it worked fine with no-one in it by remote control. Once dd (4) was in it, it wouldn't work.

Lots of phone calls later they sent a new motor and asked us to solder it into the car (!). Still didn't work. They admitted by email this problem had happened before.

Their customer service was very rude and sarcastic. Finally we had enough and said we wanted a full refund, they said they would not refund either the postage we originally paid OR the postage that it would cost us to get back to them (about £28 in total). After much more arguing we finally gave in and sent the car back at our own cost.

My dd had played with the box (scribbled on it) before we realised there was any problem with the car. They then sent us this:

"I'm not too happy with the return to be honest. For a full refund, we require goods to be in re-saleable condition. Although the car isn't too bad, the box has been destroyed by scribblings and doodles, which will make it impossible to re-sell".

We have now replied (again) and have informed them that we took photos of the car and had them verified by a neighbour to prove that the car was in perfect condition (obviously with the addition of the motor they asked us to solder in). They have now said they will refund but still not the postage.

After the spate of similar threads on MN at the moment about poor customer service is there any point trying to make them pay postage or am I just wasting (yet more) time? And AIBU to expect better having paid out over £100??

They are going to try and re-sell a car which doesn't work??! The goods are not fit for purpose so the fact that the box is scribbled on is neither here nor there. What would have happened if you had binned the packaging completely before realising that the car didn't work? Not sure how you will back your postage however.

Annh, I know. So weird, have just been really unhelpful and impolite from the start which is really what's bugging me rather than the hassle and cost I suppose.

I thought that if an item was unfit for use a seller had to refund postage but not sure where I read that or how to enforce...

Trading standards - under the DSR they are obliged to refund postage on unfit goods

For three years I've been working for one of the companies that sells these cars.
We NEVER re-sell cars.
We strip them for spare parts and all spare parts are tested before any are put to use.
You cannot solder a new motor in place as they are plugged in and there is no soldering required.
The cars are 90%plastic and nearly all components are plugged in.
All the cars come with a Return to Base Warranty which means you are expected to return the car for repairs but the company pays for the repair and then returning it to the customer.
What else do you expect for less than £100 when they're imported from the other side of the world and incurr other overheads while stocked.

Funnily enough brand new goods even if they 'only' cost £100 are expected to work and be fit for purpose

Very old thread for you to post on UncleSlacker

Sorry- I know this is an old post but I had to come here just to warn people to NEVER EVER buy from this company!!

The products are poorly made, the customer service is non existent, overall it's the worse company I've ever had the misfortune to come across!

I've just come off the phone to them after spending the last 3 weeks trying to get them to collect a faulty car that didn't even turn on!! I spent Christmas Eve trying to find a replacement car for my children.

To cut a long and very frustrating story short.. I bought a car for Christmas- the stickers were pealing off (prepared to over look that) - after putting it together it didn't work- was given a list of things to check- still didn't work- asked for a full refund and for it to be returned, this took 3 weeks- was contacted with an email stating that I would receive a refund minus the return costs because as soon as they plugged it in it worked!
I explained this could not be true because i wouldnt put myself through the stress of finding a replacement on christmas eve- it wasnt working! After this JESSE started shouting at me and then he hung up on me- i called back asked to speak with the manager , apparently He was!

they should not be able to continue to get away with this, it wouldn't surprise me if they did try and sell it on afterwards- £100 or £10, its not the issue you buy a product you expect it to work and you do not expect to receive that type of service from anyone!

I bought the ride on car (155.99 inc postage of 16.99 ) to have it sent to N.Ireland. My dad assembled it well and the parental control did not work at all which is a necessity for toddlers. I had days and days of half-hearted emails from 'Jesse' instructing me how to fix it, with no result. Then offering to send replacement parts for me to assemble! After I requested a courier collect the faulty item 'Jesse' lied and told me IF it 'suddenly worked' when it was returned, that 89.00 plus vat would be deducted from my refund, just for them having it collected. I realised then and after reading other customer reviews, that they would just say it worked to scam this 'courier' money from me. (Thank god I was able to put a claim in with paypal and they resolved this for me in the end). I had to pay myself over 40 to have it sent back to England, upon the premise by paypal that when it was delivered back to them I'd get a refund. The company also emailed me giving me an address to send the car to, a 90 mile drive away from their business address that is registered with paypal? Further, at first, they would not answer the door to Parcel Force at their business address that paypal gave me, then when someone did sign for it (perhaps inadvertently) after a surprise re-delivery, I was still getting emails from 'Julie' saying they had not received the item. (No refund without delivery back to them you see) They lie through their teeth from start to finish, and you WILL get a faulty car and there is no genuine customer service to help you if you do, and they will try every trick in the book to avoid giving you a refund, and you will pay the postage for its return without question. These cars are being distributed from China, are of very poor quality and there is NO U.K quality control. They are rubbish. Please do not think you are getting a bargain with them as they are gangsters, and will never deal with you honestly if you have a complaint about the ride on. (& you very likely will!)