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Original poster

Furious with Smart (car) :(

61 replies

hulababy · 02/11/2006 18:17

Sadly, after being in such praise of my AA man on Tuesday night, I am now furious and writing a letter of complaint to Smart! AA man looked at it and said lookign at the problem, and the newness of the car it'd be on the warranty. This morning the Smart garage said it would be on the warranty, and be ready by tomorrow morning. This afternoon they phone and say it is not covered by the warranty and it is caused by wear and tear - so I have to fork out of £800 to have it repaired, get no courtesy car and it will no take until end of next week.

So, it is normal for a clutch (and whatever it was underneath - can't remember name) to go completly after just 6 months and 10,000 is it?!

Seems like they are fitting substandard clutches to their cars if that is the case. I am furious. I will be writing and complaining.

I now have to find over £800 this weekned - great, eh?!!!

OP posts:
Original poster
hulababy · 02/11/2006 21:15

Going to join that forum and ask tomorrow. Also look into this Honest John thing - someone else suggested it to me as well.

Yes, garage just doing what Smart have told them apparantly.

It is the clutch anf the flywheel which are the issues. Both need replacing.

OP posts:
LIZS · 02/11/2006 21:17

"Yes, garage just doing what Smart have told them apparantly. "

I'm sure they have discretion in the name of encouraging customer loyalty !

PretendFriend · 02/11/2006 21:18

There's nothing helpful on Honest John - under faults it just says "too soon to say" - but mentions "A Smart ForTwo has reached 339,600 miles on its original engine and transmission, with just one new clutch at 96,000 miles" so the clutch itself used to be OK!

Original poster
hulababy · 02/11/2006 21:21

ForTwo is a different car though (much smaller), and has been around for much longer than the ForFour.

This is a car that is designed for urban use, yet the clutch doesn't appear to be able to cope with even non-urban (and less stress) driving!

OP posts:
Original poster
hulababy · 02/11/2006 21:23

Thanks for looking PF. Maybe I should contact this HonestJohn for them to look into.

Anyone else got a car where the clutch has gone so quickly. I got the car end of March and have done 10,000 miles (approx 1k of them last week on holiday!) I had no warning of this until Tueday, about 5 minutes before it simply stopped moving in the middle of a roundabout on the main ring road round the city at rish hour!

OP posts:
PretendFriend · 02/11/2006 21:25

[email protected]

Worth a shot - he knows a lot

Original poster
hulababy · 02/11/2006 21:26

Cheers - another for me To Do list tomorrow; glad I have a day off

OP posts:
Moonpie · 02/11/2006 22:08

Hulababy, I've had my car for 6 years and only just replaced the clutch about 4 months ago. In that time I did over 70,000 miles. It only had 30,000 on it when I bought it and the mechanic said it was the original clutch. I think it's obscene that they are saying it is wear and tear. There must have been a defect with the original one for it to wear that quickly.

Panyanpickle77 · 02/11/2006 22:58

Hi hulababy, my DH is an AA man (and what a very nice man he is too). I told him about your situation, and he seems to feel that you have a very good case to be covered by Guarantee . He has never heard of a new car having the clutch go after 10000 miles in 6months. He suggests that you argue your point, as they may be trying to fob you off (apparently lots of garages do this to women as they see them as easy targets.......not nice, but apparently true!). Ask how they know that wear and tear caused the problem, and if they still don't back down tell them that you are going to get a second opinion (long winded but hopefully it will work)

Original poster
hulababy · 03/11/2006 10:46

DDH is contacting thme again to day by telephone and by letter. His letter will be on headed paper too (he is a solicitor, partner at a reputable firm the dealership will know)

OP posts:
Loshad · 03/11/2006 19:11

It's got to be faulty surely, if you haven't had clutch problems with your other cars. My car (not a smart) has done 74000 from new and i haven't had a new clutch yet - usual mix of motorway and urban driving.

tallulah · 04/11/2006 12:15

This can't be right. I've had my Smart ForFour for 17 months and done about 13K miles and the only thing I've had to have was a normal service. There is no way the clutch should go this soon.

(Then again Smart aren't known for decent aftercare )

TheDaVinciCod · 04/11/2006 12:19

lol ta lth adn hulas car

Original poster
hulababy · 04/11/2006 14:31

Formal letter posted last night.

OP posts:
edam · 04/11/2006 14:35

Ooh I'd love to see their faces when they open your dh's letter. Sneaky so-and-sos trying to wriggle out of their liability.

hub2dee · 04/11/2006 17:24

I've got a copy here: "my wife might be a crap driver but she so doesn't ride the clutch, and I certainly didn't do it, and if you're implying it's my girlfriend or something like that I'm fully conversant with the slander laws of this fair isle..."

Original poster
hulababy · 04/11/2006 20:00
Grin
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hub2dee · 22/11/2006 20:22

OK, hula.... where's the update. Did his letter rock ?

Original poster
hulababy · 22/11/2006 20:29

We got no reply from the first letter. So he sent a second letter by recorded delivery to both the comstumer complaints department and the head office - that was sent last Monday. Again no reply. So at the end of this week, or Monday, if no response we shall be issuing a court summons to sue them - small claims court. As it is small claims we don't have to pay their costs if we lose, solicitor's costs for us are free (DH is a solicitor and his colleague is doing it) - just pay for the summons bit. They then have to send a solicitor from both places - can't change court as companies; as individuals we chose it. So, hopefully they will figure it is much cheaper to settle out of court. We will see - we have nothing to lose.

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Original poster
hulababy · 22/11/2006 20:30

Thanks for asking BTW. I have left it all to Dh to deal with now, easier to keep out of it now it is all legal based.

Both original letters were sent out on headed paper from the solicitor's firm.

OP posts:
hub2dee · 22/11/2006 20:41

I've looked at the online small claims forms a few times when companies have been obviously devious / crap in their behaviour / attitude, it looks like a fairly simple process.

I have no doubt they will settle as soon as the summons is received, because quite frankly, their case seems to have no merit. How irritating, and what a boring, unecessary use of time / energy and money.

Oh well, hope it gets sorted smart. (geddit).

I presume the car is unusable at the mo ? I imagine you could also claim for a hire car if needed.

Original poster
hulababy · 22/11/2006 20:45

No - my car is back and fixed. We had no choice but to pay up - but only after sending the initial letter, and have sent certified copies of the the invoice, etc. to them as well. Checked with the solicitor dealing with it and this was fine to do. Hence claiming back through small claim's court. We actually have the clutch and fly wheel in our garage - but avoiding having them looked at as it would be about £500 to have that done - can't get that done for free, unlike the legal work.

Fingers crossed Smart get their act together!

OP posts:
milge · 22/11/2006 20:46

I have just had the clutch replaced under warranty on my 2.5yo Saab 93 which has done 40,000 miles. And they gave me a Zafira for the week. I can't see how SMART can refuse warranty. Hope you get your money back, and buy a saab next time, their after sales is great.

Original poster
hulababy · 22/11/2006 20:48

milge - I will not be buying from them again. Such a disappointment as well, as we had an original Smart - when the little ones first came out in left hand drive - and loved it. This has really put a downer on it all.

OP posts:
hub2dee · 22/11/2006 21:00

And they're about to bring out the Smart Plus (original Smart plus 20cm and a few improvements I guess).

Oh well... Do you have your heart set on anything else funky ? I've still got a Saab convertible if you like, but it's not fast and I know one (or both) of you enjoy swift response.