- Joined
- Mar 11, 2013
- Messages
- 11,021
- Location
- South Bucks
- Car
- CLS63 SB, ML63, CLK350 'Vert, Triumph Sprint (Bike not Dolly...),
I picked up my R129 on Monday; well, I say I, but in fact it was a recovery truck. I will explain…
(Picture of the car down below, and a question; according to the data sheet the paint code is 199 (SchwarzBlau), but I’m beginning to wonder. Can anyone identify the colour? It’s noticeably lighter than Tanzanite, if that helps.
I agreed to buy this car in June (lovely car, runs beautifully, you will not be disappointed, only faults seat bolster, small rust blemish one wheel arch, crack in rear window but spare pristine hardtop same colour, commercial sale by Trade Car Centre Bradford), after the Ebay sale fell through, and paid 60% of the agreed price as a deposit (Mug? Oooooooh yes – but read on), but due to my personal circumstances was not ready to collect it until late August. In the meantime, I arranged for the engine wiring loom to be checked; yes, eco-junk decomposing wiring, so asked the Tw4t with whom I dealt to send it to Sileck in Kent to have it rebuilt. It took him five weeks to do it. An omen?
He’s a hard man to contact – several calls before I get a reply. Another omen?
Wiring loom on by 12 October; ‘still a slight misfire’, but he would have the plugs changed. Fair enough; I took new distributor caps and rotors up with me, just in case. I told him that I would come up on Monday morning (19 October) to take the car and drive home, and to have it ready for me.
The car was in Bradford. Up well before crack of sparrows (coffee to be drunk, dogs to be walked, etc. before taxi to Heathrow), 0800 flight up to Leeds/Bradford, landed 0900-ish. Ring him; ‘running a bit late, should be there by ten’. Taxi arrived as ordered 0930, road accident holding up traffic on the way into Bradford, twenty-minute journey takes nearly an hour (yet another omen?), at the car by 10:25 (rundown part of Bradford – Barnard Road in East Bowling, if anybody knows it; old buildings, backstreet garage, small MoT test station, used tyre sales place, skip lorry park/office). Car parked between two single-story brick sheds, three months’ dust on it, badly scratched bonnet, three tyres flat (one of them half off the rim…), no sign of him. Turns up five minutes later; battery dead flat, can’t get into boot. Borrows battery booster from MoT station, opens boot, booster on battery, eventually gets car firing on at least five cylinders (most of the time). Creep it (mostly me and passers-by pushing, really) across road to MoT/tyre place to pump up tyres, change the one half off rim. He now tells me, when asked, that he’s parted from (more like booted out, I reckon) Trade Car Centre, so is now a private sale. He sees I’m really REALLY hacked off, offers refund ‘by bank transfer’. (Yeah, right; if I go away now I’ll never see a penny, or the car, again). Now 11:15; he says must go, back very soon. I say “look, I’ve flown up here to pick up the car, and it’s not even roadworthy”; ‘sorry, you’ll just have to wait, I’ll be back soon’, and off he goes. Eternally hopefull, I set to to change the distributor caps and rotor arms to see what happens.
I haven’t paid the balance yet, by the way.
Text from him 11:58: ‘I’ve got to drop my wife off in Leeds I’ll be back asap mate’ (Thinks: “I’m not your mate, you tw4t, and I’m very p1ssed off indeed. All I really want to do is punch your face and get my money back, and I’m not sure I wouldn’t just settle for the punching bit right now…”).
13:06; ring his mobile; no answer, so leave message (“WTF is going on? Call me”). Car runs – lumpily – at fast idle for 2-3 minutes, then cuts out; turns over, but only slight splutter. Fuel warning light on (always has been – typical generic dodgy dealer behaviour), so get lift to petrol station, buy 10 litres fuel, put in tank. Light goes out, car starts, Hurrah! (at least five pots nearly all the time, often six/ seven, maybe eight, above about 1500 rpm. Still won’t idle, though). After 2-3 minutes at fast idle, cuts out again.
15:00 Still no contact from him. Think “sod this for game of soldiers, I’m going home”. Ring recovery service.
17:00 hrs. Car on back of truck. STILL no contact from him. 17:01 onwards: Shake dust of Bradford from shoes, vow never to go back.
Late on Tuesday, he sends text and leaves message on answerphone. Rings again today (I’m out); ‘What’s going on? Call me.’
Earlier today, message sent to his eBay account: “No more chit-chat, in writing from now on, text/send me email address and I’ll get back to you”. Left same voicemail message on his mobile.
I’m waiting to hear from him. Strangely enough, now that I have the car, and owe him money, his comms are much improved; funny that…
The car now sits in my drive. I put a new battery in today, but the situation is unchanged; the car starts, runs lumpily (at least five pots nearly all the time, often six/ seven, maybe eight) above about 1500 rpm. After 2-3 minutes of that, it cuts out and will not restart. If I leave it till it’s cooled, it does it all over again. I’ll start another thread for that.
If I had walked away without the car, on the strength of his promise to make a refund by bank transfer, I’m pretty much certain that I’d never have got a penny back, nor the car ever fixed and ready for me to go and collect it. Does anyone disagree?
STOP PRESS - He just called, full of apologies, and says we’ll sort it out between us once I get the car running right and know how much it’s cost. We’ll see…
(Picture of the car down below, and a question; according to the data sheet the paint code is 199 (SchwarzBlau), but I’m beginning to wonder. Can anyone identify the colour? It’s noticeably lighter than Tanzanite, if that helps.
I agreed to buy this car in June (lovely car, runs beautifully, you will not be disappointed, only faults seat bolster, small rust blemish one wheel arch, crack in rear window but spare pristine hardtop same colour, commercial sale by Trade Car Centre Bradford), after the Ebay sale fell through, and paid 60% of the agreed price as a deposit (Mug? Oooooooh yes – but read on), but due to my personal circumstances was not ready to collect it until late August. In the meantime, I arranged for the engine wiring loom to be checked; yes, eco-junk decomposing wiring, so asked the Tw4t with whom I dealt to send it to Sileck in Kent to have it rebuilt. It took him five weeks to do it. An omen?
He’s a hard man to contact – several calls before I get a reply. Another omen?
Wiring loom on by 12 October; ‘still a slight misfire’, but he would have the plugs changed. Fair enough; I took new distributor caps and rotors up with me, just in case. I told him that I would come up on Monday morning (19 October) to take the car and drive home, and to have it ready for me.
The car was in Bradford. Up well before crack of sparrows (coffee to be drunk, dogs to be walked, etc. before taxi to Heathrow), 0800 flight up to Leeds/Bradford, landed 0900-ish. Ring him; ‘running a bit late, should be there by ten’. Taxi arrived as ordered 0930, road accident holding up traffic on the way into Bradford, twenty-minute journey takes nearly an hour (yet another omen?), at the car by 10:25 (rundown part of Bradford – Barnard Road in East Bowling, if anybody knows it; old buildings, backstreet garage, small MoT test station, used tyre sales place, skip lorry park/office). Car parked between two single-story brick sheds, three months’ dust on it, badly scratched bonnet, three tyres flat (one of them half off the rim…), no sign of him. Turns up five minutes later; battery dead flat, can’t get into boot. Borrows battery booster from MoT station, opens boot, booster on battery, eventually gets car firing on at least five cylinders (most of the time). Creep it (mostly me and passers-by pushing, really) across road to MoT/tyre place to pump up tyres, change the one half off rim. He now tells me, when asked, that he’s parted from (more like booted out, I reckon) Trade Car Centre, so is now a private sale. He sees I’m really REALLY hacked off, offers refund ‘by bank transfer’. (Yeah, right; if I go away now I’ll never see a penny, or the car, again). Now 11:15; he says must go, back very soon. I say “look, I’ve flown up here to pick up the car, and it’s not even roadworthy”; ‘sorry, you’ll just have to wait, I’ll be back soon’, and off he goes. Eternally hopefull, I set to to change the distributor caps and rotor arms to see what happens.
I haven’t paid the balance yet, by the way.
Text from him 11:58: ‘I’ve got to drop my wife off in Leeds I’ll be back asap mate’ (Thinks: “I’m not your mate, you tw4t, and I’m very p1ssed off indeed. All I really want to do is punch your face and get my money back, and I’m not sure I wouldn’t just settle for the punching bit right now…”).
13:06; ring his mobile; no answer, so leave message (“WTF is going on? Call me”). Car runs – lumpily – at fast idle for 2-3 minutes, then cuts out; turns over, but only slight splutter. Fuel warning light on (always has been – typical generic dodgy dealer behaviour), so get lift to petrol station, buy 10 litres fuel, put in tank. Light goes out, car starts, Hurrah! (at least five pots nearly all the time, often six/ seven, maybe eight, above about 1500 rpm. Still won’t idle, though). After 2-3 minutes at fast idle, cuts out again.
15:00 Still no contact from him. Think “sod this for game of soldiers, I’m going home”. Ring recovery service.
17:00 hrs. Car on back of truck. STILL no contact from him. 17:01 onwards: Shake dust of Bradford from shoes, vow never to go back.
Late on Tuesday, he sends text and leaves message on answerphone. Rings again today (I’m out); ‘What’s going on? Call me.’
Earlier today, message sent to his eBay account: “No more chit-chat, in writing from now on, text/send me email address and I’ll get back to you”. Left same voicemail message on his mobile.
I’m waiting to hear from him. Strangely enough, now that I have the car, and owe him money, his comms are much improved; funny that…
The car now sits in my drive. I put a new battery in today, but the situation is unchanged; the car starts, runs lumpily (at least five pots nearly all the time, often six/ seven, maybe eight) above about 1500 rpm. After 2-3 minutes of that, it cuts out and will not restart. If I leave it till it’s cooled, it does it all over again. I’ll start another thread for that.
If I had walked away without the car, on the strength of his promise to make a refund by bank transfer, I’m pretty much certain that I’d never have got a penny back, nor the car ever fixed and ready for me to go and collect it. Does anyone disagree?
STOP PRESS - He just called, full of apologies, and says we’ll sort it out between us once I get the car running right and know how much it’s cost. We’ll see…
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