I’ve been here before, and last time the garage I dealt with split up.
Many people who had been mistreated by certain people within that garage stepped forward due to my write up, and the person who sold the car to us purchased it back.
The funny thing was that due to the number of hits that my website gets, my website came up FIRST on Internet searches like GOOGLE when people tried looking for that garage. That meant that they first thing people read was how bad that garage was, and straight away they looked elsewhere. Additionally other people used my site to put together information and track other bad dealers down.
Well it all resolved quite nicely & I really didn’t fancy having to do it again. I mean if I had to do it again I have made lots of good contacts from last time, but I think I’d rather just go direct to the courts & hit hard. I don’t like being messed around.
ANYWAY… The old Audi died and I purchased a used SEAT ALHAMBRA from Seamus Grassick of GRASSICK MOTORS LTD (GRASSICK HOLDINGS) in Wokingham.
He seems a very nice chap, and very helpful. He even fixed some ‘little’ faults that were on the vehicle when I went to buy it… Well, the flat tyre had to be mentioned a couple of times, but it got changed… as did a second tyre that went down whilst they were changing the first tyre… You know… so it was safe to drive.
One recurring fault has seemed to cause a problem, and although I am well within my legal rights to get a refund, I thought I’d let him sort it out.
The fault meant the car kept stalling. If I was at speed it would buck & restart (bump start under its own momentum), but at slow speeds it would shudder to a halt (as happened trying to leave a junction & turning across oncoming traffic into a garage.
On one occasion the jolt of a restart caused the wheels to spin on a roundabout. Most definitely not safe. On each occasion (apart from the roundabout) my 7 year old son was in the car with me.
I’ll let you make your minds up by leaving my text messages here for you to view.
Do you think I’m being fair with him?
Click on the photos to see them full size.
For general information, you might find this interesting… SALE OF GOODS ACT 1979 (Amended).
One other thing is that his website and the cars he has on AUTOTRADER have incorrect mileage listed compared to some of the cars I looked at physically at his sales forecourt, but surely that’s an innocent mistake?
After all, we all make mistakes. It’s not like they’ve been clocked, is it?
He said that my cars mileage was just a simple error because someone put the mileage the cam-belt was changed on the advert as the current mileage. Oops! Fair enough.
The thing is, after walking around his sales forecourt with his website open on my iPhone, it turns out that quite a few cars have had a similar mistake made on their adverts… Make your own minds up.
Probably just another simple error, yes? (Click for full size image.)
NOTE: AUTOTRADER only host the adverts & pictures as supplied by the seller. They take this sort of misleading information (intentional or ‘in error’) seriously.
I do hope I’m being fair. I’ve always considered myself fair.
****** UPDATE: I’m too fair. *******
Seems Seamus Grassick has apparently done a runner & cleared out his forecourt.
I’ve contacted Hampshire, Surrey & Thames Valley Police & they are looking into the matter. I have explained that this was simply a case of wanting my money back, but upon seeing this review site today – with reviews FROM today – saying he’s fled, I wanted to check if it was true & if it was true, then I would like to step forward with evidence & assist. Also if it’s true I shall be pressing for legal action against him.
Sometimespace 
June 25th, 2013 at 7:23 pm
Sadly this sort of thing seems to be the norm in the 2nd hand car trade. Most used car dealers are verging on being, if not actually, fraudulent.
I’ve bought two old Land Rovers in the last three years, both from different but well known and supposedly trustworthy and ‘honest’ dealers/specialists. BOTH of them had falsified MOT’s.
Now in my case I was intending to strip them down and rebuild them so the numerous faults were of no real concern to me. However to have fresh MOT’s when they had rotten chassis and in one case no brakes shows just how corrupt the used car trade is. Buyer beware!
One I bought after viewing so knew the faults and bought anyway because the dealer didn’t know what he was talking about and had underpriced the vehicle by at least £1K!! Despite claiming to be a Series Land Rover specialist he didn’t even know how to recognise a five main bearing 2.25 diesel engine, a highly desirable late version of the that engine that is worth hundreds more than the three main bearing version. I spotted it immediately and I’m an amateur.
The second vehicle was bought ‘blind’ (via ebay) from a big Land Rover specialist in the North West. I had queried the condition of the chassis prior to purchase and was told it was in great condition – on arrival with its brand new MOT a stripdown showed it had carboard covering great holes in the chassis over which had been sprayed thick underseal to hide the evidence, the vehicle had no working brakes and the front axle was full of water instead of oil…..
As long as you know what you are looking at and are prepared to do the work yourself and you are getting the vehicle for a good price then it works out OK but for the vast majority of the public they are being ripped off big time.
I hope you get your current issue resolved as quickly as possible.
Ian
June 26th, 2013 at 8:02 am
[…] Based on real events. […]
June 27th, 2013 at 12:00 am
[…] Following on from my previous post: https://moretimespace.wordpress.com/2013/06/25/second-hand-car-problems-again/ […]
July 8th, 2013 at 8:14 pm
Hi there,
I also bought a car from seamus, and I now have an engine warning light which consistently comes on on the car. I tried going to the old address listed on 192.com, but that is his ex girlfriends house and she didnt seem surprised at all that he has now disappeared.
July 15th, 2013 at 6:54 pm
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July 17th, 2013 at 11:02 am
I’m feeling very lucky. I purchased a car from Grassick Motors before Christmas and I just got a really bad feeling once it was dropped off. Soon enough little issues came up, mileage also had an error. After agreeing to take the car back, I won’t go into details I got my money back after a fair amount of effort. Well less £45.00 as the cheque was that short, but I cashed it and it cleared which I saw was a £45.00 lesson to trust gut intinct! I clearly had no idea how bad it was and feel really bad I didn’t do something more afterwards.
Sorry to others that lost money after me.
July 17th, 2013 at 11:10 am
Mr Luckier was a guy who went to look at a car the day before Grassick vanished. He was looking at some cars & had his cash with him. I told him not to bother, mentioned the issues we were having, then he thanked us & left.
July 25th, 2013 at 4:43 pm
UNLUCKY JOHN
I BOUGHT ROVER FROM HIM ON 12TH JUNE. ENGINE BLEW ON 19TH. ASKED SEAMUS WHAT HE WAS GOING TO DO ABOUT IT AND HE SAID SCRAP IT GET TRAIN TO WOKINGHAM AND WILL GIVE YOU ANOTHER CAR. TOLD HIM WANTED MONEY BACK. OFFERED ME SKODA ONE YEAR AND 17K MILES OLDER THAN CAR I HAD BOUGHT BUT WHEN I ASKED FOR REG NO TO DO VEHICLE CHECK HE TEXTED ME “SOLD”.
WROTE HIM A LEGAL LETTER AND THEN FOUND OUT HE HAD SCARPERED WITH NOT ONLY MINE BUT OTHERS MONEY. REPORTED TO TRADING STANDARDS BUT IF ANYONE HAS ANY LUCK TRACING HIM LET ME KNOW. THANKS ALL
July 29th, 2013 at 4:37 pm
I am also after this man, he scammed me to, by advertising false details on Auto trader, I took him to court, and got an oreder for him to pay, he has ignored everything.
TOTAL SCAMMER & PROFESSIONAL THIEF……..ROBIN HOOD…EAT YOUR HEART OUT, THIS MAN GETS AWAY WITH IT, WITHOUT A MASK………
August 19th, 2013 at 4:20 pm
Guys, I was also scammed by this idiot. Anyway I have found a post somewhere that seays he is in Newbury, just off the Andover Road, I think he needs a visit!!