*** DO NOT USE NATIONWIDE AUTOCENTRE ***
I have reported them to VOSA, ASA, Trading Standards, the Police for criminal damage and theft of money, motoring groups, Watchdog, etc.
BE WARNED - They are not part of the Motoring Industry Code of Practice. 5,000 other organisations are, but they are not.
Here is a copy of the latest email that I have had to send to their senior management:
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Dear Jon,
Thank you for telephoning me earlier and apologies for being agitated on the phone, as I know you do not have all the facts yet about what has been happening, so I will happily update you. Firstly, please do not be put off by the length of this email. Once you have read it, I'm sure you'll agree, that given the detail of what has happened, it is very concise and very important that you are made aware.
I have been waiting for Andy Webb to contact me all week and have been telephoning the head office and have spoken with Donna and one or more of her colleagues on separate occasions, trying to find out why I have not been contacted.
Late last week Andy and myself agreed that an employee would inspect our vehicle to complete an assessment of what has happened. We also agreed that Andy would contact me early in the week so we could discuss a way forward once he had received his report from the employee who inspected the car.
The employee who inspected the car was also called Andy and advised me that the car should not be driven. He advised me that he was certain that the car had been "driven with some considerable force directly into a pavement at a slight angle". This has caused extensive damage to both front wheel rims which he explained would require replacement along with two new tyres.
Andy went on to explain that he was deeply concerned about the quality of the major service, MOT and 4 wheel tracking that had been carried out at the Maidstone branch. His verbal report to me was very detailed, but in brief he explained that the wheel balancing had not been carried out correctly, the coolant system had not been drained and refilled, the oil had an insufficient level in the engine, a rear wiper that had been charged at an additional cost had not been fitted to the car. You will find full and further details in Andy's report.
When I collected the car from the Maidstone branch after the major service, MOT and 4 wheel tracking I was shocked at what I discovered. My partner and I were handed an invoice for the works without an MOT certificate, emissions certificate or the service schedule. It took one lengthy discussion with Richard, branch manager, and two additional phone calls with him in order to obtain all of these documents over the subsequent 7 days.
My shock turned to disbelief when my partner, who owns the car in question, asked that I test drive the car as it felt completely different and even felt unsafe. It was clear that
something was significantly wrong with the car and an initial inspection of the car revealed
that several items had not been attended to as part of the said works.
I contacted Richard at the Maidstone branch and we agreed that the car be returned
immediately so that the original works could be carried out. These works were never done and it was only when Andy visited us to inspect the car that he took it to the Strood branch to carry out the works himself.
Once the car was returned from Strood, it was clear that although most of the remedial works
had been carried out, there was still something very wrong with the car that had been there
since it had been at the Maidstone branch. This is what prompted further discussions with
Andy Webb about what had happened with the two front wheels.
The question at the point is why did Andy Webb not only not contact me this week, but did not return any of my calls, even just to say that he was not going to pursue this any further.
This is when he knew full well that we had yet to agree a refund on the works that had not
been carried out, ie. coolant system. Andy provisionally said that he would offer a 50%
discount on our next service. You can probably imagine what my reaction was at this point.
This is where things become deeply troubled; over a year ago I was in discussion with Alan
Stenning who had to step in to resolve an issue I had with the Sturry branch who single
handidly managed to ruin my previous car by incorrectly rewiring it when they replaced the
clutch. The car would not start most of the time for circa 9 months. At first the car went
in to the Strood garage because although I then used to live in Margate, because the car
broke down in Margate, it went to the Sturry branch but subsequently went to Strood because I then worked in Chatham.
The Strood branch were given the opportunity to rectify the damage done to the wiring but
failed to fix it and refused to take any action. After that I had an electrical specialist
discover that the earthing cable had not been fitted correctly to the gear box and clutch
system. A mistake which the specialist described as "amatuer". He was so concerned that he even gave me further contact details and notes so that Nationwide could discuss the issue
with him.
I asked for Nationwide to cover the cost of the new battery that was fitted, time spent on
identifying the fault and the work by the specialist in isolating the problem and fixing it.
Nationwide refused several times over until I escalated the matter to Alan Stenning, who
having had opportunity to examine the facts, was clear in his mind that Nationwide had
delivered an appaling service.
I explained to Alan at the time that I believed he didn't know the half of it when I then
went on to explain how one time when I collected the same car from the Sturry branch after a service my girlfriend and I nearly lost control of the car and crashed because the underside
engine guard had not been replaced correctly by the garage. It fell onto the road and the
car swerved onto the verge.
At that point I was reimbursed by Alan and he gave me assurances that this sort of thing
would not happen again and that I should contact him directly next time I wanted to book my
car in at Nationwide, so that he could oversee the process personally.
Naturally I had many reservations about doing such a thing, until my partner Katie Nichols
asked that she wanted her car to have a major service, MOT and tracking, so I promised her
that Alan Stenning would take care of it. I tried telephoning him but his number was no
longer in operation. I believed at that time that he had left the company.
I have been made to look like a complete fool because of the assurance I passed on to my
partner from Alan. Over the past five years I have used Nationwide extensively and you will
see that I have spent a considerable amount of money for your service and every time I have
been delivered an appaling, rude, arrogant, inadequate service. Every branch I have used has
had problems which have required the intervention of senior management in order to resolve.
5 years later after more failed promises I find myself in an even worse position with
Nationwide than when I was told things would be improved at Branch level.
Given the extreme seriousness of these events I have been left with no choice but to report
Nationwide to the police for theft of money - the refund which has not been provided to my
partner Katie Nichols - and the criminal damage to the car which must have happened when I
returned the car to the Maidstone branch. I know that in whole this is a civil matter which
the police will not themselves investigate, but I will be discussing it with my solicitor in
order to ensure that legal action is taken.
In addition to this I will provide a full and comprehensive report to trading standards, the national and local press, internet motoring forums and do I everything I can to ensure that consumers do not use Nationwide at all.
I now ask for you to check my account of events with both Alan Stenning, Andy who has
inspected the car, the Sturry, Strood and Maidstone branch and Andy Webb, and then invite you to call me and offer a pragmatic solution to this entire mess which has left my partner with a car she can no longer drive. I will later request a written apology to Kate from the chief executive of Nationwide.
There is clearly a lot that you can do to try in someway to rectify this and there is much
that I hope I can explain in further detail about this to you that will help Nationwide in
preventing this sort of thing happening again. Thank you for your time. I look forward to
hearing from you.
Kindest regards Tom Billingham