Reasons to Avoid Carrs of Exeter

Thanks for dropping by. My name is Penn and for the past 20 years I have been confined to a wheelchair following an accident in which I suffered a spinal cord injury to my neck. There are two items that I just could not do without. The first is my electric wheelchair, and the second is my specially adapted motor vehicle. Without either of these mobility aids, I am confined to my house.

I decided to put together this web page which describes the experiences I have recently had with a local Chrysler dealer here in the South West of England. Everything you read on this page is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God. I haven't elaborated, dramatised, made anything up or said anything that isn't fair.

Carrs of Exeter have various outlets in the Southwest of England. They also deal in prestige cars such as Ferrari. Everything on this web page has come about because of the way C.O.E dealt with my situation knowing full well how incapacitated I was without transport.

I recently took my Chrysler Voyager to them because the ABS warning light would not go out. Because of the complex nature of the fault, a registered Chrysler dealership were the only people who could work on the car. I had found out that certain Chrysler vehicles between the ages of 1991/93 were subject to a recall because of the very problem I was experiencing. I informed Carrs of my findings but they totally dismissed this as ridiculous even though I informed them of where I had gained the information. They obviously did a bit of homework and then admitted that there was indeed a recall and offered to undertake the work. This was where all my troubles started.

They started work on my car and then informed me that there was a component that needed to be ordered. When I asked how long it would be before my car was going to be fixed and ready for collection, the only answer I received was, six days, six weeks or six months. I was now virtually housebound without transport. As the weeks passed by, there was still no sign of my vehicle being returned to me.

You can understand that after three months without a car I was getting extremely desperate. All I would get in response to my inquiries about when the part was going to be available was "it is on backorder, we don't know when it's going to be available"

I then started researching this matter myself using the Internet. With the help of some American friends I managed to locate more than one outlet in the United States that could provide me with the exact part needed to complete the recall on my vehicle. In the meantime, I was still being told that the part would not be available until the end of April. This is when I got the local media involved. After a phone call from consumer journalist Natalie Cornah who works for Spotlight television, a hydraulic assembly mysteriously appeared and was fitted to my car within two days. Somewhat sooner than they had been telling me for weeks on end. We can only guess why.

My car was now finished with all faulty parts replaced. Carrs of Exeter kindly offered to carry out the MOT "free of charge". I thought, that's very kind of them so I took them up on the offer. Well, they managed to find nearly £1000 of repairs that needed doing. I thought, who are you trying to kid? And rejected their offer to carry out the work on my car.

I was then given the bombshell. Two of the components that had been replaced, one of which was the one I'd waited for, were not part of a recall. I knew for a fact that the Hydraulic Assembly was part of the recall and I should not be paying for it. They would not have it, if I wanted my car back, I was going to have to hand over £3000. I could have taken legal action there and then but that would have meant my car being impounded at Carrs of Exeter for many months. I needed my car, so under duress, I reluctantly paid the £3000.

I then took legal action against Carrs of Exeter to claim back what I had paid them. I have been reimbursed for the hydraulic assembly which Carrs of Exeter initially denied was part of the recall.

There is also the subject of cost. Why are these parts so incredibly expensive? The hydraulic assembly was £1050, more than twice as much as I could have got it from the United States. I know that garages have to make a mark up on components, but surely this is bordering on the ridiculous.

After all the heartache, inconvenience and enormous expense, my car is now actually worse off than it ever was before going into Carrs of Exeter for the recall. I cannot drive the car for more than a couple of miles without the brakes binding. I have had two garages try and find out what is causing this binding. Neither of them have been successful in finding out what is wrong. All I say is that this problem WAS NOT in evidence before the recall.

I am now in the process of purchasing a European car. Regrettably, my Plymouth Voyager will either have to be scrapped, or sold for a pittance because of what is still wrong with it.

I have asked myself in the last few weeks, "was it really worth it?" After paying my legal fees, I came out of the case with just over £200. Carrs of Exeter would not reimburse my legal fees even though they were in the wrong. I wasn't going to let this large company get away with lining their pockets with my money. I am pleased I did it, even though I lost out financially in the end.

I regret ever taking my vehicle to Carrs of Exeter. I expected my car to be repaired properly, and in a reasonable and acceptable time, regrettably, none of these happened.

This isn't my first dealings with Carrs of Exeter. In 2003 the automatic transmission malfunctioned on my Voyager so I took it to Carrs of Exeter. Their diagnosis was that the gearbox was beyond repair and it needed to be replaced. I was told that new transmissions for 1992 Plymouth Voyagers were no longer available so I had to settle for a reconditioned unit. It took them a few weeks to fix the car and they charged me £2500. Just under three years later, this same gearbox is now malfunctioning so badly that the car cannot be driven. I would have expected the transmission to last a little longer. I have paid Carrs of Exeter the best part of £4000 to fix my car one way or another. After all the money, time and inconvenience, my car is now stuck in the garage in an undrivable condition.

Maybe it is worth pondering over the question, if they can treat a disabled person who they know relies so heavily on his vehicle like this, how are they going to treat an able-bodied person?

This has been an awful experience. I would suggest that Carrs of Exeter improve their customer relations because from my experience, they are sadly lacking in it.

They also need to ask themselves whether or not they have the skills to carry out some of this work. They obviously lack a lot of knowledge about Chrysler automatic transmissions and know even less about the ABS system of some of these cars. They may well argue this point but my Chrysler Voyager certainly stands testament to everything I have said. I am certainly not the only person who have had problems with Carrs of Exeter. it does rather seem that they make a habit of treating their customers badly.

No apology was ever given by Carrs of Exeter for what they put me through. They clearly have no conscience about what happened. I hope that this webpage makes it quite clear that if you choose to treat your customers badly, you're not always going to get away with it.

If you were to ask me if Carrs of Exeter are to be trusted to fix your car to a satisfactory state, I would have to say absolutely no way, take your vehicle to another company. After all, they didn't just make a mess of my car once, they did it twice. I think that's enough evidence to class them as cowboys.