Our story......
Never Buy
a Jaguar
Over 10,800 hits on this website since the first protest, stay tuned for the next protest!
Thanks for taking the time to visit this website. My name is Hanna. I am a new Mum to baby Alfred, who is now 19 weeks old. My partner Simon and I are hardworking owners of a small family business.
Inchcape Jaguar have most recently left us without a car (that we are still paying for almost 3 years later) and have resorted to stealing items belonging to baby Alfred from our courtesy car – in what I believe to be a direct attempt to intimidate and upset me and my family.
25/01/2020: Protest outside Inchcape Jaguar Dealership, Guildford
They left us without a car when we have a newborn baby with medical issues
We have had to take Alfred to A&E twice since he was born
Where it all began.....
We had previously owned a 2010 Jaguar XF, which was the nicest car we had ever driven; we loved that car. That’s why Simon and I were so excited to be ordering a brand-new Jaguar XF on contract hire from Inchcape Jaguar (financed by Lex Autolease) through our business in January 2017. The excitement was unfortunately short-lived!
As soon as we had signed the contract and handed over the deposit, the trouble started: The car was delivered 7 weeks late, and since it’s delivery to us in April 2017, we have had nothing but problems with it. The XF has since been in and out of the Inchcape Jaguar dealership 14 times, and a number of problems have still not been fixed, including a safety issue where the steering veers sharply to either side. The car has been deemed as ‘unsatisfactory quality’ in 2 independent inspections, and a senior manager at Inchcape Jaguar has confirmed to us in writing that the problem is a ‘phenomenon’ tha t they are unable to fix: Yet, Inchcape Jaguar have repeatedly tried to return the car to us over the past 2.5 years in its unrepaired and unsafe state. (They have even tried to return the unsafe car to us when they knew I was pregnant, and more recently when they knew we had a newborn baby!)
Trespass & theft
Things finally came to a head on 1st December 2019 when Inchcape Jaguar sent someone to trespass on our private property in the middle of the night when I was at home alone with my (then 12-week old) baby. They removed a courtesy car from our driveway without giving us any notice, and without giving us an opportunity to remove our personal belongings from the car. They didn’t knock at the door or ring the doorbell. They didn’t even clear the car out themselves and dump our personal effects on the doorstep: Instead, they just took the car, with all our belongings inside it – IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!! ON A SUNDAY! TRULY CREEPY AND DISTURBING! It was a terrifying experience to know that someone had been on my property without me knowing. And even more disturbing that they had taken my baby’s belongings.
I called Inchcape Jaguar the next morning and spoke to Caroline. She agreed that what had happened the previous evening was ‘disgusting’. She said she would get someone to urgently call me back. Kevin Grimes called me back and he was not at all sympathetic and had no urgency in his monotone voice. I explained that I urgently needed the isofix and medical book back as I had a doctors appointment for Alfred the next day. He said he would need to ‘find out who had collected the car’. I said that if I didn’t hear back within 1 hour I would call the police. He called back and said that Caroline would come to my house that afternoon to return my belongings along with my (still unrepaired) XF. I said ‘at this point I don’t care about the car, and won’t get into a conversation about that – I just want my baby’s stuff back’.
Caroline arrived at my house later that day, with some of the personal items in the boot of the XF – I immediately noticed that the 2 items I said I urgently needed were missing: the isofix and the medical book. Caroline asked me to go through everything and contact her later with a full list of what was missing, which I did:
- They stole the isofix for Alfred’s car seat, the rearview baby mirror, and the baby on board sign, so I was unable to safely take him out in another car.
- They stole his red medical book, which contains detailed personal information about both Alfred and myself. All you mums and dads out there will understand how precious the red medical book is to a first-time mum; both from a practical and sentimental point of view – it is totally irreplaceable.
- They stole a birthday present in a gift bag for Simon, just to add insult to injury. (I later discovered from my mum that within the sealed gift bag was a bottle of rum and a birthday card with money inside it – they had opened the sealed gift bag, removed the card from the bag, opened the envelope, removed the money, and then kept the gift bag, the rum and the money – they then returned the (clearly tampered with) birthday card! Disgusting.
- They stole a door key to our house, so we have had to change the lock.
- They stole a parking permit for my mum’s house. Totally invaluable to anyone else, so clearly this was taken just to cause us as much inconvenience as possible.
It is disgusting behaviour by Inchcape Jaguar and/or the employee that committed the theft.
Distress & anguish
The most distressing part of this horrific story is that the personal items Inchcape Jaguar have stolen have clearly been carefully selected by the perpetrator to cause my family the most grief. I was already shaken up that someone had been sneaking around on my property in the middle of the night, but the realisation that my family had become victims of theft was a horrible feeling. We believe this theft was carried out by Inchcape Jaguar to intimidate our family – otherwise the perpetrator would have stolen the expensive pram that was in the boot of the courtesy car. They didn’t do that, so this theft was not about personal gain – this was clearly a revengeful act intending to terrorise and upset us: They have definitely succeeded in that. To cause us further anguish, the XF was returned to us with some of the speakers disconnected from the dashboard and left on the back seat, an empty tank of fuel, rubbish, dirt and dust throughout the car, damage to one of the wheels, scratches on the bodywork, and stains from bird droppings all over the bodywork of the car. That same day Simon drove the unrepaired XF back to the dealership and dumped the car back with them: This was the 15th time we have returned the car to the Inchcape Jaguar dealership over the past 3 years, and as far as we know, the car is still sitting there! At this stage the theft was reported to the police. They advised (as did our solicitor) that we needed to formally give Inchcape Jaguar time to return the goods, so we drafted a formal letter requesting that they return the items within 7 days. They didn’t reply within the 7 days. The police are now investigating.
Throughout this whole process we have always paid for the car on time, every month. We have upheld our end of the deal, but Inchcape Jaguar and Lex Autolease have failed to provide us with a functioning vehicle for the entire term.
Since the trespassing and theft incident we have had to hire a car through another leasing company; so, we are now paying for two cars. This is a big expense for us and our small business.
As this 3-year ordeal is such a long story (you have only heard the summarised version so far!), I have detailed the full timeline of events further here for you (if you have any spare time to read it!).
Upon doing our research since this ordeal, it appears that the build quality of all Jaguar Land Rover models has really deteriorated since the company was taken over by Tata a number of years ago. I wish we had known this 3 years ago so we could have saved our family years of stress from dealing with not only a poor-quality product, but also the atrocious customer service from both Inchcape Jaguar and Lex Autolease. We have spent hundreds of hours of our precious time calling and emailing Inchcape Jaguar and Lex Autolease, arranging and dealing with inspections, photographing the car every time it was collected and returned, liaising with solicitors, and collecting and delivering courtesy cars. This has had a huge financial impact on our small business over the years, not to mention the anxiety each interaction with Inchcape Jaguar and Lex Autolease brings.
I hope that my story will prevent innocent consumers from making the same mistake we did by becoming a customer of Inchcape Jaguar or Lex Autolease. Please don’t hand over your hard-earned money to either company before you do your own thorough research, where you will find many more negative reviews online. I hope that Inchcape Jaguar and Lex Autolease also read this story so that they can understand how their actions have impacted an innocent family both emotionally and financially. Neither company should be trusted.
Thank you for reading the story so far!
We would love to hear from you…
- 7 weeks late
- 14 times in and out of the Inchcape Jaguar dealership
- The car has been deemed as ‘unsatisfactory quality’ in 2 independent inspections
- Returned to us several times in its unrepaired and unsafe state
- Courtesy car removed without notice at night
- Personal belongings stolen including baby Alfred's medical book
Who is capable of stealing items belonging to a newborn baby?
Every single courtesy vehicle we have had over the past 3 years, has had some kind of issue or problem.
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11 Responses
I saw the protest outside the dealership last Saturday so I googled Kevin Grimes and found your website.
Fair play in fighting for what you believe in, I always think there are two sides to situations like this so I won’t be too judgemental.
If they have really behaved in the manner you describe then take them to the cleaners. Keep us updated and good luck.
Nothing like your experience, I have bought 4 Landrovers, 2 when that were Hunters and two recently the latest were the worst experience I ever known trying to buy something. Inchcape are a joke and I would travel anywhere not to use them again. They have managed to take the best UK dealership and put it on the brink of failing – Well Done
I work in the motor trade and it can be hard keeping everyone happy all of the time. However, what you have been/are going through, sounds like an absolute nightmare and I wish I could help in some way. I would suggest taking action against Jaguar themselves; they will inevitably put pressure on Inchchape as the dealer. Manufacturers hate bad press and dealers have been known to loose franchises over things like this.
Also, as Lex supplied you the car, it is on their head to ensure it is fit for purpose. So if you haven’t already, put energy into taking action against them too. – don’t get too tied up with emotional arguments with people at the dealership.
Good luck.
Oh my, very sad to read. Clearly not legal what they had done. Take them to court! No win no fee agreement. That branch should not even be open! So shocked to read this. Hope you can get advice via Acas
Sounds like you need to take them to court.
I drove past you guys twice today and pre judged. But since reading as a father of 5, and a prior employee of Inchcape Toyota, I’m appalled by what you have been through and what your continuing to go through. Can I ask how long your lease was for and how long you have left on the car? I would personally contact as many people of status on Twitter, Instagram and make it common knowledge and get more support. I wish you all the best!!
If you haven’t already, set up a Facebook page dedicated to this, each day look at what’s trending on Twitter and post a comment hash tagging the trending companies relevant to this. I did this a few years ago and tagged mainly the bbc and rogue traders. Also include Inchcapes @ name so they are aware, this worked for me and my kitchen problems. I really hope you get it sorted ASAP and your personal belongings back; don’t forget to remove any emotion from posts, stick to fact and be the bigger person the whole time. Good luck xxx
Tata is a reputed company and Mr Tata who heads the corporation is ‘known’ to be a very reasonable man. I suggest you write to him directly.
You need to reject the car under the Consumer Regulations Act 2015, your solicitor will advise you on this
I have had a similar problem with my Jaguar F Pace from Lookers. It blew up last month with a faulty injector.
Saw you protesting just now and looked up the web address. Absolutely awful what you have been through esp with a newborn. Hope you get something back which is better than before. I would never buy a jag but that’s mainly because I could never afford one. God bless