A furious driver has told of how he spent £3,000 on a billboard in a bid to shame a car dealership after he claims they failed to fix n...
Frustrated Rick Alexander, 38, claims his family has suffered two years of misery, have had to remortgage their property and his wife's hair even fell out due to stress after he bought her a £33,000 used Range Rover from the Williams garage in Manchester.
The project manager claims he and his wife Nina Blazier, 41, have spent almost 200 hours over two and a half years on the phone trying to sort problems with the black Range Rover Westminster which they bought on finance in November 2016.
Angry at the lack of action, Mr Alexander took matters into his own hands buying a van and hiring a contractor to paint a billboard replacing the Land Rover logo with 'Shaft Over' and daubing it with statements about the impact the experience has had on his life.
He said: 'The van and billboard cost me £3,000 and it was worth every penny. I'd come home and see my wife in tears. I'd never really seen her cry and it really upset me. It was really affecting my family.
'I'd been thinking about the billboard for a while. It's letting the public know that you can't be treated like that.
'You shouldn't be treated like that whether you've spent £1,500 on a car or £33,000. I want people to know what Williams are like.'
Mr Alexander, from Stockport, Greater Manchester, said he had the billboard made on Easter Saturday and drove around Manchester with a tannoy warning people about Williams.
The large green sign includes messages such as 'do not buy from Williams' and 'they crash your car and cover it up.'
He continued: 'I don't want any compensation for what's happened I just want them to buy the car back for what I paid for it. That is my compromise.
'Williams has said if I don't remove the billboard they will be taking legal action but I'm not really bothered. I'm planning to go round town again on Sunday in it.
'We have been shafted by them which is why I came up with 'Shaft Over'. We've had nothing but heartache since we bought the car.
'I had to remortgage a property because I'm still paying for the car every month as well as paying for hire cars.
'Time that we're meant to spend as a family has been spent trying to sort this out.'
His wife Nina is similarly distraught over the whole experience, saying: 'At first I wasn't happy as I don't like to make a fuss but we are at the end of our tether with it.'
Mr Alexander and his wife Nina, who have two children Lewis, 12, and Layla, nine, bought two cars on finance from the Williams dealership in Manchester in November 2016 - a Land Rover Discovery worth £38,000 for Rick and the Range Rover worth £33,000 for Nina.
Unhappy with the paintwork on the Discovery and the fact it was pulling in one direction Mr Alexander says he returned it and got the money back within days.
Meanwhile Nina had picked up the Range Rover from the dealership and drove it to work and claims she noticed immediately that the brakes didn't feel safe.
Mr Alexander claims the brake pads were worn, brakes were squeaky, the oil hadn't been changed and the air filter was black and the oil filter was old.
The pair returned the car, and although upset at having to use a hire car over Christmas, were pleased the problems were fixed as a 'goodwill gesture'.
But the car was again returned to the Williams dealer in January 2017 when the diesel particulate filter (DPF) red light came on - with the family claiming it was picked up by the dealership who told them they have no record of this.
Over the next few months they were back and forth to the dealer with numerous problems including issues with the gas struts, a squealing problem and an oil leak.
Rick said: 'We've been backward and forwards so many times. Williams' attitude was very poor.'
However between May 2017 and October 2018 the car was returned to the garage seven times due to issues with the DPF light, the rear light and the steering - causing immense stress to the family.
It has been sat in another garage since October last year with them quoting £4,500 to fix the DPF issue - which Rick is refusing to pay.
He said: 'We've never had the car on the road for more than two months before there's been another problem.
'My argument with paying thousands for a new DPF is that we've already had it replaced twice and it's broken again so there's an underlying problem with the car and it's only going to break again.
'I think we've spent about £6,000 in total on hire cars and going back and forth.'
Nina, who works in sales, said: 'I got psoriasis all over my head. It's something I've never had before but the stress of it caused my hair to fall out. I've never had it but it's come out in the last two years.
'It's exhausting. Nobody should have to spend that amount of time trying to resolve problems with a car and argue about it.
'I work in customer service and I've never known anything like it. You'd think Land Rover would have good customer service.
'Friends have had to help out with picking the kids up on the school run.
'I'll be having to miss out on things with them to sort out picking up and dropping off hire cars.'
For now the car remains stuck in the garage and Rick has no plans to remove the billboard until the matter is resolved and he can get his money back.
Gary Nixon, the business manager at the dealership, told the Sun Online yesterday that he was aware of the Mr Alexander's sign.
'We have had no contact with the customer for two and a half years so there's quite a disconnect,' he said. 'We are in conversation with the customer now.'
While a spokeswoman for Jaguar Land Rover said they had conducted a 'thorough review of the matter' and that it was confident 'every effort has been made to resolve the matter to a satisfactory conclusion.'
The firm has generally favourable reviews online, averaging at 3.7 stars across 114 reviews. And claims on its Twitter page that it is 'the leading retailer of prestige vehicles in the North West.'
Why not take them to court and sue them? Brits obviously have no idea how to fix a car.....
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