A frugal life is an easy life!

I have been kicking around an idea for a while now, so I thought I would share it with you, regarding protecting myself and my family on major purchases, in effect, home made consumer protection.

We had to purchase a car a couple of years ago, with two criteria in mind.
1 - It must be comparable with our old car (ford focus 1.6 basic) as regards petrol use
2 - It must be reliable, as her indoors, works alternate shift work and would be driving at various hours through out the night/afternoons and early mornings.

We stressed this to the salesman on numerous occasions during our several visits, for paperwork, viewing, advice, etc.

We were assured that the seat leon 1.6 basic, was comparable to the ford focus as regards petrol use and mileage. We were consistantly assured that before we picked up the car it would have more than 100 point check done on it and would be fit to go.

Now had I drawn up my home made consumer protection idea, I would have been safeguarded against the comedy of errors and scandalous flouting of the law that was to follow.
The seat leon went back to the dealers several times.
Faults became apparent within a week of collecting the car.
The dealers had missed the recorded fault on the lamda sensor, simply choosing to wipe the chip memory clean, rather than fix the fault showing, which of course came back.
The windscreen had to be replaced and left the seal damaged, so the passenger footwell became flooded after heavy rain.
The wheel cylinders were causing excessive road noise, after two weeks of examination and testing they changed only one, saying they would call it back in when the other wheel cylinder was instock - they didn't call us back in over the following 11 months and just forgot about us.
They blamed bridgestone for the tyres making a loud road noise inside the car, but did not change them - a fault that seat dealers have known about for more than two years!
For the last two months we had the car, it never moved from our street, as the internal fuel pump had packed in, leaving us with a bill for more than £400 to fix, because the warranty that came with the car was worthless and hardly covered anything.

Anyways, you get the picture... the car was clearly unreliable and not fit for purpose, so it was returned.
The petrol mileage difference was not negligable at all (say within 20 miles difference per full tank of fuel) the focus and the leon had identical capacity fuel tanks, yet the focus on short trips/around town clocked up 430 miles per tank, the leon only managed 310-320 miles per full tank around town.
When this major difference (5200 miles less for the same amount of petrol per year) was brought up with the dealership management, they dismissed it as "you didn't ask the right questions when you bought the car!" and "we are not in the habit of telling you any negative points when trying to sell a car!"

Now for my home made consumer protection idea:

Before all major purchases, I ask about features and the things I require. In the example I gave above, I should have spoke with the dealership, getting them to clarify what they said several times over, then gone home and drawn up a simple consumer contract for THEM to sign!
A simple printed out form, made on my printer, that specified the two main things I wanted from the car they were recommending, is the car reliable? Can the mileage it does on a full tank be compared, within around 20 miles, to that of the ford focus?

Before signing anything or paying any deposit, I should have nipped in with the home made contract and got the salesman to sign up to show this advice was correct.
This way I would have a signed copy that what I was being advised, was accurate.

Those that say there are laws in place to protect the customer when things go wrong with a business or sale, etc, I agree, but the process is long, drawn out and more often than not ends up with pot luck, as you have your word against the business' in front of a magistrate.
It can take months of letters, phone calls, reading up, etc.
Don't forget the hassle and stress this all causes. You would be hard pressed even by employing a solicitor to fight your corner.

Now if I had my home made consumer contract, I could write two letters to the business, to give them a chance to put things right, if they disagree, which they almost always do concerning major purchases, then I could walk down to my local court and book a slot, for them to appear before a magistrate.
Armed with my home made consumer contract, signed by the salesman concerned, on my two main points, I could easily prove what they said/signed for was not applicable.
Saving myself constant letters, harrassing phone calls, denials, etc.
It would simplify the whole process and protect me into the bargain.

I took my family on holiday a few years back to America, after a week in San Fran, we wanted 5 days on the beach of LA, the travel company sold us a holiday over an hours drive away from the beach, so we had to spend £800 of our spending money and lost a day of our holiday, on a replacement hotel, close to the beach as we had requested.
On our return, it took over 6 months and 3 lower offers just to get the £800 back they promised they would refund upon our return and sending them receipts.
If I had a home made contract, posted out to them, signed and returned, specifying that we were "close to the beach" then there wouldn't have been a problem. The travel company would have been more inclined to refund our money as promised, in full, in a timescale less than the 6 months it took them.
Failing this I could have presented the home made consumer contract in court and watched on as the magistrate would surely have found in our favour.

So from now on, with any major purchase, such as a car, holiday, computer, etc, I will be filling out a home made consumer contract, to protect me against all the businesses that tell me anything to get me to buy.

Businesses twist the law to suit themselves and protect against refunds or returns. It's time the consumer protected themselves against business!