Class action

[Earthwatcher]

Any lawyers in the house? I'm not generally litigious but I've thought for a while now that INEOS has been having us for a laugh. I was oozing goodwill when I bought my Grenadier, really liked the idea of it, ignored all the common sense warning signs, decided that moans over the steering and foot ramp were no more than that, didn't panic at all the software alerts, got the seals fixed when they let water in, swallowed the £800 service bill and tried to make a day of it when I took it over to Portsmouth for a fix (no courtesy car).

But it seems to me that the closure of so many sales and service centres has been neglectful on INEOS's part. Surely there is something on "duty of care" in law that they've abandoned. I'd be willing to chip in a wedge of cash in to a pot, if only to initially explore the possibilities of a class action against the company. But I'm not a lawyer, just an old fool who probably has more money than sense, and arguably not much of either.

I still think it's a solid car that, hopefully, will run and run, but it needs servicing and INEOS made a lot of sales mileage over its "fixability".

He might know much about turning chemicals in to gold, but Sir Jim knows very little about football or sailing and even less, it seems, about the car market.

 

[Jeremy996]

Think about what you want to achieve and the timescale, as anything other than Small Claims is likely to be massively costly and extremely slow. Think in terms of £100k as burn money to get to the HIgh Court and 5 years to get to the courtroom door.

If you want some free consumer advice, contact your local Tranding Standards Office, (usually part of the County Council), and ask to speak to the duty officer. If your vehicle is faulty, then they can help, but more nebulous matters like access to local technicians and manuals for retail clients are outside their normal experience.

Ineos Automotive are making more positive noises and a shorter timescale, so my suggestion is to keep your powder dry. I've written on here that I am looking at using consumer law at the 5 year mark, as showing actual damages before the end of the warranty would be quite difficult. If IA release a usable manual and parts book before then, then I have saved a lot of time, angst and cash, rather than tilting at windmills.

The lack of dealers and technicians, workshop time and experience can only be addressed by IA and their franchise holders. If IA want a sound commercial base, this needs to be addressed quickly before they poison the well, upsetting owners, insurers and potential commercial clients. I'd like to think that message is getting through.

Ineos Automotive has consistently underestimated the issues raised by consumer law. Selling a complex product to a retail client is controlled by some quite draconian consumer laws, so in the UK they had no idea on how to deal with rejected vehicles, until wiser heads preveiled. I am confident that IA can learn, but I will not be betting on the timescale just yet.

 

[CRH]

Any lawyers in the house? I'm not generally litigious but I've thought for a while now that INEOS has been having us for a laugh. I was oozing goodwill when I bought my Grenadier, really liked the idea of it, ignored all the common sense warning signs, decided that moans over the steering and foot ramp were no more than that, didn't panic at all the software alerts, got the seals fixed when they let water in, swallowed the £800 service bill and tried to make a day of it when I took it over to Portsmouth for a fix (no courtesy car).

But it seems to me that the closure of so many sales and service centres has been neglectful on INEOS's part. Surely there is something on "duty of care" in law that they've abandoned. I'd be willing to chip in a wedge of cash in to a pot, if only to initially explore the possibilities of a class action against the company. But I'm not a lawyer, just an old fool who probably has more money than sense, and arguably not much of either.

I still think it's a solid car that, hopefully, will run and run, but it needs servicing and INEOS made a lot of sales mileage over its "fixability".

He might know much about turning chemicals in to gold, but Sir Jim knows very little about football or sailing and even less, it seems, about the car market.

There is no requirement to have local service centres, Ferrari etc. They tend to pick the car up and take for a service which is what IA 'said' would be offered, not ideal.
Sadly for this country they are a niche vehicle until we have a smaller electric (of sorts), offering. Servicing was always going to be a worry long term. Which is why the promised manuals went a long way to help.with decisions.
From what I have been told by people who deal with the polymer side of Ineos, they aren't great there either, but neither are the rest of them.