Ebony & Ivory

[Yauie]

Hello

This is an experience weather it s classed as good or bad.

I had a look at a DC5 at as titled company after the seeing the car on autotrader. The advertisement on autotrader lists the car as 4BB and other details regarding the car. When i drove to have alook it had a fairly deep scatch about 20cm long down passengers door, a scuffed front splitter which i would expect but what concerned me the most was the head lights. One of the lights was very cloudy and the other looked almost brand new. So this could be a genuine problem where the light just needed replacing from a stone hitting it or could be a front end smash. How ever can this be listed as a grade 4? After looking at the car it did have brand new tires with a few scuffs on the rims but i didnt recognize the brand it wasnt the typical bridgestones, toyos, yokos or even good years. So i just walked away and didnt even consider it

I am now doing a direct import thru Andy at 200BHP and will continue to update my post on his testimonial

Many Thanks
Alex

 

[53 Teegwa]

Just to add my experience of Ebony and Ivory.

Bought from them in November 2010 Described as a unblemished example, Spoke with Ben and was told a small nick on one of the wheels which I had saw in pics but was unblemished all round the bodywork etc.

Car was undersealed, Cat 1 alarm fitted and ready for my Fiancee to collect. Unfortunately I was working so she went to collect. Told her what to look for and if anything was funny/wrong didnt seem right then to phone me and reject the car.

Got back up the road and promptly fell in love.

The next day we got hit with the snow which I loved meaning I couldnt play with it for a little while. Finally got to drive and clean her inside and out only to find the bad points glaring out. The rear spoiler was badly scartch, boot corner chipped, Passenger door pebble dashed scuffs, and a few other deep scraches around (top it off by someone scuffing the paint right off my fornt bumper corner not impressed Merry Chrimbo eh)

I spoke to Ben again and was told that there is nothing they where willing to do the car is a used car and the damage is indicitive to the age, I wasn't impressed with this answer and more to it the EML had come on after 2 weeks. I addressed this and was told to get it checked and they would sort out from there. My Lambda probe needed replaced so I informed them of this and was told to price a part and they would go from there.

At this point I felt very unhappy with my service and how I had been treated by them (little did they know I had 2 friends looking at the other cars they had wonder if they got my recommendation) so I got the price direct part form honda without fitting as my friend could do it and was told that it was an unacceptable price and they would source it.

I chased these clowns for over 2 months with emails and calls being told they were having problem finding the right part even thought they had all the info they needed I feel they were just stalling (pushing my 3 month warranty to the end) and when I finally got it my mech friend's exact words where "jesus could they have gone any cheaper"

I have since chatted with a few friends who seel used cars and they have shown me some of the techniques used to disguise the cars they sell, Things like silicone spray, Dashboard cleaner spray when applied will mask darker colours scuffs and scratches, also hose spraying prior to customer pick up as a wet car helps mask imperfections also.

I know that this may have been my fault I got caught up buying a DC5 and jumped at this one and should have personally picked the car up but I feel that my error with this specific company may help other's if these choose to deal with them in the future.

 

[skerr406]

I got my DC5 from E&I in june last year and its brilliant, not a thing wrong with it, Ben was honest with me from the start - He even picked me up from the train station in svaginahorpe in my new DC5 and it did and still does run like brand new, just had it from edinburgh to japfest and back to edinburgh and still absolutely faultless.

for the age of the car certain things are expected which are out of customers and dealers control. I hope everything got sorted for you. from my dealing with ben i would like to think it was not intentional for this experience to happen as it did. at the end of the day people have good and bad experiences from loads of companys who might have a great rep or a poor one depending on what they think is a good experience and a bad one from. In my opinion of buying used cars at this age its luck of the draw and unless information was held back on purpose, its outside of anyones control. but again, this is just my opinion of this kind of thing. working in customer care for "a certain television company" i deal with this on a daily recurrance so i just thought this might shed some light.

hope this helps

 

[raz786]

I agree that some people have good and some people bad experiences. If the damage was visible and obvious then perhaps they did hide these things, but who knows.

The thing that is shocking is over 2 months to find a lambda sensor. I would have been pi$$Ed if I had to wait that long with my car EML on. And warranty is there for a reason, they should have paid for a HONDA part, nothing else. My opinion anyway.

 

[53 Teegwa]

I agree that some people have good and some people bad experiences. If the damage was visible and obvious then perhaps they did hide these things, but who knows.

The thing that is shocking is over 2 months to find a lambda sensor. I would have been pi$$Ed if I had to wait that long with my car EML on. And warranty is there for a reason, they should have paid for a HONDA part, nothing else. My opinion anyway.

Unfortunately I dont tend to do things as calm and concise as most people. So my Fiancee was calling and I was emailing to find out the delay on a bi-weekly basis. At one point the part was "arriving" with them in the morning, 2 weeks later it arrived with them and still took a lifetime to get to me even taking into count the bad weather.

Skerr - I agree some good some bad press is a good thing gives others a guide to the dealership (previous new & used car salesman dont judge me please) but I wouldn't and haven't told someone there car was immaculate if it was a lie. Truth is always the best policy in every case.

Anyway the aim isn't to deter people from buying from them it is more a guide on what to do when purchasing from anyone/dealer. I made the mistake and hope people learn from it.

This did however push me to do 1 thing at least (no not to stop trusting my missus lol) but to completely fine tooth comb inspect the car bodywork etc (see newbie thread for info) and start to put a build/paint job into action so for that cheers.