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Never EVER dealing with RCI again!

8K views 15 replies 11 participants last post by  LeafyBadger 
#1 ·
My 2 year PCP experience had been largely trouble free, aside from a frustrating 4 month battle with British Gas trying to get a replacement charging lead. Up until now that is. My Nissan Leaf went back to RCI a month ago. Mannheim came round and did the inspection and said they'd just knock off £55 for a scuffed alloy which was fair enough.

So far since the car has gone back though I have had 4 phone calls from RCI saying I'm in arrears for the battery lease. Each time I have phoned back and explained the situation and each time they've said the agreement hadn't been cancelled but that it has been now and it's been resolved. Then I get another phone call. To make things worse, today I received a letter saying they have now charged me an additional £12 for sending the letter and that would be added to my debt which if not paid would be recorded on my credit reference record and then passed to debt collection services. To rub salt into the wound they have also sent me another letter for the car contract saying I am in arrears for £10,900 which is the final PCP payment for the car that I gave back to them 1 month ago. Absolute nightmare! This experience with RCI has now put me off ever getting another Leaf which is a shame as I enjoyed the car and considering getting another. No chance now, the amount of time, stress and energy I've had to spend on this issue is just not worth it.
 
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#4 ·
Have you tried getting the financial ombudsman involved?

My experience came close to yours, but my battery contract is cancled.

I think my account is finally settled. Watching the credit report closely.
 
#5 ·
Nearly 4 months after my last payment to RCI I'm still getting letters claiming am in arrears and threatening court action. Every time I call up its the same answer, 'your account looks closed, must be a system error'.

Last letter I had from RCI was just last week, I look forwards to the next one in a few weeks :).
 
#6 ·
This experience with RCI has now put me off ever getting another Leaf which is a shame as I enjoyed the car and considering getting another.
Just buy the Leaf on a personal loan, and forget the PCP sh*t. PCP is not some magical hack to make cars cheaper. If you've got good credit the interest rates are fantastic.

I bought mine on a personal loan. To put it in PCP terms I got a 4 year deal at 265/month, unlimited miles, £0 initial rental, £0 final payment to own the car.
 
#7 ·
I'm really not looking forward to my car going back at the end of the month, my car is also on a flex with battery agreement, I have asked Nissan to send me the papers so that I can fill them in to get the car returned and cancel the battery agreement but have received nothing and the car is supposed to go back at the end of the month.

I had a total nightmare returning my last Leaf to RCI/Manheim and vowed I would not do it again and Im not, this is the last time I use @NissanGB and will be going back to an ICE car for a while as I just cant bring myself the stress that it brings.

For those worrying about RCI and the incompetent systems they run affecting your credit rating worry not, for any permanent affect you would have to actually owe them money, it would have to go to small claims court, you would have to lose the case and then not pay after losing the case to get a CCJ against your name which would affect your credit rating and as most and nearly all cases on here are down to RCI and their automated system malfunctioning they have more to lose.

This ineptitude isn't just RCI though, I have recently had a similar situation with BT when I left them and went to Plusnet, my account was still active with BT even though all my services were with another supplier, I overpaid them £300 which they credited back to my BT account which I haven't got any more :ROFLMAO: honestly you'd like to think that companies of this size knew what they were doing wouldn't you? it seems the bigger they are the more inept they are.
 
#10 ·
Just buy the Leaf on a personal loan, and forget the PCP sh*t. PCP is not some magical hack to make cars cheaper. If you've got good credit the interest rates are fantastic.

I bought mine on a personal loan. To put it in PCP terms I got a 4 year deal at 265/month, unlimited miles, £0 initial rental, £0 final payment to own the car.
New / Demo / Used. ?? 24 or 30. ??

THe Nissan PCP offers have huge incentives on them. It is hard to get close to that if you use outside finance.

We have a brand new Tekna 30 for 199 down / 216 a month. We plan to hand the car back 2 years from now as it is already obsolete.
 
#11 ·
I think a simple letter to the company secretory explaining what is going on, saying you will not context them again, and you are happy to see them in court may sort them out. Companies House for a small charge will tell you who the company secretory is and the address of their registered office.
 
#13 ·
Ignore the. - but check your credit file for adverse information - as the system is automated. I had the same issue with RCI and they insisted by fixed term lease somehow continued until someone took the car with battery from me. Never again - it takes work to be as inept and useless as they are, and they really should be ashamed
 
#14 ·
#16 ·
Thanks for your replies even though they've made me feel even less optimistic about resolving this quickly. I phoned Nissan complaints on Saturday and they of course said that it would have to go through RCI complaints so I've been given a number to ring for the RCI complaints department when they open tomorrow. Failing that I'll start writing letters and hope the bailiffs don't come round.

In my experience you can quite easily build up a bad credit rating erroneously which is what I'm worried about. I had a Volkswagen previously on PCP and paid the balance off early. One year later I was refused a phone contract and got a credit report to found out why and it was the outstanding balance that VW said I owed though I'd paid off. Despite me phoning VW finance and them agreeing with me, it took me another 3 months to have it removed from my credit file.

It's so frustrating that these companies are so incompetent.

As for the merits or not of PCP. This Leaf was 150 down with 23 payments of 150 and a balloon payment of 10,900. I couldn't get anywhere near that on a personal loan.
 
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