With the advent of the Internet some years ago, it soon became the place to go to, to shop, and shopping online these days comes in at many billions of pounds, from your loaf of bread, to computers and holidays, and everything else in between.
But for some reason, buying a car online has not been the surefire hit that it could and should be, companies have come and gone, from big names like Jam Jar and Virgin, to current companies like Carfile.net, Broadspeed and a number of others.
So when i decided that it was time to get something new, and shiny, i wandered off to our local Citroen dealer, as both, my partner and I, had taken a shine to the C4 Cactus, Especially in the Obsidian Black, with Gloss black wheel, and black air bumps, I am sure from here you can tell we like black, it looks rather mean doesn't it ?.
So, off we toddled to the our local Citroen dealer, only to be told the only Cactus they had, they allowed the Salesman to take it on a "Day Out", so off we went to the next one, they did not have ANY Cactus on demonstration, just one in the showroom, but we did spend some time looking over the car, and checking it out.
The salesman was very helpful, and gave us lots of info that we had not known before, but was unable to advise if, and when they would ever get a demo car in, so, after a quick "ask google", whoever invented that should be given a rather HUGE pay rise, we found another dealer 40 miles the other way, so off we went.
The dealership, Rawlinson of Bury St Edmunds, was a real eye opener, we entered the showroom and found the cactus on display, and started to have another good look around, we were then greeted by a rather young lad that enquired if he could help, we asked if they had a car to test, only to be told that NO, they did not, and they probably would not have an Auto on demo anyway, he then refused point black to discuss what deal might be available for someone that wished to pay for the car outright, and again he stated quite categorically that they would not offer any discount whatsoever.
This person was rude, curt and not what is to be expected from anyone in a sales environment, anyway, this same dealer had a Renault outlet in the same building, so we went in there and were greeted by a rather knowledgeable chap, that was shocked to hear what we had to put up with, now, considering he was in Renault kit, he very helpfully, answered any questions with full knowledge, and was happy to help, he took our details and said that the main man would contact us the following day, which he did.
It turned out that they did in fact have the exact model we were after, as part of their demo fleet, and after some persuasion he eventually got us to go back for a test drive, and we were so glad he did, we were well impressed with the car, the comfort, space, economy and technology, so we agreed it was a no brainer, we would be getting a Cactus, as long as the price was right, I have never paid full price for a car, ever, and i do not intend to start now.
However, he would not budge, he said he would throw in some mats (which are standard equipment anyway) and "some" fuel, so not really any deal to be had, so we went back home and had a check on line, and we found a few sites that were offering decent deals on new Cacti, we emailed a couple and got a quote from one, for just over £18k, so we thought about going back to the first dealer, that had sent their salesman on a day out in the only Cactus they had, we never advised of the price and asked them to give us their best price.
This particular dealer chain, Marshall's, i really don't like dealing with, they tend to bully you, talk down to you and generally are not that good at customer service, in my opinion, and as suspected, that's exactly what we got, we advised them at the end of the price we had managed to get a car for this particular price, and all they could do is slag off the company, and do everything possible to try and bully us into having a car from them, well, it did not work, they were very rude, and said that there was no way that we could ever get a car for lower than their prices.
How wrong they were, we got home, well hacked off, and i started to search again, I then received my weekly email from What Car, and as usual they had a piece on cars that they stated they could locate at vast discounts, so i popped on and followed a link to carfile.net, and started to have a poke about, they seemed to have some rather tempting offers, so I thought, there is no harm is enquiring, so we located the Cactus on this site and placed the bits and pieces that we wanted onto their base price, it came in at under £18k, we were surprise and impressed, and curious.
We placed an enquiry, and this is where it started to fall apart, emails went back and forth, then the dealer, sent one saying the price was wrong, and increased the price, OK we thought the price was different on carfile.net compared to Citroen, so we agreed to that price, and then the next email, he put it up again, which then took it some hundreds of pounds over the advertised price, and none of the questions that i had asked in the previous email, had been answered, so i decided not to take the risk, and sent an email advising of such.
I was then emailed by Carfile.net, and a dialogue opened up, he was unaware of the second increase, but after checking, the increase was not correct, and so it came back down to the proper price, a few more emails passed, and i felt that maybe a second bite at the cherry should be offered, and we went forward, the deal was back on.
Due to the nature of the sale, it seems that the car is devoid of all the fripperies, like showing the customer how the car works, apparently there is only a 30 - 40 handover, which is far more than i have had elsewhere in the past, so that's not an issue, i have only one request and that's to have the car handed over, indoors, the showroom or workshop, as collection will be in January, you can imagine the weather will be far from ideal, to spend time going around the car checking for any possible issues, I requested this, and got an answer that seemed like I was asking for the resurrection.
So, where do i go from here, well, nowhere, i should receive the paperwork by the end of this week, once double checked and signed, i will send that back, and then i just need to await a date from them when the car will be delivered.
I will do updates as and when i know anything, and hopefully all will go swimmingly, and come January a nice new Cactus, called Spike, will be gracing our home.
30th November 2014 - UPDATE.
Well, I wouldn't say that the relationship between dealer and customer was good in our case, and it took a turn for the worse a few weeks ago, i received a call from the dealer when i was out and about doing the now, obligatory Christmas shopping, with my mother-in-law, and that's stressful enough.
It now turns out that the car is being delayed, no reason was given, even when asked, and no date was given for when we could expect to know of it's arrival, and i find that extremely hard to believe, having already purchased a lot of new cars between us both, we have always been given a date of build, and expected arrival at dealership, even if has been months away, so why can't Citroen.
I have also asked Citroen UK a few questions on their Facebook pages, which they seem unwilling at answer, just simple ones, like "how many sets of keys come with the car" and another, is one that really made me angry, we wanted to add a service plan to the purchase price of the car, its simple enough, so I asked the dealer, who stated quite clearly that Citroen UK deals with it, so I contacted them, who quite clearly said the dealers deal with it, i went back to the dealer, who passed me back to Citroen UK, I still don't have a clue.
Added to this, the sheer vast amount of complaints that we are reading on their Facebook pages from customers about many different issues, it is really making us re-think the purchase, can they really be as bad as many different people say they are, can CUK really be as ignorant of the products and customer service, as they seem to be, and can the dealer, be as vague as he appears to be, well, only time will tell, and we will make our final decision in the next week or so.
22nd February 2015 - UPDATE
Well, we collected our car on the 6th of February, a longish drive up to Bristol Street Motors to see our car for the very first time, and there he sat, in the showroom, resplendent in its darkness, it looks evil, and it looks great, but I digress, firstly, the weeks leading up to the collection of the car involved a number of messages to CUK, as I had been told many times, that the dealership does not have anything to do with service plans, i wanted to get info from CUK, but again, the passing back and forth was evident.
So, i contacted a couple of other dealerships in the county, and managed to get some figures, i asked for a Citroen service plan, and i was quoted nearly £800, which to be honest was a joke, my Jaguar was less that that, in fact other service plans we took out were all less than that, so i called another to get three individual prices for services 1, 2 and 3, and again that came out at, again, nearly £700, so, i contacted CUK, and stated that the i was shocked that the Cactus was supposed to be a car that's saving people money, that the serving was so expensive.
Then low and behold, they gave me a price of a three year service plan, £440, why the hell they couldn't just give me that in the first place, i have no idea, so i contacted my local dealer, to enquire about buying one, so again, I asked for the costs of a three year Citroen service plan, and they quoted me £770, i said that i had ASKED for the Citroen service plan, not there own, he got quite aggressive and rude, and then stated that the £440 was for two services only, and the third year they just "look at it", so my question was if i am paying for a three year service plan, why would i then need to pay again, for a third year service.
Again he was rude, and i ended the call, I can't see how it is acceptable that you pay good money for a three year plan, yet you have to pay for a third year service on top of the plan, surely that is something that trades description would need to look into, but that's for another day and another person to follow up on, I have lost all confidence in CUK, their total lack of customer service, their failure to be able to answer questions and to palm it off to the dealer, the complete lack of interest they have in the customer, that, after all, has paid their wages by buying their products, shows what contempt they have for the paying customer.
The dealership experience was not as we would have liked, and the excuse that "because you pay Internet prices you do not get a proper hand over" is a very very poor and dreadful one, to not be shown the car, and how it works properly, can be in some cases dangerous, and surely the dealership has a duty of care, to ensure that its customers are in full knowledge of how the car works, yes we are not thick, but even after a couple of weeks and lots of reading the handbook, we still are getting used to the touch screen system, and still we are getting confused, so to not be given a proper tutorial by the dealer, when you have spent the best part of £18.5k is dreadful.
Anyway, back to the car, and here fortunately we have a big plus point, it is great, and the fuel consumption we have achieved so far is amazing, and not just the indicated on the screen, we did the full tank to full tank figures and on our journey home we managed an exceptional 77mpg, and about town we are getting mid to high 50's, and that's great, at this rate, we will only need to fill the car up 4-5 times a year, with our limited mileage, it is by far the most comfortable car we have had for sometime, and it is so easy to drive.
What does concern us is the Eco button, this turns off the start stop system, sometimes you have to press it many many times for it to activate, and should you forget, the car has a habit of cutting out whilst still moving, albeit slowly, like when you're creeping at a roundabout, or junction, that's really the only thing i am very unsure of, i don't think it is that safe to have a car cut out when it is still moving, the rear camera/reversing sensors are spot on, and make reverse parking so easy, likewise the front sensors, they are very good, and although they get you close, they never get you too close as to worry.
Another concern is the gear change, we are fully aware that the car is not a manual, or an automatic, it is both, it has a manual gearbox which changes gear automatically, so whilst driving along, unlike in other auto cars, you will hardly notice a gear change, in this there is a distinct, and rather large pull back, the dash screen indicates that there will be a change, about a second before it changes, you then feel the car slow, before it goes into the next gear and off you go again, in some cases, you can time it just right, that you wont notice it that much, but if you are on a busy roundabout, or junction, and you need to pull away quickly, the sudden slowing down from 1st to 2nd, can be very alarming, and on my first roundabout after leaving the dealership, it did this, and it frightened the hell out of me, i had forgotten how noticeable it was from our test drive back in October, this is not a criticism, but an observation, and i suspect over time and further advances, this gear change may be adjusted to be more smoother, but that is something for Citroen to deal with, if they feel it necessary.
The park assist is amazing, and fun, we have not used a car with this facility before so we tried it out, and we found what we thought was a very small spot, and to be honest it is not one i would have even considered, before, but we pressed the button, and abide by the instructions on the screen, we passed the spot and got told to stop, put the car in reverse, and allowed the car to go back on its own, without me using the accelerator pedal, i allowed it to go back on tick over revs, as it went back, the steering wheel suddenly turned and as it went back, it made adjustments, and as we neared the car behind, we stopped, put it in forward, and again allowed the car to move forward on its own tick over revs, again the steering wheel whizzed around on its own and parked us perfectly.
Getting the car out of the space is the same, just allowing the car do the manoeuvre itself, and again it did this swiftly and perfectly, whether we use it again, is something that we will see, but for now, it is another thing that we have had to work out for ourselves. The bumps or Airbump®, are great fun, and we have had no end of people poke them, just to see what they are and what they do, i think that we picked the right combination of colour, well, all black, it just looks evil, aggressive and in your face, and that's not what we set out to achieve, but i have had a few black cars, as black is my favourite shade, so it was a no brainer really.
The iPod connectivity is perfect and plays the songs, but it is not easy to operate, you can not go from radio to iPod or back using the steering wheel buttons, you have to go to the touch screen, which can be quite difficult, as the button size on the screen for the audio/media controls is quite small, so you have to be very accurate with the press, which means taking your eyes off the road to press that button, it is the same for any of the the section buttons situated either side of the screen, but once you're there, then it is fine.
The buttons on the steering wheel on the right, do the controls for the radio/audio with volume and phone, a roller makes the display screen move up or down to the next song in the list, or onto another radio station, or in the phone book onto another person, as I have mentioned the phone, it would be prudent to say that the connectivity for my phone, a Samsung Ace 3, is just spot on, it connects first time every time, and is one of the easiest, i have come across, and far superior to the MINI Countryman we owned a couple of years ago, which would only ever connect after you forced it to pair.
The ride is sublime, very smooth and reasonably quiet, at higher speeds there is noise around the side mirrors, but then most cars have that, the car takes most potholes well, unless it is bigger than average, then it does crash and thump, but i do tend to try and avoid them, the car is not a sporty car, it does not have very firm suspension, so if you take a corner slightly faster than normal it will frighten you, but it will get you around, but the Cactus is not a car that you treat like a, say, DS3, the C4 Cactus is a car that takes you back to the late 70's, when cars were comfortable, and this is definitely that, it runs nice and economically, it is easy to drive, if not use, we will still be working out the touchscreen this time next year.
But the few foibles have definitely been smashed with the positive points, I just hope that this car, which we intend to keep for about 5-7 years, the longest we will keep a car for some considerable time, will be reliable, as a quick look on CUK's Facebook page clearly shows that the number of very unhappy people seriously outweigh the positive comments, by a massive margin.
Being unable to drive any great distances, i found that i was not enjoying driving anymore, when i used to adore it, i have found that because this car is so easy to drive, get in and out of, is economical, and a real pleasure to be in, i have been out for a "drive" a few times, and i have enjoyed them, whereas before driving was a chore, and literally a pain, lots of pain, I am not saying that the Cactus has turned into a medical miracle, far from it, but it makes my driving far more comfortable, and whereas before i would not do the driving, i find i am not giving the keys to my significant other, because i am enjoying too much.
So in conclusion, well, there are a number of points for and against
FOR
- It looks awesome
- It is so comfortable
- It is very economical
- It is easy to drive
- It is modern and up to date, yet harks back to an era that Citroen seemed to forget about
- It rides very well
- Has loads of gadgets
- We love the top box, loads of room.
AGAINST
- Dreadful dealer experience
- Exceptionally poor handover
- Dreadful Citroen UK customer service
- Over priced servicing costs
- Lack of close able/hidden cubby holes
- Dangerous Stop/Start - Unable to permanently disable
- Complicated touchscreen system
- Gear change could be smoother
The sublime driving experience makes up for the poor service we had from Bristol Street and CUK, but the buying experience from Carfile, albeit a little awkward to start, was perfectly adequate, polite and informative, and something that should be considered when buying a new car, however, if you prefer to be near a dealer, and speak with them face to face, this maybe not be the way forward for you, the endemic attitude from all but Carfile shows how little Customer Service is thought of, and for me, this Citroen will most probably be the first and last car we buy from the French brand, and that is a shame, because they are making some great looking cars, but everything else is just so bad, maybe Citroen France should be looking into why there are so many complaints, and out of these complaints why so many are not being dealt with in a polite, swift manner.
- CAR - 100%
- DEALER - 30%
- INTERNET - 80%
- COLLECTION - 40%
- DRIVE ABILITY - 100%
- COMFORT - 100%
- ECONOMY - 100%
- TOTAL - 78%
A score that looks good, but could have been so much higher, shame on you Citroen, take heed, the buyer is always right, even if they are wrong, and people will walk away if they feel that you don't give a toss about them.
If anyone has any questions or has an opinion to offer, that i can add, then please feel free to message me.
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TMW - Jon Mower.
All thoughts and comments are from my own experience, and are reproduced here as an opinion, it is not to be confused with any other opinion, or reported piece located elsewhere, the pictures are my property, and are not to be used without permission, the Carfile Logo is shown, and an indication of where to go to online for further information, the TMW has no connection with carfile, apart from being a customer, and it is on that basis that the report above is based, from our experience at all points.
