SEAT Ibiza 2018 (18) - 1.0 TSI FR Euro 6 (s/s) 5dr

I bought my Mazda 6 from 1Up Automotive on 2nd April 2025. I live around 5 hours from the dealer and the first question I asked was what would happen if I had a problem with the car bearing in mind the distance between us. Matt reassured me that a garage local to me could be used. The car needed an MOT, service and injector before I took delivery of it in Plymouth. Within a week I noticed that the 2 rear tyres were cracking. A tyre dealership confirmed that both tyres were an MOT failure. I replaced both tyres at my expense. I had 6 weeks of trouble free motoring until 28th May when the car developed a misfire. This got worse until the car was virtually undriveable – it would kangaroo along and the engine was very noisy. I contacted Jacob at the dealers on 29th May to ask how I could get the car looked at. He said the warranty meant that I had to return it to them in Oldham to be assessed and it could not be looked at in Plymouth. I said the car was undriveable and Matt had previously assured me that it would be fixed locally. I also explained to Jacob that under the Consumer Rights 2015 Act meant that the warranty on the car was irrelevant. Jacob then changed his mind and agreed that the 2015 Act did apply and I could have it assessed in Plymouth and they would cover the cost of the diagnostics. The car was assessed by the Plymouth Mazda dealer on 13/06 – there was a faulty injector and excess carbon deposits as well as a red warning on the dash for a faulty key transponder. I paid the \xa3165 diagnostic fee. I went back to 1Up Automotive on 14/06 and requested the \xa3165 I’d paid. I then went a week of unreturned calls/texts as I chased a remedy for the car and my refund. I was told they would not refund the diagnostic fee even though I had it in writing. On 23rd June I told 1Up Automotive that I would take court action to recover the \xa3165 – they then paid the next day. 1Up Automotive wanted a second opinion on the Mazda diagnostics. The car was booked into a second Plymouth garage for another assessment 10 days later. Before that, 1Up Automotive said that they wanted to repair it back in Oldham as it going to be half the price of a repair in Plymouth. The car was collected on 29th June on a transporter. I had now been without the car for 4 weeks. 1Up Automotive then had the car for a further 3.5 weeks whilst they did the assessment and made the repairs – a new injector, de-carbonised the engine. During that time I received next to no updates, I had to constantly chase them for progress and to find out when I would get my car back. Eventually and out of frustration, I told them on 23rd July that unless the car came back with 5 days then I would formally reject it under the Consumer Rights Act and have my money back or go to court. Fraser contacted me and said he would drive it down the same day. The car had been extensively tested and he duly did on 23rd July along with some chocolates, an extra key and an Amazon \xa3100 voucher. In the 10 days since it was returned it is driving really well. Things to draw from my experience… 1. If you’re distance buying a car from 1Up Automotive and you have a problem then be prepared for a battle to get it fixed. 2. They are aware of a buyer’s rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 but chose to ignore them in my case until I pointed them out. They tried to say that the cars warranty meant they were not liable to fix the car. 3. Calls and texts go unanswered for days – be prepared to chase and chase. The usual reason given is that they are ‘really busy’. 4. The car passed an MOT two weeks before with 2 dangerous tyres – how? 5. I never heard the words ‘sorry for the inconvenience’ once. 6. They said that customer service was paramount and they were working diligently throughout the 2 months I had problems. But these words were never transferred into action – there was no urgency or appreciation of the disruption it was causing me. Finally, I was without the car for 2 months. Ask yourself what you would do if you were without your car for 2 months?