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Hammond Cars Great Yarmouth
Ormond Road, Great Yarmouth, NR30 1QB
great yarmouth
4.4 (5,131 reviews)
Hammond Cars Great Yarmouth
Ormond Road, Great Yarmouth, NR30 1QB
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I sold my focus via Carwow and on auction day I was informed that my car had been 'sold' to Hammond cars £500 above the reserve price. Hammond then contacted me to say they wanted to arrange an AA inspection which took a week to organise. The inspector turned up over 4 hours late! The Carwow collection service was arranged via driive me four days later. The driver had to get a train then a bus so turned up late. He then couldn't log into the driive me app but insisted he had to do this to upload more photos and documents. Carwow, Hammond and driive me were no help and completely inflexible regarding alternative options to the app but finally pictures were accepted via WhatsApp. The driver was here for almost 3 hours then I got a call from Hammond trying to knock £150 off the agreed price because the rear pads were worn! I told the dealer that I had declared this and it was noted on the MOT. He said he hadn't looked at this! I finally received the agreed amount. Up to the point of the auction, I would give Carwow 5 stars. For all the problems and delay after that until collection and payment I would give Hammond 1 star.
I test drove a car from the Norwich branch which had been price gouged to the tune of £400. This was due to the current fuel crisis quote unquote according to the salesman and the manager and although I was a cash sale there was no negotiating the price ( 3 defects on the mot) hence it is still for sale!
I bought by a car from the Norwich branch and within 24 hours it had broke down and had 3 separate problems which involved the car shaking, not starting and struggling to move in all gears. When calling o they weren’t very helpful when I told them I am broken down and they said they could arrange something to get the car in a few days. Not happy with how the situation was dealt with, made it even more stressful. Kurtis was great though!
We reported an abnormal noise from the clutch / gearbox area of the car 4 days after purchasing it at the start of September. The car also suffered a significant number of other serious issues shortly after purchase, one of these being a complete brake failure resulting in the car overrunning a junction and only through luck nobody was seriously injured. We took the car to our local garage (the garage Hammonds also use) and they said the issue was most likely due to a faulty clutch / DMF. This garage recently replaced the clutch / DMF on this vehicle with parts supplied by Hammonds. The garage believed the fault was due to faulty components that had been supplied and as Hammonds had provided them, then Hammonds would have to pay for the repairs. Hammonds wanted another opinion, so we had to drive the car to a Ford garage an hour away in Norfolk because they didn't have a good relationship with the Ipswich Branch for investigative work / repairs. They changed the timing belt and tensioners, but this did not cure the abnormal noises. We paid for the aux belt to be replaced at the same time. We sent videos of the noises to Hammonds and they agreed for further diagnosis back with Ford. I was not happy for 2 of us to do another two x 2 hour round trips and lose the car for another week. Hammonds agreed to send it back to the local garage and they used a stethoscope and again stated there was an abnormal noise from the clutch area and would require a strip down to confirm the root cause. They also supplied videos of the noises. Potentially 8 hours labour for the strip down. The warranty team offered to send it to Ford in Ipswich but later retracted this offer, potentially once they realised the labour hours and costs involved at a main dealer. They have also tried to suggest the noises may be a “normal vehicle characteristic”. As a time served mechanic of 35 years I can confirm they are definitely abnormal. Other issues with the car were: 1. Failure of both wheel bearings. 1st one failed within the first week. 2. Complete brake failure. 3. Intermittent loss of all instruments and lighting while the vehicle is cruising on the motorway. 4. Failure of the cruise control - it tries to speed the car up when you press the brake. 5. Repeated faults with parking assist and collision assist. 6. Brake pedal switch failure. We were initially advised we could drive the car with the noise while they worked on getting it sorted in the background. As the noise deteriorated we then stopped driving the car for nearly 3 months in the hope they would repair it. Due to the significant nature of the faults, number of faults and cost to investigate / repair – we believe the car they sold is not fit for purpose and we requested either: a. Refund minus approx £500 for the miles we put on it prior to them saying it was fine to drive. b. Swap it for another vehicle of similar value. c. Repair all faults with the car. They offered a refund minus £2,300 for the miles (£0.45 per mile) we put on it which we found unacceptable and declined. They insisted it was fine to drive, not us. I drive approx. 500 miles per week and I didn’t request compensation for the 12 weeks I couldn’t drive it at their £0.45 per mile rate. We also tried to resolve this matter via their complaints department but have not had a response, just relayed messages from the warranty person via his area manager. Sometimes up to 3 weeks between responses. We raised a complaint with the Motor Ombudsman but they were unable assist because Hammonds are not members with them. We suggested they become members so we could resolve this or direct us to their suggested Alternative Dispute Resolution process - no response to this either. We have been advised that our only option is to pursue this legally via the small claims process. My advice is to avoid this company as they are not to be trusted.
Hammond Cars has a very large stock of used vehicles. I am sure that most car seekers will find a model to suit them. The staff are very friendly and willing to discuss customer needs. Cars are AA tested and given a full assessment of condition. Prices are reasonable and warranties are available. I was happy with my car buying experience. Just one complaint: the ceiling in the customer area is very reflective and the noise level gets very high - sometimes I could not make out what the salesman was saying to me. I think some sound deadening panels would be a good idea.
Reviews provided by dealership customers who were invited to provide feedback on their sales experience using TrustPilot.
