“I bought a second hand Ford Focus (KM14 RUJ) in July 2020 for £7500 together with an extra £700 for a Hartwell cover insurance via car care plan. Within a month or so the AC system ceased to function, and I took it back apparently for regassing that August 2020. Within a few months the AC failed again and I brought it back again for repair and and a service in June 2021 when the weather was warmer and AC necessary. I was assured again that it was just a regassing problem, but in Summer 2021, I needed the AC again and took the car back again for the third time in August 2021, and yet again I was assured it just required regassing and that I should always drive with the AC operative to ensure there was less chance of it leaking in the joints. It seemed to work for a short while until October 2021 after which it failed again although AC was hardly necessary in the cold weather.
The in December 2021 I was driving in the rain and the windows started to mist up on the interior despite the AC being turned on so I complained and took it back again for proper repair in February 2022, accompanied by a letter demanding proper action, and listing the sequence of events since purchase from Hartwells of the car in 2021.
This time, Hartwells admitted that the the AC condenser had a number of leaks in it and had to be replaced, and that the cost was not covered by the car care plan. The cost of this was £622.17. They also replaced a broken front spring which was covered by car care cover.
I then realised that the possible likelihood was that from the start Hartwells had realised when I first took the car back a month or so after its purchase, that the AC condenser was faulty, in which case I should have been so informed and I assume they would then have had to make it good having sold the car to me. I am not sure of the latter position but I very aware that I had the bother of having the car off the road 35 miles from where I live back and forth four times, together with the considerable of my wife having to drive me there and then pick it up the following days on four separate occasions before they admitted the AC had not been properly operative when they sold me the car in July 2020. I do not expect this sort of behaviour from a well established repair facility and major distributor of Ford motor cars.
Nicholas Greaves”
