Wednesday 9 April 2014

Two weeks and Two Days Later - No News

The title of the post says it all... Two weeks and two days after Caterham collected my car we are still no closer to being on the road.  The agreed timescales were:
  • Collection on 24th March
  • PBC possibly the afternoon of the 24th or the day after
  • Remedial works completed end of week commencing 24th March
  • IVA week commencing 31st March (or this week as I write)
  • Followed by registration and potential collection at the end of April for a track day in France which I'd booked last year and based a lot of my build deadlines around.. 
Collection and PBC aside, nothing has happened - my car seems to have fallen off the radar, with the only communication from Caterham coming after yours truly chases them up.  I am getting no pro-active information whatsoever.  Having said that what I do have is:
  • An empty garage
  • Shattered dreams
  • A depleted bank account
  • Some carbon upgrades (handbrake and rear lights)
  • A headache
Caterham on the other hand have my money and my car - not good.
 
The long and short of it is that Caterham still don’t have an R500 fuel pump in stock with my car not progressing as a result.  The fuel pump has been out of stock since at least the first week in January... I was told around 10 minutes after I’d made the full and final payment (in January) that the fuel pump was out of stock and this would delay the delivery of my kit from 3rd Feb to 21st(ish) of Feb – naturally I wanted to get building so I accepted the kit with the fuel pump to follow.  I have chased the fuel pump on numerous occasions throughout the process, so it wasn’t like they weren’t aware I was outstanding one.
The out of stock fuel pump isn't the only issue I've had or am still having, here's a list of most (not all) of problems that are still unaddressed:

  • Customer returned track day roll bar delivered, replacement has marks on top as well
•Customer returned track day roll bar delivered, replacement has marks on top as well
Customer returned track day roll bar delivered, replacement has marks on top as well

  • 620R seats were delivered, then collected within four hours of delivery as they were pre-production' prototypes.  Now I've been told I can't have them even though the emails I have from Caterham say otherwise
620R seats were delivered, then collected within four hours of delivery as they were 'pre-production' prototypes.
620R seats were delivered, then collected within four hours of delivery as they were 'pre-production' prototypes.  

  • The wheels delivered were not the anthracite eight spoke type, which have been replaced, but the replacements have scratches, are not balanced and have had wheel weights removed leading me to believe these are not brand new
One of the scratches on the 'new' wheels.
One of the scratches on the 'new' wheels.

  • Caterham are out of stock of the anthracite hub caps
  • Coolant bottle was broken with no replacements in stock
  • The powder coat on the underside of the chassis is scratched where the holes for the seat bolts have been drilled
  • I'm yet to receive an air filter element
  • The lowered floor is not sealed properly - there is a hole from the passenger side to the outside world
The lowered floor is not sealed properly - there is a hole from the passenger side to the outside world
The lowered floor is not sealed properly - there is a hole from the passenger side to the outside world
  • Fuse cover is out of stock
  • Harness straps are of varying colours
Harness straps are of varying colours
Harness straps are of varying colours

  • Diff strut holes drilled into boot and chassis member, but apparently this is in error
Diff strut holes drilled into boot and chassis member, but apparently this is in error
Diff strut holes drilled into boot and chassis member, but apparently this is in error
  • Steering wheel QR scratched and instructions for wiring indicators not supplied
  • No hood or doors
  • Paint work is incredibly soft and doesn’t have a lacquer by the looks of it (2-pack??)
  • Initial decals wrong with revised decals not positioned correctly
  • Armourfend isn’t Armourfend as quoted, but is a hexis product

I think I'm a pretty reasonable and understanding person, I’ve built lots of things in the past, am logically minded (bordering OCD) so building the car hasn’t been a problem from my end.  I’ve kept my part of the deal, paid on time, specified everything correctly and wanted a car that was right in the first place.  I've had a long fuse throughout this process, worked with Caterham on every niggle to date and given them the benefit of the doubt on every occasion - but quite frankly my fuse has finally blown, enough is enough - it’s not like they’re a new start up doing this.  Caterham have been in the kit car business for 60 years... Surely they should know how it’s done, especially considering how much I've paid for this ‘experience’?!?  Or perhaps it's me that's been 'done' - it certainly feels that way right now.


I’m not usually a moaner, but, Caterham have put me into this situation with their poor service, poor quality control, lies and so on.  In light of all the problems I’ve encountered; I’ve told them to stuff it and I want all of my money back… I sent this refund request on email last week which has been ignored, and also by post on Monday this week (delivered Tuesday morning) and even this hasn’t warranted a response either (yet). 

In the meantime, I'll continue to twiddle my thumbs wondering what better things I could've done with a heap of cash.  I'll keep you posted.

3 comments:

  1. Good for you! Stick to your guns.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have a factory built R300 and there are many parts of it that make me just wonder who works there. There seems to be no pride taken in the work and no quality control or final inspection process. The sad thing is, there also appears to be no acknowledgement of the issues or focus on improving the situation. The parts situation is another disgrace. They can't supply their existing customers with parts, but they are busy opening dealerships in Columbia! (perhaps they have a fuel pump)

    You have bought what is basically their flagship product and they're supplying you with second hand parts. That's not just bad practice and bad ethically, but it has to be a legal issue as well, doesn't it?

    I can't wait to see what the new Zenos is like... ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. They certainly don't seem to have improved over the years. I built a kit 25 years ago and it was the same story with delivery delays, endless missing parts and a vague build manual. I think they should have perfected their kit business by now but unfortunately the internet is littered with blogs and forum postings which suggest otherwise. I'm expecting their move to other vehicle designs to be about as successful as the 21.

    ReplyDelete

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