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The HfP chat thread – Saturday 10th April

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Comments (337)

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

  • David says:
    10 Apr10 April 09:16

    What counts as a flight cancellation ? Is a flight number change enough? -thanks in advance

  • Sukes says:
    10 Apr10 April 09:43

    Ireland has added the US & Canada amongst others to its list of countries where arrivals are subject to mandatory hotel quarantine paid by the traveller. Takes effect 15 Apr. Ireland also announced it will also require all arrivals to have booked a COVID-19 test for five days after landing in addition to one taken in the days before travelling.

    • Yuff says:
      10 Apr10 April 09:47

      Does anyone know when Ireland are reducing Level 5?

    • meta says:
      10 Apr10 April 10:24

      Washington Post has an article about US cases on the rise involving Brazil variant, so no surprise really.

  • Josh O says:
    10 Apr10 April 09:57

    Good morning all! I realise this is off-topic but the HFP crowd are a fountain of knowledge with alll things consumer rights, so I thought I’d ask!
    I’ll try to keep it short – my wife and I bought a brand new Discovery Sport on a PCP arrangement in Sept 18 (our first even new car). On the day we picked it up the air con wasn’t working during the demo, and it was a boiling hot day. There was no choice but to take the car as we had plans, plus they had no spare vehicles. We returned a week later, took a temp car whilst it was repaired and everything then seemed fine.
    However, 1st hot day of 2019 – we discovered no air con again. In for repair again…..
    1st hot day of 2020? No air con: in for repair again.
    1st hot day of 2021? Guess what? Yup you got it……(it hasn’t gone in yet tho)
    It’s clear that they obviously don’t know how to fix the fault and I am fed up of wasting my time going in/out of service depots. Additionally the warranty will run out soon and then I am stuffed.
    On top of the issues which are infuriating, the service has been appalling – a general lack of apology and it almost seems like we are being a pain to them! We have 2 kids under 3 and a black car with no air con heats up quickly.
    I have had a little look around online and there seems to be a suggestion that they should replace it with a new one.
    If this was a TV from John Lewis then I am certain that this would be the case, but I just cannot see it happening with the car.
    I would be incredibly grateful for any advice, and extend my thanks in advance. Hopefully you won’t judge me too badly on the merits (or not!) of buying a new car, or my choice of vehicle!
    Cheers

    • Josh O says:
      10 Apr10 April 10:04

      I should probably add that it was a 3-year PCP, so is due to end in September 2021. For those unfamiliar -we then have the choice of a) paying the final payment (circa £24k), b) bouncing the difference between actual value (maybe £30k) and the final payment – so approx £6k – onto a deposit for another vehicle or c) walking away.
      I realise 2 of these options mean I only have to put up with this car for another 5 months or so, but I don’t see that it’s right that they get away with it scotfree while I have 3 years of hassle…..

      • TGLoyalty says:
        10 Apr10 April 10:18

        I’d approach the dealer you purchased from as the repeated fault is unacceptable and they should provide some compensation.

        Although You can ask for an early settlement quote now and change car.

        • Lady London says:
          10 Apr10 April 14:19

          +1 negotiate now for a better deal on your next one. Use wanting to drop this one early as a ploy. Frankly you shouldn’t have put up with it this long. They know you have a very few months to go on this car so you have absolutely no leverage ( but you should act as though you believe you have). But they will want to sell you a new deal so keep b*ching.

      • AJA says:
        10 Apr10 April 10:37

        You had the right to insist on a car fit for purpose under Consumer Rights Act 2015 but I believe that was only within the first 30 days of purchase

        This article may be helpful:

        https://www.whatcar.com/news/your-legal-rights-if-something-goes-wrong-with-your-car/n3307

        I think now if you don’t want another Land Rover the only thing you can do now is return the car and walk away in September.

        You might get a better deal though if you agree to buy another car today. Car sales are still much lower than they’ve been for a while so the dealer might do you an enhanced deal. You don’t have to wait until the 3 years is up. Besides it may take a couple of months for another car to be built, although you may also find they have an ex-demonstrator or new car stock available.

        Sad news as I like the Discovery Sport but it doesn’t have the best reputation for reliable electrics.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          10 Apr10 April 13:33

          There was Full overhaul at 20MY.

          I don’t think the air con issue will be due to electronics.

          • James says:
            10 Apr10 April 14:30

            Hardly a full overall. Mild refresh to exterior lights, new infotainment system that thankfully replaced the Godawful previous system which was powered by a tortoise, and the addition of a mild hybrid engine to the range. I’ve had the pre face-lift DS and it utterly unreliable, as JLR cars frequently are when you review manufacturer reliability rates. My father has the larger Discovery and has also been plagued by problems with it pretty much from day one. I know you the OP doesn’t want advice for next car, but I’d avoid like the plague, which is a shame as they are nice looking cars.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            10 Apr10 April 14:48

            Believe me James full overhaul.

            It may look very much the same on the outside underneath it is a whole new car.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            10 Apr10 April 15:05

            I’m sure I’ll forget something

            Exterior
            New front bumper
            Refreshed rear bumper accents
            New all led lights (front and rear)
            New Body coloured skirts (dynamic only), vents, Sappa airbag cover.

            Interior

            New seats (covers and cushions)
            New IP&C
            New door interior
            New tailgate interior
            New carpets (which you would only notice around the 3rd row seat footwell as a customer)
            New infotainment (21MY now has PIVI which is even better)
            New powertrain set up which includes new driveline, new automatic transmission, MHEV and PHEV. (Improved Diesel engine released at 21MY late last year)
            New overhauled higher speed electrical architecture (includes upgraded cameras, sensors and radars for driver assistance some of which was upgraded further at 21MY)

            And much more you will probably never see touch or feel. It may have been called mid cycle fresh but the only thing it shares with the original launch model is the body work.

          • James says:
            10 Apr10 April 16:30

            Thankfully I don’t fall for the marketing hype: very little updated mechanically which is where the main problems with JLR cars are. No car has a full overall at 3-4 years, this is a mid life update, different carpets, bumpers and lights don’t improve reliability. My problem is with you continuing to suggest and give the impression this is as vastly different car with a “full overhaul”; it’s not.
            Thanks for the advert for JLR, but I’ll let somebody more expert point out the reality, which is a mid life refresh: https://www.carwow.co.uk/land-rover/discovery-sport/news/4762/2021-land-rover-discovery-sport-updates-revealed-price-specs-release-date

          • TGLoyalty says:
            10 Apr10 April 17:48

            Marketing hype? There’s no marketing hype anywhere in my post.

            Nothing new mechanically? The chassis and powertrain is all new what other mechanical parts are there?

            Link is to 21MY which is just a Model year change (minor changes all listed above), 20MY was its big Mid cycle fresh.

          • James says:
            10 Apr10 April 18:32

            This is a very odd thing for you to get so exercised about. It’s not a full overhaul and it’s not the case that “the only thing it shares with the original launch model is the body work.”. You’re plain wrong, but you clearly struggle to admit this. I’m not interested in a deep dive of what has changed on the wretched things and back to my original post, the point of which was to express my own experience with their cars and the fact that its a mid life refresh. Yet again, manufacturers don’t give full refreshes to cars at 3 years in, and at least you now acknowledge it was a mid cycle refresh, which was my main point.
            PS, fitting equally flawed and unreliable tech and mechanicals first available in higher end models (Disco, RRs) to lower end models (DiscoSport) doesn’t mean they are ‘new’ or any more reliable.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            10 Apr10 April 20:04

            @james Sometimes you need to concede you have no idea what you are talking about and other on the internet have far more knowledge of the subject.

            You’re wrong.

          • James says:
            11 Apr11 April 01:26

            And you sound like a 9 year old on the playground. Swings and roundabouts, I guess.

      • Green Plastic says:
        10 Apr10 April 13:12

        Josh, if you are leasing the vehicle you need to raise your rejection case through your lease provider, not directly with JLR. Surprised JLR hadn’t told you that already.

        And you’ll almost certainly be fighting a losing battle as you lose your final right to reject the vehicle after 6 months of ownership, under the CRA 2015.

      • A says:
        10 Apr10 April 16:13

        You always have option D) – get a current settlement figure for the PCP (ie net of interest due for rest of the term) and a valuation from we buy any car or similar. If valuation exceeds settlement (as is likely at this time in your PCP as you’ve borne most of the depreciation already), you can just have webuyanycar pay your settlement figure direct to your finance provider and any residue to you. They’re pretty good at handling this and are used to dealing with cars that have outstanding HP settled through the funds they provide. Then you can get rid of car now, abs keep any excess value. I did this with a small Renault we had when trading up to a larger car as didn’t want to rollover to another Renault m

      • A says:
        10 Apr10 April 18:11

        James you’re missing the that introducing the new MHEV fairly obviously requires creating space for battery and motor and building then into drivetrain which required significant under the body overhaul. Just because Carwow don’t mention it doesn’t mean it isn’t true

        • James says:
          10 Apr10 April 18:35

          We do have the JLR fan boys out today, don’t we. Thankfully I extricated myself from that club.

          • A says:
            10 Apr10 April 19:13

            Not a fanboy as I don’t own one, but happy for you to respond to the factual point I raised if you’re capable of doing so

          • James says:
            10 Apr10 April 19:50

            See above. Feel free to keep ignoring the point of the post and get weighed down in pointless technicalities. Or are you going to tell me that JLR cars score badly in customer satisfaction and experience scores (they do, consistently), that my DS wasn’t a pile of unreliable and frustrating tosh that I couldn’t wait to get rid of (it was), that my father’s one year old Discoverey hasn’t had 5 separate trips back to the dealership for two repeating problems of which there are reams of similar experiences of on customer forums (it has), and that the current car isn’t a mid cycle update (it is)?

          • A says:
            10 Apr10 April 21:30

            On the broader point I wholeheartedly agree – I only ever hear bad things from JLR owners about reliability, particularly LR/RR. I struggle to understand why anyone buys them, even if in PCP where your downside risk is limited – just seems too annoying.

            But that’s now what I was responding to – it was the narrow point about not being a “full overhaul”. You’re just plain wrong on that, unfortunately – see my comments above about fundamental redesign of various structural parts required to deal with the MHEV

          • TGLoyalty says:
            10 Apr10 April 21:43

            https://www.motoringresearch.com/car-news/2020-land-rover-discovery-sport-revealed/

    • mark taylor says:
      10 Apr10 April 11:02

      I had a Velar and after 2 years with numerous problems I rejected the car stating it was not fit for purpose. Well that really put the cat among the pigeons & the dealer certainly didn’t like that. However Land Rover were fantastic, did what they said they were going to and put me in a new Velar very similar to the one I had. Its a legal process and interestingly there is a template letter from Martin Lewis!. Might be worth investigating

    • Oliver says:
      10 Apr10 April 11:31

      I had a recurring minor issue on a VW that I financed and later bought outright. Each time VW replaced the part, that repair came with a 2 year warranty. The 5th repair (with an updated version of the part) finally managed to fix it once and for all, and that was over 2 years outside the original warranty.

      Assuming Land Rover have a similar policy to guarantee dealer repairs, your air con issue will still be covered even once the main warranty ends.

    • Andrew says:
      10 Apr10 April 12:49

      Don’t you use your aircon all year round?

      It sounds like you’ve got a lemon, don’t keep it beyond this September. And start looking for a brand new vehicle now if you are planning on ordering new. The car I took delivery of yesterday was ordered exactly 6 months ago.

      I’d recommend you get a valuation of the vehicle now. My last PCP deal the car was valued at £9,500 when the final payment due was £12,500! So I pay the “Guaranteed Future Valuation” of £12,500 and get to keep a car worth £9,500. Uhm…

      So I walked away from my last car, ordered my new one online with an NHS discount and a non-dealer PCP direct with my bank, and saved £7,000 on the best price elsewhere.

      • Andrew says:
        10 Apr10 April 12:54

        Oh, and ordering online means it just gets delivered to your drive, you don’t have to go through the excruciating “unveiling” of your new car as the silk cover is drawn back and the dealers clap as you take delivery.

      • AJA says:
        10 Apr10 April 14:09

        I recommend the online buying route. It’s great as you get a range of dealers all competing to offer you the best deal. I didn’t save as much as you did (got over £4k off list though) plus a great PCP deal with a decent APR and a few dealer extras thrown in as well. Delivered to my driveway. Am going to keep the car though as it is worth significantly more than the Guaranteed Future Valuation and I haven’t done very much mileage, particularly in the last year. Will keep for a couple of years and then consider trading in.

      • Magic Mike says:
        10 Apr10 April 20:46

        Need to use aircon regularly or the gubbins dry out from lack of lubricant in the refrigerant.

        JL would not give you a new TV after 3 years, unfortunately.

        Some good suggestions above but the best one is to buy something reliable next time, preferably Japanese…

    • Liz says:
      10 Apr10 April 20:10

      Josh – we bought a 1 yr Discovery back in 2017. We had constant problems with various warning lights and sensor errors over a period of about a year. It was in and out of the garage about 8 times and they kept resetting the management system which didn’t fix problem. So much time wasted as we don’t have a Land Rover in Dundee. We ended up raising an official complaint with Land Rover HO. They asked us to book it in again and then contact them again so they could get the factory technicians to work with the local garage. I don’t know what they did but they fixed it once and for all. We had lost trust in the car and it was due to run out of the warranty. We went back to guy who we raised the complaint with and said we wanted the full warranty extended for a 4th year. If they had really fixed the problem then it wouldn’t cost them anything. They agreed and fortunately we have not had any more troubles with it. We bought it for towing our caravan – every time we were away from home we had problem. At one point we had 2 courtesy cars on our drive!

    • Josh O says:
      11 Apr11 April 00:08

      Thanks for the advice everyone, really appreciate it

  • xcalx says:
    10 Apr10 April 10:01

    Does anyone know if the Plat Business “spend £1000 in a single transaction get £150 refund ” works on a PayPal or Billhop transaction. Thanks

    • Rob says:
      10 Apr10 April 10:09

      I may find out soon, as I haven’t used mine yet ….

    • Doog1000 says:
      10 Apr10 April 10:43

      works on billhop – have not tried PayPal

    • Matt says:
      10 Apr10 April 15:05

      I paid HMRC via Billhop and it triggered straight away – email instantly and cash in account within a couple of days.

  • Russ says:
    10 Apr10 April 10:33

    Fair play to BA who cancelled my TYO flights yesterday, I immediately contacted via twitter for refund, both avios and all cash back in accounts today. Well done BA!

    • Anna says:
      10 Apr10 April 10:43

      Is there any reason you didn’t want to be re-routed at a later date?

      • Russ says:
        10 Apr10 April 12:33

        Yep, we’re leaving the country for a while and don’t need return tickets for the foreseeable 🙂

        Also, I don’t know what the thinking is on the likely hood of getting a third Covid over Christmas and going back into lockdown, but I’m not being marooned on this rock in winter again. It’s too cold …….

        • Lady London says:
          10 Apr10 April 12:51

          Where are you off to Russ ? Go on, make us jealous 🙂

          • Russ says:
            10 Apr10 April 13:13

            Basically we’re just going to follow the nice weather. Starting November six months divided into six week chunks per hotel starting in Kuwait then down to Doha, over to Dubai then off to Muscat till it starts getting too warm. Then repeat but in Europe: Portugal, Rome, Germany, Greece etc. Then start again in the warm climates: Israel, Sri Lanka, India etc. Well that’s the theory anyway 🙂

          • Lady London says:
            10 Apr10 April 14:23

            Brave, Russ. Just make sure you’re not following @Anna or @Harry T at any of those

          • TGLoyalty says:
            10 Apr10 April 15:23

            Good luck Russ

            Covid travel restrictions will be far less of a worry November onwards.

          • Russ says:
            10 Apr10 April 20:36

            It is a bit brave to be sure but if it goes wrong I can always get a hotel for the night! And as for Anna and Harry well I’m pretty sure they’ve booked every flight, cruise, car, hotel on the planet 🙂

            @TGLoyalty, thanks mate. Let’s hope for everyone’s sake this is the last of it.

  • Bam says:
    10 Apr10 April 10:59

    Hi … our mortgage is coming up for renewal, does anyone have any recommendations, or know any points collecting opportunities..
    Thanks –

    • Rhys says:
      10 Apr10 April 11:03

      You can earn Avios via Barclays Premier

    • Steve says:
      10 Apr10 April 11:21

      Too much money in a small differential I’m rates to make points the deciding factor on a mortgage. Get a whole of market broker and find the best rate possible.

      I’ve used L&C before (but a while ago). Also then compare to any “existing account holder only” deals your various current accounts may offer.

    • Reney says:
      10 Apr10 April 11:21

      If you are planning to make regular overpayment some banks accept credit card payments without cash fee.

    • Anuj says:
      10 Apr10 April 13:43

      You would do better listing the names of the banks with the best quotes you received and then asking on here if anyone knows if any of them let you use points CC for overpayment

  • Gothbe says:
    10 Apr10 April 11:08

    Setting up Virgin money bank account for the 15k switch. Any suggestions for a very small direct debit that could be set up.

    • Harry T says:
      10 Apr10 April 11:21

      I set up £1 direct debits to a couple of my Amex cards.

      • Fm says:
        10 Apr10 April 11:50

        UNICEF will allow you to set up a £1 per month direct debit

        • Anuj says:
          10 Apr10 April 13:44

          If using a charity please set up something like £5 or more otherwise you’re costing them admin and fees on £1 and they usually send out some letters too. What’s a few extra pounds

    • The Savage Squirrel says:
      10 Apr10 April 12:50

      I set up two modest (although larger than £1!) direct debits to two brilliant charities that I am happy to run for a while until further switching opportunities come up – which didn’t take long as my Virgin account is currently in the process of switching to Halifax… Why not do the same?

    • Matt says:
      10 Apr10 April 15:07

      Post office online savings, 1 in your name, 1 in joint names.

  • Rob says:
    10 Apr10 April 11:20

    Does anyone know much about flights in and out of Xi’an in China?

    I’m looking to swing in there on my way home from Tokyo next February, but I’m seeing nothing on Japanese carriers and similarly nothing on Cathay either.

    Is connectivity really that bad there? Last time I was there I was convinced the airport was the size of Gatwick. I assume the schedules are off because airlines are not releasing seats on certain routes yet?

    • Lee says:
      10 Apr10 April 11:29

      China won’t open next February

    • Genghis says:
      10 Apr10 April 12:24

      Cannot answer your question I’m afraid. I’ve only flown from there (internal flight to Guilin) and the airport was big from memory.

      While in Xi’an, put a day to going up Huashan. Absolutely fantastic! We hired a driver and I’d recommend that as We could then doze on the way home (instead of mucking about with subways, high speed trains, buses etc). Take gloves.

      • Rob says:
        10 Apr10 April 12:57

        Thanks Genghis. I’ve been before but only really to see the warriors. Now taking the Mrs for her first time. Would be interested to try Huashan this time.

        We are trying to take advantage of the 6 day visa allowance but in a country the size of China it makes for some tight turnarounds. Hence not wanting to connect again internally from Xi’an.

      • DK says:
        10 Apr10 April 14:15

        Pleasant memories from Xian. We were flying Xian to Shanghai and Xian airport was very new and rather empty back then

      • Cat says:
        10 Apr10 April 17:59

        Did you do the plank trail Genghis?

        • Genghis says:
          10 Apr10 April 19:08

          No chance!

          • Cat says:
            10 Apr10 April 19:20

            😂
            I think that might be beyond what I’m willing to subject myself to, as well. I just wondered if that’s why you needed the driver!

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