Tony Hetherington is the Financial Mail on Sunday’s top researcher, taking on readers’ corners, uncovering the truth that lies behind closed doors and delivering victories for those left out of their own pockets. Below you can read how you can contact him.
Mrs LC writes: We have been let down by Skoda UK at every step. We bought a Skoda Kamiq last June for £17,000 for use as a licensed taxi. In September the electronic control unit ignited while my husband was driving the vehicle. It was still under Skoda’s warranty, but the local dealer said the part could not be ordered and our only option was to make a complaint.
Tony Hetherington replies: You have filed a complaint with Skoda, but no one could give you any idea when the part would be available. Meanwhile, your husband lost income every day he was on the road. He hired a taxi to support himself, but Skoda refused to cover even the fairly reasonable £150 a week this cost.
Back on the road. But a defective part on a Skoda Kamiq turned out to be a costly affair
By the time you contacted me, your husband’s lost income and rental costs had left you and him around £3,000 out of pocket. You told me: ‘The toll we as a family have to pay is enormous, and at Skoda no one seems to care.’
It is cruel that Skoda was about to close your complaint simply because it stated that you had not responded to a message that stated nothing other than that there was no news about the unavailable part.
You bought the car using finance from Black Horse, part of Lloyds Bank, so whilst you were contacting them I asked Skoda what had gone wrong. I was told that the electronic control unit had to be made individually and that it was not an off-the-shelf product so there was no time frame. But Skoda agreed it would cover your husband’s losses, as long as it could see the receipts and invoices. This meant that any settlement was postponed until the final figures could be calculated. But in the meantime you had done fantastic with Black Horse. After seeing the same information you gave me, the finance company decided to repossess the car, cancel the loan agreement and refund your deposit with interest. Well done, Black Horse!
While your husband’s accountant was crunching his figures, you provided Skoda with evidence that he had paid £1,585 to hire a replacement taxi to date. Then a small bombshell hit Skoda, who told you: ‘We will not give any further goodwill in terms of loss of revenue, municipal costs for preparing new license plates, mechanical costs for removing tax meters and signage from one taxi to the other when a new one comes along. has been purchased, or any goodwill payment for the inconvenience caused.’ Finally, Škoda’s Customer Relations department emphasized that it would only cover rental costs and nothing more.
This was not what I had agreed with Skoda, and it was a classic example of the left hand not knowing what the right hand had already promised.
My own contact at Skoda apologized and confirmed that the company would not only pay the rental costs, but also the council costs, the removal and re-installation of the taxi signs and meter, and that an additional £500 would be added to make up for all the inconvenience to make.
I am pleased to inform you that your husband is now on the road again and that Skoda has transferred an agreed total amount of € 2,948 to your bank account.
We’re watching you
The prosecution of seven people accused of fraud relating to the drafting of wills and trusts has failed after a decade of complaints, investigations and aborted trials. The suspects included former lawyers Jonathan De Vita and Christopher Platt, who had a law practice in Barton-upon-Humber in Lincolnshire, and Alana Benson, who was involved in running a series of wills firms.
The suspects included former lawyers Jonathan De Vita and Christopher Platt, who had a law practice in Barton-upon-Humber in Lincolnshire.
Benson was accused of falsely advising clients that they could avoid nursing home costs by purchasing deeds that would protect their assets within a trust.
I warned in 2015 that Benson was a former bankrupt who worked as a manager at a corrupt wills company called Express Law Limited. It was shut down by the Supreme Court for cheating its customers. Benson also ran Doncaster-based Direct Law 4U Limited, which went bankrupt after charging for wills and trusts that could not be delivered, and then founded Indeed Law Limited, which also went bankrupt, leaving creditor claims from a total of over £138,000. .
De Vita and Platt were accused of obtaining payment for trust deeds knowing they were being marketed with false claims. Their office was closed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority in 2018 and the pair were struck off as solicitors a year later. A tribunal found they had forged documents and charged a client more than £52,000 for work that should have cost around £2,500.
Following an investigation by York Trading Standards, largely funded by the national organisation, the seven suspects first appeared in court in 2019. The case reached Leeds Crown Court in 2022 but the trial was halted after issues with the jury. It was moved to September last year, but then postponed again. Ultimately, the Public Prosecution Service decided not to offer evidence and the suspects were formally acquitted by the judge.
National Trading Standards said: ‘This case has been before the courts twice, with new evidence from one of the defendants coming to light in late 2023. The new evidence included a vast amount of electronic material that would have taken months to review.”
A spokesperson said that while the victims lost significant amounts of money, it would cause even more stress for them to reschedule the trial.
If you believe you have been a victim of financial misconduct, please write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Due to the large number of questions, personal answers cannot be given. Only send copies of original documents. Unfortunately, these cannot be returned.
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