Webuyanycar hits back
April 1st, 2011 by James Batchelor
FOLLOWING news today that the OFT is taking action against webuyanycar.com, the firm’s chief has hit back.
Earlier today, it was announced that the Office of Fair Trading was taking enforcement action over concerns that the firm was giving customers misleading valuations for their cars.
Richard Harrison, chief operating officer of webuyanycar.com says: ‘We’ve implemented a huge amount of changes at webuyanycar.com over the past 12 months to improve our customer experience, and the feedback from the OFT has helped to shape some of the changes we’ve made.
‘Today, sellers come to us because we offer a valuable alternative to part exchange or private sale, a fast, safe and fair way to unlock the real value of their car.
‘As a young and dynamic business, we’ve grown very quickly to become the largest buyer of second hand cars and offer the nation a third way to sell their car. As the largest business in the market, we take our responsibility as customer champion incredibly seriously which is why we’ve invested so much in improving our online valuation tool, tightening up our procedures, investing in training and asking our customers how we can improve our service.
‘In the early days…we didn’t get it right for every single customer. This was a long time ago and isn’t reflective of the business we are today.’
‘In the early days, we were operating a new business and defining a new market sector and we didn’t get it right for every single customer. This was a long time ago and isn’t reflective of the business we are today.
‘Steps taken include launching a new, easier to navigate website with clearer explanations about our service and the choice of a faster approximate valuation or a more indepth accurate valuation. We’ve made it even clearer that the online valuation we give is subject to an onsite inspection by our team of qualified buyers.
‘We’re also investing £300k in a new Buyer Training Academy to make sure that our buyers can accurately assess the valuation of a vehicle and our sellers experience consistently high levels of service at every branch.
‘The free online valuation tool will only ever be as accurate as the description that the seller puts into the system, but by focusing our efforts on helping people to use the valuation tool as accurately as possible, we’re confident that sellers won’t be disappointed at the onsite valuation.”
‘Today, we know that the vast majority of our customers are happy with the fast, safe and fair service we offer and we’re committed to continue to improve our service in the future.’
Click here to read OFT’s concerns
Tags: oft, webuyanycar.com
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April 1st, 2011 at 10:20 am
Webuyanycar.com are top of the range, high class CHEATS. They should be put in jail. My car they valued less than 70% of the value give by parkers. They must have made a hell lot of money from many innocent buyers,
April 6th, 2011 at 1:57 pm
Hi,
I run an independent dealership of around 60 cars. I bet if you spoke to all of my customers, you would find that 96% of them are/were unhappy with their part exchange price too. If not 100%! When has a customer EVER been quoted/given a price for the car and jumped up and down with happiness? Never….! If they want retail price for their car, sell it direct to someone. We are all in this to make a living, I don’t condone what webayanycar does (probably because I didn’t come up with the idea first) and know that they do (usually) end up no where near what they quote, but, does any dealer give retail money for a part ex? Customers need to sell their car quick, they get a price, they don’t HAVE to accept it…. It’s not like they’re telling them to put all their gold in an envelope and send it off in the post….!
April 6th, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Webuyanycar have brought yet another bad name on the motor trade. They aren’t the first, i know, and won’t be the last. But in this current eco climate, it’s badly timed! I struggle everyday with customers under the impression that we are all cowboys, and will try and lift their leg as soon as they say hello…. A fancy TV ad campaign (well, annoying any, any, anyway) does not cover up the fact that they have just hit the motor trade where and when it hurts. Although, thinking about it, they may have done us REAL dealers a favor. Who is going to trust weSTEALanycar now? Those customers will have to come back to the retail network and do it the old fashioned way – sell it through an advertising portal, or part ex it to us… Giving us a deal… Cheers! We need to find positives in every situation these days! Great mag by the way…!
April 8th, 2011 at 11:30 am
I have to agree with Sean’s comments above, the motor trade has always been given stick and the likes of WBAC have just tarnished it again. Hopefully with all the bad press and the likes of dealerbid site hitting them where it hurts they will eventually run out of steam! We have a modest little car business and have always managed to purchase cars from our customers by being honest and fair, two word that do not go into a sentence with the words “we buy any car”.
April 12th, 2011 at 8:31 am
I read all the comments above and feedback from the company COO… I haven’t used them but have a couple of comments.
Selling a car is by far one of the most deflating and depressing experiences for anyone, when you realise just how much money you have lost.. So there is always going to be a level of disappointment.
You aren’t forced to accept their price and can still choose to sell through another channel. In fact I would find their service as an alternative valuer really useful.
They will make mistakes both genuine and motivated by cutting a hard deal – isn’t that always the way with high ticket items?
So if these guys improve their transparency… I think they add a good new alternative to traditional dealers, and more consumer choice.
That’s a good thing, isn’t it?