Peeved ..

This blip is no more than a getting-it-off-my-chest-rant .. feel free to ignore!

Just over a month ago you may remember I bought a new to me, second hand car.

A couple of days ago I went to open the boot and the handle came off in my hand. I rang the dealer I'd bought it from and he said to take it in this morning and he'd 'have a play with it'

I dropped Maisie off for day care while I was carless and went to the dealer. They couldn't look at it in the morning but would look immediately after lunch.

I rang at 3.30 - it would be ready at 6.30. I said that was no good as I had to pick the dog up before then. OK - could I ring back in half an hour. I rang at 4.10. 'I'm working on it now' I asked how long he'd be. Half an hour.

I got the bus and arrived about 35 minutes later. I was handed my key - went to the car - saw they'd left the sellotape on it (which I'd had to fasten the handle with) The chap came over and stopped me. It turned out he hadn't fixed it at all. Apparently I'd 'broken it'

I pointed out (as a friend had found on a Nissan forum), that's it's a known fault/weakness. Well - he didn't know about that .. I'd broken it and 'no' it wasn't covered by the (worthless) 12 month warranty of which they'd been so proud.

He said I would have to cover the cost of a new one - or he'd look for a second hand one on eBay.

I went over to the handily situated Nissan repair shop over the road. As soon as I told the parts manager what the problem was he KNEW it was a Qashqai. It's a known fault. They get brittle. They fail. The replacement part even has a different part number to the original bit so they had clearly redesigned it.

To replace it, get the seal, get it sprayed and fitted - about £200

Back to the car dealer. I told him the Nissan chap was as surprised as I was that they wouldn't cover the replacement price, and that he confirmed it was a design fault. Not his problem - I should take it up with Nissan. I suggested Nissan might not feel any responsibility for a seven year old second hand car which I'd bought from HIM not Nissan.

But it needed fixing so please let's just get on with it, I said. He'd look for a second hand part on eBay.

No - please don't, I said - it will already be brittle and break even sooner ...

I managed not to swear and not to cry. That is my greatest achievement today.

Maisie is flat out having had a wonderful long day playing with dogs. Here she is!

I'm peeved. Very peeved.

EDIT : I'm hoping that this response to my comment on Nissan's Facebook page might lead to a hefty discount on the repair - we'll see!