On 27 February I went to Diahatsu Witbank for a test drive in the Terios and decided to trade my Landrover TD5 in for the Terios. According to the advert the hard cover for the spare wheel is included and told Dumisani to go ahead with the deal. Dumisani then told me that I could collect the car on Thursday the 28th February 2008.

On Thursday 28 February 2008 after following up on the process a couple of times during the day, Dumisani eventually told me that I can come in to sign all the necessary documentation at 16h00 only. Dumisani had no idea of what he needed to do and phoned for assistance with every question I asked him. I then heard Mario from Huyndai tell Dumisani to take off the Hard Cover from the spare wheel as this is not part of the sale. This was a surprise to me as this was not told to me the previous day. They however promised me a cover within 5 working days. Dumisani also promised me that I can collect the car on the 29th February 2008 at about 10h00 but that he will contact me as soon as they have finalized the registration. With all the paperwork signed and handing in or Id’s etc, I contacted my Insurance and Vehicle tracking service to add the Terios and taking of the Landrover effectively from 29 February 2008.

On Friday 29 February, I called Dumisani 3 times during the day to follow up on the progress. His excuse was that there was a hold up with the registration of the vehicle but it will be finished by 15h00. At 15h00 I called Mario then seeing that I could not rely on Dumisani anymore as I got a feeling that he was totally incompetent in doing his job. Mario then informed me of the following:

• I will have to wait for a new Terios as the one that they have sold me, has already been sold to another customer.
• They got confused with the paperwork.
• They cannot deliver today as I will have to wait for another Terios.

My fiancé then threatened them with our Local News Paper and the police as Diahatsu Witbank was busy with fraud. He gave them till Saturday the 1st March to deliver the vehicle that they sold to me.

On 1 March 2008, Nadia contacted me at 10h00 to collect the vehicle. She then promised me that the registration of the vehicle will take approximately 5 to 7 working days and the cover will be delivered within 5 working days.

8 Days after collecting the Terios, Dumisani phones me and request that I bring a certified copy of my ID document for them to do the registration. This means they did absolutely nothing for 8 working days to collect the ID from me, although I have handed in my ID the day that I completed the documentation. 5 Working days after my certified ID document was handed in they contacted me to collect my number plates and registration. In other words, 16 days past before receiving my registration and number plates.

Today is the 25th of March 2008, precisely 27 days that I still have not received the cover for my spare wheel. I contact Nadia twice on a weekly basis and every time her comment is maybe Thursday, or Saturday or Tuesday. This has been going on for too long now.

The worst is that I was under the impression that the Terios is sold with the Hard Cover and included in the price – it seems that the Advert is misleading and I will make sure that this information will be communicated to as much people as I could. Also Nadia promised me a Blue cover seeing that my Terios is blue, but she made a very weak excuse that she cannot get a blue and that I have to be satisfied with a black, that is if I ever get the cover.

Today I contacted the Customer Care line for Diahatsu Headoffice. The lady Emma has still not returned my call. Let us see how long or if ever she will contact me back.