[EN] Junk category added and the first winner is: Renault

Don't get me wrong, this is not a hate article about Renault, is just my experience after over more than two years with their very poor services over all and I will also try to tell you a few things that you normally do not find out until you actually buy a car from them.

I own a 2018 Renault Zoe ZE40 R90, a good car over all, but what is a good car without issues generated by poor customer services? First issue started soon after I both the car when I realised that I cannot use Renault ZE Services with my car because they do not know how to activate them in România. Don't think is racket science or is requiring any special training or years of experience. All the hardware was there and I'm talking about activating only two software options: My ZE Connect and My ZE Interactive.Like every normal customer I sent a request to Renault and requested them to activate ZE services for my car. At that point I had no idea how the two packages are named, I just knew that my car had the option to precondition and see some data during charging and that I have already paid for this features. It took them over 6 months, a lot of research from my side and I do not know how many emails and lost time including a visit in service, but in the end I was one of the first owners in România to have ZE Interactive activated on a Zoe car.Second issue was drastically range reduction and enormous charging time in winter conditions. So, from the promised 400 km NEDC, in the first winter my Zoe transformed and my range was reduced to about 150 km, far less than Renault advertised 200 km in winter time. I have the possibility to charge at home, so this was not a problem but the time spent charging was a huge problem especially when I charged at public stations. Some charging sessions were over 3 hours long and the charging speed was incredibly slow. I asked Renault customers services...and until the present day I have not received yet a definitive answer.Third and final issue has to do with anormal depreciation and with the fact that a car for which Renault received 35500€ two years ago, today in their opinion cannot be evaluated not even to half of that.Two months ago I have made a request to local Renault dealer to make me an offer to Buy Back my car so I can buy a ZE50 Intens with some options. First discussion was let's just say normal, the person who contacted my told me that they do not know how much to evaluate my car and he requested that I should tell them how much I want. After I did some research I sent them a number and I tried to make sure that the car can be sold so I added also a 22kW charging station to my proposal. From this point on things are becoming ugly.Dealer representative called me and he tried to explain to me that at 18000€ they can get ZE50 Intense (I want a ZE50 at 18000€, Renault where I can buy this?) and there is no point in buying my car. After a few calls the price quickly become less than 14000€ and fortunately for me the discussions ware over after a few days because there were real chances that at the end I will pay them to buy my car.To make things clear, a car sold two years ago by Renault for 35500€, after only 40k km and no major issues is evaluated by phone to less then 14000€. Leaving aside local incentive programs, Renault received 35500€ for selling me this car.I have reported this nonsense to Renault customer care and I asked them what is their opinion regarding :➀ Unusual depreciation of the second priced vehicle in their offer, depreciation far greater than for a fossil➁ Unusual behavior of local Renault dealer and bouncing around with the price➂ Considering that Renault is unlikely to meet European fleet emissions this year, what they have to say about the sabotaging behavior of local dealerAfter more than a month and a half, a few phone calls with contradicting informations, I have received no answer to my questions, no offer from Renault, only two contact informations for other dealers in my area.This being said, from now on, I consider Renault services and products as junk, I recommend you to be very careful when you buy a car from them, any car from them, and if resell value is important for you I do not recommend in any case to buy a car from Renault.Published by Marius Șerban at 00:46 on 13.08.2020 [EEST]