Ordering a Part from Citroen

[Bryonyolney]

Hi All

This probably sounds like a daft question but are genuine Citroen parts ordered from a local dealer or is their a central number to contact Citroen parts?

I think I'm being lead a merry dance by the mechanic I have recently had work on my van. We cancelled an order with Citroen that he had placed on my behalf but due to Citroen not being able to provide a supply date as the part was on back order, I managed to supply my own part. I've been waiting 6 weeks for Citroen to provide a refund to my mechanic; according to him they were first posting a cheque out, then the cheque turned up but Citroen cancelled it as they decided it was a "special part" and couldn't be refunded even though the part wasn't in stock when the order was cancelled, and now we are waiting for another refund as they realised they got this wrong.

I'm getting more and more dubious about these tall tales and want to check with Citroen directly regards the status of the order, problem is my mechanic will not provide me with any of the details e.g. order number, date or order, date of cancellation despite many times of asking, so I was just going to chance my luck with Citroen directly just to confirm whether there was in fact an order in the first place and whether it is cancelled and the status of the refund (assuming none of this is commercial in confidence and shouldn't breach GDPR in any way as I'm not asking for personal information). I'm just not sure who I contact at Citroen to start with, especially with such sparse information (I have my mechanic's name and contact mobile but he is not affiliated with a garage and works independently).

We've worked with this guy previously without a problem and he's been trustworthy up to this point but something doesn't add up about this and I just want to confirm the situation for myself - if for no other reason that I can blast Customer Services at Citroen with the distance selling regulations!

Many thanks

Bryony

[jamescarruthers]

In my experience it is only the main dealer where you can get parts, or registered resellers like Eurocarcare.net.

I have been made to pay up front for non-stock parts and been warned that they are non-refundable so it doesn’t sound like too tall a tale that you are being told.

I have also had to accept rather open ended delivery schedules for items on back order from France, usually with parts turning up weeks later than the initial estimate.

You could go to your Citroen dealer’s parts dept. and try your luck with the car’s registration number or the part number as a start but it’s probably ordered on the garage’s account so you may or may not get a helpful response from the parts dept.

I can imagine that Citroen aren’t particularly quick once they’ve made a mistake but hopefully your garage can push them a little more.

Surprised that they are still dealing with cheques though!

[GiveMeABreak]

You won't get any joy from Citroen - it's like anything else, you must be the account holder before they will even talk to you.

It has to be down to your mechanic to deal with as it is his account / name / business the item was ordered from.

Citroen, like all PSA dealers have some supply of parts, but the vast majority of non-service items come from France, so yes there is truth in this. I had to have a wheel arch plastic trim ordered 3 times from France as it was damaged in transit twice. It took a few weeks to resolve.

[Bryonyolney]

Thanks Marc and James. I figured that would likely be the case regards them not talking to me but feel I need to try. I am at the local dealer with the van for a diagnostic on Thursday so will ask them there.

It was the cheque that had my alarm bells going, especially as my mechanic told me he was cashing it some 5 days before Citroen said they were cancelling it. To my knowledge the whole point with a cheque is once it's cashed it can't be reversed...

My mechanic isn't a garage, this is a side hustle so I don't think he's ordering a part under any other means than I would ringing up citroen which is where I thought I might have a bit of hope getting some info. I've read some horror stories about Citroen so up until the cheque part I was going with it. I haven't any reason to distrust my mechanic but the whole scenario is surreal, that parts can be considered "special" when they're not customised or bespoke (they're parts for mass produced vehicles!) and therefore not refundable. I do seriously wonder how this fits into the distance selling regulations which has clear guidance on cancellation of orders and willing to have a go if I can get to the bottom of this crazy scenario!

Bryony

[GiveMeABreak]

It's unusual talking about 'cheques' these days and as a business you would normally open a credit account with Citroen on business terms for discounts etc. But you can just go in and order a part, but would need to pay for it then and there in advance and I can almost guarantee not with a cheque these days.... I suspect payment in advance with a credit / debit card. So getting a 'cheque' back sounds a bit suspect to me....

As for parts you didn't say what the part was, but anything out of the normal service items are ordered from their hub then from France with deliveries coming in several times a week. So any part that has to be ordered in can be classed as a non-stock item and therefore non-refundable unless it is faulty. You therefore have to be careful on this as correct - it can mean anything that they have to order in that is not stocked.

[Bryonyolney]

It was the EOLYS tank (ongoing saga - still not working despite it being replaced), so yes an orderable part. Given that they are like hens teeth and there were several of us bidding on the same item on eBay, if it is indeed non-refundable then I'm quite sure I'd be able to resell however neither a refund nor the part (which is apparently now in stock) is forthcoming.

[GiveMeABreak]

Yes, those are special orders along with Adblue tanks and there can be a delay on these, but if you end up with a spare you shouldn't have any issue selling it on yourself. Just make sure you provide the proper part number.

[jamescarruthers]

It can’t do any harm to ask the parts person when you are there of course. I would.