Renault ends SIMS contract
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Renault VI is trying to repair relationships with some of its customers and dealers after breakdown arrangements with a French assistance firm failed.
For the past three years. calls for roadside assistance from Renault truck owners have been handled by SIMS. based in Marne la Vallee near Paris, which then passes the calls on to Renault dealers.
Renault has terminated the agreement following complaints from customers who say they have been billed twice—once by SIMS, once by the dealer—for the same job.
John Wilson, a haulier from Pensby in the Wirral. says he was "seething" when he received a letter last week from Renauft dealer Staffordshire CV threatening to take him to County Court unless he paid £369 for a job done in July 1998. Wilson says he paid SIMS last September.
But Sue Elms, financial controller at Staffordshire CV, says Wilson's job is just one of 15 it has still to be paid for by SIMS. It seems procedures have broken down," she says. "We have no way of knowing whether customers have paid SIMS or not, and it's been left to dealers to chase the money. We have now accepted that Mr Wilson has paid the bill and given him an apology," The manufacturer says the number of customers and dealers affected is "very small" but Elms says she knows of some dealers who haven't been paid for jobs dating back to 199T.