[Perusal]

Oh dear, here we go......are we going to regret returning to Renault again? Car booked in on Friday for a faulty alarm which keeps going off without warning for no apparent reason at all. Six times today, Three times at my wife's workplace and three times since she got home.
Anybody else had this problem?Edited by: Perusal

 

[John146]

Hi Perusal, having exactly the same problem, been told by dealer that the alarm is a 'Cobra' alarm and mine needs a new one, the dealer has had the car for two days now to get one fitted, but, the fault drove us crackers, day or night it would go off then stop for a couple of days, then same again!!

 

[Perusal]

Hi Perusal, having exactly the same problem, been told by dealer that the alarm is a 'Cobra' alarm and mine needs a new one, the dealer has had the car for two days now to get one fitted, but, the fault drove us crackers, day or night it would go off then stop for a couple of days, then same again!!

Hmmm. Interesting. We are getting a courtesy car in Friday while it is in. Needless to say they won't get that back until the car is fixed.

 

[John146]

Hi again Perusal, received call from Renault Service Department at my local dealer this afternoon (Thursday), told me Cobra are to deliver a new alarm either today or tomorrow, could be fitted tomorrow, but then they ned to monitor it to see if it still goes off, it seems they have another Captur in the workshop same problem, new alarm has been fitted but still goes off for no reason, like you I will keep their courtesy car until such time they either fix it, or supply me with another car

 

[crossbow]

That's why I didn't get one fitted. They are always ignored. Annoy the owners and the neighbours. Besides with the cardkey entry and immobaliser I didn't see the need. As well as an additional cost.
Edited by: crossbow

 

[Fizzy]

Hi had same problem car has been at the dealers for three weeks total fitted two new alarms now and all seems ok

 

[Perusal]

Thought I would provide an update on this because I am now in the process of stepping up our efforts to get our dodgy alarm issue resolved.

Nearly 6 weeks after the alarm was disabled Renault and Cobra are no nearer finding a solution to the issue of our alarm going off at random times and without any reason. Yet again today the response was that they are still seeking a solution. Under the "sale of goods" act the seller is entitled to a reasonable time to resolve any issues with an item they have sold. I learned a few years back with another unrelated item that in law this usually constitutes a month. Given that we are now exceeding this period quite comfortably I have advised the dealer today that their response is unacceptable and unless I either receive a refund for the cost of an alarm or have a new one fitted I will initiate legal action via the small claims court. Unfortunately I have a degree of sympathy for the dealer since they have pushed Renault UK and Cobra for a solution but since the supplying dealer is the entity with whom I have my contract of sale it is the dealer I will need to pursue through the courts.
Anyway, they understand my position, we remain on good terms, and they will now talk to Renault UK to see what can be done to resolve our issue. Failure to resolve it however to our satisfaction however by later next week will mark the starting point of initiating the claim. Watch this space as they say....

In the meantime if you were thinking of purchasing the protection pack or specifying an alarm in your Captur I would advise against this. I am sure there are many out there that work just fine but equally it seems when they go wrong nobody has a clue what to do.....

 

[Halin9]

Sorry to hear this problem has still not been resolved... Renault do seem clueless at solving problems..
You do right in pushing it this way.Please let us know the result....
Maybe, if it works, us 29.9 ers should threaten similar action..!

 

[Perusal]

An update......our problem has now been escalated to Renault Customer Service UK and a dedicated Customer Support Manager allocated to help find a resolution. Not a long way further forward at this stage but have been promised further action by Friday. The support manager was very polite, tried to be helpful, so far so good, but I was advised that this was a new issue to Renault so I suggested they look on this forum. As I said before, watch this space....

And for anybody else who wants to contact UK customer services, I think this info may have been posted previously but they can be contacted on 0344 335 0000 where you can follow the options to log or chase up a complaint.

 

[IvorETower]

Thought I would provide an update on this because I am now in the process of stepping up our efforts to get our dodgy alarm issue resolved.
....
In the meantime if you were thinking of purchasing the protection pack or specifying an alarm in your Captur I would advise against this. I am sure there are many out there that work just fine but equally it seems when they go wrong nobody has a clue what to do.....

I'm keeping my fingers firmly crossed because I had the protection pack fitted to my Captur, and so far not had a "false alarm".
I do hope that they manage to sort yours out soon. Although nobody seems to take notice of a car alarm going off in the daytime, it's very, very annoying when they go off at night when people are trying to sleep

 

[Perusal]

The only good(?) thing in this whole saga is that when the car went back to the dealer to be looked at the alarm went off almost continuously causing the staff to have to run out and reset it throughout the day .......so they do acknowledge there really is a problem

Hope yours is fine though without wishing to worry you unduly all was fine for the first few weeks with ours.

 

[IvorETower]

Went to check the oil level on mine this evening; I know now that the alarm works!
You can't even get as far as the front of the car to open the bonnet before it auto-locks, and when I opened the bonnet the alarm sounded. I had to unlock and leave the keycard inside, with a front door still partly opened before I could check the oil without my ears hurting.

 

[Perusal]

Progress!A joint call today between the dealer, Renault and Cobra has suggested we may have a software fault in the car so the UCH, some kind of central controller, is going to be replaced within the next couple of weeks.

Again, watch this space

Amazing how raising the "temperature" of the complaint has focused minds. Shame this couldn't have been discussed earlier but better late than never. Once again, compliments to the dealer for their professionalism.

 

[hicky]

well done and good luck.you should never have to threaten them.but sometimes you have too.

 

[Perusal]

And so finally the problem is solved......we think!
Needless to say, all did not proceed smoothly. The dealer opted to order the part (UCH) in and check it before bringing our car in for repair. Unfortunately when they came to fit the part they discovered that the connection fittings were different!!!!To compound things there were no parts in the UK with the correct connections and Renault UK had to expedite a rush delivery to locate and ship the offending piece from France to our dealer which meant that we had our courtesy car for a week rather than a day. (A week with a Megane demonstrated how much better a design the more modern Captur is.)
Since having the car back the alarm has remained silent, though it did before going off at random intervals often weeks apart, so it will be some time before we can finally say all is sorted for sure.
Meanwhile Renault UK have been very supportive and even offered us a degree of compensation for the inconvenience experienced so all credit is due to them. It gives us a bit more faith in the brand and hopefully the car will now remain reliable and need only visit the dealer for its annual service.
Time alone will tell.
Just a shame we had to threaten to go down the legal route, in a very polite manner of course, before things finally got moving.

 

[IvorETower]

Let's hope that it is finally sorted.
I've been woken during the night 3 times in the past week by the (false) alarm of the Mercedes of the people who live opposite us

 

[Perusal]

Oh well, Renault's dodgy electrics continue.......car has now gone back in for the 4th or 5th time, beginning to lose count. The alarm hasn't gone off per se since it was returned but each time you open the boot the alarm sounds 3 or 4 times when it shouldn't go off at all and the other day my wife needed to go back out to the car after only 2 or 3 minutes to find the hazards on continuously.

At least the exhaust hasn't fallen off this Renault like it did on the previous one.......

 

[John146]

Hi Perusal, well I finally gave up with the Captur, I waited 10 weeks for a solution to the alarm problem, still no fix!!, the fuel gauge was faulty for the time I owned the car, I suppose the faulty gauge affected the onboard computer, it just seemed to please itself what figures it gave, as I said gave up, returned it to the dealer, and bought a Scenic, and so far luxury

 

[Perusal]

Well there is obviously a problem, perhaps not as widespread as the "29.9" issue, but widespread nonetheless. I was told on Tuesday that Renault UK have had somebody sitting in with Cobra Alarms on Monday and Tuesday of this week seeking a solution and that wouldn't likely have happened if just one car was affected.

I am now waiting for a call back to see if a solution has been found but during the last call did intimate that given the problem has existed now for 6 months any future discussions might centre around rejecting the car as unfit for purpose. We shall see....

 

[helart]

my last 2 meganes has alarms on and had absoloutely no problems in owning them for 4 and 6 years...maybe its a different alarm manufacturer? Would it be the alarm that was not fit for purpose ?