Okay,
So you believe they have, as others have suggested, sold your vehicle retail? I would start with the dealership Principal and make a formal complaint in writing – make sure you entitle it ‘Formal Complaint’ and also send a carbon copy to the dealership group CEO, and if necessary the franchise manufacturer.
Concurrently, try the tack of submitting to the dealership (in writing, recorded delivery) a Subject Access Request to obtain all the details the dealership hold about you and your order, including time/date stamped computer records relating to you, any written notes and verbal transcripts of all phone calls if held – yes, you can SAR private companies and they hate it!
See here for details:
https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/your-right-to-get-copies-of-your-data/
At least there should be some form of audit trail of your order.
Also enquire what steps the dealership has taken to date to ‘re-find you another car’.
AP is Advance Payment.
Keep your complaint factual, concise and clear but try to include the dates/times you received info from the dealership and what was said and by whom.
Also, ask Motability to open a formal case if the dealership do not address your complaint in a reasonable timescale.
By showing you mean business, it may nudge the dealership into action to get you off their backs.
In any case, I would also look elsewhere for your next vehicle. If you use such as Facebook, try joining the Motability related groups, such as the ‘Motability Advice and Special Offers’ group and other groups where Motability sales staff at dealerships often post cancellation vehicles available to Motability customers with no or very short lead times.
They have offered me an alternative but it is a different transmission and engine size/type than the one I’d requested. It’s better than a kick in the teeth I guess, but should I accept it AND still do all of the above (in the hope I will finally get my requested motor, or should I just accept it and say nothing?
Thanks for your response @BigDave.