The worst dealership ?
Discussion
I will start the story of S*Stones here although there was previous!
Throttle body housing went on my 1997 XK8, it cost me over £1500 to find that out. The car was in for 4 days with the dash ripped out, they tried reprogramming the ECU and could not work out why it would not communicate properly. Eventually they fould a broken pin in the connector - maybe the bill would have been £200 if they had found this first - the throtle body cost another £1100 on top
A year later I booked in for a service. It was also booked in for a wheel bearing (last replaced 5000 miles before), they also fitted bottom ball joints and bushes at the same time (again changed within 5000). Car was dropped off on the Monday morning and by 5.30pm I had not heard anything so I called, the car is ready to pick up but needs to be returned two days later as they had no wheel bearings in stock. The car had been booked in the week before specifically to have a wheel bearing fitted! I got in a taxi and picked up the car. Two days later I dropped off the car and again got a taxi home, by 5.30pm again I had heard nothing and rang. The car had been finished at one and was here ready for pick up. I again got a taxi and collected the car. When I collected it the girl asked why I had not booked a courtesy car and I replied it had not been offered. I spoke to the service manager and he told me they only supply on request to keep costs down. I must say I felt a bit miffed at having to rush around.
A salesman came over and said that things were changing there and if ever I needed anything just to go through him. I was impressed with this and a week later erturned to discuss the new XK replacement I had heard about. This was Feb 2005 and I left £1000 deposit. In November I was called to spec my car. They didn't know much about the car and so it was all done from the first brochure and the internet site. At the same time I asked about trading in my XK8, 1997 with 42,000 miles on the clock. I thought it would be less hassle to me if they take it on collection of the new coupe. The salesman said no problem, gave me a printout and price and asked that early next year I bring in the car for a workshop check to ensure it was worthy of a trade in being so old. I left another £4000 lighter.
In March I rang the dealership to talk about finance as I would be borrowing 1/3 of the purchase price, I wanted all the parts to be firmly in place when the car was ready. I went in and spoke to the finance guy and he showed me a couple of options, the best being a company loan. Whilst there he asked whether I would be attending the dealer launch and I replied I had not been invited. He checked with the branch manager and I heard him say that every customer had been sent an invite. Let me point out here that I was not bothered about drinking a glass of cheap fizz in an environment where if had not placed an order then there would be a few guys trying to get you to do so, BUT, I was worried that my name and address might not be on a mailing list. Having placed my deposit over a year ago I had never had a piece of mail from this company, not even a thank you for ordering from us. By this time I was in site of the branch manager and put this point out to him, he replied with "You have not had your car on order since Feb 2005", I was put out by this and it angered me. I confrimed that I had ordered Feb 2005 and placed a £1000 deposit, he then said a deposit is not an order. What the hell was going on! why did this man feel the need to argue such a stupid point, especially as I was a customer and secondly it is only a moot point.
I had heard that the launch of the XK had been put pack to May so in April I rang the salesman to book my XK8 in for a check over. I delivered it on an agreed Monday Morning and again by 5.30 had not heard. The salesman had gone home and no-one knew anything, two guys went out of their way to deliver my car back as I needed it the next day. I rang the salesman and he said they had not got around to checking the car!!! It was properly booked in on the Weds and I made sure I had a courtesy car. Picked up the car at 4pm and all was fine, no problem at all with the car. I rang on Friday, Monday and Tuesday and by Weds the next week finally spoke to the salesman, they could not take it is as part exchange for anywhere near the price they had said as it was too old for the forecourt and they would just have to offload to the trade. I could not believe what I was hearing. I understood where they were coming from but had we had that conversation back in November I would have disposed of the car myself and not wasted my time bringing in the car for checking over.
I sold it privately but it left me without a car, on that point there was excessive inner wear on the front tires which leads me to believe that the check up was just a smoke screen and they had no intention of being bothered. 26th April I got the call, my car would be ready for pickup on the 10th May. I asked that the finance guy get in touch and we have all the paperwork in place. I rang every two days and then every day until finally on the 8th May he called me. Due to there not being much time he could not do the company loan and so my borrowing would cost more, I also enquired about the balance and he told me cleared funds only before picking up the car. I was annoyed at this as I had put monies into my account to write them a cheque and could have paid them a week prior. In the end I transfered to their account and knocked the transfer fee off the purchase price of the car.
I had been due to pick up the car at 4pm after a tracker had been fitted at the dealership. I got a call from the finance guy saying that the tracker had been fitted early and I could come in at 12 to sign docs and take the car. I went to the dealership to sign the paperwork but the salesman was at lunch. I was told that the loan package included tire insurance and GAP insurance. I had no interest in the tire insurance but was assured there was no premium for this and it was all part of a package. Happily I signed the docs. Fortunately I had arranged insurance and brought the docs as no-one had asked me to do so and without it the car could not have been taxed. The salesman came back from lunch and was suprised I was so early, I had asked that he be informed but no-one had. The car would be a while as it still had delivery wax on it, I think I left about 3pm.
Car was great etc. etc. Two days later I received paperwork from an insurance company, one was a policy for tire insurance and the other for GAP insurance. I rang the ins. company and these were each seperate policies. I rang the dealership and was told that yes these were seperate and obviously I did not understand that they make up packages for customers. I cancelled these two policies straight away as I had specifically asked was I paying extra for these and been told not. I then checked the finance docs and had the dealership fax through all copies of all documents they had. One document with the details of the seperate polices making up the package had been signed in my name but not by me. I rang the branch manager and he was initially shocked and promised to get to the bottom of all the issues, I also checked the finance rate with him and he confirmed it was 5%. Next time I called he told me the signed document was internal only and therefore unimportant he did however tell me that the finance rate was 10.9% apr. The finance section of STR*TST*NES were selling policies on base rate. The branch managers note had changed and he was basically bullying me into believing that everything was okay. As you can imagine th SH*T hit the fan, I threatened them with police action on the forged signature and trading standards on the finance. The branch managers attitude changed again and was now basically what can they do to help me. They refinanced on an agreed rate and I stung them for £1000. I will never deal with them again.
The level of service I recieved at every point was pathetic and even more so when I was spending £64000. I can say nothing other than this company is poorly run and has no regard for the customer whatsoever. Each issue is blamed on another person in the company. Phone calls are not returned, this is blamed on a new system. The showroom is full of self important people but not one of them says hello to a customer.
I now happily use Rybrook Jaguar and they are absolutely superb - top class so far.
As a footnote whilst all the hassle was unfolding at STR*ST*NES my car was returned three times to remove delivery wax, the problem was eventually sorted by Rybrook.
Although this text is long, and hopefully not too winding, it is a brief summary of a much longer situation. I had to put up with this sh*t service as I could not buy an XK from anywhere else and still get it in May
Throttle body housing went on my 1997 XK8, it cost me over £1500 to find that out. The car was in for 4 days with the dash ripped out, they tried reprogramming the ECU and could not work out why it would not communicate properly. Eventually they fould a broken pin in the connector - maybe the bill would have been £200 if they had found this first - the throtle body cost another £1100 on top
A year later I booked in for a service. It was also booked in for a wheel bearing (last replaced 5000 miles before), they also fitted bottom ball joints and bushes at the same time (again changed within 5000). Car was dropped off on the Monday morning and by 5.30pm I had not heard anything so I called, the car is ready to pick up but needs to be returned two days later as they had no wheel bearings in stock. The car had been booked in the week before specifically to have a wheel bearing fitted! I got in a taxi and picked up the car. Two days later I dropped off the car and again got a taxi home, by 5.30pm again I had heard nothing and rang. The car had been finished at one and was here ready for pick up. I again got a taxi and collected the car. When I collected it the girl asked why I had not booked a courtesy car and I replied it had not been offered. I spoke to the service manager and he told me they only supply on request to keep costs down. I must say I felt a bit miffed at having to rush around.
A salesman came over and said that things were changing there and if ever I needed anything just to go through him. I was impressed with this and a week later erturned to discuss the new XK replacement I had heard about. This was Feb 2005 and I left £1000 deposit. In November I was called to spec my car. They didn't know much about the car and so it was all done from the first brochure and the internet site. At the same time I asked about trading in my XK8, 1997 with 42,000 miles on the clock. I thought it would be less hassle to me if they take it on collection of the new coupe. The salesman said no problem, gave me a printout and price and asked that early next year I bring in the car for a workshop check to ensure it was worthy of a trade in being so old. I left another £4000 lighter.
In March I rang the dealership to talk about finance as I would be borrowing 1/3 of the purchase price, I wanted all the parts to be firmly in place when the car was ready. I went in and spoke to the finance guy and he showed me a couple of options, the best being a company loan. Whilst there he asked whether I would be attending the dealer launch and I replied I had not been invited. He checked with the branch manager and I heard him say that every customer had been sent an invite. Let me point out here that I was not bothered about drinking a glass of cheap fizz in an environment where if had not placed an order then there would be a few guys trying to get you to do so, BUT, I was worried that my name and address might not be on a mailing list. Having placed my deposit over a year ago I had never had a piece of mail from this company, not even a thank you for ordering from us. By this time I was in site of the branch manager and put this point out to him, he replied with "You have not had your car on order since Feb 2005", I was put out by this and it angered me. I confrimed that I had ordered Feb 2005 and placed a £1000 deposit, he then said a deposit is not an order. What the hell was going on! why did this man feel the need to argue such a stupid point, especially as I was a customer and secondly it is only a moot point.
I had heard that the launch of the XK had been put pack to May so in April I rang the salesman to book my XK8 in for a check over. I delivered it on an agreed Monday Morning and again by 5.30 had not heard. The salesman had gone home and no-one knew anything, two guys went out of their way to deliver my car back as I needed it the next day. I rang the salesman and he said they had not got around to checking the car!!! It was properly booked in on the Weds and I made sure I had a courtesy car. Picked up the car at 4pm and all was fine, no problem at all with the car. I rang on Friday, Monday and Tuesday and by Weds the next week finally spoke to the salesman, they could not take it is as part exchange for anywhere near the price they had said as it was too old for the forecourt and they would just have to offload to the trade. I could not believe what I was hearing. I understood where they were coming from but had we had that conversation back in November I would have disposed of the car myself and not wasted my time bringing in the car for checking over.
I sold it privately but it left me without a car, on that point there was excessive inner wear on the front tires which leads me to believe that the check up was just a smoke screen and they had no intention of being bothered. 26th April I got the call, my car would be ready for pickup on the 10th May. I asked that the finance guy get in touch and we have all the paperwork in place. I rang every two days and then every day until finally on the 8th May he called me. Due to there not being much time he could not do the company loan and so my borrowing would cost more, I also enquired about the balance and he told me cleared funds only before picking up the car. I was annoyed at this as I had put monies into my account to write them a cheque and could have paid them a week prior. In the end I transfered to their account and knocked the transfer fee off the purchase price of the car.
I had been due to pick up the car at 4pm after a tracker had been fitted at the dealership. I got a call from the finance guy saying that the tracker had been fitted early and I could come in at 12 to sign docs and take the car. I went to the dealership to sign the paperwork but the salesman was at lunch. I was told that the loan package included tire insurance and GAP insurance. I had no interest in the tire insurance but was assured there was no premium for this and it was all part of a package. Happily I signed the docs. Fortunately I had arranged insurance and brought the docs as no-one had asked me to do so and without it the car could not have been taxed. The salesman came back from lunch and was suprised I was so early, I had asked that he be informed but no-one had. The car would be a while as it still had delivery wax on it, I think I left about 3pm.
Car was great etc. etc. Two days later I received paperwork from an insurance company, one was a policy for tire insurance and the other for GAP insurance. I rang the ins. company and these were each seperate policies. I rang the dealership and was told that yes these were seperate and obviously I did not understand that they make up packages for customers. I cancelled these two policies straight away as I had specifically asked was I paying extra for these and been told not. I then checked the finance docs and had the dealership fax through all copies of all documents they had. One document with the details of the seperate polices making up the package had been signed in my name but not by me. I rang the branch manager and he was initially shocked and promised to get to the bottom of all the issues, I also checked the finance rate with him and he confirmed it was 5%. Next time I called he told me the signed document was internal only and therefore unimportant he did however tell me that the finance rate was 10.9% apr. The finance section of STR*TST*NES were selling policies on base rate. The branch managers note had changed and he was basically bullying me into believing that everything was okay. As you can imagine th SH*T hit the fan, I threatened them with police action on the forged signature and trading standards on the finance. The branch managers attitude changed again and was now basically what can they do to help me. They refinanced on an agreed rate and I stung them for £1000. I will never deal with them again.
The level of service I recieved at every point was pathetic and even more so when I was spending £64000. I can say nothing other than this company is poorly run and has no regard for the customer whatsoever. Each issue is blamed on another person in the company. Phone calls are not returned, this is blamed on a new system. The showroom is full of self important people but not one of them says hello to a customer.
I now happily use Rybrook Jaguar and they are absolutely superb - top class so far.
As a footnote whilst all the hassle was unfolding at STR*ST*NES my car was returned three times to remove delivery wax, the problem was eventually sorted by Rybrook.
Although this text is long, and hopefully not too winding, it is a brief summary of a much longer situation. I had to put up with this sh*t service as I could not buy an XK from anywhere else and still get it in May
Ahh the old 'It's a package Sir' trick.
That's outlawed now under the new FSA rules regarding warranty and general insurance etc. Those rules came into effect January 14th 2005. They would have been in MAJOR shit if the FSA mystery shopped them and caught them at it.
Rybrook are a top bunch of lads, I believe that Pendragon have a 33% +/- share holding in them though. I bloody hope they don't get taken over.
That's outlawed now under the new FSA rules regarding warranty and general insurance etc. Those rules came into effect January 14th 2005. They would have been in MAJOR shit if the FSA mystery shopped them and caught them at it.
Rybrook are a top bunch of lads, I believe that Pendragon have a 33% +/- share holding in them though. I bloody hope they don't get taken over.
Phil Hopkins said:
Ahh the old 'It's a package Sir' trick.
That's outlawed now under the new FSA rules regarding warranty and general insurance etc. Those rules came into effect January 14th 2005. They would have been in MAJOR shit if the FSA mystery shopped them and caught them at it.
Rybrook are a top bunch of lads, I believe that Pendragon have a 33% +/- share holding in them though. I bloody hope they don't get taken over.
That's outlawed now under the new FSA rules regarding warranty and general insurance etc. Those rules came into effect January 14th 2005. They would have been in MAJOR shit if the FSA mystery shopped them and caught them at it.
Rybrook are a top bunch of lads, I believe that Pendragon have a 33% +/- share holding in them though. I bloody hope they don't get taken over.
Sounds like you should contact the FSA and really put the boot in Had a similarly pitifully poor experience with my local (East Midlands) Stratscrotes. The car went in EIGHT TIMES to have the window electrics fixed. Each time they charged me £100 for just resetting the windows (the hold-the-button-down-then-hold-it-up trick). Something I told them each time not to bother with. But they kept doing it and not addressing the real fault. So, £800 for that.
Then the car kept shutting the electrics down completely and locking me out. They blamed a wiring loom in the door that had been "wired in badly". Which is interesting, as I'd had them strip that door to look at it after the last of the previous eight visits (another £250 there). And they hadn't bothered mentioning it before. So they either charged me for NOT checking it, or they broke the wiring while they were checking it. No acceptance of guilt on their part, naturally.
So, they rewired that door... another £600 bill, and I hadn't even got off the forecourt before the electrics went wrong again.
After all that, it turned out it was just the battery. Overall the car was in 10 times for a total of 17 days and a grand total of £1750 for changing a battery.
There's one dealership I won't be buying a new XKR from!
Then the car kept shutting the electrics down completely and locking me out. They blamed a wiring loom in the door that had been "wired in badly". Which is interesting, as I'd had them strip that door to look at it after the last of the previous eight visits (another £250 there). And they hadn't bothered mentioning it before. So they either charged me for NOT checking it, or they broke the wiring while they were checking it. No acceptance of guilt on their part, naturally.
So, they rewired that door... another £600 bill, and I hadn't even got off the forecourt before the electrics went wrong again.
After all that, it turned out it was just the battery. Overall the car was in 10 times for a total of 17 days and a grand total of £1750 for changing a battery.
There's one dealership I won't be buying a new XKR from!
Ever tried buying a car from M*******s in C'bridge
Very frustrating - I think the sales staff have been on too many training courses. I just wanted a test drive, some prices and value of the part ex. Oh no they have to do it their own way and give the figures only when you say you want the car
I gave up in the end.
Bought a new XJ from Ipswich in the end - A much nicer experience all round.
Very frustrating - I think the sales staff have been on too many training courses. I just wanted a test drive, some prices and value of the part ex. Oh no they have to do it their own way and give the figures only when you say you want the car I gave up in the end. Bought a new XJ from Ipswich in the end - A much nicer experience all round.
Edited by bad company on Thursday 3rd August 12:33
I should say because they are excellent. I think that the big chains are totally volume driven, there is a high staff turnover and they have no concept of customer service. Take R** V***y for example. They think every customer is a sucker there only to be shafted. To be fair my experience was with the lot in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Others may be better but I wouldnt risk it.
I haven't had an experience of the dealer being discussed on this thread. I did however buy an M3 from their BMW dealership near Slough.
It was a dreadful experience from a couple of days after delivery. I took the car into another BMW dealership with one or two issues and it soon became clear that the Approved Used Car scheme check hadn't taken place and the dealer had to fit new pads and discs, 2 new rear tyres, new wiper blades and a new seat motor.
It was a dreadful experience from a couple of days after delivery. I took the car into another BMW dealership with one or two issues and it soon became clear that the Approved Used Car scheme check hadn't taken place and the dealer had to fit new pads and discs, 2 new rear tyres, new wiper blades and a new seat motor.
CatherineJ said:
I haven't had an experience of the dealer being discussed on this thread. I did however buy an M3 from their BMW dealership near Slough.
It's definitely not just their Jag dealership. I went into their local Aston one, told them what (second hand) car I wanted, what spec I wanted, how much I had to spend, and how much finance I'd like off them. Even pointed them at 2 in stock at their other dealers I was particularly interested in. Their sales guy recognised me from taking the XK into the Jag dealership when they were one and the same, and from dealing with me & the Tusc somewhere else prior to that (small world!) So I clearly wasn't a time-waster. They never got me any details on those other two cars, didn't get me the prices on the extras I wanted, didn't bother telling me when any other cars came into stock that matched my spec, etc. I went back in further times to "remind" them I had money burning a hole in my pocket, but again they did nothing. Not the best experience I've ever had as a customer.
Please don't name and shame - against Ted's rules. 
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