rs32 Posted February 22, 2007 Report Share Posted February 22, 2007 whereabouts in the South are you based stooH ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stooH Posted February 23, 2007 Report Share Posted February 23, 2007 Portsmouth, well Cosham to be exact... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haf1zur Posted March 16, 2007 Report Share Posted March 16, 2007 ZEROS Hull VW (Priory Park) (3 Votes) Heritage, Bristol Breeze, Poole Caffyn Group, Sussex Abridge, Loughton Beadles, Bromley Martins, Basingstoke (3 Votes) South Hereford Garage Ridgeway, Reading Sidlow, Gatwick (2 Votes) Chiswick VW (utter ) (2 votes) VW Technical (in its entirety) Richard Alexander, Huddersfield VWUK (in its entirety) Crowsons, Spalding CityGate - High Wycombe D*ck Heads, Leicester (sorry cant remember their name)*Reg Vardy? yes, thats right, rip off reg's!! Lookers Blackburn WAYSIDE Milton Keynes (the lot) Yep agree! Started well then POO! WAYSIDE Towcester (sales side) Service side total idiots Donnelly VW Campsie, N Ireland.... Mann Egerton, Swindon (service) Citygate, South Ruislip (sales) VW Liverpool Danes of Chester Colbornes, Woking Dovercourt Battersea - W@NKERS! *2 - Avoid these cnuts like the plague Inchcape - Telford Peter Cooper Portsmouth (for sales) Alan Day City VW - Absolutely no clue how to fix a VW Beadles of Bromley - Worst service ever HEROES Heritage, Bristol Loders, Dorchester (3 votes) Stanwell, Boston Caffyns, Haywards Heath (but not for jimmy_p) Driftbridge, Epsom Ridgeway Newbury Gilbert Lawton, Manchester Hayselden, Barnsley Vindis, St Ives, Cambridgeshire White Rose, Petersfield (2nd for sales) Arthur Prince, Loughborough (2 votes) Lookers, Burnley City VW, London Barnetts, Dundee Lindvale, Chelmsford Citygate, Amersham Motorworld, Oxford Thats my lot Hafizur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FunkyFirefox Posted April 2, 2007 Report Share Posted April 2, 2007 ZEROS Hull VW (Priory Park) (3 Votes) Heritage, Bristol Breeze, Poole Caffyn Group, Sussex Abridge, Loughton Beadles, Bromley Martins, Basingstoke (3 Votes) South Hereford Garage Ridgeway, Reading Sidlow, Gatwick (2 Votes) Chiswick VW (utter ) (2 votes) VW Technical (in its entirety) Richard Alexander, Huddersfield VWUK (in its entirety) Crowsons, Spalding CityGate - High Wycombe D*ck Heads, Leicester (sorry cant remember their name)*Reg Vardy? yes, thats right, rip off reg's!! Lookers Blackburn WAYSIDE Milton Keynes (the lot) Yep agree! Started well then POO! WAYSIDE Towcester (sales side) Service side total idiots Donnelly VW Campsie, N Ireland.... Mann Egerton, Swindon (service) Citygate, South Ruislip (sales) VW Liverpool Danes of Chester Colbornes, Woking Dovercourt Battersea - W@NKERS! *2 - Avoid these cnuts like the plague Inchcape - Telford Peter Cooper Portsmouth (for sales) Alan Day City VW - Absolutely no clue how to fix a VW Beadles of Bromley - Worst service ever HEROES Heritage, Bristol Loders, Dorchester (3 votes) Stanwell, Boston Caffyns, Haywards Heath (but not for jimmy_p) Driftbridge, Epsom Ridgeway Newbury Gilbert Lawton, Manchester Hayselden, Barnsley Vindis, St Ives, Cambridgeshire White Rose, Petersfield (2nd for sales) Arthur Prince, Loughborough (2 votes) Lookers, Burnley City VW, London Barnetts, Dundee Lindvale, Chelmsford Citygate, Amersham Motorworld, Oxford John Ashley Service, New Malden I've added John Ashley Service in New Malden as a Hero. They looked after my MkIV GTI for 3 years - always friendly, helpful and don't try to rip you off. Now their looking after my .:R - wouldn't take it anywhere else. Wayne. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
womble68 Posted April 11, 2007 Report Share Posted April 11, 2007 ZEROS Hull VW (Priory Park) (3 Votes) Heritage, Bristol Breeze, Poole Caffyn Group, Sussex Abridge, Loughton Beadles, Bromley Martins, Basingstoke (3 Votes) South Hereford Garage Ridgeway, Reading Sidlow, Gatwick (2 Votes) Chiswick VW (utter ) (2 votes) VW Technical (in its entirety) Richard Alexander, Huddersfield VWUK (in its entirety) Crowsons, Spalding CityGate - High Wycombe D*ck Heads, Leicester (sorry cant remember their name)*Reg Vardy? yes, thats right, rip off reg's!! Lookers Blackburn WAYSIDE Milton Keynes (the lot) Yep agree! Started well then POO! WAYSIDE Towcester (sales side) Service side total idiots Donnelly VW Campsie, N Ireland.... Mann Egerton, Swindon (service) Citygate, South Ruislip (sales) VW Liverpool Danes of Chester Colbornes, Woking Dovercourt Battersea - W@NKERS! *2 - Avoid these cnuts like the plague Inchcape - Telford Peter Cooper Portsmouth (for sales) Alan Day City VW - Absolutely no clue how to fix a VW Beadles of Bromley - Worst service ever Inchcape - Oswestry HEROES Heritage, Bristol Loders, Dorchester (3 votes) Stanwell, Boston Caffyns, Haywards Heath (but not for jimmy_p) Driftbridge, Epsom Ridgeway Newbury Gilbert Lawton, Manchester Hayselden, Barnsley Vindis, St Ives, Cambridgeshire White Rose, Petersfield (2nd for sales) Arthur Prince, Loughborough (2 votes) Lookers, Burnley City VW, London Barnetts, Dundee Lindvale, Chelmsford Citygate, Amersham Motorworld, Oxford John Ashley Service, New Malden I'm adding Inchcape - Oswestry after the amount of messing about they did when I was buying my Mk5 GTI, including forgetting to service my car when I purchased it from them, then scrimping on it by choosing to do Time and Distance, and making out it they were doing me a favour! After a lot of complaints, and faffing about it was eventually done in Chester where I live (I wasn't willing to drive another 60 miles round trip) to be messed about. There was more that they messed me about with but I think that this stuff was bad enough. Also VW UK (Customer Service) seemed powerless in there ability to do anything. It makes you wonder. NB - Gilbert Lawson, Dane and Smith Knight Fay are now owned by Inchcape. I'd add my experience of Dane is OK, but not great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jove Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 You can forget about Heroes John Ashley in New Malden. VW closed them down last Thursday the next door unit said. By Jove Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shao_khan Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 That would be about right - VW wouldnt want anyone giving them a good rep for service or customer care now would they...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stubee Posted June 17, 2007 Report Share Posted June 17, 2007 ZEROS Hull VW (Priory Park) (3 Votes) Heritage, Bristol Breeze, Poole Caffyn Group, Sussex Abridge, Loughton Beadles, Bromley Martins, Basingstoke (3 Votes) South Hereford Garage Ridgeway, Reading Sidlow, Gatwick (2 Votes) Chiswick VW (utter ) (2 votes) VW Technical (in its entirety) Richard Alexander, Huddersfield VWUK (in its entirety) Crowsons, Spalding CityGate - High Wycombe D*ck Heads, Leicester (sorry cant remember their name)*Reg Vardy? yes, thats right, rip off reg's!! Lookers Blackburn WAYSIDE Milton Keynes (the lot) Yep agree! Started well then POO! WAYSIDE Towcester (sales side) Service side total idiots Donnelly VW Campsie, N Ireland.... Mann Egerton, Swindon (service) Citygate, South Ruislip (sales) VW Liverpool Danes of Chester Colbornes, Woking Dovercourt Battersea - W@NKERS! *2 - Avoid these cnuts like the plague Inchcape - Telford Peter Cooper Portsmouth (for sales) Alan Day City VW - Absolutely no clue how to fix a VW Beadles of Bromley - Worst service ever Inchcape - Oswestry Colbornes - Guildford HEROES Heritage, Bristol Loders, Dorchester (3 votes) Stanwell, Boston Caffyns, Haywards Heath (but not for jimmy_p) Driftbridge, Epsom Ridgeway Newbury Gilbert Lawton, Manchester Hayselden, Barnsley Vindis, St Ives, Cambridgeshire White Rose, Petersfield (2nd for sales) Arthur Prince, Loughborough (2 votes) Lookers, Burnley City VW, London Barnetts, Dundee Lindvale, Chelmsford Citygate, Amersham Motorworld, Oxford John Ashley Service, New Malden Heathrow - A30 near err, Heathrow! Currently looking for a Golf GT TDi 170, Colbornes in Guildford won't even look at you if they don't like what you're wearing - FFS my money is as good as anyone elses! However, Andy at Heathrow VW has been really helpful and he will be getting our money, if he can find the right car for us, which he is trying his best to do *****! Edit - Windrush at Slough nearly got put in Zeroes for telling us our car px value had dropped £1500 in 2 weeks! But were very helpful up til that point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mouse Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 Forgot to add mine! ZEROS Hull VW (Priory Park) (3 Votes) Heritage, Bristol Breeze, Poole Caffyn Group, Sussex Abridge, Loughton Beadles, Bromley Martins, Basingstoke (3 Votes) South Hereford Garage Ridgeway, Reading Sidlow, Gatwick (2 Votes) Chiswick VW (utter ) (2 votes) VW Technical (in its entirety) Richard Alexander, Huddersfield VWUK (in its entirety) Crowsons, Spalding CityGate - High Wycombe D*ck Heads, Leicester (sorry cant remember their name)*Reg Vardy? yes, thats right, rip off reg's!! Lookers Blackburn WAYSIDE Milton Keynes (the lot) Yep agree! Started well then POO! WAYSIDE Towcester (sales side) Service side total idiots Donnelly VW Campsie, N Ireland.... Mann Egerton, Swindon (service) Citygate, South Ruislip (sales) VW Liverpool Danes of Chester Colbornes, Woking Dovercourt Battersea - W@NKERS! *2 - Avoid these cnuts like the plague Inchcape - Telford Peter Cooper Portsmouth (for sales) Alan Day City VW - Absolutely no clue how to fix a VW Beadles of Bromley - Worst service ever Inchcape - Oswestry Colbornes - Guildford Specialist Cars - Aberdeen - crap service/bodyshop, ignorant staff HEROES Heritage, Bristol Loders, Dorchester (3 votes) Stanwell, Boston Caffyns, Haywards Heath (but not for jimmy_p) Driftbridge, Epsom Ridgeway Newbury Gilbert Lawton, Manchester Hayselden, Barnsley Vindis, St Ives, Cambridgeshire White Rose, Petersfield (2nd for sales) Arthur Prince, Loughborough (2 votes) Lookers, Burnley City VW, London Barnetts, Dundee (2 votes) Barnetts, St Andrews Lindvale, Chelmsford Citygate, Amersham Motorworld, Oxford John Ashley Service, New Malden Heathrow - A30 near err, Heathrow! Specialist Cars Parts Dept - Aberdeen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burble Posted July 18, 2007 Report Share Posted July 18, 2007 ZEROS Hull VW (Priory Park) (3 Votes) Heritage, Bristol Breeze, Poole Caffyn Group, Sussex Abridge, Loughton Beadles, Bromley Martins, Basingstoke (3 Votes) South Hereford Garage Ridgeway, Reading Sidlow, Gatwick (2 Votes) Chiswick VW (utter ) (2 votes) VW Technical (in its entirety) Richard Alexander, Huddersfield VWUK (in its entirety) Crowsons, Spalding CityGate - High Wycombe D*ck Heads, Leicester (sorry cant remember their name)*Reg Vardy? yes, thats right, rip off reg's!! Lookers Blackburn WAYSIDE Milton Keynes (the lot) Yep agree! Started well then POO! WAYSIDE Towcester (sales side) Service side total idiots Donnelly VW Campsie, N Ireland.... Mann Egerton, Swindon (service) Citygate, South Ruislip (sales) VW Liverpool Danes of Chester Colbornes, Woking Dovercourt Battersea - W@NKERS! *2 - Avoid these cnuts like the plague Inchcape - Telford Peter Cooper Portsmouth (for sales) Alan Day City VW - Absolutely no clue how to fix a VW Beadles of Bromley - Worst service ever Inchcape - Oswestry Colbornes - Guildford Specialist Cars - Aberdeen - crap service/bodyshop, ignorant staff HEROES Heritage, Bristol Loders, Dorchester (3 votes) Stanwell, Boston Caffyns, Haywards Heath (but not for jimmy_p) Driftbridge, Epsom Ridgeway Newbury Gilbert Lawton, Manchester Hayselden, Barnsley Vindis, St Ives, Cambridgeshire White Rose, Petersfield (2nd for sales) Arthur Prince, Loughborough (2 votes) Lookers, Burnley City VW, London Barnetts, Dundee (2 votes) Barnetts, St Andrews Lindvale, Chelmsford Citygate, Amersham Motorworld, Oxford John Ashley Service, New Malden Heathrow - A30 near err, Heathrow! Specialist Cars Parts Dept - Aberdeen Autohaus, Northampton I'm glad to see that Wayside got a mention early on. I bought a Y plate 1.8T Golf from them brand new, arranged with them when it would be ready so I duely turned up to collect the car only to be told that it wasn't ready and that someone should have phoned to tell me. Well, thanks. Autohaus Northampton have been great. I bought my current 2002 PD 150 from them, had an irritating problem with a sqeaky clutch pedal so I called the service guys and they sent someone out to my house to collect the car and then delivered it back to me fixed in about 90 minutes. Can't grumble. Autohaus also fixed my 1.8T when the engine management light came on after it was serviced at Wayside. Wayside looked at it and said there was nothing wrong and that the light can come on for no good reason! I called Autohaus they told me over the phone that a new lambda sensor would most likely do the trick so I took it in the following morning and it was sorted, they've had my business since. I'm reserving judgement on Autohaus Kettering for now, I've ordered an R32 from them which I'll get in September. I've switched to using the Kettering branch since they were the only one who would give me the keys to an R32 for an unaccompanied test drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazsalt Posted July 21, 2007 Report Share Posted July 21, 2007 ZEROS Hull VW (Priory Park) (3 Votes) Heritage, Bristol Breeze, Poole Caffyn Group, Sussex Abridge, Loughton Beadles, Bromley Martins, Basingstoke (3 Votes) South Hereford Garage Ridgeway, Reading Sidlow, Gatwick (2 Votes) Chiswick VW (utter ) (3 votes) VW Technical (in its entirety) Richard Alexander, Huddersfield VWUK (in its entirety) Crowsons, Spalding CityGate - High Wycombe D*ck Heads, Leicester (sorry cant remember their name)*Reg Vardy? yes, thats right, rip off reg's!! Lookers Blackburn WAYSIDE Milton Keynes (the lot) Yep agree! Started well then POO! WAYSIDE Towcester (sales side) Service side total idiots Donnelly VW Campsie, N Ireland.... Mann Egerton, Swindon (service) Citygate, South Ruislip (sales) VW Liverpool Danes of Chester Colbornes, Woking Dovercourt Battersea - W@NKERS! *2 - Avoid these cnuts like the plague Inchcape - Telford Peter Cooper Portsmouth (for sales) Alan Day City VW - Absolutely no clue how to fix a VW Beadles of Bromley - Worst service ever Inchcape - Oswestry Colbornes - Guildford Specialist Cars - Aberdeen - crap service/bodyshop, ignorant staff HEROES Heritage, Bristol Loders, Dorchester (3 votes) Stanwell, Boston Caffyns, Haywards Heath (but not for jimmy_p) Driftbridge, Epsom Ridgeway Newbury Gilbert Lawton, Manchester Hayselden, Barnsley Vindis, St Ives, Cambridgeshire White Rose, Petersfield (2nd for sales) Arthur Prince, Loughborough (2 votes) Lookers, Burnley City VW, London Barnetts, Dundee (2 votes) Barnetts, St Andrews Lindvale, Chelmsford Citygate, Amersham Motorworld, Oxford John Ashley Service, New Malden Heathrow - A30 near err, Heathrow! Specialist Cars Parts Dept - Aberdeen Autohaus, Northampton Well I might not be a VW owner yet, but Chiswick VW (West London) are not going to do anything to convert me - after googling "Chiswick VW crap" I found this site - let me explain: End on JUNE arranged test drive. (Eos 2.0 T FSI). Couldn't do it until the 12th July. Went in on 12th June (luckily work nearby). No Car. Come back tomorrow (should have given up then). Went back on 13th (Friday)!. Test drive was fine. Asked for quote (Finance). Week later was still waiting. Do these people want to sell cars ? Got call today (2 days after chasing); Chiswick VW: "Have quote for you. It's £xxx pcm". Me: "OK, can I have a written quote please." Chiswick VW: "We can if we take some details sir. Bank account number ?". Me: "I only want a quote". Chiswick VW: "Yes sir, but we have to enter the order to get a quote". Me: "I only want something in writing first" [need it for my employer] Me: "You know I am entitled by law to a written quote ? [for finance]". Chiswick VW: "Um, err, but...". Me: "Do you want to sell cars ? I've been waiting three weeks and I still havn't got an idea of what this **&^^&*&* is going to cost me. Well don't bother - I'm going elsewhere" [Clunk - phone hung up at this point]. I mean, if they are that useless at sales, what's the aftersales going to be like. I can only recommend if you live in West London and want a VW you look at the "HEROES" list and avoid Chiswick VW. Daz, Current Honda Driver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zharca Posted July 24, 2007 Report Share Posted July 24, 2007 We had a very good sales experience from Sidlow at Gatwick. They arranged a whole set of R32s for a Sunday test drive. Three cars so that we got all the variations: three-door, five-door, manual, dsg, SatNav, standard leather, Reccaro (the MD showed up with his so we could try a Reccaro car - didn't choose it!). They were happy to let us go off unattended, though we did get a salesman to come out to demo how to drive the dsg car. Ended up buying a 6000mile ex-VW example off the forecourt beacuse the waiting time was ages (WANNIT NOWWW!!!) and it was beautifully prepared and absolutely nothing's gone wrong with it. Servicing was very slick - pickup/delivery to work a few miles away - and they changed the little chrome "VW" things without question because they had some marks on them. Can't comment on how they'd be if something goes wrong though............... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rs32 Posted August 15, 2007 Report Share Posted August 15, 2007 [ QUOTE ] very good sales experience from Sidlow at Gatwick. Can't comment on how they'd be if something goes wrong though............... [/ QUOTE ] good luck is all I can say Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jez Posted August 15, 2007 Report Share Posted August 15, 2007 [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] very good sales experience from Sidlow at Gatwick. Can't comment on how they'd be if something goes wrong though............... [/ QUOTE ] good luck is all I can say [/ QUOTE ] I bought a Mk4 1.8T new from Sidlow a few years ago and the sales experience was excellent however after delivery there was a small scratch on the drivers door, so back I went to get it sorted, sales guy said I'll call when we can get it into the bodyshop, after 3 weeks of tying to get hold of the guy I found out he had left the company ! finally the manager got the car in to sort out the scratch and it came back worse. In addition to trying to remove the scratch with what looked like a t-cut and a rag they had dragged a jet wash hose over the bonnet and the roofline ! three weeks after that they despatched a chips away guy to sort out all the marks and the car was fine. In summary they were great to buy from but the after sales was poor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chriswastle Posted August 24, 2007 Report Share Posted August 24, 2007 ZEROS Hull VW (Priory Park) (3 Votes) Heritage, Bristol Breeze, Poole Caffyn Group, Sussex Abridge, Loughton Beadles, Bromley Martins, Basingstoke (3 Votes) South Hereford Garage Ridgeway, Reading Sidlow, Gatwick (2 Votes) Chiswick VW (utter ) (3 votes) VW Technical (in its entirety) Richard Alexander, Huddersfield VWUK (in its entirety) Crowsons, Spalding CityGate - High Wycombe D*ck Heads, Leicester (sorry cant remember their name)*Reg Vardy? yes, thats right, rip off reg's!! Lookers Blackburn WAYSIDE Milton Keynes (the lot) Yep agree! Started well then POO! WAYSIDE Towcester (sales side) Service side total idiots Donnelly VW Campsie, N Ireland.... Mann Egerton, Swindon (service) Citygate, South Ruislip (sales) VW Liverpool Danes of Chester Colbornes, Woking Dovercourt Battersea - W@NKERS! *2 - Avoid these cnuts like the plague Inchcape - Telford Peter Cooper Portsmouth (for sales) Alan Day City VW - Absolutely no clue how to fix a VW Beadles of Bromley - Worst service ever Inchcape - Oswestry Colbornes - Guildford Specialist Cars - Aberdeen - crap service/bodyshop, ignorant staff HEROES Heritage, Bristol Loders, Dorchester (3 votes) Stanwell, Boston Caffyns, Haywards Heath (but not for jimmy_p) Driftbridge, Epsom Ridgeway Newbury Gilbert Lawton, Manchester Hayselden, Barnsley Vindis, St Ives, Cambridgeshire White Rose, Petersfield (2nd for sales) Arthur Prince, Loughborough (2 votes) Lookers, Burnley City VW, London Barnetts, Dundee (2 votes) Barnetts, St Andrews Lindvale, Chelmsford Citygate, Amersham Motorworld, Oxford John Ashley Service, New Malden Heathrow - A30 near err, Heathrow! Specialist Cars Parts Dept - Aberdeen Autohaus, Northampton Ridgeway, Wantage I would never buy another vehicle from Ridgeway Wantage Sales guys are just bare faced liars. Service and parts however are great never had any issues with my picky warranty claims Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CavPD Posted September 17, 2007 Report Share Posted September 17, 2007 only ever deal with one and they are superb.. go out of the way for me and get me discount where they can. Preston VW (dutton Forshaw group) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbee Posted February 14, 2009 Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 (edited) ZEROS Hull VW (Priory Park) (3 Votes) Heritage, Bristol Breeze, Poole Caffyn Group, Sussex Abridge, Loughton Beadles, Bromley (2 votes) Martins, Basingstoke (3 Votes) South Hereford Garage Ridgeway, Reading Sidlow, Gatwick (2 Votes) Chiswick VW (utter ) (3 votes) VW Technical (in its entirety) Richard Alexander, Huddersfield VWUK (in its entirety) Crowsons, Spalding CityGate - High Wycombe D*ck Heads, Leicester (sorry cant remember their name)*Reg Vardy? yes, thats right, rip off reg's!! Lookers Blackburn WAYSIDE Milton Keynes (the lot) Yep agree! Started well then POO! WAYSIDE Towcester (sales side) Service side total idiots Donnelly VW Campsie, N Ireland.... Mann Egerton, Swindon (service) Citygate, South Ruislip (sales) VW Liverpool Danes of Chester Colbornes, Woking Dovercourt Battersea - W@NKERS! *2 - Avoid these cnuts like the plague Inchcape - Telford Peter Cooper Portsmouth (for sales) Alan Day City VW - Absolutely no clue how to fix a VW Beadles of Bromley - Worst service ever Inchcape - Oswestry Colbornes - Guildford Specialist Cars - Aberdeen - crap service/bodyshop, ignorant staff HEROES Heritage, Bristol Loders, Dorchester (3 votes) Stanwell, Boston Caffyns, Haywards Heath (but not for jimmy_p) Driftbridge, Epsom Ridgeway Newbury Gilbert Lawton, Manchester Hayselden, Barnsley Vindis, St Ives, Cambridgeshire White Rose, Petersfield (2nd for sales) Arthur Prince, Loughborough (2 votes) Lookers, Burnley City VW, London Barnetts, Dundee (2 votes) Barnetts, St Andrews Lindvale, Chelmsford Citygate, Amersham Motorworld, Oxford John Ashley Service, New Malden Heathrow - A30 near err, Heathrow! Specialist Cars Parts Dept - Aberdeen Autohaus, Northampton Ridgeway, Wantage Martins, Farnham Beadles in Bromley, Bromey Hill is the most incompetent and dishonest car dealer I have ever come across. Took my Touran there to have a new side mirror fitted after it had been hit and run when parked outside my house. First visit they claimed one of the service guy's had made a mistake and forgot to paint the cap. so it was left with an unpainted one and also the trim was missing. Second visit they fitted a new cap, but when I went to collect the car it had two large scratches! There is no way it could have been missed and I think the secretly hoped that I wouln't say anything about it! They also charged me twice for the cap! (Managed to get it back at the third visit) Third visit they said that they had ordered the new cap and put it somewhere safe so it would not be damaged and now was unable to find it!! Unbelievable. I completely lost my temper and told their service manager Ian Johnson that I have never come across such incompetence and dishonesty because they must have known that the cap was defective! I also thanked them for the apology that I never received :mad: And I still have that defective cap!! Makes you wonder what about all the other parts they fit cars with, are they all damaged then because they haven't "put them somewhere safe" ?? I refused to come back once again and have a promise that they will come to my house and fit it, will post back when I know more. In contrast, Martins in Farnham where we bought our car (thanks Alex!) are amazing, highly recommended. If there is a problem they will sort it out quickly and effectivly. Edited February 14, 2009 by polarbee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken_gti Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 I totally agree with the Lookers blackburn being total scum, sales guy had promised new 18 inch monza 2s on my 55plate car that i bought in january as the original ones were really badly kerbed. instead, he swapped them from an 07 plate and refurbed them, ok i thought, then the dreaded white worm started appearing and it took me over a month to get back in contact with them, never returned calls, when finally took in for warranty claim, they said only one alloy was corroding, and only replaced one. in fact all 4 had signs of it. i believe its because of the lacquer wearing off from age. also, i had popped into the gilbert lawton in manchester to look at a GTI that was in the forecourt, salesman took details, inspected my car for a px and asked me how much i wanted for it, then went upstairs, came back down and said "we wont be able to offer anywhere near what u want for your car, sell it privately and come back, thanks for coming, bye!!!" i didnt need finance too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mastertech Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 (edited) Being fairly new to tyresmoke I have only just read this thread on "rogue dealers" and have to say that I am amazed at some of the posts. I currently work at a dealership that is part of a group named as "useless" The accusation is not talked about or substantiated and the individual branch unamed. Whist I accept that no one is perfect my colleagues and I strive to achieve quality targets set by Volkswagen and of course on occasions we fall short just like all other trades. But come on guys don't tar us all with a unsubstantiated and general brush. Edited April 14, 2009 by Mastertech Incorrect spelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muppetboy Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 Never saw this the first time around but I'll add my two cents... Twickenham VW, an absolute bunch of monkeys... VW UK though is the complete opposite, great customer service ZEROS Hull VW (Priory Park) (3 Votes) Heritage, Bristol Breeze, Poole Caffyn Group, Sussex Abridge, Loughton Beadles, Bromley (2 votes) Martins, Basingstoke (3 Votes) South Hereford Garage Ridgeway, Reading Sidlow, Gatwick (2 Votes) Chiswick VW (utter ) (3 votes) VW Technical (in its entirety) Richard Alexander, Huddersfield VWUK (in its entirety) Crowsons, Spalding CityGate - High Wycombe D*ck Heads, Leicester (sorry cant remember their name)*Reg Vardy? yes, thats right, rip off reg's!! Lookers Blackburn WAYSIDE Milton Keynes (the lot) Yep agree! Started well then POO! WAYSIDE Towcester (sales side) Service side total idiots Donnelly VW Campsie, N Ireland.... Mann Egerton, Swindon (service) Citygate, South Ruislip (sales) VW Liverpool Danes of Chester Colbornes, Woking Dovercourt Battersea - W@NKERS! *2 - Avoid these cnuts like the plague Inchcape - Telford Peter Cooper Portsmouth (for sales) Alan Day City VW - Absolutely no clue how to fix a VW Beadles of Bromley - Worst service ever Inchcape - Oswestry Colbornes - Guildford Specialist Cars - Aberdeen - crap service/bodyshop, ignorant staff Twickenham VW - Bunch of monkeys (Muppetboy) HEROES Heritage, Bristol Loders, Dorchester (3 votes) Stanwell, Boston Caffyns, Haywards Heath (but not for jimmy_p) Driftbridge, Epsom Ridgeway Newbury Gilbert Lawton, Manchester Hayselden, Barnsley Vindis, St Ives, Cambridgeshire White Rose, Petersfield (2nd for sales) Arthur Prince, Loughborough (2 votes) Lookers, Burnley City VW, London Barnetts, Dundee (2 votes) Barnetts, St Andrews Lindvale, Chelmsford Citygate, Amersham Motorworld, Oxford John Ashley Service, New Malden Heathrow - A30 near err, Heathrow! Specialist Cars Parts Dept - Aberdeen Autohaus, Northampton Ridgeway, Wantage Martins, Farnham VW UK - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Haze Posted May 28, 2009 Report Share Posted May 28, 2009 ZEROS VW Croydon Hull VW (Priory Park) (3 Votes) Heritage, Bristol Breeze, Poole Caffyn Group, Sussex Abridge, Loughton Beadles, Bromley Martins, Basingstoke (3 Votes) South Hereford Garage Ridgeway, Reading Sidlow, Gatwick (2 Votes) Chiswick VW (utter ) (2 votes) VW Technical (in its entirety) Richard Alexander, Huddersfield VWUK (in its entirety) Crowsons, Spalding CityGate - High Wycombe D*ck Heads, Leicester (sorry cant remember their name)*Reg Vardy? yes, thats right, rip off reg's!! Lookers Blackburn WAYSIDE Milton Keynes (the lot) Yep agree! Started well then POO! WAYSIDE Towcester (sales side) Service side total idiots Donnelly VW Campsie, N Ireland.... Mann Egerton, Swindon (service) Citygate, South Ruislip (sales) VW Liverpool Danes of Chester Colbornes, Woking Dovercourt Battersea - W@NKERS! *2 - Avoid these cnuts like the plague Inchcape - Telford Peter Cooper Portsmouth (for sales) Alan Day City VW - Absolutely no clue how to fix a VW Beadles of Bromley - Worst service ever Inchcape - Oswestry Colbornes - Guildford Specialist Cars - Aberdeen - crap service/bodyshop, ignorant staff HEROES Heritage, Bristol Loders, Dorchester (3 votes) Stanwell, Boston Caffyns, Haywards Heath (but not for jimmy_p) Driftbridge, Epsom Ridgeway Newbury Gilbert Lawton, Manchester Hayselden, Barnsley Vindis, St Ives, Cambridgeshire White Rose, Petersfield (2nd for sales) Arthur Prince, Loughborough (2 votes) Lookers, Burnley City VW, London Barnetts, Dundee (2 votes) Barnetts, St Andrews Lindvale, Chelmsford Citygate, Amersham Motorworld, Oxford John Ashley Service, New Malden Heathrow - A30 near err, Heathrow! Specialist Cars Parts Dept - Aberdeen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous-j Posted July 26, 2009 Report Share Posted July 26, 2009 First post, adding wayside to this list as they are a bunch of ****s, i'd suggest people strongly avoid them at all costs. They have ripped me off and a number of people I know, and are gradually getting a very bad reputation. ZEROS VW Croydon Hull VW (Priory Park) (3 Votes) Heritage, Bristol Breeze, Poole Caffyn Group, Sussex Abridge, Loughton Beadles, Bromley Martins, Basingstoke (3 Votes) South Hereford Garage Ridgeway, Reading Sidlow, Gatwick (2 Votes) Chiswick VW (utter ) (2 votes) VW Technical (in its entirety) Richard Alexander, Huddersfield VWUK (in its entirety) Crowsons, Spalding CityGate - High Wycombe D*ck Heads, Leicester (sorry cant remember their name)*Reg Vardy? yes, thats right, rip off reg's!! Lookers Blackburn WAYSIDE Milton Keynes (the lot) Yep agree! Started well then POO! Bodyshop charges for work they haven't completed. WAYSIDE Towcester (sales side) Service side total idiots WAYSIDE St Albans (aftersales) Damage to car, High prices, Rude, Liars, Slow, Lack of product knowledge and Unhelpful. Never again.... Donnelly VW Campsie, N Ireland.... Mann Egerton, Swindon (service) Citygate, South Ruislip (sales) VW Liverpool Danes of Chester Colbornes, Woking Dovercourt Battersea - W@NKERS! *2 - Avoid these cnuts like the plague Inchcape - Telford Peter Cooper Portsmouth (for sales) Alan Day City VW - Absolutely no clue how to fix a VW Beadles of Bromley - Worst service ever Inchcape - Oswestry Colbornes - Guildford Specialist Cars - Aberdeen - crap service/bodyshop, ignorant staff HEROES Heritage, Bristol Loders, Dorchester (3 votes) Stanwell, Boston Caffyns, Haywards Heath (but not for jimmy_p) Driftbridge, Epsom Ridgeway Newbury Gilbert Lawton, Manchester Hayselden, Barnsley Vindis, St Ives, Cambridgeshire White Rose, Petersfield (2nd for sales) Arthur Prince, Loughborough (2 votes) Lookers, Burnley City VW, London Barnetts, Dundee (2 votes) Barnetts, St Andrews Lindvale, Chelmsford Citygate, Amersham Motorworld, Oxford John Ashley Service, New Malden Heathrow - A30 near err, Heathrow! Specialist Cars Parts Dept - Aberdeen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hairypitz Posted March 27, 2010 Report Share Posted March 27, 2010 My first post. I came to this website looking for other people with any similar experience of rock bottom customer service and was shocked to see Gilbert Lawton Manchester on a list of "heroes" This is my sorry tale. I hope you'll agree that they deserve demotion... Ordered new VW Fox from Gilbert Lawton Manchester back in June 2009 (doing scrappage scheme), salesperson A offered me free gap insurance over the phone, but when I went back to buy the car the manager decided there was no way they could give me that. Managed to get free body coloured bumpers (about £60) thrown in instead. Told there was a waiting list and the car would be delivered sometime around the beginning of Sept. Said OK, paid the money. Middle of July Salesperson A emailed while I was in the Middle East. Bit of a **** up at the factory. Car built without body coloured bumpers. Still arriving in Sept, but if it had to be reordered with new bumpers it wouldn't arrive till Nov. How did I want to play this? Grrrrrrrrr. Replied that I wanted the car I'd ordered per the order sheet and I'd like it by the original date of September please. Would that be a problem? Waited for response. But no. So there I am in the middle of bloody Syria looking for internet cafes and some word from Gilbert Lawton Manchester. A week later I emailed Salesperson A again and a couple of days I had a reply. No problem he said, it had all been reordered. Arrive back in the UK in September, eagerly awaiting our new car and without our old car as it had been sent off for scrappage. Is our car ready? Is it shite. Can we get in touch with Salesperson A to find out when it will be delivered? I think you may know the answer. Eleven phonecalls were made over a period of a week, each time leaving our number for Salesperson A to return our call. The switchboard operator knew us intimately. Salesperson A had always just nipped out, was on a test drive, with some customers or on their day off. Eventually we got our man. Mucho apologies re: customer service and an offer to pay up to £200 for car hire, which should tide us over till our car arrived. Car had been tracked down in transit somewhere on the seas. Shouldn't be too long now...couple of weeks....just keep the invoice for car hire and hand it to us, we'll reimburse you. So the car hire came and went, the car still didn't materialise and it was getting on for October. Further into October and still no car, no word from Gilbert Lawton as to what was going on. After further phonecalls to Salesman A and further evasion we shamed him into answering us again. It appeared that the car was still on the bloody boat and hadn't surfaced although it should have. More disgruntlement followed and we paid a visit to the showroom to demonstrate that fact. We met Salesperson B, who seemed a whole lot more on the ball than A. In fact A did a runner as we arrived and left B to deal with the fall out/ probable shouting etc. However, when it became apparent that we were a lot more in control of our emotions than they'd calculated, Salesperson A reappeared, full of concern and fake pleasedness to see us. Promised use of a courtesy car from the following day, but told we needed to get our own insurance. Shouldn't be a problem. Ha. Ringing up insurance companies to be told that they couldn't insure us for a courtesy car as the insurance was meant to be provided by Gilbert Lawton was interesting. Anyway, another phonecall and threats to tell all to the parent company Inchcape seemed to sort out that little problem. They delivered the car to us the following day and I handed Salesperson A my invoice for car hire. He was looking rough as ****, tbh I was wondering if he'd developed a smack problem. I never did find out. As we drove away a funny light came on that looked engine related. Oh yes. The engine management system was ****ed. Brilliant. Like I didn't have a life that involved things other than getting angry at Gilbert Lawton Manchester. We drove to the showroom the next day to give photocopies of our driving licences and mentioned the engine light. Told the car we'd only just been lent needed to stay in for repair and would take a while. I think I was looking like I was about to finally kill someone. Anyway, in a rarely seen stroke of competence they managed to sort out another car for a few days while the original courtesy car was fixed. We finally got our new car right at the arse end of November. We thought it would never happen but as we'd commandeered their courtesy car we were prepared to just sit it out. On the offchance we gave Gilbert Lawton a ring. Our new car had arrived. But Salesperson A was no more. Salesperson B did the handover and when I asked about my car hire refund there was no record of an invoice. Thank God for triplicate and my spidersense of Gilbert Lawton Manchester's ****edupness tingling. I gave Salesperson B my 3rd and final copy of the invoice and drove away in my lovely new car, sort of bemused but relieved to get those ****s out of my hair. A few weeks later, no sign of a log book, no sign of that car hire money. Paid Gilbert Lawton Mancheter a visit. Salesperson B worked out that Salesperson A hadn't told us that the log book would be going to our old address. Something to do with the scrappage. We had to just check at our old address for it and let them know if it didn't turn up. Invoice raised for my money. Seemed to finally be getting towards closure with the whole thing. But that was not to be. Sent Salesperson B an email, but no reply. Salesperson B had also bit the dust. I sent an email to the Gilbert Lawton Contact Us website in Feb. Did they contact me? Did they hell. Another visit to the showroom awaited. Salesperson C now took over. Full of apologies, said I was right to be fed up. Thought the service I'd received thus far was awful too. Arranged once again for the invoice to be raised (takes 10 days he said), gave me a form for a replacement logbook and agreed to also reimburse me for the £25 it would cost. I saw him in Feb, applied for and received my new log book and emailed him on 18th March asking about the money. No reply. Phoned today 27th March asking to be called back sometime today. I'm still waiting. Are there any prizes for the worst customer service experience ever? And have I won it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hairypitz Posted April 9, 2010 Report Share Posted April 9, 2010 (edited) ...an update on the shambles that is Gilbert Lawton Manchester. I phoned them on 31st March and the manager no less claimed that my cheque was in the post for the money they still owe me. Didn't want to celebrate prematurely and just as well since there's still no sign of any cheque. That means either: a) the post office have lost it b) the manager of Gilbert Lawton Manchester is a pathological liar. But can you guess which of those options I'm drawn towards? And Salesperson C has now also bit the dust. Edited April 9, 2010 by hairypitz unfinished Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiser647 Posted April 9, 2010 Report Share Posted April 9, 2010 You have been far to patient. You should have been in shouting at them (not swearing though). You should have had a courtesy car from them all along - no hire car rubbish at your expense. I am surprised you were that patient! I'd go and wait in the showroom until your cheque appears. Shouting at people in there. They'd soon manage to print/write a cheque. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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