This is mainly directed at the Milton Keynes branch, but to be honest I would try to avoid the franchise as a whole.
While my experience was not completely negative I'll try and sum it up in a few points:
Pro's:
<ul>[*]Not strict office hours, arranged a call back at 8pm once and an early test drive on a weekend.[*]When driving the car, I was advised to keep on pushing so I got to feel the car at its limits[*]Very quick turnaround when ordering a car[*]Happy to negotiate[/list]
Cons:
<ul>[*]VERY pushy sales ("do a deal today/limited time offer/ask the manager")[*]Misleading quotes, adding an extra month onto a PCP deal as standard to make the quote look cheaper[*]Tries to charge for extras which are included (car mats for example)[*]Gets very upset/angry when you try to point out their mistakes (went through 3 salesmen who thought they knew best)[*]If there's an issue with your order, suddenly the pleasantries go out the window and you're back to office hours by appointment.[*]Does not take criticism well, unwilling to accept they can't make every customer happy.[*]Relies heavily on aftersales, pushy with supagard/GAP/SMART/Service plans and openly slates any competition saying they can't be compared for quality and value.[/list]
With the Bedford branch after the dull test drive (not able to push the car much due to some of the roads) They were not willing to sit down and talk numbers as I said I wanted a good price and they wouldn't even knock 1.5k off the car, so I walked. I had a followup call 2 weeks later and when the salesperson heard I'd ordered from a different branch he too was very angry stating wasted time and dealer costs and they would have matched any offer etc... I did try to explain that if he wasn't happy taking 1.5k off the car after driving it he certainly wouldn't match the quote I had from a different dealer.
If you're OK going to try the car and buy on the spot with no more than 5% discount on the price you'll probably have a better experience than I had, but when asking for a test drive with an aim to purchase a couple of months later, their overpowering need to secure a sale no matter what cost is very frustrating when you show the dealer that you're in no position to sign at that point unless there's a hefty discount. I pointed out to each dealer before discussing anything that I was looking to buy in September.
Edited by: Steeps
While my experience was not completely negative I'll try and sum it up in a few points:
Pro's:
<ul>[*]Not strict office hours, arranged a call back at 8pm once and an early test drive on a weekend.[*]When driving the car, I was advised to keep on pushing so I got to feel the car at its limits[*]Very quick turnaround when ordering a car[*]Happy to negotiate[/list]
Cons:
<ul>[*]VERY pushy sales ("do a deal today/limited time offer/ask the manager")[*]Misleading quotes, adding an extra month onto a PCP deal as standard to make the quote look cheaper[*]Tries to charge for extras which are included (car mats for example)[*]Gets very upset/angry when you try to point out their mistakes (went through 3 salesmen who thought they knew best)[*]If there's an issue with your order, suddenly the pleasantries go out the window and you're back to office hours by appointment.[*]Does not take criticism well, unwilling to accept they can't make every customer happy.[*]Relies heavily on aftersales, pushy with supagard/GAP/SMART/Service plans and openly slates any competition saying they can't be compared for quality and value.[/list]
With the Bedford branch after the dull test drive (not able to push the car much due to some of the roads) They were not willing to sit down and talk numbers as I said I wanted a good price and they wouldn't even knock 1.5k off the car, so I walked. I had a followup call 2 weeks later and when the salesperson heard I'd ordered from a different branch he too was very angry stating wasted time and dealer costs and they would have matched any offer etc... I did try to explain that if he wasn't happy taking 1.5k off the car after driving it he certainly wouldn't match the quote I had from a different dealer.
If you're OK going to try the car and buy on the spot with no more than 5% discount on the price you'll probably have a better experience than I had, but when asking for a test drive with an aim to purchase a couple of months later, their overpowering need to secure a sale no matter what cost is very frustrating when you show the dealer that you're in no position to sign at that point unless there's a hefty discount. I pointed out to each dealer before discussing anything that I was looking to buy in September.
Edited by: Steeps
ffice
