Dealer Reviews, Whats Your Experience ?

[dave.m]

Reading about McTavish's buying experience has got me thinking about my own recent Rav purchase.

I still have an unresolved issue with the dealer. This is a smaller local dealer whom I decided to give a

chance after years of buying from the big boys like "Uncle Arnold" who while allways a bit cheaper, dont

neccessarilly give better service. Though I have to say for me, next time I will go back to the big boys.

I wont bore you with the details, just read below which is an accompanying letter I am sending with the

questionaire I recived after buying my Rav. I know there is a dealer review section here somewhere, but

its hard to find and I thought with so many new members we could share our good or bad experiences and

name and shame the bad dealers.

To, Shields Automotive Ltd.

1000 Kennishead Road

Darnley

Glasgow

G53 7RA

(their head office)

Dear sir / madam, this letter is an addition to the multiple choice questionaire you recently sent me regarding

the purchase of my Toyota Rav4 from Shields Toyota, hamilton branch.

Having been left totally disillusioned with the way your company conducts its business, might I suggest your sales

manager gets some lessons in customer services from one of your English competitors which I will use an an example.

I have been buying a few accessories for my Rav4 from Lindop Brothers Toyota in Chester. Their parts manager Mr

John Devlin, gives me a discount because I am a paid up member of Toyota Owners Club. My most recent purchase

was a set of side steps which unfortunately were damaged by the shipping company.I informed Lindop Brothers and

within 1 week i recieved a personal apology, replacement parts, a full refund of all shipping costs and a free gift as

compensation for inconvenience. Having used Lindop Brothers on a few occasions for parts, I cannot praise them highly

enough and their Parts Manager Mr John Devlin especially.

I will now give you a comparison of my buying experience with Shields Toyota Hamilton. Buying the car was fine,

I understand the salesman was new to your company, I was his first customer and I was satisfied with the purchase.

He was of course being overseen by the sales manager who is responsible for what happened next. As the Rav I was

buying was being used as a demonstrator, it had two or three months road tax on it. I was told by the sales manager

that when I picked the car up it would have six months road tax. the day I picked the car up it still had the same tax

disc, I was told this was an oversight and as the registration document had allready been posted to Swansea they

would send me a cheque instead. I have now had my car for TEN weeks and despite repeated phone calls and threats

of going to trading standards etc as of todays date, 04-04-08 I still have not recieved any cheque or apology from your

sales manager or any offer of compensation .

So in answer to your questionaire, will return to Shields for service work ? possibly as I have used the service dept

before and have no complaints about the service given. Will I recommend Shields to family / friends or use your

recommendation slips ? Shall we just say that Hell will freeze over before I buy another car from Shields Toyota. You

may or may not be familiar with Toyota Owners Club, it is the biggest in the world and has over 50,000 UK members.

On the site there is a dealer review section where members can give opinions of UK Toyota dealers and their buying

experiences. You can look forward to seeing my opinion of your company on there shortly. This letter will also be sent

to Toyota customer services.

All this for an amount which is less than half of one percent of the cost of the car, shameful.

[local hero]

Reading about McTavish's buying experience has got me thinking about my own recent Rav purchase.

I still have an unresolved issue with the dealer. This is a smaller local dealer whom I decided to give a

chance after years of buying from the big boys like "Uncle Arnold" who while allways a bit cheaper, dont

neccessarilly give better service. Though I have to say for me, next time I will go back to the big boys.

I wont bore you with the details, just read below which is an accompanying letter I am sending with the

questionaire I recived after buying my Rav. I know there is a dealer review section here somewhere, but

its hard to find and I thought with so many new members we could share our good or bad experiences and

name and shame the bad dealers.

To, Shields Automotive Ltd.

1000 Kennishead Road

Darnley

Glasgow

G53 7RA

(their head office)

Dear sir / madam, this letter is an addition to the multiple choice questionaire you recently sent me regarding

the purchase of my Toyota Rav4 from Shields Toyota, hamilton branch.

Having been left totally disillusioned with the way your company conducts its business, might I suggest your sales

manager gets some lessons in customer services from one of your English competitors which I will use an an example.

I have been buying a few accessories for my Rav4 from Lindop Brothers Toyota in Chester. Their parts manager Mr

John Devlin, gives me a discount because I am a paid up member of Toyota Owners Club. My most recent purchase

was a set of side steps which unfortunately were damaged by the shipping company.I informed Lindop Brothers and

within 1 week i recieved a personal apology, replacement parts, a full refund of all shipping costs and a free gift as

compensation for inconvenience. Having used Lindop Brothers on a few occasions for parts, I cannot praise them highly

enough and their Parts Manager Mr John Devlin especially.

I will now give you a comparison of my buying experience with Shields Toyota Hamilton. Buying the car was fine,

I understand the salesman was new to your company, I was his first customer and I was satisfied with the purchase.

He was of course being overseen by the sales manager who is responsible for what happened next. As the Rav I was

buying was being used as a demonstrator, it had two or three months road tax on it. I was told by the sales manager

that when I picked the car up it would have six months road tax. the day I picked the car up it still had the same tax

disc, I was told this was an oversight and as the registration document had allready been posted to Swansea they

would send me a cheque instead. I have now had my car for TEN weeks and despite repeated phone calls and threats

of going to trading standards etc as of todays date, 04-04-08 I still have not recieved any cheque or apology from your

sales manager or any offer of compensation .

So in answer to your questionaire, will return to Shields for service work ? possibly as I have used the service dept

before and have no complaints about the service given. Will I recommend Shields to family / friends or use your

recommendation slips ? Shall we just say that Hell will freeze over before I buy another car from Shields Toyota. You

may or may not be familiar with Toyota Owners Club, it is the biggest in the world and has over 50,000 UK members.

On the site there is a dealer review section where members can give opinions of UK Toyota dealers and their buying

experiences. You can look forward to seeing my opinion of your company on there shortly. This letter will also be sent

to Toyota customer services.

All this for an amount which is less than half of one percent of the cost of the car, shameful.

HI DAVE, I also will not be using my local dealer again, they keep sending me letters telling me i am a privileged customer and if i go in iwill be able to purchase cars at wholesale prices, when i have done this these deals never materialise and on my last car i spent an hour waiting to be told the price of my new car,which was a worse deal than i had been offered over the phone from another MR T ihad never met, and £2000 less in part exchange. on my previous cars last service because it had only done 23000 miles and was having its 5yr service i negotiated a discount, when my wife dropped it off at reception she was met with, OH your the woman who wants a cheep service,this in front of other customers. I could go on and on but this will get rather tedious .Thankfully i only live 35 mls from Lindop so hopefully their service team are as good as Kingo is with his parts and they can have my custom instead. rant over now OH my local dealer is RRG Altrincham

[chatman]

Hmmm ;) ;) ;)

Nice letter Dave...Think it's too the point and explains your feelings and views well....

Hopefully they may get the point and actually do something.....

[Hoovie]

My Local Mr T chain is Marsh - 3 dealerships in Devon.

Sales-wise, bought car from Exeter branch - they were not spectacular, but I have not complaints with them either.

Service-wise, the Exeter branch again were good enough and sorted out a couple of glitches without any drama. next service switched to Honiton branch (same dealership) and they are impressing me more with their attitude. I would not say they were perfect, but they are doing what I would expect - and more - in terms of service quality from a car Dealership.

Would I buy from Marsh again? I would still look around, of course, but would make sure I paid them a visit tose wehat they had and give them an opportunity to beat a deal I found elsewhere.

Service from Marsh again? Prepaid for next 3 years as I trust them, so I guess yes (buit at Honiton) :D

[vickk]

I bought my Rav this March from Pinkstones Toyota in Stoke, they are not the closest to me but after visiting my local dealer and getting prices from brokers I wandered into their showroom while out for the day shopping. I was impressed with the showroom and surroundings and although I was initially intending to get prices I found myself negotiating with the salesman over coffee.

Ok they did not match the broker price but they came within £150 of it and beat my best part ex by £200, I also got the 0% finance. From the time I agreed the deal that day they have been superb and I give credit where credit is due. From Alex the salesman to every one else they have been polite and efficient. I would recommend them without hesitation. Any extras were good value and fitted as expected without problem

I also took out a 3 year service plan which I thought was value at £14 a month over 30 months

[T600]

If only you'd read the review of Shields in the Dealer Review section before buying. ;)

[Robert6920]

There are one or two members in Ireland, but no reviews of Irish dealers on TOC. I'd therefore add a mention here for Carroll and Kinsella, Blackrock (South Dublin), and I'll also give a view of my local dealers, McCabes

Just after Christmas, was looking round for a low mileage Rav4 for the better half. Found one on t'internet in Carroll and Kinsella, 2005 Rav4.2, 17000km. Although it's not a convenient location for me (I live 30 miles north of Dublin, work on the northern outskirts of the city and Blackrock is completely on the opposite side - and Dublin traffic is totally mad) I nipped over and saw the most immaculate Rav4. It hadn't been there long enough for them to wash it, so I was seeing it au naturel, which is a great opportunity to see how it's been treated. Ken Carey, the Sales Director, was very good, no pushiness, did a good deal on the trade in, did a good deal on price and, job done, we'd got a Rav4!

I was so impressed with both car and dealer that when I changed my car a month later, I went back to Ken and he sourced the Rav4 I wanted, colour, extras etc etc, in about a week, and beat two other dealers on price (I am lucky enough to get a company car and we go to formal tender for our vehicles)

All the people I met at the dealership were friendly, polite and seemed genuinely interested in you as a customer, even if you were only buying some locking wheel nuts. I've recommended them to a number of people who have been seriously impressed with the Rav4

Turning to McCabes, they are in a seriously posh glass edifice on the edge of the town I live in, and would be the logical local choice. However, they were disinterested in me in the sales area, and about a month later when the better half's Rav4 had to have its locks changed (long story recounted elsewhere) it took two days to get the job half finished, and they had to have the car back to sort out the immobiliser. Broken promises as to when the car would be ready, took the money (€900) for the job and then told me the car wasn't fully locking, and would I bring it back next week! I felt sorry for the poor receptionist who was having to deal with me when the workshop manager "couldn't be found" (no, I didn't loose my temper, it's not her fault). But, mostly because of that lack of customer care, McCabes won't be getting any of my business.

It is incredibly short-sighted of dealers or, indeed anyone in a customer service business where there is a competitor not far away, to treat customers in an off-hand manner. And when you do get good service, you go back and you tell other people.

For parts, however, there's only Kingo. He's more competitive on price even though I have to get it across from the UK. No contest at all!!

[Parts-King]

Someone call me?

Thanks chaps

On a dealer review note, can any admin tell me what the procedure for a review is? IE If you submit one, is it vetted or stored offline somewhere, I regularly have people tell me they have done a review but it takes an age to appear. As many are aware, we go out of our way to provide a good service, and I encourage people to use the review section, wheather it's good or bad! We have two naff reviews from some time ago, the people involved no longer work for us, but we have to live with it and move on. You cant please all the people all the time, but we do our very best and always try to be courteous.

Kingo

[Manxrav]

My local dealer on the IOM is Caledonian Toyota, they are the only ones on the island. Have had three occasions to deal with them. First was TPM flashing on instrument panel, they intially fixed it (£30) within days it started again. Not a very good start. Second time was for service (20000 mile) went OK a bit steep on charges but had to come back after a week to have message on instrument panel reset( which should have been done after service) Third time was to order a part for Rav which was done OK.

I don,t know whether it,s because they are Lexus dealers as well but I always feel as thought I am being looked down to. I might add this is only with the Servicing side of the dealership

The classic of all time was when I went in for a replacement Battery for the key fob and they didn,t have one ( got one elsewere later) I just couldn,t believe that one and the could,nt care less attitude was unbelieveable. As for the Sales staff I have had no dealings with them at all( not yet anyway)

I only use them because I have to, it,s not thru choice.

When I was in the UK I used West- Riding Toyota in Huddesfield and they were top dollar but very good

Clare

[Bezzer]

I'm the complete opposite to Vickk- went to Pinkstone at Stoke as they are my closest dealer. Knew exactly what I wanted- an XT4 with some extras, the salesman on the outside pitch was superb when we were talking about Ravs but directed us inside as he was secondhand cars only. The "greeters"/hostesses were useless and eventually managed to get through to them what we wanted and one went to get a salesman. Had to wait about 15-20 minutes when another bloke came out said he wasn't the salesman we were waiting for but would help us in the meantime, told him we knew what we wanted ,gave him the spec, asked for a price he then spent ages telling us that we really wanted an XTR (no spare which we wanted for towing the caravan). He eventually went off saying he would get a price and send the original salesman out. Another 15-20 minutes later and nothing so we walked out, went home got the phone book to find the next nearest dealer. Went straight back out to WR Davies at Stafford couldn't have been treated better, had a test drive and ordered the motor we wanted there and then. Perhaps Pinkstone would have beat the price we paid but there's no way I'd give them any business. Know another couple of people who have been treated the same at Pinkstone.

Nearly forgot, we were paying cash but had a part-ex, we were told we'd have to come back with the car another day for it to be valued, couldn't be bothered to use their Glass' guide apparently.

[vickk]

I'm the complete opposite to Vickk- went to Pinkstone at Stoke as they are my closest dealer. Knew exactly what I wanted- an XT4 with some extras, the salesman on the outside pitch was superb when we were talking about Ravs but directed us inside as he was secondhand cars only. The "greeters"/hostesses were useless and eventually managed to get through to them what we wanted and one went to get a salesman. Had to wait about 15-20 minutes when another bloke came out said he wasn't the salesman we were waiting for but would help us in the meantime, told him we knew what we wanted ,gave him the spec, asked for a price he then spent ages telling us that we really wanted an XTR (no spare which we wanted for towing the caravan). He eventually went off saying he would get a price and send the original salesman out. Another 15-20 minutes later and nothing so we walked out, went home got the phone book to find the next nearest dealer. Went straight back out to WR Davies at Stafford couldn't have been treated better, had a test drive and ordered the motor we wanted there and then. Perhaps Pinkstone would have beat the price we paid but there's no way I'd give them any business. Know another couple of people who have been treated the same at Pinkstone.

Nearly forgot, we were paying cash but had a part-ex, we were told we'd have to come back with the car another day for it to be valued, couldn't be bothered to use their Glass' guide apparently.

Just goes to show how nothing is certain these days, either you caught them on a bad day or I caught them on a good one. The "greeters"/hostesses I found helpfull and usefull. it was one of them that pointed out the difference in style packs on the XTR compared to others which was quite bright of them having read the other thread on here.