James P

JamesPrice

Don't be fooled by over friendly salesman! On the face of it Hawthorns looked like a good reputable dealership, until I collected my car and things started going wrong. Firstly, upon collection I was told by James (salesman) that the MOT certificate was 'not to hand' so he would grab it before I leave. (I had to remind him literally as I was leaving and he got it from someone, folded it and handed it to me as I got in the car) Thought nothing of this at the time, until problems started occurring with the car ON THE JOURNEY HOME. The dealership was shut when I arrived home, so I then decided to go through all the paperwork. I found TO MY HORROR, that there were a long list of advisories on the MOT certificate he apparently just didn't 'have to hand', including tyre worn close to limit, several brake pipes corroding and chip in windscreen! Not what I would have expected from a car that I had just paid them quite handsomely for! After several calls and some persuasion from my part on the Monday morning, when I also reported the errors that occurred with the car on the way home, they agreed to take it back in and repair all the advisories and look in to the faults. At this point you think, ok well done to them - however, you could also look at it, how I did, and that if I hadn't noticed the advisories then they would have got away with not having to do them and I would have to pay out before the next MOT. Which incidentally they told me cost them £1000 to fix, although they couldn't give me the paperwork when I asked as they were "'behind on their paperwork". Without making this review extremely long to read, I will cut a very long story short... I owned the car (BMW X5 Reg: N17SEV in case anyone was thinking of buying it) for 6 weeks in total, it went back to Hawthorns twice and spent at least 5 days in their workshop having advisories repaired and faults fixed (too many to list). After lots of battles with Hawthorns and me having to pay for an independent BMW specialist report on the vehicle, which found lots of faults, and them then insisting they have their own independent report done - the car was deemed 'not fit for purpose' by both, and they had no choice but to take the car back and refund. During the entire process Hawthorns dragged their heals at every opportunity, which bought much stress on myself and my family, and has left me still hugely out of pocket, due to having to pay for a lease car because my wife refused to drive the vehicle since errors were occurring, what felt like daily, plus insurance costs for the car, plus independent specialist fees, etc etc. They ignored emails, voicemails and I only ever got a response from them when I told them I would turn up at their dealership (unfortunately I live 45mins + from them, otherwise would have been on their doorstep daily. Therefore I urge you not to make the same mistake I did and pleas avoid buying a car from Hawthorns. Do not listen to their favourite line "that's just what we do" when they tell you how great their service is! Move on to the next dealer.