Michelle T

Terrible service

Went with my partner to this showroom yesterday as he is looking to buy a new Mercedes and drove from Reading to London to view a car we saw advertised online. Firstly, the customer service could have been much better. The girl on reception in the office showed us the car, plus another similar one and didn’t seem to have much knowledge of the cars at all. She couldn’t even get the engine sizes right for the cars even though it was written down on the sheets of paper for each relevant car. We wanted to do a test drive but we were told that this would not be possible until Wednesday when the full AA inspection plus a full service would be completed on the car. On looking at other negative feedback we now see that they charge a refundable £100 for a test drive with £10 retained as an administration fee. At no point was this mentioned whilst we were there. We decided that we really wanted the car and after trying to negotiate a slightly better deal which they wouldn’t budge from, my partner agreed to pay the full price with the £500 non-refundable deposit for the car to be paid that day, with the plan to return Wednesday, test drive the car and hopefully with no faults, drive it away that day. However, the receptionist/sales lady said we wouldn’t HAVE to pay the £500 deposit as we were a bit uncomfortable paying it without test driving first and she confirmed on more than one occasion after double and triple checking with her, that we had her word for it that she would not let the car be sold to anyone else. Basically, she promised it was ours for Wednesday. Well, today, Tuesday, she has called to say that someone had just received finance on the car and it has been sold to them instead. She seemed not to care AT ALL that she had broken her promise and all she could say was “sorry, there is nothing I can do”. This was a massive disappointment and we have asked for the manager to call back of which surprise, surprise, he hasn’t. This led us to check reviews about this showroom and we’re now thinking we may have had a lucky escape. Avoid this place as the customer service is terrible, they do not keep their promises and have no respect for their customers.