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happyguy82

Avoid Inchcape Toyota Sandhurst

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Posted this on other forums so I thought it's worth sharing my experience here too:

I took my car in for MOT which failed due to a Major Defect. I was told that I was not allowed to drive the car home and had no choice but to leave it there for a few days and pay in excess of £1,200 to have the brake system replaced on one side.

According to the DVLA a Major Defect doesn't stop a car from being able to be driven, only a Dangerous Defect does. Furthermore, I still have a fortnight of MOT validity when it happened.

I wasn't even allowed to go to my car to retrieve personal items 

I then raised an official complaint with Toyota UK's Customer Relations team who then simply forwarded it on to the dealer without providing me any reference number etc. I replied to ask for a reference number but received no reply.

The manager at the service centre promised to investigate the issue but didn't get back to me, even if he did I wouldn't expect much as it isn't an independent investigation conducted by Toyota UK.

Bottom line is as many here have told me I have been taken advantage in an unfair manner. I have exhausted all reasonable routes to get this resolved to no avail.

I wouldn't want anyone else to be put through the stress that I was.

By the way, the service section has no viewing window glass pane and I did see their technicians being very rough with other customer cars, e.g. crunching gears, driving them very aggressively into the building etc.

Just stating the facts....

Last by not least, check out the complaints they've received from other customers on their own FB page: https://www.facebook.com/pg/toyotasandhurst/reviews

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Not being able to get to your own car and get personal items is ridiculous, hopefully you get some closure on this.

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20 hours ago, happyguy82 said:

Posted this on other forums so I thought it's worth sharing my experience here too:

I took my car in for MOT which failed due to a Major Defect. I was told that I was not allowed to drive the car home and had no choice but to leave it there for a few days and pay in excess of £1,200 to have the brake system replaced on one side.

According to the DVLA a Major Defect doesn't stop a car from being able to be driven, only a Dangerous Defect does. Furthermore, I still have a fortnight of MOT validity when it happened.

I wasn't even allowed to go to my car to retrieve personal items 

I then raised an official complaint with Toyota UK's Customer Relations team who then simply forwarded it on to the dealer without providing me any reference number etc. I replied to ask for a reference number but received no reply.

The manager at the service centre promised to investigate the issue but didn't get back to me, even if he did I wouldn't expect much as it isn't an independent investigation conducted by Toyota UK.

Bottom line is as many here have told me I have been taken advantage in an unfair manner. I have exhausted all reasonable routes to get this resolved to no avail.

I wouldn't want anyone else to be put through the stress that I was.

By the way, the service section has no viewing window glass pane and I did see their technicians being very rough with other customer cars, e.g. crunching gears, driving them very aggressively into the building etc.

Just stating the facts....

Last by not least, check out the complaints they've received from other customers on their own FB page: https://www.facebook.com/pg/toyotasandhurst/reviews

Pretty sure legally they cant stop you from taking your own property, items or the car. Even if it failed on a dangerous defect, for the stealership cost of that , i'd rather of called a recovery company to remove it from the garage and go somewhere more honest and willing to work with you, the customer. 

Should of threatened to get the police involved and report it upwards to toyota. If you kick up enough fuss bothering Toyota's complaints department, asking for their higher ups etc, you should eventually get somewhere. End of the day they have a reputation to up hold and a bad rep could cost more than one angry customers issues.

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I went to Toyota Sandhurst looking for a second hand GT86, asked them to phone me when they had found a low mileage job and never heard from them and ended up with a BRZ.  The garage I have been using for the last 3 years is Surrey Subaru Specialists, Unit 6, Bridge Trade & Industrial Park, Bridge Rd, Camberley Surrey. GU15 2QR.  He only use Subaru parts and the correct oils, my car has always been sweet to drive, the only problem he needs 3-4 weeks notice 

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+1 for Bulldog .. got my BRZ from them in 2017 and they have looked after it since. No quibble when the battery started to fail either.

Begin a Subaru dealer they at least know how that engine goes together! I think by Feb 2020 they had changed the valve springs on over 40 engines and had a long list of others still to do.

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+2 for Bulldog Twyford. Only catch is cost , Subaru dealers are not fixed price or as cost efficient as Toyota dealers. Their service is top notch and very personalised, so worth it in the end.

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