View Full Version : Milton Keynes Seat - i was around u
Hi all
i was around milton keynes, northampton, wellingborough, aylesbury etc etc from last wednesday to sunday, did 600 miles in that time.
As we are looking at moving up to MK to live next year.. anyway we went on a little trip to find the MK seat dealer, and found Stoneacre at Northfields, is this the only MK seat dealer?
i thought the Milton Keynes Seat branch was a great Seat dealership from what i heard on here but when i visited (if it was stoneacre) it had loads and loads of trade ins (other makes) (obviously cause of the recent reg change) but there were so few seats it disappointed me.
Suprised i didnt see anyone from here or no one saw me :(
I think Stoneacre took over MK SEAT, then turned the site into a used car compund basically, from what i know they dont even have new cars in the showroom
:confused:
Neanderthal
16-09-2003, 12:19
DON'T USE THEM! they've just been taken over adn can't be any less helpful than they are!
I live in Northampton and I went to Marshall's of Bedford after the shocking way MK Seat treated me. Would heartily recommend Marshalls! :D
Tis a great shame, but i expected this when i heard Stoneacre took over MK SEAT.
The local Stoneacre dealer near me, not SEAT but FIAT are diabolical, seems whatever they touch turns to sewage.
A great shame not only for the super staff MK had, or still do, but are greatly unmotivated and unhappy now with Stoneacre, but sad to see SEAT have lost yet another quality dealership.
I went to MK originally to escape the bad dealers round my way, and do business with a good dealer, alas i think i was one of the last customers to experience MK SEAT as it was.
:(
Joyrider
16-09-2003, 12:39
I'm from Northampton and I've never been happy with the MK dealership, I always take mine to Aylesbury Perry's. Can't fault 'em, bought my first Beeza Cupra from them. They've always been really helpful to me.
WHEN will SEAT learn that to keep your customers buying future SEAT's they have to have good customer service. In two years I found two great dealers and SIX rubbish ones. Sadly one of those Great dealers (MK) has now bombed, so just left with one.
When it comes to looking at another car. Customer Service and crap dealers are the only thing thats pushing me away from SEAT, but its enough of a problem to consider me going to another brand.
I know SEAT want to be a sort of Spanish/VAG Alfa Romeo, but lets leave the AR dealer standards behind
moved to dealers your say section
thats disappointing to hear as i will be leaving SMC Seat in Exeter behind and i think they are one of the good guys :(
the funny thing is Stoneacre put a sticker on the back of all their cars with the words We Are No. which sit above the 'one' in stoneacre... sounds like they are far from it.
so the other options for that area when we move are..... (please add)
- Aylesbury Perry's
- Marshall's of Bedford
Or the SEAT only Northampton SEAT which although owned by Stoneacre is promised to be better (ie not a 2nd hand car plot)
Marshits. you gotta be kidding. acted like a side street garage when I wanted to look at a car and yes i could have a 3 mile test drive if I wanted.
Marshalls? Good? I wonder what they've done to redeem themselves!
I'm in an ongoing dispute with Stoneacres at the moment so I'm a little unhappy with them,but they still have a good service department so they aren't too bad. They have a good sales department too, it's just a shame they have no SEATs to sell...it looks like a mini car supermarket or a Fiat dealer nowadays.
In my opinion, it's a shame to see such a good dealer turn bad. I know the staff have low morale, which has left a few questioning their jobs. It's a real shame to see as a few months back they were so happy to help.
I do sincerely hope that Northampton SEAT is as good as MK SEAT was. It's becoming obvious that I'm questioning buying another SEAT (not through the dealers or through any fault of the car, but at stupid prices) but my mum still owns one and is very happy with the brand. I don't want her losing her confidence and going back to Ford or something.
Is Chris and Tim still there. I always found them to be the most helpful people i've ever encountered in the motor trade? Shame if Stoneacre has put pay to that.
maybe one day Seat will take note,
Just_Dabbling
16-09-2003, 14:20
andyb,
I'm disapointed in this news as I live in MK, and the dealer reputation was one of the reasons for choosing this car.
I have had nearly 3 and half years of crap VW service.
If anyone can shed any more light on if they have kept old staff, particualry in service, please please please post it back, otherwise, I'm gonna have a nightmare on the first service.
In part it was dealers that decided I bought a second hand SEAT instead of a brand new SEAT. This way my commitment was only for the one year. TBH I wouldn't by a new SEAT cos I know I would have to rely on the dealer network (one of the benefits of buying new:confused: ) which isn't inspiring considering my local dealers are Wiltshires in Farnham and Focus in Camberley. Having had one year's dealer exposure I don't think I would have the faith for 3 years. Sales - no problem. You get what ou want, if you're nothappy you can walk away, but servicing, parts warranty claims is a different ball game in my experience. We serviced a BMW at the Guildford BMW dealer for almost 10 years and they were spot on, not a single problem or complaint (apart from high labour rates).
well as I mentioned not all dealers are bad. My experience of Huzzey's has always been 100%, even when I had an issue with my windscreen, they helped me sort it out and get a good contact with Seat UK. Same with MK seat a while back.
Sadly I've had dealings with Focus and Wiltshires as well as Pinchbecks and I was very very unhappy with service and advice there. I hear Focus are better now, but not used them.
Bit of a bugger isnt it:(
Dormouse
16-09-2003, 15:18
I find it slightly ironic that the closest dealer to SEAT UK headquarters has been taken over and for want of a better word destroyed the image of that dealership / fanchise.
I really do wonder if SEAT have corporate strategy or have they just jumped on the bandwagon of 'hey, the majority of people don't complain cos they are too reserved' why should we give a sh1t if our customer and delear service is pants'
No feckin enthusiasm in SEAT dealers anymore :(
Dor.
Just_Dabbling
16-09-2003, 15:49
Has anybody actually used them for anything since they were changed to Stoneacre ?
I had my first 10k service done at MK-Seat last year and my 20k service with Stoneacres a few weeks ago.
Apart from the courtesy car being an Astra 1.8 SRi (had a Ibiza TDI 100 first service and they told me when MK-Seat went into liquadation Seat-UK took all the cars back) there wasn't that much difference with the service I got.
The only thing I didn't like is now in my service book I have a hand written 'Stoneacres' in it, whereas before I had a proper MK Seat stamp, but still had the service paperwork do back it up.
The other thing was I could not park in the old parking outside the sales office as it's full of 2nd hand cars!
I only used Marshalls in Bedford when my coil packs went (twice) as I couldn't limp to MK-Seat, I received crap service from them in the past and their sales guys really annoyed me (mentioned that Imports use different parts to UK Spec cars when I took my car in to get the horn replaced, even though my car is UK Spec !).
Now I might be looking for another proper Seat dealership near Milton Keynes though, but need them to give me a courtesy car for the day for free (Marshalls said I would have to pay for one if the car didn't come from them, never mind an import!).
Joyrider
16-09-2003, 16:28
I went to Bedford to test drive my Beeza Cupra and wasn't impressed by their attitude, so I went to Aylesbury. It's worth the extra drive and I've met their technicians etc when I was invited by them to a track day at Rockingham and they are always friendly and have a chat when I go there. Oh, and they changed all my coil packs for me when I asked them to...MK would always fob me off saying there was no coil pack problem so they wouldn't change any.
So where is the Seat dealership in Northampton gonna be and when? I've not heard anything about it...
Riverside Retail - being built next to Pug IIRC
Dave, I agree with what you say about Marshalls, they were very funny with my mum and fiddled the figures on the Ibiza Cupra we bought.
The Northampton SEAT dealer is in Riverside, next to Bristol Street Peugeot. It's still being built but it's nearing completion.
Neanderthal
16-09-2003, 17:30
And I think it's going to be another Stone Acre dealership too :(
correct, but SEAT sales only (so I was told)
I can also add some praise for Perrys of Aylesbury. I brought my Ibiza Cupra from Listers of Coventry but Perrys have done quite a bit of warranty work and never moaned once. They even did me a respray and refit of the rear boot as I had a tiny bit of rust coming through.....and new leather supports for the sides of the seats.
The only problem is they are really busy, like having to wait 3-4 weeks to fit a new ignition switch. Think this is due to loads of people bringing their Seats to them. I believe the Oxford dealership closed down so they get all of their cars too.
just seen the ad at the top and read it totally this time, from what has been said on this thread would the 'Seatcupra.net Preferred' bit still be valid?