Bryan Bros., Bristol

[hopkinsgm]

Where do I start?

Well, I spent quite some time looking for a good 2nd hand Ibiza GTi, had to be the 8v, wasn't too fussed whether GTi or GTi Cupra Sport model. They were kinda hard to come by at the time, hence the long search. In all that time, Bryan Bros. tried to sell me just about anything but what I wanted. They offered a couple of brand new Ibiza 1.4 'S' models, a Cordoba SX 1.6 and a high mileage Ibiza GTi Cupra Sport 16v (which i'd have to travel down to their Cornwall branch to see) and on each deal offered a frankly insulting trade in on my mk2 Golf Driver.

I bought a GTi Cupra Sport brand new from another dealer in the end, who subsequently lost their franchise. I have since been back to Bryan Bros. for servicing as they are now my local dealer and their aftersales is garbage too.

If you want your car serviced, book in well in advance - typical times seem to be 2 weeks for a midweek service, 4 weeks for Saturday morning. Don't expect a courtesy car, as they don't supply them to Seat drivers, but will offer you a free taxi ride if you need to be within a 2.5 mile radius.

Make sure you arrive early - they only ever seem to have one person on service reception, who will give you grief if you book your car in late because there was a queue of people ahead of you. Bear in mind that we're not only talking about the only Seat dealership in Bristol, but also the main Citroen franchise too. Service reception gets very busy...

Don't expect the work to be carried out promptly - they have been late getting work finished every time they've done anything, and one time got talking to a Citroen driver whose car had not been serviced at the end of the day because they'd booked too many people in for the day. He was understandably unhappy, and was not really appeased when told they were fully booked for the next couple of weeks.

If there's anything beyond the scope of a standard service required, make sure you get them to write it down on the job card. Even then, they probably won't get around to it. I intended to get the remote central locking investigated during a service. They forgot to check it out. The car had to be booked back in a couple of weeks later.

And if repairs need any parts they don't carry in stock, don't expect to be contacted when they arrive. This happened with my remote central locking also, which required a replacement key to be ordered. They subsequently lost this key and had to order another, which they also forgot to tell me had arrived.

On another occasion, I needed a couple of trim screws, so phoned up on Friday to ask if they had them in stock and checked the Saturday opening times. When I paid them a visit the following day, they were closed for stock taking which had not been mentioned in the phone call the previous day.

Suffice to say I have found another dealer who is a little less convenient (about a 30 mile round trip) but following my poor experiences with Bryan Bros., I have no intention of spending another penny with them.

Glyn

[StevoWarby]

I too have a grudge with the Bryan Brothers dealership.

I had to choose a car for a company car, and seriously wanted a Leon Cupra. I went to the dealership (As I work in Bristol) one lunch time to look at the car, and possibly take it for a test drive.

There were no salesmen around (They were all at lunch), so no one could show me around the car. One person was able to get a set of keys (Which took about 15 minutes) just so I could open the door and sit in it!

I wasn't allowed to take a test drive in that car, so I said I would call back when the right staff were around.

On the subsequent 3 or 4 phone calls they then came up with all manner of excuses as to why I couldn't have a test drive which I found very frustrating.

When I get my Cupra I certainly will not be using them for servicing or repairs. I will quite happily take the hour round trip up to Amethyst in Gloucester. (Junction 11 of M5).

AVOID Bryan Brothers at all costs.

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[leonvt2001]

I live in Bristol.

I had my car serviced at Bryan Brothers once.

I now make the 85 mile round trip to Amethyst in Cheltenham to get it serviced.

Nuff said.

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[John]

I bought my car from these useless halfwits I shall never return after several mess ups it looks like days out in Cheltenham for me.

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[This message has been edited by Cupraman (edited 19 July 2001).]

[Dormouse]

Byran Brother SEAT Eh?....you mean that ghosttown on the way toward Keynsham?

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[John]

ahhh the curse of the brayns has struck me again i took my ibiza cupra in to replace the passenger electric window motor under warranty no problems ha ha.
it took almost 3 weeks for them to get the part or to inform me that it was in, picked the car up on an evening no problem window was working fine it wasn’t until the next day whist driving home from work that i noticed the cowling by the door handle had been damaged.
i am now waiting again for the parts to come from these hapless people, i think i will take down the door trim removal guide from this site when they come to replace the cowling.

[Ciccio]

Blimey, I must have got off lightly, I only had to wait 45 minutes for a test drive after I'd made a booking with them for 2:30 pm. I was initially told they had been double booked as the woman I had talked to hadn't consulted the diary. I was then told the car would only be 10 - 15 minutes.

When I finally found the woman I had been speaking to (she had toddled off somewhere and noone knew where she was, although I was booked in with her for this time ) and mentioned I wasn't very happy, she looked at me as is to say, "And that's MY f***** problem?' She then asked us to sit down and dissapeared.

Fair play the manager came out to apologise, but it was still 45 mins till I got to the car. Still after the above as well Amythest sounds good.

[DaveP]

I got a test drive from them - no problems, she did ask me to slow down on the M32... The whole family went along, but the child seat would not fit - so they grabbed the ISOFIX one off display (which was good of them - although they had no idea how to fit it!). No pressure to just go around the block.

I bought my Leon from them - it was already ordered (for stock, or whatever) so I only had to wait a couple of weeks. It came with £250 of accessories, so I got mats and an armrest. I had to go back to have the armrest fitted - which was the wrong one, I got quite annoyed because it was about 50 mile round trip - so much so that the manager got somebody to go and fill the tank up.

Overall I would say about 6/10.

Better than the VW dealer in Bristol, they totally ignored me had no information, no inclination to actually sell their cars and it wasn't even busy when I was there!

[jamesbell24]

A month ago, I ordered a Leon 1.9TDi SE from Bryan Brothers. I tried to haggle the price down, but they wouldn't budge below £1000 off Mrrp.

In contrast the service I had in the showroom from the sales person was quite good - When I went in there first time a car was made immediately available for me to test, and when I returned a week later I was allowed a second test.

I had originally looked at buying an import, but the long lead time put me off. However a week later, I found Seat imports who had pre-ordered cars available within two months. for a better spec (with Leather and CD Changer) and for £1000 less than the dealers offered price.

After speaking to B.Bs about the import, they were quite snotty and very rude. All I askede them to do was match the price. They wouldn't and in the end I cancelled due to their attitude as well as their lack of competitiveness.

With what has been written above, I'm glad that I did.

For those Seat owners living in Bristol which dealer do you use?:

[ibizacupra]

[i]
For those Seat owners living in Bristol which dealer do you use?: [/B]

Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst Amethyst

That would be in Cheltenham.
Well worth the few miles up the M5.

Its a no brainer as they say.

Bill

Is that a plug then Bill....only kidding guys keep laughing!

[ibizacupra]

Originally posted by CupraSi
Is that a plug then Bill....only kidding guys keep laughing!

That would be a large Plug for Amethyst
I am a very happy customer and strongly reccomend them.
regards
Bill

[EnthusiasmBoy]

I'm in agreement with all the bad stuff written here.
I bought a 9month old Toledo V5 from BB. I didn't push hard on the price but asked that the fast approaching 10k service be done free of charge. It took 3 weeks to book, by which time I was nearing 11k ! They conveniently forgot that the service was free. It took 2 hours to get an answer out of the salesman to confirm my story.
I ordered interior trim parts that have taken 6 months to arrive.
They lied to me after a recent bump - told me that I had to take it to them for the bodywork repairs of they would invalidate the warranty. When I did take it to them (against my better judgement as they were not approved by my insurance co. ) the car came back with 18 distinct faults with the repair and some personal items missing from inside the car. I had to shout for a coutesy car. When they did provied one it stank of fish and chips and the steering alignment was so battered that it had worn one of the front tyres down to the steel bands!
This mess is still ongoing. Thanks to GS at Amethyst and a savvy insurance engineer it looks like the car will be finally sorted out soon (4 months after the accident).

Go To Amethyst

[Fl@pper]

[EnthusiasmBoy]

Flapper, you should start doing bumper stickers...
I used to have a BB sticker in my rear window but have taken it out since the abysmal performance described above. Ad space open for the taking.

[Fl@pper]

tax disc holders , keyrings , rear internal window stickers all available upon request

also while i got ya attention , SEAT T-shirts and umbrellas for a £10 each

ps , LIMITED edition Ametyst SEAT sport decals too £10 each to buy (available from time 2 time in silly competitions) :cool:

[jamesbell24]

Having read all the reports from BB, then I think that I will use Amethyst. I wil be in contact when I get my Leon 110TDi in Jan.

I'll need to personalise it of course, so armrest, etc will be a necessity!!

Feeling happier about having a dealer that other people trust :cool: