Guys, here is a copy of a letter i have sent to Blade and Seat UK. I have found the service from Bristol Seat poor to say the least. I will update with any outcome..
Dear Sir/Madam,
I would like to give some feedback on the experiences that I have had buying and owning a Seat Leon Cupra from Blade Seat Bristol.
I came into the dealership back in September 2010 looking to buy a nearly new Leon Cupra. I work for Orange and had to buy a car on a PCP agreement. I sat with your finance dept and was given prices based on Seat used car finance which had an APR of around 13%. I explained that I felt that was a little high…but was assured by the finance advisor that was the lowest he could offer. At this point you had pretty much lost the sale. However, I looked into this further and found I could source my own finance. Which I did and got it down to 8.9% APR.
I then returned to the dealer to discuss available vehicles, at which point your finance advisor walked past and asked if I had changed my mind. When I explained I had sourced my own finance he then went on to tell me he could match it! If that was the case, then why was I not offered this the first time around? As a matter of principle I remained with the finance company I had found, as my faith in the dealerships honestly was already diminishing.
The car was ordered from Seat UK (ex demo/head office car). And I was told it would be at the dealership within 7-10 days. This time soon rolled into 3 weeks with little to no communication from the dealer. I was always the one that would need to ring to get an update. Finally collection day came around. This was no better. Issues between the dealer and the bank and the finance company meant that I had to spend most of the day chasing all 3 so that I could take the vehicle. I spent approx 6 hours in the dealership that day. Only to be handed the car at the end of the day to find it barely had a ¼ of a tank of fuel. Not exactly a glowing start!
Since owning the car I have been plagued with niggly electrical faults. It has been back to the dealers more times than I can remember. Whilst I can accept this on a new car, I cannot accept the fact that Bristol Seat need to have a car 4/5 times to fix an in-audible alarm. Or that it takes weeks for parts to arrive and no communication from the dealer. I nearly always have to chase to find out what is happening. Each time the car goes back it costs me money in fuel as I live a 20 mile round trip away from the dealership.
As part of my job I tend to do quite a lot of miles, as such the car needs to be serviced every 6 months. The first service came around and I called Bristol Seat, who gave me a price. I then rang Holders of Congresbury (who I must point out are a far more professional and competent dealership). They always come in noticeably cheaper. So for the first service I used them. No problems, good friendly service. Nicely organised.
The 2nd service comes around and I decided to give Bristol Seat another crack at the whip. So I call for a price and get quoted well over £200 plus pollen filter. I call Holders of Congresbury and get told £150 all in. Once again…I massive difference. Which up to this point I have seen no justification as to why Bristol Seat are worth the extra money?
So..I book the car in with Congresbury. Yet no less than 24 hours later I receive and email from Blade offering me the service for £159 with an extention to my roadside assistance. (which I know is a Seat UK incentive). I ring Bristol Seat to ask why I was not told about this less than 24 hours before. The lady on the phone didn’t know, as supposedly the dealership were aware at the time of my first phone call.
Anyway, due to the fact that Bristol Seat were able to pick my car up from work (as they have done on the countless warranty returns) I decided to go with them for the convenience.
The car was collected and the service carried out. The car was given a “once over wash” and returned. Still with Oil handprints on the wings! I must say that I have seen car wash’s produce better results than the way my car comes back from Bristol Seat. On the service it was found that the side repeaters were not working and I was told a new module would be ordered. I also provided Bristol Seat with a form to fill in so that I could have the code to extend my roadside assistance (as the offer stated). I didn’t get this code back and was advised by the delivery driver that someone would call me with it. (unsurprisingly I never received that phone call!) I am still waiting for that code.
I need to point out that every time my car has been collected from work by Bristol Seat I have always advised that the car need to be returned by 3pm that day as I need to collect my children from school. This has been noted on my details along with my telephone number and work and home address. I know this as it has been quoted to me in the past before I even mentioned it.
So…a few days after my service I get a phone call to say the repeater module was in. The car was booked in for the following Monday to be collected from my work at around 8:30am. The car was collected at approx 10am. At 15:15 that day there was still no car. So I rang Bristol Seat to ask where the car was. I was told it was all done (which you would expect as it doesn’t take 8 hours to change a repeater module). But the driver had gone out and they were waiting for him to come back, I explained that I needed the car back by 4pm at the latest. I was told I would get a phone call back. I then got a phone call at approx 15:40 saying the car was just being cleaned! Then at 16:00, still no car and i'm still stuck at work. So I called again to be told the driver was 5 minutes away. So I waited. 16:15…..still no car. So I call back up, and this time I'm told they mixed up the cars and my car was still at Bristol Seat. I was then told by the lady on the phone that I should of told them the car needed to be back for 3pm! Not exactly helpful, and I pointed out that I had said this…and it was always noted on my records. Quite frankly I think trying to place blame on me for Bristol Seat’s incompetence at this point was a bit or a nerve!
By now I was already late picking up my children. So I borrowed a car and had to get someone else to take delivery of my vehicle and swap it that night. I then collected my children late from the child carers, which incurred extra cost for me! I believe my car eventually got dropped off around 5pm.
Unsurprisingly I had no phone call of apology from anyone in position. I still haven’t received the code for roadside assistance either.
Mt car has recently been scraped on the bumper and I was thinking of calling Bristol seat to have a quote on the paintwork and some other parts that I need to replace. I can assure you that with the experiences I have has of late this will not happen, I will not be taking my car back there for any work. And I certainly will not be returning in the new year when I come to look at replacing my Cupra. There are many people in my company that look at taking the cash alternative and often ask me for advise, and I will be sure to advise is to stay well clear of Bristol Seat.
I have also copied this email to Seat UK as I feel it is unfortunate that one dealership can leave such a bad impression on a Brand. I will also be sure to share my experiences with the Seat Cupra owners club.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I would like to give some feedback on the experiences that I have had buying and owning a Seat Leon Cupra from Blade Seat Bristol.
I came into the dealership back in September 2010 looking to buy a nearly new Leon Cupra. I work for Orange and had to buy a car on a PCP agreement. I sat with your finance dept and was given prices based on Seat used car finance which had an APR of around 13%. I explained that I felt that was a little high…but was assured by the finance advisor that was the lowest he could offer. At this point you had pretty much lost the sale. However, I looked into this further and found I could source my own finance. Which I did and got it down to 8.9% APR.
I then returned to the dealer to discuss available vehicles, at which point your finance advisor walked past and asked if I had changed my mind. When I explained I had sourced my own finance he then went on to tell me he could match it! If that was the case, then why was I not offered this the first time around? As a matter of principle I remained with the finance company I had found, as my faith in the dealerships honestly was already diminishing.
The car was ordered from Seat UK (ex demo/head office car). And I was told it would be at the dealership within 7-10 days. This time soon rolled into 3 weeks with little to no communication from the dealer. I was always the one that would need to ring to get an update. Finally collection day came around. This was no better. Issues between the dealer and the bank and the finance company meant that I had to spend most of the day chasing all 3 so that I could take the vehicle. I spent approx 6 hours in the dealership that day. Only to be handed the car at the end of the day to find it barely had a ¼ of a tank of fuel. Not exactly a glowing start!
Since owning the car I have been plagued with niggly electrical faults. It has been back to the dealers more times than I can remember. Whilst I can accept this on a new car, I cannot accept the fact that Bristol Seat need to have a car 4/5 times to fix an in-audible alarm. Or that it takes weeks for parts to arrive and no communication from the dealer. I nearly always have to chase to find out what is happening. Each time the car goes back it costs me money in fuel as I live a 20 mile round trip away from the dealership.
As part of my job I tend to do quite a lot of miles, as such the car needs to be serviced every 6 months. The first service came around and I called Bristol Seat, who gave me a price. I then rang Holders of Congresbury (who I must point out are a far more professional and competent dealership). They always come in noticeably cheaper. So for the first service I used them. No problems, good friendly service. Nicely organised.
The 2nd service comes around and I decided to give Bristol Seat another crack at the whip. So I call for a price and get quoted well over £200 plus pollen filter. I call Holders of Congresbury and get told £150 all in. Once again…I massive difference. Which up to this point I have seen no justification as to why Bristol Seat are worth the extra money?
So..I book the car in with Congresbury. Yet no less than 24 hours later I receive and email from Blade offering me the service for £159 with an extention to my roadside assistance. (which I know is a Seat UK incentive). I ring Bristol Seat to ask why I was not told about this less than 24 hours before. The lady on the phone didn’t know, as supposedly the dealership were aware at the time of my first phone call.
Anyway, due to the fact that Bristol Seat were able to pick my car up from work (as they have done on the countless warranty returns) I decided to go with them for the convenience.
The car was collected and the service carried out. The car was given a “once over wash” and returned. Still with Oil handprints on the wings! I must say that I have seen car wash’s produce better results than the way my car comes back from Bristol Seat. On the service it was found that the side repeaters were not working and I was told a new module would be ordered. I also provided Bristol Seat with a form to fill in so that I could have the code to extend my roadside assistance (as the offer stated). I didn’t get this code back and was advised by the delivery driver that someone would call me with it. (unsurprisingly I never received that phone call!) I am still waiting for that code.
I need to point out that every time my car has been collected from work by Bristol Seat I have always advised that the car need to be returned by 3pm that day as I need to collect my children from school. This has been noted on my details along with my telephone number and work and home address. I know this as it has been quoted to me in the past before I even mentioned it.
So…a few days after my service I get a phone call to say the repeater module was in. The car was booked in for the following Monday to be collected from my work at around 8:30am. The car was collected at approx 10am. At 15:15 that day there was still no car. So I rang Bristol Seat to ask where the car was. I was told it was all done (which you would expect as it doesn’t take 8 hours to change a repeater module). But the driver had gone out and they were waiting for him to come back, I explained that I needed the car back by 4pm at the latest. I was told I would get a phone call back. I then got a phone call at approx 15:40 saying the car was just being cleaned! Then at 16:00, still no car and i'm still stuck at work. So I called again to be told the driver was 5 minutes away. So I waited. 16:15…..still no car. So I call back up, and this time I'm told they mixed up the cars and my car was still at Bristol Seat. I was then told by the lady on the phone that I should of told them the car needed to be back for 3pm! Not exactly helpful, and I pointed out that I had said this…and it was always noted on my records. Quite frankly I think trying to place blame on me for Bristol Seat’s incompetence at this point was a bit or a nerve!
By now I was already late picking up my children. So I borrowed a car and had to get someone else to take delivery of my vehicle and swap it that night. I then collected my children late from the child carers, which incurred extra cost for me! I believe my car eventually got dropped off around 5pm.
Unsurprisingly I had no phone call of apology from anyone in position. I still haven’t received the code for roadside assistance either.
Mt car has recently been scraped on the bumper and I was thinking of calling Bristol seat to have a quote on the paintwork and some other parts that I need to replace. I can assure you that with the experiences I have has of late this will not happen, I will not be taking my car back there for any work. And I certainly will not be returning in the new year when I come to look at replacing my Cupra. There are many people in my company that look at taking the cash alternative and often ask me for advise, and I will be sure to advise is to stay well clear of Bristol Seat.
I have also copied this email to Seat UK as I feel it is unfortunate that one dealership can leave such a bad impression on a Brand. I will also be sure to share my experiences with the Seat Cupra owners club.
