Harwoods Group Reviews 2.250

Thank you Markus Gearing. I walked out with my very first Audi yesterday and he helped us so much, I am very thankful for his service and his kindness.
From Inga and Rebecca

Rating would be zero stars but I didn't have that option.
Ordered a cap for my mirror in March from Basingstoke branch, had issues placing the order (checked and it hadn't been ordered, so did it again). It was delivered in April, did I want to pick it up - is it painted, as requested - No. Had to wait until May for painting to be done and it to be fitted. Had an appointment at 2pm. At 3pm saw someone dawdling to the garage area with a mirror cap. This was one hour in.
I asked someone to check what was happening (I don't know what's happening with your car, I work in reception, but eventually did go and find out) - I'll have my car and the part as it is and get it fitted by someone else. After another long wait was told by someone else that there had been an issue with the part and it had gone to the workshop for adjustment, would be 10 to 15 minutes.
I call this 'the Harwood's 10 minutes', time appears to be in another dimension within those walls. Also, I think it's South East Motors now....
Having endured an infuriating 2 hour wait for a less than 10 minute job, I was informed that the job had been done, it was fitted and unfortunately the mirror cap was a slightly different colour- the WRONG colour.
Had I been told that earlier, I would probably have taken a 'things happen' attitude - but to leave me for 2 hours while they tried to will the part into the right colour (because I can't think of anything else they could have been doing with it to adjust it) was just unbelievable.
A few years ago, after a ridulous issue with an MOT, I said I would never use them again. They waited until end of day to tell me my car had failed the MOT, couldn't explain the fault or the part needed and then someone miraculously applied WD40 and it was all fine the next day...
For this job, I foolishly thought that nothing could go wrong- a simple part they had ordered on a car they had sold to me....
The service side needs radical reform - from order through to job delivered. There is no clear accountability for ordering of parts, no end to end thinking about what's needed (I had to navigate and double check the whole part ordered, to part painted, to part fitted process). There was no proactive update or managing of my expectation around how long my car would be - I was just left sitting in the waiting area.
At the end, the fitting charge was taken off the bill but I would not pay for a paint job that had woefully failed the basic requirement - being the right colour!
I would never buy from there again or use the service department, there is something intrinsically wrong with how the service side is managed.

I had a great experience purchasing my Audi thanks to Markus Gearing. He was extremely professional throughout the entire process and made everything smooth and stress-free. He kept me regularly updated at every stage, which I really appreciated, as it gave me confidence and peace of mind.

Markus was also very approachable and happy to answer all my questions, making sure I fully understood everything before moving forward. His customer service was excellent, and it’s clear he genuinely cares about providing a positive experience.

I would highly recommend Markus to anyone looking to buy a car. He really goes above and beyond.

We went into Portsmouth Audi without an appointment and were immediately asked if we would like some help. We were handed over to Markus Gearing who was very helpful. Over the next week or so Markus guided me through to purchasing my new car.

I am very happy about the sales experience from Harwood Audi and Markus made the process really seamless and rapid . I got delivered the Audi Q2 much before I anticipated . Cheers to the whole team .

Absolutely disgraceful service. I bought a £20k Audi A1 from the Hardwoods group in Crawley Audi and due to the distance they sent a video of the car which all looked fine and I paid for delivery.
I was reassured that the car would go through the Audi 150 point check so felt at ease.
The car arrived and all looked well until a friend noticed that the headlights were extremely scratched when the lights were on, I just assumed it was from car washes and I would buy a kit to restore them, little did I know tht the scratches were on the inside and had burnt from the LEDs now I have a lovely looking car with headlights that look 20 years old and Audi will not do a thing about it! Crawley Harwoods Audi even ignored me completely I had to go to Audi customer services to even get a response from Harwoods Crawley!

I'm still in total shock that Audi would sell a car like this! You don't expect this poor lever of care from a dealership!
Now I will lose thousands if I want to sell the car because the headlights are so bad. If I could add photos I would they are horrendous!
So much for my love of Audi and being a lifetime customer.
They told me that a 150 check was done in July and the headlights were marked as okay and that's that, I bought the car in September so a new check should have been done! I even asked to receive a copy of this check report and was just completely ignored!

I have to put 5L of screen wash in every fortnight, bearing in mind I hardly use the car, and the windows mist up as if the car is 20 years old! 25 minutes I had to wait the other day after coming out of Sainsbury's for the windows to demait, and that's with air con on! I highly doubt any check was done on this vehicle with everything that's wrong it it!

Harwoods are now trying to blame me for their miselling of a the vehicle saying that because I used a tiny bit of Tcut headlight restoration fluid on the OUTSIDE of one of the headlights and then stopped as realized the damage is on the inside, that the Tcut has somehow miraculously caused all of the damage (burnout) on the inside of both headlights, the scratches are all on the inside of the headlights not on the outside! There are zero scratches or damage on the outside of the headlights! Taking it to my local Audi dealership just so that they can tell Steve at Crawley Harwoods that's a ridiculous assumption!

Am now having to spend £3000 on new headlights, and need 4 new tyres due to excessive cracking and I haven't even done 2000 miles since receiving this vehicle, absolutely no way a 160 point check was done on this vehicle.

They will reply to this saying really sorry please email us and we can sort this out but nothing gets sorted, they just lie to make it look like they actually have a decent customer service! Avoid at all costs!

A very positive experience discussing/test driving a used Audi
Markus was friendly but professional, with a pleasant 'no pressure' approach

I have recently bought a new car from Harwoods Audi Crawley
Dealt with Xander from start to finish , very helpful, professional and personable

I would highly recommend Audi Portsmouth, they are great. I am so happy with my purchase and was supported every step of the way. I would like to especially thank Markus Gearing for being a superb salesman. He is so funny and friendly and also kept me informed throughout the process. I would also like to thank Colin for his hospitality and for welcoming me. Thanks again and will see you in the future. 🙂

Really lovely experience buying my car at the Portsmouth Audi. Markus was very helpful and found my perfect car for me. All the staff were so lovely and couldn’t do more for me.

Markus gearing sold me a car that i absolutely love! I have never felt so confident in purchasing a car! I would 1000% recommend I am over the moon and extremely happy!

arrived to buy a car - gave number to receptionist and told to wait - 2 hours later - no contact or anything during this time so left - no follow up phone call.

Tried calling 3 times - phone rang for ages and not answered.

Finally 4th attempt managed to book appointment-went in a week later to test drive a car - couldn't have been less helpful !

Harwoods - Audi Portsmouth kept me informed, it was total harassment from the moment we showed any sign in a vehicle. The barrage or emails and phone calls over 5 days was well over the top. Close to 15 phone calls from the dealer in 5 days and many emails asking when we were going to pay, here are our bank details, have you made the transfer yet? Have you signed to walk around prior to hand over report? It was constant bombardment until we had a issue with the car and then its... sorry we can't take the car back, no you don't have 30 days exchange. Would I buy a fourth Audi from Portsmouth Audi, hell no, I'd rather be held up at knife and relieved of my money that way than this bunch of shysters who are are only interested in two things, getting the sale and taking your money. I would not recommend them to anyone, buy an Audi from anyone but Harwoods.

Thank u Harwoods and an especially big thank you to sales rep Markus Gearing - we greatly
Enjoyed meeting you!

I recently purchased a 2018 Ford Mustang from Crawley Audi (Harwoods Group), paying just under £30,000 in full on 15 March.

Unfortunately, the entire experience has been extremely disappointing and fell far below what I would expect from a main dealer.

From the outset, the timeline for vehicle preparation was unclear and repeatedly changed. What was initially expected to be around a one week turnaround became over two weeks, with multiple last minute delays. Communication was poor throughout, updates were reactive, often delivered late in the day, and I frequently had to chase for basic information.

The most frustrating part was being given a clear written commitment that the car would be ready on Tuesday 31 March, which was already 12 working days (16 days) after full payment. This date had already been moved multiple times, initially from 20 March, then to 27 March, and finally to 31 March. I confirmed multiple times that I would be attending the dealership that morning to collect it, and at no point was I told not to travel.

I made a significant journey to the dealership, including public transport and a long walk as I had already sold my previous car in anticipation of collection, which Harwoods were aware of. On arrival, I was told the vehicle was still not ready and that parts had not even arrived yet. The salesperson who had given the assurance was not even present that day.

As a result, I wasted time, incurred travel costs, and had to accept a courtesy car and return home, with the car now being delivered later instead.

To be clear, I fully understand that safety work must be completed properly. My issue is not with the work itself, but with the lack of planning, poor communication, and repeated failure to meet agreed commitments.

For a £30,000 purchase from a main dealer, I expected a professional, well managed handover experience. Instead, the process was disorganised, frustrating, and unnecessarily stressful.

I would not recommend Crawley Audi based on this experience.

Took A5 74 plate to local dealer in Portsmouth. Brakes were squeaking when braking. Had the car for 8 hours and got a phone to tell me that this issue was not covered under warranty, so a fee was required £75 for looking and deciding it's not a warranty issue. No call to tell me that it was not covered under warranty, so I could have decided to take it to another company. Why are franchises allowed to do this, why the customer thinks its under warranty, but no you owe the garage a fee to tell you its not covered. What is the point of investing in Audi and having a 3 year warranty that is being rejected by the garage and not even being discussed with the customer. Audi when this car is out of warranty it will be sold and I will never use Audi again!

Brought a used BMW from them only to find out they sold me a car without checking the oil and didn't bother to service it , If they had bothered to check that it hadn't had a one for 4 years but told by the sales manager it didn't need one and ive had to fork out 4.5k in issues because of this

Been trying to reach these guys for days now phoned numerous times now for the service department and left messages no returned calls noting . Absolute shocking service !!!

I called Harwoods crawley 3 times yesterday and 3 times today to speak to the service dept.
Once getting through to the general number which is easy I have then tried all options and the only success I had was to finally get through to sales. They then put me through to the service dept and againg no answer.
The excuse is the always the same i.e. “we have been having phone issues”.
This really is unacceptable and is putting me off buying another vehicle from them.

Requested a simple brake fluid change quote from Harwoods Basingstoke. Nobody got back. When I rerung 2 days later after a lengthy wait was told that I needed to ring a different number. Really is this customer service!