Stratstones 

Terrible sales service

I waited for nearly an hour to meet a salesperson to buy a Range Rover evoque . I had made up my mind to buy it before the weekend ( within 3 days ) . Unfortunately I was told to wait until a person is free ! When I was the only customer in the vicinity .... Terrible
That they can't cope with one customer at a time during a weekday - wonder how they will ever cope over weekends when more potential customers are going to visit showroom . No communication regarding how long the wait etc ! I am a busy person myself and can't hang about twiddling thumbs in a showroom and had told the receptionist . If this is the service I get , I wonder how they will be once I have bought a new / used one . Do they think anyone will part with 30k instantly when such poor quality customer service is given ?
Don't buy from this place - looked at other reviews on websites and Google - consistent negative feedback from others as well

We purchased an 09 plate Freelander from Stratstones in Milton Keynes 3 years ago. What a disaster that was. Within 2 weeks of taking delivery the front and rear brake pads needed replacing. Cost £350 plus.

After 8 weeks of ownership we took the vehicle to France --- where we found that :
1. The heated windscreen only worked on the offside
2. The rubber seals around the door trims was coming away
3. The engine management system failed so the cooling fan did not kick in causing the car to overheat and break down at the roadside
4. The rear wheel bearing all but collapsed.

All this was on , what was at the time a 3 year old car with just 28k on the clock. We left the car in France and came back in a rental car.

On the plus side Landrover assist were very helpful and Stratstone did buy the car back from us without any argument. We now own a Nissan XTrail - which 3 years later is trouble free.

Never ever buy a Land Rover and certainly not one from Stratstone - there is never an excuse sending out a used car with unsafe breaks

Two points to pick up on with regards to Stratsone Stourbridge (Land Rover). Firstly, I took my car there last year as I had smoke coming out on acceleration. They had the car for a whole day and couldn't find anything wrong with it. Took it to Ultimate Landrover the day after and they spotted immediately it was a hole in the turbo hose. They replaced it and cured the smoking. Second point. I have called them this morning to enquire about what they actually do for my next service. The receptionist Abby requests all my details and then proceeds to put me through to Stratstone central??? who tell me they can't advise me and they will put my call back to Stourbridge. I speak again with Abby who tells me Mark is with a customer but will ring you straight back. Considering the service is going to cost a minimum £490, I'd expect a call within 30 minutes. Over 2 hours later I still haven't heard from them. I would not recommend them to anyone. They can't diagnose faults, they can't put you through to the right department, and they can't be bothered to call you back. Spend your money with smaller independant garages who actually care.

Contacted Stratstones of stourbridge to purchase a used Range Rover for my disabled use. This meant confirming they could fit electric steps, steering control I needed. Initially all no problem, this meant I had to tell them what my disabilites were and confirm I would submit VAT 1615 form, naturally enough it came up that my injuries were from active service in HM Forces. I borrowed money to buy car, checked with Customs and Excise that dispensation was in place and how it worked then then asked to agree final price of vehicle with work done so I could pay deposit..
I was met with excuse after excuse after delay. It became clear that the issue was that under the VAT Act I am given some dispensations which only apply to wheelchair users and Stratstones were unhappy about this - even though it costs them nothing. Eventually they informed me that the car they had agreed to sell to me was sold to someone else. leaving me stuck.
A complaint to Land Rover turned up the fact that the Dealer principle has fled the country . The Sales manager then telephoned me (as ordered by Land Rover) and informed me basically that Stratstones did not agree with the law so were not going to obey it !!!!!! (My head office says etc etc) up to this point I had assumed he was being misled by his head office and warned him that this was what was happening and that he should seek independent advice from outside the company so that when this comes to court (breach of VAT Law and equalities act) they cannot blame him, but all became clear when he then boasted that they were a 9 million pound turnover group so weren't going to be bothered by a few thousand pounds fine.
PS Stratstones Please tell your staff NOT to bother wearing poppies next November, hypocrasy like that is going to far- actions speak louder than words

I don't even wont to give one star, my exsperience and service was discusting and I am that un happy I won't ever use bmw again unless they can change my mind. My car was book in for a converible roof investigation and I had to wait a week even though I told them the roof won't shut and it was raining. When it got to the garage they said they will look at the roof. They also said it does need a service soon and they asked do I won't it done while they looking at the roof, so I agreed that was fine and left it there. I waited all day to here from them. As i got a phone call later that day saying the car was ready, they said the service had been done so i can collect the car and i asked about the roof and they said that's got to be booked in another day! But the roof was the pasific thing I had it booked in for. I wouldn't have had the service done if the roof didn't have a problem, I got talked into that . I said there's no way the cars coming home until it's fixed. So then the car was left there another week and they say they would keep me upto date but they didn't I had to phone and they said they was busy and they would call me back which if fine but I never got called back! When I did finial speck to the workshop people on 3 occasions they gave me 3 different excuses why the roof wouldn't work so I couldn't understand that either. Or who new what?! They also kept saying shall we spend more time on it which I don't thinks proffesional. I had it booked in to get sorted, not to here do you won't us to spend more time on it. So I got that fed up I booked it in somewhere else because I was getting messed about and i didn't think you would do it in the first place as I thought bmw would just got it sorted with no problems but thought wrong obveiesly! So I went down to see what was going off and they had sorted it eventually I no something don't get fixed straight away but what the problem actually were was very miner and it took over 1 week and it was a bent arm on the roof that got bent back into place and the bill alone for that was ridiculous. So as I collected the car in upset stress and anger I paid and left just to get shut of the one big mess! But as of the future I won't be using you again and will not recommend you in any way as still very disappointed!

My review is relating to the Solihull branch... The worst experience encountered! The idea was to trade in 2 cars I have and to get a used car around 3 years old between £15,000 - £20,000; I was told to take in my jaguar for MOT as this would give a better value. I had an estimate for over £1,500 for MOT work. If a person is looking to change their car why would they want to spend that sort of money? That money could go towards your new purchase. These people were not interested in selling me a used car but a new car and when they realised, it became a nightmare experience including overhearing one of the salesman within the showroom saying something negative. Why? Because I would not buy the £90,000 car from him. I also realised once you do not conform to them that "sham service" quickly becomes visible. Also if your face does not fit expect poor quality service.
I would strongly suggest that when purchasing a car stick to your budget and if you are on your own take someone with you. These people do not care about you and your finance as its all about their sales / meeting targets and their commission.

I bought a Range Rover from Stratstone, Stockton in September this year. After several conversations with the salesman, I decided to take delivery "unseen" (oops - big mistake). I live in London, and the salesman seemed genuine.
The car was delivered on reserve fuel, very dirty and the driver said he was not able to conduct a hand over as he knew nothing about the car, and "where is the nearest tube, I have another car to collect and need to get to Paddington".
Following a relatively quick curb side hand over (just the keys as it happens) I subsequently found a couple of issues with the car. These include different tyre brands on the rear axle (Continental and Sunitrac), all four tyres just above the legal limit (not so sure about two due to shoulder wear), low battery warning light warning on the dash, intermittent fault with the retractable side step, and (following a visit to my local dealer) strong recommendation to replace all wiper blades as they were smearing and top up the AC gas as it was underperforming.

I emailed the salesman in Stockton seeking to recover the cost of the repairs to the side step and replacement fob batteries. He advised that they refuse to pay the cost (about £180.00) as the repairs had not been authorised.

Overall, Stratstone extended no goodwill whatsoever following my purchase (£38k + not enough?) and have done nothing other than display an arrogant and high handed attitude towards me over the numerous issues following delivery.

I find this attitude and approach to be amazing. It has most certainly been a case of once they have your money they are not interested. An incredible business model!

It may well be that I have to seek recompense from the small claims court over the cost of repairs to date. Why would any company choose to deal with its` own customers this way? Do they think I will never buy another car again? I will, but not from them. They have also lost a service customer as well.

If you choose to do business with Stratstone, be careful as once you hand your money over it will be gone as will any hint of service or support.

Recently, I bought a used XKR cabriolet from Stratstone, Solihull for just under £30 k. It looked great and appeared to be in good condition overall.

The salesman advised me that the car had undergone a 101-point-check. Before I even test-drove the car I noticed that the steering wheel adjustment did not work correctly. Either the workshop failed to notice this (would that be incompetence?) or did they notice it but decide not to fix it in the hope that any prospective buyer would not discover it until after the car was sold (would that be dishonest?).

Although advised that no car left their showroom with less than 3 mm tread on tyres, and having checked that an advisory at the last MOT in April pointing to a rear tyre near the limit had been acted upon, i.e. the tyre replaced, it appeared that this was not the case. My local tyre shop also discovered that the nearside front tyre had a bulge – that’s an MOT failure.
Stratstone insisted the car come back to their workshop (some 70 miles away from me) to sort out the tyres (which my local tyre shop could have done without draining my petrol tank). The tyres were duly exchanged and the car returned to me.
As the car was returning to Stratstone, I asked the service staff to also remedy a floppy relay mounting bracket in the rear nearside light cluster, which I had spotted. Electrical parts should never “flop about” – otherwise they will fail. The service receptionist promised to attend to this problem.
Stratstone Service didn’t!

After hosing the car down with clear water, i.e. no detergent was used, the beautiful black bonnet and wings suddenly took on the look of “pebble-dash”. I'm advised by Stratstone that they use "our own smart repair team to bring a car up to a satisfactory appearance given its age and mileage", which appears to be designed to hide the extensive number of stone chips. Is that dishonest?
Had I bought a car from the “Arthur Daily Car Emporium” for £15 k, I would have been more alert yet still have been disappointed. Buying from a Jaguar main dealership, I'm disillusioned.
It takes manufacturers like Jaguar Land Rover millions of pounds to build an image and a good reputation. Would they want to see it ruined by practice that can lead nowhere other than to customer dissatisfaction?

Clearly, when you buy a used car you don’t expect perfection. All I expect from a main dealership is that the car I buy is genuine. Mine proved not to be so – nearly £30 k having changed hands notwithstanding.

Should Stratstone buyers start checking for sawdust in the gearbox?

I am writing this review to warn customers of the deceptive, coercive and uncaring nature of Stratstone Jaguar Milton Keynes.
I am of the opinion that this dealer has excessively overcharged my 70 years old Aunt and Uncle for a repair - circa £10,000.00 because of their own misdiagnosis and incompetence. These pensioners were coerced to pay a bill - in 3 stages at the end of each month to ensure the garage meets its group target. A further 2 turbos (x4 in total) were charged to the manufacturer.
The repair explanation makes no technical sense from the information (invoices and written statement) supplied by the dealer.
Additionally please take into account also the repair to the vehicle far outweighs it's residual value of the vehicle by approximately twice the value, yet my 70 year old Aunt and Uncle were not discouraged from this course of action by the dealer, moreover they were promised that it would be "like having a new car".
Following my own intervention they have requested information repeatedly over the phone, and additionally where I visited the dealer with my Aunt to request to view the documentation to justify the repair - i was refused authorisation to see this documentation except for the invoices (that we already had) and a jobcard with no written explanation by the technician of the repair. We did receive a verbal explanation from one of their workshop staff and I requested that the service manager call me and also was given the phone number for Jaguar UK customer care.
As we received no communication from the service manager despite more phone calls to the dealer- we then used the Stratstone official complaints procedure. When this procedure reached the Divisional Director there was no reply from him except that he forwarded our email back down the chain to one of his Managing Directors who used delaying tactics "again" by not phoning us for nearly 2 weeks or when he finally did he gave the excuse of having left a voicemail on a wrong number, following this he refused my 70 year old Aunt and Uncle representation from myself and a qualified master technician to review this repair and the sequence of events to justify the costs involved.
At this point we requested all relevant documentation from the managing director and made an appointment to have a meeting with him (without authorisation for the representation from our master technician) Strangely enough when the appointed date approached for this meeting arrived we STILL did not have the documentation requested to review before this meeting and therefore we cancelled the meeting. PLEASE NOTE - at no point during this period of around 10 days before the appointment did this managing director or any of his staff telephone, email, or personally communicate with us to ask if we had received this documentation and when he received our email to cancel the meeting as we had no documentation he then offered to resend the documentation that he assured us that he had sent, but by this time 2 months of communication had passed and we have since complained to Jaguar UK wherby this process is coming to a conclusion and we are now considering redress by legal or media outlets.
THEREFORE IF ANYONE ELSE HAS A SIMILAR COMPLAINT WITH A STRATSTONE GARAGE PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT ME AND WE WILL THEN BE ABLE TO COLLATE ALL OUR GRIEVANCES TO OUR PURPOSE OF RESOLUTION..