Ponko Reviews 609

Recently I called up to ask about a car in the morning and was told someone would call back. No one did so by early afternoon we thought we’d head over and take a look. I had to give my details (again) and no record of my call. It was suggested we book an appointment as all the sales people were busy. I didn’t need a sales person. I know exactly what I want and my partner has been working on cars his whole life. They reluctantly let us have a look around but no one seemed to know where the car I wanted to see was. As we were driving down the road they called me. They said they call would back. No call so far over a week later. I will take my business where it will be valued.

HERE IS AN UPDATE FROM THEM!
STILL WONT TAKE RESPONSABILITY FOR THERE POOR SERVICE AND QUALITY OF GOODS! UPDATE FOR ALL PEOPLE WHO HAVE BROUGHT OR THINKING OF BUYING FROM THIS DREADFUL DEALERSHIP!!!!

Be very careful dealing with this dreadful dealership. What looks like a great deal at first could quickly become an expensive and frustrating mistake. AVOID THIS DEALERSHIP AT ALL COST!
I TRIED MEADIATION! BUT THEY FAILED TO ATTEND THIS, TRIED TO SETTLE OUT OF COURT & AFTER 1 MONTH OF BACK & FORWARDS WITH THEM ALL THEY COULD OFFER IS £500 WHAT AN INSULT!! TO A BILL OF APPROX £2000.00 SEE YOU IN COURT PONKO! SEE YOU IN COURT PONKO!!

We’re sorry to read this review and that you feel disappointed with your experience. We understand how frustrating it can be when a concern arises after purchase. (VERY FRUSTRATING!!! & STILL NOT TAKING RESPONSIBILITY)
The vehicle was thoroughly inspected and road tested before sale, with all findings recorded on the pre-delivery inspection sheet you referenced. No evidence of any gearbox fault has been presented to us since collection, and the vehicle performed without issue during preparation and handover.
(I am extremely dissatisfied with the quality of the inspection. It appears that the person who completed the inspection sheet did not carry out their task properly. This level of inaccuracy and lack of attention is unacceptable.
I have already sought legal and consumer advice and have been informed that, under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, a vehicle sold by a trader must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, and as described. If a fault becomes apparent within the first six months, it is presumed to have been present at the time of sale unless the seller can prove otherwise.
I am therefore requesting that you take responsibility for rectifying the issue, either by arranging a professional inspection at your expense or by providing an appropriate resolution in line with your legal obligations.)

AVOID THIS DEALERSHIP AT ALL COST! AVOID THIS DEALERSHIP AT ALL COST!
⭐ Unfortunately, you can’t give 0 stars — so 1 star it is!
What started as what seemed like a good buy and a reputable dealership has turned into a complete nightmare. I purchased a £15,000 car from this dealer, and just 49 days after purchase, the gearbox developed a serious fault.

The dealership has wasted my time and money sending me for diagnostic reports, only to then say, “sorry, your 30-day warranty has expired.” Jason the Sales Manager Was fully aware from my first call and email that I didn’t take their extended warranty — yet still chose to dismiss the issue rather than take responsibility.

They even sent me a “pre-delivery check sheet” filled with neat green ticks, claiming it proves the car was fine before it left them. Of course, anyone can tick boxes! & Clearly the car wasn't ok.

They are also trying to deny the basic Consumer Rights Act 2015, which clearly states that buyers are protected for up to 6 months for faults that were likely present at the time of sale — not just 30 days.

To make matters worse, their so-called “Warranty Protect” isn’t an independent warranty at all — it’s an in-house scheme, meaning they control everything and can choose to refuse claims as they please.

I have now reported this to Trading Standards and am taking legal action. You would think that a company that’s been trading for as long as they have would understand the law and treat customers fairly and honestly — but clearly not.

Be very careful dealing with this dreadful dealership. What looks like a great deal at first could quickly become an expensive and frustrating mistake. AVOID THIS DEALERSHIP AT ALL COST!

I purchased a seat Leon from here about 2 weeks ago now. The car is perfect - the price was very reasonable. I added on the diamondbrite guarentee and the warranty which is so worth it! The dealership were very honest and could not be more helpful.. especially on a Sunday! Such a welcoming feeling from the moment we walked in to the moment we left (Thankyou Richard!) The service history is brilliant, the car came with a full year MOT and they made sure to fix up the small things with the car before we took it away. (The boot cover needed putting back in and one of the parcel shelf strings was broken which they fixed straight away). Thankyou so much to Ayman, joe and ofcourse Richard behind the desk! I would definitely recommend anyone to purchase a car from here. Love the car and the coffee was good aswell :).

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!
Unless you do your own independent vehicle health checks and MOT service for the car you're interested in, I would not recommend purchasing from these people. Here's what went wrong with the car we bought...
1. On the day we purchased, when driving the car back home we noticed multiple chips on the windscreen that were not there before.
2. They refused to acknowledge fault and a repair didn't help either. They refused to replace the windscreen as well.
3. 8 months later, after multiple visits to garages for the tyre sensor light that kept coming on, a reputable garage confirmed damages to the tyres, discs and pads that are not possible over the short period of time having the car and mileage driven.
4. Ponko refused to acknowledge fault, again, claiming it was "wear and tear"
5. The premium warranty is also a scam. They don't want to check anything for you, instead, you have to find a garage that will check and repair faults. The only nearest garage recommend on their warranty scheme, could not even replace a tyre!

Sadly, the reviews on here confirm Ponko's dodgy dealings for us too.

Do not waste your time and money here.

We saw a car with my husband and went to review it. We found this car and when we went to review it the salesman was telling us a lot of details and most them sounded fake as usual they’re trying to make it sound more glamorous. We bypass that as we knew the age and miles of the car, we asked to review the service history and we noticed that the previous owner had declined payment of almost 1.500£ of service of the car for the previous year which directly says why he/she sold it. While we were looking we noticed that one of the recommendations was to change the cambelt of the car which is an expensive thing to do. The deal they were trying to make was ridiculous making us pay more money for they can change the cambelt. We were trying to explain that we are trying to buy a car as per their description with no problems , full service etc. and what we were getting is an old car with many issues that weren’t even looked at by their team and we were supposed to feel that this was a good deal.
On top of that there were some description on the website about some extras worth about 800£ in the car which was a lie as the car did not have any of those included, we asked the salesman and he said “oh yea you can be this connector from amazing and plug it there and that how you can connect your phone” I mean thank you very much for your advice but on description it says it’s included and it’s worth 200£ and he said oh yea sorry it doesn’t include that. Trying to charge for things that do not exist is a fraud.
Long story short very disappointed by the Ponko approach, poor salesman skills he was talking over us, and just talking nonsense as if we were children buying a car.
At some point we asked to speak with the manager because we were going back and front the same conversation and we wanted someone more senior and one of the “managers” came and said hello what is the issue here where is the confusion??? There was no confusion but we were treated like fools. Obviously we left very disappointed about their approach.

Me and my partner purchased audi a3 from ponko recently we only found that vehicle had issues with climate control due to weather defrost does not work called ponko they transfer me to warranty protect witch they sell to you on site please be aware its part of ponko after speaking to steve they send me the procedure please be aware if you have insurance with them they don’t pay to diagnose vehicle so you may end up big bill paying garage to diagnose issues they don’t want to take any responsibility of even offering to check vehicle keep repeating that I suppose to read terms and conditions when i have purchased the warranty so if you buy vehicle from them beware they will try to avoid fixing any issues that are already there when you buy it very disappointing i will not recommend ponko

Looking to buy a Rover 75 and price was £2,380 , which is overpriced for a 20 year old car.
I offered £2k but they refused this.
Problem was they kept on calling and harassing me , directly and via Car Gurus but they would not negotiate on price , even though the car is 20 years old and had 4 owners.
Neither would they deliver to my home address in Chester and expected me to do an 8 hour round trip to view the car in Cambridge.
Final concern was they wanted me to buy the car without even seeing it.
Would not recommend at all.
Would not stop harassing me despite being asked to stop several times.
They wouldn't stop emailing me , calling me , texting me at all hours.

Needed a new car as had mine 10 years saw what I liked and was offered £450 for mine against an 8500 car I really wanted at least 600 but bit my lip and thought ok, I didn't have an appointment so made one on the saturday to go back and finalise everything, cancelled the tax and insurance on my current motor to expire at midnight that day and set up a policy to drive the new one away, I asked if the oil and filter was done and wanted pollen filter changing as wife has just had a lung operation done and i felt it should be changed, it wasn't they wasn't bothered, didn't even want to address the dents either! It also wasn't valeted and only after i got it home i discovered iron fallout all over the paintwork which was etched in and an absolute faff to remove, its a long process i'll get on top of, but i'd advise anyone buying a car to thoroughly inspect the paintwork, They knew I'd cancelled the tax and insurance but that didn't stop them from going against the trade in agreed value and dropping it even more to 350 because of a small oil leak! The car i traded wanted for nothing as everything was replaced, then they had the gall to talk me into a warranty I didn't need which incidentally is not an independent company but the same as ponko, the chap that runs it are one and the same and i've found out thats a con and not worth the paper its printed on after reading the reviews on both companies it's pretty clear now, least they got close to the asking price of the car with it.
After taking the car home I got a mechanic go over it and change the oil and filter ( which was low) due to the fact the PCV valve was faulty and the oil was spilling into the turbo intake, also wasn't done for over 2 years! Proof was written on the old filters, air filter was the same, filthy. Also whoever did the MOT there wants sacking tyres were over 7 years old and perished so I need to get new tyres also front nearside has a bulge in the sidewall and 2 nails in it and not to mention they were way over inflated! Also the washers barely were spraying and the rear one doesn'twork which suggests faulty pump, really surprised they passed it, no advisories for the front discs which are well worn either, TPMS has just packed in as well (10 years) is good innings for them so should have expected that, timing belt and water pump due (10 years) there's no service history either they tried to tell me last owner had it serviced at each mot, there should have been some paperwork but they wasn't interested, bit of a raw deal but that's my fault I should have seen the signs having worked for 2 dealerships in the past. I like the car so will get it up to scratch like I did the last one, could have done without a money pit so early on but hey ho,
Best bit, the £350 i got for my old one is nothing compared to what the cheeky beggars put it up for....£2500!!!!
The whole experience left me feeling somewhat deflated and bitter and even cheated and at my age should have known better, I just know it won't happen again.

If I could give it a 0/5 rating I would.

Despite being recommended to Ponko by a local who knew the ownership, I could not have had a worse experience.

I purchased a Hyundai i20 for almost 6k and within 10 months the engine had completely gone (timing chain and potential damage to pistons).

Gave the company the opportunity to put things right before posting this but they have decided to wash their hands of it because I am a few months outside of their 6 month warranty. Most genuine companies would at least attempt to put things right given how much i have spent and how short a time I have had the vehicle. I am now left with an unusable car and whilst still owing over 6k on my finance.

I have seen plenty of other reviews echoing my sentiments regarding the car quality

I would not recommend this company, especially if you end up having issues.

Great experience with Richard and Adam, car is fantastic and the whole experience was first rate. Would certainly recommend. Thanks chaps.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Me and my partner had the best experience at Ponko! We travelled a long way to view and buy a car, and from the moment we arrived, we were made to feel so welcome. Richard was amazing throughout, polite, friendly, and easy to chat with. The customer service from the whole team was brilliant, and we couldn’t recommend them enough.

A nice bonus is the unlimited self-serve coffee and tea machine, which I think is such a great touch. It really made the experience even better.

Good service. Good place to buy. Good Seles team. Richard is very friendly.

Richard is perfect. He is the man who keep our mood perfect.

Helpful and friendly

Richard and Dan cracking blokes and great customer service, very happy with the new motor. Learnt about new fruit called Green Gauges they were delicious

Bought a VW Golf from Ponko 3 months ago. Sales experience was good. There was no movement on the vehicle price but we did get a better deal with the extended warranty. We were told the car had been bought at auction, it was low mileage for its age with one previous owner. Ponko had serviced and MOT'd it and we were given the full history. Unfortunately, 10 miles into the 40 mile drive home after collection, the front brakes started binding and I had to limp home as it was after hours. Called them the next morning and after sales had the vehicle picked up on a loader for investigation and repair. Ponko replaced front brake discs and pads and we drove over to pick it up again. That fixed the brake issues, but then we took it on a weekend trip, the catalytic converter fault warning light came on and we called on the warranty process. I investigated the vehicle history and MOT records and spoke to warranty dept. Our local garage ran a diagnostic and Ponko accepted it as a warranty claim without question. We had to drive it over to them again though. They had it a few days, ran tests and tried a few things, eventually fitting 2 new lambda sensors. That was six weeks ago and since then it has been great - we are currently very happy with the car which I hope will stay with us a long time. It was a pain having to make multiple 80-mile round trips but we are ultimately satisfied with the warranty process and the service we have received from various members of the Ponko team.

James walked me through several ideas and explained everything to me in detail for my first car buying experience. well spoken and very respectful gentleman. Made the process a lot easier than expected.

Michael the delivery person was also super helpful as he spoken into detail about the car in person too with the warranty and extras which came with the car.

Would definitely recommend them!

Shocking customer service. Bought my daughters first car, clearly an issue with the door not closing, salesman tried to brush this off saying there was no problem, that it's normal for an older car. AA inspection highlighted the problem, still denied by the salesman. Became very apparent on the drive home after purchase. I was reluctant to drive it all the way back. Having lost total trust in their dishonestly, a local garage identified the problem. Ponko denied covering it on my 12 month warranty that I paid hundreds for. Extremely rude communication from Ponko. Very poor customer service all round. Avoid at all costs.

Where do I start. Firstly a member of staff at ponko was incredibly rude when speaking with me over the phone. His tone was rude and argued with me so much so that people around me could hear him shouting at me down the phone. He had asked me to remove a review I had posted, and when I explained my reasons for leaving the review he argued with me saying it was a lie. I explained that as a customer I am entitled to leave my review, opinion and experience for others to see.

I then explained that they sold me a car with the air con not working (I tested this on a cold day so it seemed cool when I bought it but soon realised as the weather got hotter it was not working). This was a struggle with ponko for them to fix this under the warranty. They first told me I would have to take it to an independent garage to get them to diagnose it, but when I explained that would mean me having to pay another garage to get it fixed, he bit back at me saying "obviously they will want paying". After what felt like them saying anything to get out of fixing it,
he agreed for me to bring it for them to have a look at. He should have stopped there but went on to shout at
me about my review, telling me to take it down. After the way he spoke to me, I felt this was not good customer service and when I told him this, he laughed at me down the phone and said "what have I done!" I did not feel in any way comfortable taking my car back to them to fix the air con, I have no faith or trust that they would have fixed the problem, and after threatening me that "we will discuss your review face to face" as a
female this was extremely intimidating and I decided not to go back there to take my car.
I have since taken my car to a reliable, trustworthy garage and had to pay over £500 to get the air con fixed. There was an open circuit which meant a damaged wire that was causing the air con issue which was not picked up by ponko in their so called thorough inspections!
Stay well away, they sell dodgy cars (they have my old Ford kuga up for sale the day after they bought it from
me when they told me the gearbox was damaged) and on top of this they
are extremely rude and intimidating to
their customers!