The Gearbox Centre Kent LTD Reviews 

BOURNEMOUTH BRANCH .. I am a qualified Hgv mechanic, but dont touch Auto boxes.. So when I had an issue I scanned the car with top of the range equipment..I found Solonoid B at fault, but it rectified itself.. I emailed this company asking for advice telling them what my findings were, asking f an oil and filter change might sort this, and was told that it would be best to drop it over for them to diagnose.. They plugged it in and read the now dormant code.. and told me Solonoid B was at fault and possibly a filter and oil change might fix it . and charged me £110 to tell me what I had already told them.. I emailed the to make a complaint, so far I have not had a satisfactory resolution.. Audi main dealers have quoted £357.60 for a transmission service.. The gearbox center have quoted £540..
Nearly £200 more..
I am waiting to hear back from them about the terrible service I have received.. Phone call now recieved after email after service email
As previous contact was ignoring me
Spoke to a nice chap who explained the 110 pounds was for a full diagnostics including graphs and road test.. so it would cover the hours labour, I then told him , no road test was carried out or grapghs . Just a 5 minute code reading.. But I did let him know that the employee offered to knock £110 off the service if I paid cash.. he was gob smacked and will get back to me..11 sept 2024
26th sept still heard nothing back

I had my gearbox repaired last October it’s gone against I was supposed to have a years warranty on the gearbox it cost 40200 pounds to repair it should last longer than 2000 miles or more than 8 months I have phone 4 times emailed 4 time got no response, keep well away from this company or you will get burnt

Following the dreaded Gearbox Issue warning light coming on on my Audi once again and a number of other electrical issues seeming to bounce around the car from it, I got it looked at by more than one place. Having had the gearbox previously refurbished by The Gearbox Centre before, they were the only ones with any faith that the Gearbox/Mech unit were actually still ok. Had I gone with other advise I would have forked out lots more money and not had a resolution but would have been fighting over whose fault the failure of replacing the Mech Unit was. Brendan and his team undertook to troubleshoot what was happening and happy to say they were able to work out it was external to the gearbox, but linked due to it being temperature control for the oil cooling which had corroded and caused other issues. All fixed and resolved loads of the other electrical issues on the car at the same time. Now I can drive the car without the warning light beeping every five seconds. The gearbox has become smooth on the gearchange again, driving beautifully. Can't thank these guys enough for their ability to diagnose what the real issue is and fix it at reasonable prices compared to anyone else.

I contacted The Gearbox Centre Kent in desperate need of help with my Audi. The gentleman I spoke to on the phone was more than helpful and booked me in ASAP. They made sure to update me regularly on timescale and the work that was needed. The guys couldn't have been more helpful I'd highly recommend, I feel its always a worry as a woman taking your car to a garage but these guys went above and beyond for me. Thanks again to Brendan and his team!

Excellent experience with these guys! Got me back on the road within 2 days. Brilliant customer service and very fairly priced, can’t fault them and will recommend to everyone!

Before finding the gearbox centre I went to numerous specialists but felt uneasy when discussing the price and felt I was being taken for a ride. I finally found the gearbox centre and felt at ease with their professionalism. They got the job done on time and the communication throughout the job was first class. I highly recommend this fantastic business and wouldn’t go anywhere else!!

Thanks again

!!!Avoid Avoid Avoid!!!
Promised gearbox in 3-5 days , took the money very same day … three and a half weeks later no gearbox and no money ,
Refund promised two weeks ago still no movement ,
People go Helical gearboxes ( theyll collect yours, fix and redeliver in 24hrs ) or Gravesend Gearboxes these lot are beyond a joke .
Theft … i believe its called Theft

If I could give 0 stars I would, this company is shocking and unprofessional. Had my car booked in for gear box repair and was told 7-10 days, no phone call updates, I had to do all the chasing and it was excuse after excuse, 5 weeks later I eventually picked my car up and it sat on my driveway as I went on holiday for 3 weeks. Started having problems with the gearbox so phoned the company up and tried to fob me off, eventually took my car back there for them to rectify the problem and again unprofessional and argumentative. Would not recommend and will never use them again.

Absolutely shocking company!
Ordered and paid for a gear box to be delivered to our local garage that week.No show on the day, had to ring up to be given a poor excuse.Had to cancel and go elsewhere.No apology.Told them I needed a full refund.10 days later still no refund and no response from after sales

Avoid at all costs. Complete shambles of a company. From ordering a reconditioned gearbox to everything being resolved took 5 months. Will never ever go near this company again.

AVOID AVOID AVOID! A truly disgusting company run by rude, arrogant people. I trusted them to repair the gearbox in my BMW 1 Series for a fee of £1100 (which was supposed to include a 1 year warranty). After they'd had my car for 2 weeks, they told me it was fixed, but the issue returned after a few days. They then refused to honour the warranty unless I paid an extra £2000 for a new flywheel and clutch (I ended up paying another garage to replace these and this did not fix the issue which shows they had no idea what they were doing). I requested a partial refund but they showed no empathy at all and totally refused to even discuss this. Long story short, I ended up getting my money back by taking the company to the small claims court. Please go elsewhere - I certainly wish I had and I've since got the issue fixed for much less than I was charged by The Gearbox Centre.

As promised, here’s my review of the Gearboxcentre in Bournemouth.
I said I needed to take my car for a long journey to really assess the quality of the job on my ZF 6HP19 reconn I’ve now had that opportunity (300 mile journey) and can report that the box feels extremely smooth & quiet. Pretty much like a brand new box. Expensive but impressive and to me; worth it.
All thanks to Andy & Tom in Bournemouth and the guys over in Kent who stripped and rebuilt it.
I’d actually dropped the car off 1st day back in Jan 23 and got it back 3 weeks later but haven’t really had an opportunity before now to really prove it due to other unrelated work being carried out on vehicle.
Cheers
David Smith

First time using this company and received a very poor service! The first gearbox was delayed due to one of the “technicians” damaging a shaft, I then fitted one of their supposedly reconditioned gearboxes to find an internal screeching noise from the gearbox whenever you lifted the clutch pedal so had to remove their faulty gearbox and also buy more oil as the new oil was now contaminated with metal fillings. They then rebuilt my original gearbox which thankfully was fine once refitted with no unwanted noises. They showed no consideration when asking for a partial refund as it cost me double labour time to fit one of their faulty gearboxes just to remove it again and buy more gearbox oil. I was told one price on the phone only to be charged more and I had to chase the surcharge refund.

I used The Gearbox Centre has I had a hole in my gearbox due to impact damage, the quote for repair was quickly generated,, and the repair process started, it wasn't long before i got the call to collect the car, and I was amazed at how smooth and good my exchange gearbox was, it was like driving a brand new car, they even managed to save me some money on the rear gearbox mount that I had sheared in the impact. i had considered buying a 2nd hand gearbox from a breakers yard before i spoke to The Gearbox centre and I am very glad i didn't, as none came with any guarantee (mine now has a 12 month guarantee!). Overall excellent service and attention to detail, I would recommend The Gearbox centre without hesitation to anyone with a Gearbox issue, they know there stuff and use quality workmanship!

I’m going to write my review in timeline order and I’ll leave any judgement up to you:
1st September 2021: Received written quotation for a “Fully remanufactured gearbox with 12 month unlimited mileage warranty” @ £2274 inc VAT.
22nd September 2021: Gearbox sent to the gearbox centre.
1st October 2021: They had chased for the fault codes which were sent on the 1st Oct.
6th October: Almost a week of not hearing anything, I sent a polite email asking for an update.
3rd November: I receive an update to say that my gearbox was severely damaged and they were ordering a “new unit”. For them to do that, they asked for full payment up front which I was happy to do. I paid on the same day.
4th November: Didn’t even know if the payment had gone through, chased for a receipt.
8th November: No receipt, no confirmation, and no date for my gearbox. James @ thegearbox centre replied with a screen shot of payment confirmation.
16th November: No receipt/invoice received. Still no date or any idea of lead time for my gearbox. I chased again. James replied with an invoice and informed me that the parts had arrived and that it would be worked on ASAP.
19th November: Gearbox delivered.
24th November: My mechanic called; the gearbox isn’t mine. The shell is from a 3.0 V6 diesel and it doesn’t fit. He also let me know that about 200ml of old, burnt oil had ran out when he opened the sump and that the gearbox was not refurbed.
25th November: Chased again, I’m racking up a hefty bill at this point. Very confused reply “the gearbox comes back dry so no oil in it”. Which is correct, if it is refurbed. At this point I start to question whether it has been reconditioned. Bit of back and forth, I sent photos that show metal filings. They finally admit that they “sourced another unit for you” but it definitely fits.
At this point my mechanic is unhappy, we don’t know where the gearbox is from and it’s a big roll of the dice. A 12month warranty means bugger all when investing nearly £3k it needs to last years.
My mechanic has been calling with no answer, car is on the ramp and he needs to move on to something else. Sales person speaks to him (we are 10 emails deep at this point).
My mechanic at this point has cut some pipes and welded them to make it fit. I need the car on the road, they are adamant it fits.
Receive an email to say that a technical will call my mechanic.
29th November: Nobody called my mechanic. I chase again. I ask that I am informed when this has happened.
2nd December: Email to say they’ve spoken to my mechanic. Guess what? He was right and it doesn’t fit. They arrange collection. I email to point out my costs, the fact that they’ve lifted a random gearbox from another car/scrap dealer etc. I asked for some photos during the rebuild, to save me having to get an independent to inspect it.
No reply.
13th December: “Hi James, I understand you've had the box back for a week now, any update?”
No reply.
20th December: “Hi James, Any update? Cheers”
Out of office reply. No return date, “please contact Marc.”
I send the thread over to Marc asking for an update.
No reply.
22nd December: Email from Jim at the gearbox centre to say that the gearbox is being delivered.
23rd December: I get a call from my mechanic. Another gearbox has arrived. It looks different. Guess what? It doesn’t fit. He’s fuming, feels bad and has a queue of customers. Fitting big auto gearboxes if a hefty job.
24th December: I get an email asking me to fill in a customer satisfaction survey (which I did). I don’t know who it goes to.
5th Jan 2022: I’ve asked for an update. I have still been polite, with a threat of not being polite.

7th Jan: Chase again, get through to Dan (Operations Manager). He promises to look into it, I send him the timeline so far.
10th Jan: I get a call from Neil (Workshop Manager). They’ve agreed to collect the car, sort the gearbox, send photos to prove that the gearbox is refurbed. Pencilled in for collection Thursday 13th Jan.
17th Jan: No communication. I didn’t even know if the car had been collected so I chased up again.
20th Jan: No contact, I chase again. Neil had said it would take about a week. It’s been a week.
Neil replies “as you know the car has been collected.” Car booked in for 28th Jan before they even look at it.
I reply, asking why they haven’t bothered looking at it in a week!
No reply.
2nd Feb: Not heard a thing. I ask Dan to call me after trying to call 4 times. Dan calls, they haven’t looked at the car yet because “there is another car on the ramp, should have that sorted in the next day or two and I’ll be in touch”.
9th Feb. NOTHING. Will be asking for full refund, car back and expenses paid which have racked up to £1500.

And that’s where I am. No car, no money and no compatible gearbox. I’d say don’t touch them with a bargepole but if you’ve made it this far I’m sure you’ve already reached that conclusion.

This company has keep a vehicle for a ridiculous length of time, giving the owner one excuse after another. Additionally, sending it back with broken and missing parts (not in that condition at hand over) and the transit company embarrassed and empathetic at the drop off. Additionally, the original problem not adequately resolved rendering the vehicle unsafe to drive. Months have passed and the situation is ongoing leaving the owner without transport. Naive and unsuspecting potential customers need to be publicly informed and this company should be legally held responsible.