My View on Parkstone Motor Company

[woodyTDI]

Hey guys this is my letter i am sending to SEAT UK about my local dealer as my problems have not been sorted.

I will post the reply from SEAT UK and if any from my dealerhsip.

If i get anykind of good will gesture i will let you know.

Also anyone else had these problems with the car / dealer?
Dear, SEAT UK

My name is ****** and i am a owner of a new 56 reg Seat Leon 2.0 TDI Reference sport

Ever since i purchased the car in late November 2006 i have had problems with the car and i am also unhappy with my dealership. I feel that since i purchased the car that the after sales service towards me has been very poor and i feel totally unconfident in the dealership itself.

The first problem i had after i got the car was that there was a rattle coming from the left hand side of the car near the glove box and then bad condensation in the front lights all within 7days (attached photos) My dealership they could not change the lights without proof and that they would need to see the car in the misted up condition and will have to take it to the dealership which i felt was a bad way of doing this as it takes quite some time to get to my local dealership (Parkstone Motor Company leigh-on-sea) and possibly the condensation may not be there, eventually they settled with myself taking some pictures and they lights were changed and the rattle was “fixed”.

When i dropped the car off it was asthough they did not know i was coming down and also i had to wait around 20 minutes to get seen too and was given no apology for the wait or even helped by another member of staff that was standing around at the time (9am) and it was much the same when i picked the car up.

Upon picking the car up i arrived after the service department was closed 1pm as it was a Saturday, i was at the dealership by 3pm and again had to wait to be seen and exactly the same manner. Once i was eventually seen i asked what work had been done. I was told “I don’t know” i then asked if there was a report for the work that was done, and if i could see it. I was then told “No there is not and all i have is your keys as the service department is closed” I was not happy that the work that was needed to be done could not be confirmed and there was no real helpfulness from the employee. Then i then asked “where is my car?” the reply “ I don’t know, i guess it is on the road somewhere” so i then had to find the car on my own 100 yards down a tight side street with my tyres rubbing against the curb looking like someone parked it in a rush wanted to go home and also the mirror closet to the road had not been folded in for protection. ( the streets in leigh-on-sea where the dealership is are very narrow, tight and packed with cars)

I then drive home and then instantly i could hear the rattle and when i pulled up on my driveway i noticed the condensation had returned! I called up the dealership and was told that Tony would call me back on Monday and this never happened. I had to call again to try and sort out the problem. He said that he would need to take the car in and would arrange a courtesy car for me. As it was close to Christmas the car could not go in and i could not get the car down. I eventually managed to get the car booked in on the 19th February (4 weeks in advance).

When i arrived at the dealership at 9am i again had to wait 15 minutes to been seen as a customer was already there and again other service people behind the desk did nothing, they did not say hello, what is the problem or even he will be with you in a moment could you take a seat please. When i eventually got seen to he asked me what the problems were and wrote them down and took my keys. He had no idea about the courtesy car and even had no idea where the loan paperwork was too do it (booked in advance 4 weeks prior) so once again i had been let down. I then told him that i will be working all day and wont be able to get down to the dealership until 5pm.

Around 1pm i had a rather abrupt phone call saying “Hello Mr. Woodhouse, we are waiting for you to pick up your car” not “ Hello Mr. Woodhouse your car is ready when are you able to pick it up?” It seemed like that i apparently already knew that the car was ready and that i was late! This did not please me they way they gave me the information. I asked what work had been done to the car, he said “ Whatever was due to be done i should imagine Mr. Woodhouse” I asked if they could confirm what he been done, i was told “I’m not sure at the moment, but when you come down we can look at the paper work, see you soon Mr. Woodhouse” This seemed like he was in a hurry to get off the phone from me and also had no clue to what work had actually been done.

When i got down to the dealership i was told they could not change the lights as they were not in the misted up condition and that the rattle had been fixed. I was not happy that the lights had not been changed and was told that there was nothing they could do. The rattle had apparently been fixed )was something to do with the clutch pipe had came loose, same as before) again the same thing had happened when trying to locate my car, but they knew where it was. As i approached the car again the mirror had not been folded in and also this time the rear wheel was partly mounted on the curb.

Two days later the rattle had returned and the lights had misted up again and now i have composed this email.

I am not happy with they way i have been treated, i have no confidence in the dealership and i feel they are incapable of any kind of quality after sales service (to which i had a letter sent to me from Tim Hutchings saying that they want to offer quality after sales service and hoped there was no problems with the car. Which they have failed!) if i had know i would have been treated like this i would have gone else where and i really feel like i had! No one should be treated the way i have.


Anyone from Parkstone if you read this you are more than welcome to get in contact with me. This just how you have made me feel (specially compared to my old dealer)

 

[Redcupra20vt]

I think you need to check the grammer before you send that. It's dreadful

Paul

 

[Tam]

I think you need to check the grammer before you send that. It's dreadful

Paul

Agree ...


Also.... I'd try a different dealer before writing to seat uk.

 

[Triple D]

I think you need to check the grammer before you send that. It's dreadful

Paul

ditto to the above

 

[woodyTDI]

i have don't worry. that is just the first draft. got my gf to male it sound top notch

 

[woodyTDI]

my new updated letter


Dear Sirs,

I am writing to you to express my dissatisfaction with the 56 reg Seat Leon 2.0 TDI Reference Sport (Registration No. EO56 YPY), that I purchased in late November 2006 and with the dealership I have been using in Leigh-on-Sea.

When I first purchased the vehicle I noticed that there was a rattle coming from the left hand side of the car, near the glove box, and that there was severe condensation in the front lights (the attached photos show the extent of the condensation problem). I contacted my dealership (Parkstone Motor Company, Leigh-on-Sea) about these problems but was told that they were not able to replace the headlights as they would need to inspect the car when the headlights were in the misted-up condition. I explained to them that as the dealership is some 10 miles away from my home that it is possible that during the drive down that the condensation would clear and that there would be nothing to see, at which point they agreed that they would replace the headlights using the photographs as evidence of the problem and also look into fixing the rattle.

A date was agreed for me to take the car into them (this was a Saturday), however, when I arrived it was as though they did not know I was coming I had to wait for about 20 minutes before I was attended to. I was given no apology for the wait or even helped by another member of staff who appeared to be just standing around. The reception I received when I collected the car later in the day was also very poor. As it was a Saturday, the Service Department had closed at 1pm so when I went to collect the car at 3pm I was again kept waiting. I enquired about the work that had been done to my car but was told that they didn’t know. I then asked if there was a report for the work that was done, and if I could see it. The reply was that there is no record of the work (which I must admit I find unusual) and that all they could do was return my keys to me, as the service department is closed for the day. I was not convinced that the work that was supposed to be done had been completed but as the staff were not very co-operative, I was not able to confirm this. On looking around I was not able to see my car so I asked where it was parked. The reply was “I don’t know, somewhere on the road I guess”. When I found it, the car was parked on its own 100 yards down a tight side street with my tyres rubbing against the curb. It looked as though someone had parked it in a rush and also the mirror closest to the road had not been folded in for protection (the streets near the dealership in Leigh-on-Sea are very narrow, busy and packed with cars).

As soon as I started my drive home I could instantly hear the rattle and when I pulled up on my driveway at home I noticed that the condensation in the headlights had returned! I contacted the dealership and was told that Tony would call me back on Monday. As he did not call me I telephoned again to try and sort out the problems. I was informed that the car
would need to be booked in again and that a courtesy car would be made available for me. As it was close to Christmas and I needed the car I could not take it in until the New Year and I eventually managed to get the car booked in for the 19 February.

I arrived at the dealership at 9am on 19 February I again had to wait 15 minutes to been seen as another customer was already there and although other service staff were behind the desk, they did nothing, they did not say hello, or even ask what I wanted or ask me to take a seat and wait. When I was eventually dealt with the service representative made a note of the problems and took my keys. He was totally unaware that there should have been a courtesy car for me and had no idea where the loan paperwork was (I was not very impressed as the car had been booked in 4 weeks prior) and once again I had been let down by the dealership. I explained that I would be working all day and would collect the car at 5pm.

At about 1pm I received a rather abrupt phone call saying “Hello Mr. Woodhouse, we are waiting for you to pick up your car”. The tone of the call was as though I already knew that the car was ready and that I was late! I must admit that I was rather taken aback by this as I had already explained that I was working all day and would collect the car at 5pm. When I asked what work had been done to the car, I was told “Whatever was due to be done I should imagine Mr. Woodhouse”. When I asked if he could confirm what he been done, I was told “I’m not sure at the moment, but when you come down we can look at the paper work, see you soon Mr. Woodhouse”.

When I arrived to pick up my car the headlights had not been changed, as they were not in the misted-up condition but I was informed that the rattle had been fixed. I was very unhappy that the lights had not been changed, but was told that there was nothing they could do. The rattle had apparently been fixed (this was due to the fact that the clutch pipe had came loose again, the same reason as when I had this problem previously). The car had again been parked down a narrow side street, again the mirror had not been folded in and also this time the rear wheel was partly mounted on the curb.

Two days later the rattle has returned and the lights are still misting up.

As you can imagine, I am really most unhappy with the way in which I have been treated. I feel that I have been totally let down by the dealership and have absolutely no confidence in either their promises to me or indeed in the repairs that they have carried out on what is, after all, a brand new car. Surely it should never have left the production line with the problems that I have encountered. I also feel that because of my age, that the dealership feel that I can be easily “fobbed off” and that I will eventually go away. I received a letter from Tim Hutchings (the salesman who sold me the car from Parkstone dealership) saying that they want to offer me quality after sales service and hope that there are no problems with the car – if he looked at his records, he would certainly see that there are problems and that they are unresolved. I purchased the car in good faith as I need a reliable vehicle. Had I realised that I would have all of these problems within the first three months, with no commitment from the dealership to remedy them, I would never have purchased a Seat.

I hope you will be able to help me and look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

 

[woodyTDI]

Glad its not onlly me! i may change dealership, i guess the are the next nearest ones?

 

[J@mes]

well im glad your glad they key'd my car doors!


yep helix chelmsford are the next option... speak to Andy or Julie there!

 

[woodyTDI]

I dont mean it like that! you must have gone nuts! did they not offer to sort the doors? did you complain to seat uk?

they should not be allowed to sell the cars!

 

[J@mes]

yea i did get in contact with seat uk and i sent letters to parkstone, but they denied responsibility to it, so in the end it came out of my pocket!


...well and theres as i now use chelmsford Helix for services/warranty work etc etc

 

[j3ster]

There are many posts already on here regarding misting headlights. It is apparently a natural phenomenon and Seat UK will not authorise dealers to change them unless they are swimming in water. The fact that the mist keeps disappearing kind of suggests that it is not a problem (usually almost immediately once the lights have been turned on and warmed up). If it were to cause an MOT failure then it would be a problem. My dealer says they obviously wouldnt stock the headlights anyway and can only change them with Seats prior approval. So perhaps they have their hands tied on this part? No excuse for poor customer service though.

 

[woodyTDI]

There are many posts already on here regarding misting headlights. It is apparently a natural phenomenon and Seat UK will not authorise dealers to change them unless they are swimming in water. The fact that the mist keeps disappearing kind of suggests that it is not a problem (usually almost immediately once the lights have been turned on and warmed up). If it were to cause an MOT failure then it would be a problem. My dealer says they obviously wouldnt stock the headlights anyway and can only change them with Seats prior approval. So perhaps they have their hands tied on this part? No excuse for poor customer service though.

It does seem to be a common problem and i may just have to live with that fact, mine have been rater bad and the mist does not go for days, i will try and postm some pics on here if i can figure out how to do it.

 

[Nathanio]

There are many posts already on here regarding misting headlights. It is apparently a natural phenomenon and Seat UK will not authorise dealers to change them unless they are swimming in water. The fact that the mist keeps disappearing kind of suggests that it is not a problem (usually almost immediately once the lights have been turned on and warmed up). If it were to cause an MOT failure then it would be a problem. My dealer says they obviously wouldnt stock the headlights anyway and can only change them with Seats prior approval. So perhaps they have their hands tied on this part? No excuse for poor customer service though.

Unfortuantely its a common fault with many manufacters due to how well modern lights are sealed.

 

[Wes@Parkstone]

Hey there Woody TDI, its wesley from parkstone (sales)

I have just been reading your comments and im sorry to hear about the problems that you have had with the car. With regards to the head lamps misting up we cannot change them unless SEAT UK tell us that we can. The problem is that will not take our word that the light have misted up, they require photos. Not the best soloution if you are not local to us.

With regards to your waiting in the dealership, we only do have one person whom deals with the service department and I think I was talking to you on the day you came in, we in sales do not have access to the service desk computers and there are many forms that you have to sign for warranty that we are not trainned in. But you should of had a sorry for the wait.

When you collected the car on the saturday at 3pm I think that you spoke to myself as the service department was closed as they do close as 1pm. We in sales are not able to check what has been done and are not techinally minded when it comes to repair work, in addition I was with a customer at my desk and you caught me walking back as I passed the service desk. But I should of said sorry for the wait.

We are more than happy to hand cars over to customers who cannot get into the dealership between the service departments opening hours but we only have to sales people here, so for us its impossible to know where the service departement has left the customers cars or what work they have done.

I have passed your message onto Tony and also our salesmanager Robin Hutchings so that he can see if we can get this problem addressed for you.

But I am sorry that you feel this way about us and the problems that you have had at the dealership.

Regards

Wesley

 

[Redcupra20vt]

Sounds like you are short staffed to me.

Paul

 

[Wes@Parkstone]

We are not to bad but on a Saturday the service department is very busy and everyone gets into the dealership at 9am so the guys are rushed off there feet for the first half an hour then they are sitting around... lol.

We in sales always ask the service department not to book customers in after they have closed as if they have any questions then we cannot answer them.

But in this case we should of said "Sorry" straight away for the delay.

 

[woodyTDI]

Hey there Woody TDI, its wesley from parkstone (sales)

I have just been reading your comments and im sorry to hear about the problems that you have had with the car. With regards to the head lamps misting up we cannot change them unless SEAT UK tell us that we can. The problem is that will not take our word that the light have misted up, they require photos. Not the best soloution if you are not local to us.

With regards to your waiting in the dealership, we only do have one person whom deals with the service department and I think I was talking to you on the day you came in, we in sales do not have access to the service desk computers and there are many forms that you have to sign for warranty that we are not trainned in. But you should of had a sorry for the wait.

When you collected the car on the saturday at 3pm I think that you spoke to myself as the service department was closed as they do close as 1pm. We in sales are not able to check what has been done and are not techinally minded when it comes to repair work, in addition I was with a customer at my desk and you caught me walking back as I passed the service desk. But I should of said sorry for the wait.

We are more than happy to hand cars over to customers who cannot get into the dealership between the service departments opening hours but we only have to sales people here, so for us its impossible to know where the service departement has left the customers cars or what work they have done.

I have passed your message onto Tony and also our salesmanager Robin Hutchings so that he can see if we can get this problem addressed for you.

But I am sorry that you feel this way about us and the problems that you have had at the dealership.

Regards

Wesley

Hi Wes, I have read the posts you have made, and i have waited to reply to actually see if anybody would get in contact. As you put in your previous post you said that you have informed you manager? Well no one has actually phoned me or wrote to me about my problems? Also i still have my rattle!

I know the problems i have are not yours to deal with as you are in sales, but seems to be all talk and no action.
Dean

 

[Wes@Parkstone]

Hi Wes, I have read the posts you have made, and i have waited to reply to actually see if anybody would get in contact. As you put in your previous post you said that you have informed you manager? Well no one has actually phoned me or wrote to me about my problems? Also i still have my rattle!

I know the problems i have are not yours to deal with as you are in sales, but seems to be all talk and no action.
Dean

Hey there Dean,

We talked to SEAT UK about the problem on Friday as they contacted us via the telephone with regards to your letter. This was also passed onto the people with the company. And a letter from us is due as well as the response from SEAT UK.

I am unsure what you require from us as a dealer, I have said sorry on a public forum and your comments about the mirror being folding in when the cars are parked down the side roads has been taken on board.

This is now being carried out, but its the first time anyone has said anything about it, and we contact customers after service and no one has ever said anything about it. But I thought your idea was a valid one.

We are happy to try and sort out your rattle, when are you free to talk about it. Please contact me on the telephone and I will try and get you booked in with a loan car.

If you get the chance please call me, i am not in work on Tuesdays but im in every other day.

Regards

Wes