Sidlow Gatwick

[Cupra Duper]

What can i say....

First of thought they were great, helpful, always called you back, just fantastic. Brought my 05 plate leon late last year, all was fine untill it started to pull badly to the left. Put it in my local deal Hidson (who are fantastic and really help when there is a problem) they found that the car had been sold with different tyres on each wheel, one tyre was put on round the wrong way (directional tyre). Sidlow agreed for Hidsons to change the tyres round and make two matching sets.

After messing around a few times it worked a treat but had left me with some cheap £50 china remake tyres sitting on the rear of my £13k+ car. so when I called Sidlow to tell them I was unhappy they replied with (the tyres are in the legal limit).

Currently trying to talk to the manager about replacing the cheap tyres for some Pzeros of which his first reply was (we can do them at a cut price, £240 fitted) im sure I can get them cheaper like £206 fitted.

If you use this deal please check your car over first, they really didnt check my car, leaving me unhappy with the service. And then on top they dont care that your unhappy.

Complete joke

Graham at Sidlow really helped me out, but could do more as its down to the manager "Owen Ashden"

Think I will be contacting Trading standard due to my car being sold with dangerous tyres, and "Which" so they can write a report.

Cheers
Steve

 

[si-mate]

Aside from the directional tyre being on the wrong side of the car and there not being matching pairs across each axle (which they fixed via Hidsons) I don't think you've got much to complain about.

Cheap tyres obviously aren't ideal on a performance car but so long as they are legal then they've met all their legal obligations.
In the same way as if you had found a dent or scratch on the car once you've done the deal then it's your fault for not spotting them.

 

[Cupra Duper]

Just makes you think what else havent they checked.

Either way thats my moan, and im sure if someone else had been sold a car with the tyre round the wrong way (which is very dangerous) they would be annoyed.

If the car had crashed due to that tyre then they would be in the S%&. Just a little suck up would be nice, or a sorry in writing.

In stead I get nothing, even with calling manly every day.

 

[shefflad]

All depends on how you speak to them - I bought mine from them, its Sidlow Horley - even tho its next to gatwick they were fine, and really cool!

I've worked in customer service, and if you shout and stamp it doesnt work.

 

[M90TEN]

but sometimes stomping and shouting is all people understand. i used to have a clio sport and the clutch went on it after 2000 miles. renault told me it was my fault and wanted to charge me full whack and not do it under warranty. so i went to the showroom and stood there and told customers not to buy from them as the aftersales was poor. subsequently i had a loan vehicle and a clutch replaced under warranty..................so yes normally if u speak to people nicely u might get somewhere but if that fails u gotta have stronger words......and at the end of the day, thats a health and safety issue, and if you had crashed and died because of their neglegence they would of been in for it.

 

[traumapat]

i was hoping sidlow had improved. had a huge problem with the seat service desk.

took it in for a diagnostic. tried to explain the problem to her but she pretty much told me to sit down. she didnt like me. i think she knew very little about her role.
anyways an hour later walks over , hands me the keys and says with a very smug look. "they wont even touch it because youve modified the air filter"

only been back since for parts. john is great... but i`m afraid there front desk attitude is disgusting.

putting a directional tyre on the wrong way around is dangerous surely.

 

[Cupra Duper]

Dont think I would use them again,

Still havent changed the tyres, the Manager never returns my calls and to be honest I really cant be bothered with them anymore. Yes I know I should, but its quite a long drive there, and I really dont have the time.

If you use Sidlow talk to Graham, his a top guy and really helps. Just make sure you check your car as they dont.

 

[Mike Green]

Dont think I would use them again,

Still havent changed the tyres, the Manager never returns my calls and to be honest I really cant be bothered with them anymore. Yes I know I should, but its quite a long drive there, and I really dont have the time.

If you use Sidlow talk to Graham, his a top guy and really helps. Just make sure you check your car as they dont.

Unfortunately bad dealers play on this - by not returning calls and make it as much hassle as possible they hope you will walk away. I had problems and most of the time the only way to sort it is go down in person.

 

[MarillionMan]

Sidlow........

I took my Leon in on Thursday 24th Jan, when the central locking & electric windows failed.
Sidlow couldn't even look at it until the following Monday, leaving me with a car I could not secure and which may get soaked.

No sympathy, Sidlow didn't care one jot.

Went back on the Monday, found out car needed a new 'Convenience Pack', at £302.
One week later, a courtesy call from Sidlow to see if I was happy with their service!
NO I'M NOT!! It took Sidlow another week to get the part, and then only after I, the customer, had phoned SEAT HQ and got the part delivery speeded up. Why couldn't Sidlow do that?

On the day it's fixed, Sidlow call to say it's ready. So I go and pick it up and get asked if I can wait half an hour while it's washed! So it wasn't really ready when you phoned me?!!!
Sidlow also recommended it had new front pads, and the spare was flat.

A subsequent free AA Brake check, shows all brake discs & pads just fine.
As for a flat spare, is it really to much trouble to put some air in it?

I only used to use Sidlow as it's on the way into work, but not any more. I'll go elsewhere in future.

This isn't the first time I've had issues with Sidlow. Previous service bookings have been a shambles, and they've left tools under the bonnet!

It'll soon be time to replace the car too, but I certainly will not be buying anything from any Sidlow outlet.

 

[slinemfc]

Sidlows is my nearest dealers, and they are moving to the old VW place on the A23 soon, but I bought my Ibiza from Caffyns in Burgess Hill which has since closed (they were excellent btw!) and they commented on the fact that so many people went to Sidlows initially, selected and tested the cars they wanted and then had everything priced up. They'd then take a drive to Caffyns and order the car from them at a slightly cheaper price!

Since Caffyns closed, my dad has bought a 1.2 Reference from Sidlows and we have serviced our cars there, including my mum's Ibiza. However, we have found them to be rude, unprofessional and unreliable in fault diagnosing, for example, my mum's Ibiza was rattling when started from cold in the winter, Sidlows said there was no fault but changed the starter for good measure, as the fault didn't go away it went back in and eventually SEAT UK said it would need an engine replacement. Hence why we will not go there again other than to get prices on cars and deals.

 

[wobblelino]

I saw this and thought I should add my two pennies worth.

So saw a leon i was interested in on parkers which was at Sidlow. Drove there only to find that...

The car was not ready despite an appointment being booked (no that serious although had to wait for 15 mins for the dealer to get it out of the parked cars.

Then the car did not have alloys on even though the picture (with its reg number) had alloys on it. The dealer even had a cheek to say, well you can have the alloys on for 500 quid extra even though it said it in the spec and the picture on parkers (which i conviniently printed out before the trip).

Then we discorvered rust on the car. Ok so it had a bang, not dealers fault but what did the dealer say 'oh'. That's it. If there's rust fecking fix it before a prospective buyer is coming to look at a car.

Linda was who we dealt with and i must say - She was about as useful as a flat tyre and seemed more interested in her red witch shoes than helping out the likes of us.With any luck Linda got what was coming to her and had a house fall on top of her ala wizard of oz.

I don't know where garages like this get off. Maybe with any luck they'll get new management and personnel otherwise they may just end up like southgate and watford (maybe not a bad thing then!)

 

[2zeroalpha]

Yeah, call it natural selection

 

[jedi20vt]

I can't belive the attitude of the sales desk and poor service I got when I took my Leon there to get it serviced.

I needed a few parts so when these came in, not all of it was delivered, even though they said to me over the phone everything had arrived.

They re-ordered one missing part, and the wrong one turned up. I had an issue with a bad smell comming from the vents when you turn on the air con, so they billed me to have a anti-bacterial detergent put through the heating system. This did not work, as I checked it before I left the dealership.

I have have to go back there again for them to now deodarise the system. They wanted to charge me for this!! I fought my corner and now they said they will do this free as the first thing they tried didn't work, and I still got billed for it!

Cheeky bunch of cowboys! After this has been done, I will NEVER take my car to them again!

 

[woza135]

i have a feeling sidlows opposite the air balloon have gone now due to the economic climate is this true????? Its a shame because john the parts man their was a helpful bloke

 

[slinemfc]

Yep, they went into administration on Wednesday.

 

[leon_81]

the parts guy there was a really good guy

i didn't know about all this until yesterday when i phoned them!

 

[traumapat]

just heard this today. john in parts is such a friendly helpful bloke.... really hope he gets another job soon.
it never felt a happy place on the few occasions they touched my car.. service desk staff were difficult to get hold of via the phone and face to face they seemed rushed.

quite the oppersite to sidlows vw in horsham.. "coffee sir? milk sir? wont be a moment sir.. just preparing the invoice. your MAF sir.. would you like it gift wrapped?"

i believe they have gone too

 

[Cupranova]

just heard this today. john in parts is such a friendly helpful bloke.... really hope he gets another job soon.
it never felt a happy place on the few occasions they touched my car.. service desk staff were difficult to get hold of via the phone and face to face they seemed rushed.

I second your comments about John. He was the best thing about that garage, he would go out of his way to help you get what you needed and he was always friendly. The rest of them should have taken a leaf out of his book!

Totally agree about the service desk, it was like you were a pain in the ass to them. So much attitude from the girl, like you were not worthy to be sitting at her desk. Maybe it was one of the reasons why they folded. You wont get returning custom if you treat them like that. I mean, they used to make you a coffee when they were at east grinstead but when they moved it was, "the coffee machine's over there", they lost that customer service edge, with the move it seems.