Chris_B
Guest
I'm afraid that I haven't had a good experience with the SEAT dealership in Westerham, Kent.
My mum bought a Seat Ibiza 1.2 a few years ago to teach me to drive in. It seemed like the perfect car, and it has performed incredibly well. One of the main reasons why we bought the car was because of it's low running costs, in terms of insurance, tax and fuel.
However, we might as well have bought an Audi RS4 after our last service, parts and labour costs from the Westerham dealership.
It was due for a service last year so my mum booked it into the Westerham dealership as usual.
She got a phone call later on from SEAT saying that it needed some work doing to it, and the total cost would be around £400 (I don't remember the exact figure, but it was around that price). My mum told them to go ahead, thinking that the £400 would include the service, parts and labour.
We received a phone call the next day to say that it was ready to be collected, so we both made our way to the dealership.
However, when we got there we were told that the mechanics were just taking it out for a test drive and were asked to take a seat.
We both waited for about 45 minutes, during which we were completely ignored, until eventually I got up and asked where the car was. It turns out that the car had actually been back for about 40 minutes, but nobody had bothered to tell us. We didn't even receive an apology.
The next shock came when my mum was handed a bill for over £750! It turns out that the quote over the phone was just for the parts, without the service, labour costs, VAT, etc. They made it sound on the phone as if the total cost of everything was £400.
I know for a fact that my mum wouldn't have gone ahead with the work if she had known that it would be that amount because she didn't even have the money!
When I looked at what work had been done, I was shocked to see that an entire new anti roll bar had been fitted.
Now, bearing in mind that the car had been driven by a careful lady owner since new, and had just 20,000 miles on the clock, it seemed ridiculous that it would need an entire new anti roll bar. After speaking to several experienced mechanics they all agreed with this.
I've since learnt that it actually needed just an anti roll bar bush, but SEAT could no longer get hold of a new bush, so it had to be fitted with a brand new anti roll bar which came with the new bushes. It seems ridiculous, but I've since read it else where that this is the case. We were never told this on the phone or offered any alternatives.
I don't have the quote infront of me but I believe they charged something like £200 labour costs to do it.
So to sum up my experience at Westerham:
Poor customer service.
Unnecessary and very expensive work.
Expensive servicing costs.
I have now just bought the Seat Ibiza from my mum and I definitely won't be using the Westerham dealership again.
What's more, my mum is now in need of a new car, and because of this fiasco she has been completely put off buying a SEAT, so they've probably just lost a sale of a new car.
She shares a Range Rover 4.4 as a second car with my dad, and they've never had to pay out sums as high as this for servicing and work.
My mum bought a Seat Ibiza 1.2 a few years ago to teach me to drive in. It seemed like the perfect car, and it has performed incredibly well. One of the main reasons why we bought the car was because of it's low running costs, in terms of insurance, tax and fuel.
However, we might as well have bought an Audi RS4 after our last service, parts and labour costs from the Westerham dealership.
It was due for a service last year so my mum booked it into the Westerham dealership as usual.
She got a phone call later on from SEAT saying that it needed some work doing to it, and the total cost would be around £400 (I don't remember the exact figure, but it was around that price). My mum told them to go ahead, thinking that the £400 would include the service, parts and labour.
We received a phone call the next day to say that it was ready to be collected, so we both made our way to the dealership.
However, when we got there we were told that the mechanics were just taking it out for a test drive and were asked to take a seat.
We both waited for about 45 minutes, during which we were completely ignored, until eventually I got up and asked where the car was. It turns out that the car had actually been back for about 40 minutes, but nobody had bothered to tell us. We didn't even receive an apology.
The next shock came when my mum was handed a bill for over £750! It turns out that the quote over the phone was just for the parts, without the service, labour costs, VAT, etc. They made it sound on the phone as if the total cost of everything was £400.
I know for a fact that my mum wouldn't have gone ahead with the work if she had known that it would be that amount because she didn't even have the money!
When I looked at what work had been done, I was shocked to see that an entire new anti roll bar had been fitted.
Now, bearing in mind that the car had been driven by a careful lady owner since new, and had just 20,000 miles on the clock, it seemed ridiculous that it would need an entire new anti roll bar. After speaking to several experienced mechanics they all agreed with this.
I've since learnt that it actually needed just an anti roll bar bush, but SEAT could no longer get hold of a new bush, so it had to be fitted with a brand new anti roll bar which came with the new bushes. It seems ridiculous, but I've since read it else where that this is the case. We were never told this on the phone or offered any alternatives.
I don't have the quote infront of me but I believe they charged something like £200 labour costs to do it.
So to sum up my experience at Westerham:
Poor customer service.
Unnecessary and very expensive work.
Expensive servicing costs.
I have now just bought the Seat Ibiza from my mum and I definitely won't be using the Westerham dealership again.
What's more, my mum is now in need of a new car, and because of this fiasco she has been completely put off buying a SEAT, so they've probably just lost a sale of a new car.
She shares a Range Rover 4.4 as a second car with my dad, and they've never had to pay out sums as high as this for servicing and work.
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If I was you I would be writing a nice letter to firstly the dealership and then if you don't get a result from them onto SEAT themselves. 
