Edited an updated!
My experience with SEAT HORTON Lincoln!
24/07/2012
All I can say is I went with my wife's car to get the £299.00 Deal for a new cambelt and changed the water pump at the same time total cost circa £343.00. When I got there the service person Caroline said that the car has to visit another dealership Skoda which was just up the road (one mile) to get the cambelt changed! It was only a mile or so but still it was off site even though it was under the same company. I was not aware that this was the case when I booked the car in.
The car would be ready at lunchtime and I would receive a phone call.
I received a phone call from Caroline to say that after my comment that the service is due soon if I wanted them to do the service done at the same time for £69.00. I replied with 80,000 is a major service and all filters needs changing and the Haldex oil change. To which she replied with well we cant do it for that price. I replied I will get it done at my local VW specialist.
14:25 (after lunch) Phone call to say that the car is ready!
The car had a cam belt changed and Seat did a health check for free.
There was a red advisory There was a broken coil OSR and Seat advised us not to drive the car until it had been fixed. £127.00ish . Caroline did say that she could do the major service also with all the filters for £124.00ish as well. So total bill around £600 now?
My wife said okay to this however, Caroline did say that there was a courtesy car then one of her managers called her into their room then there was not a courtesy car anymore. It was lucky I was not at work today as then it would have been a nightmare. My wife is a GP and luckily was on a half day the next day so therefore did not do any home visits. I told this to Caroline and she said that the car would be ready tomorrow (25/07/2012) at around the same time.
25/07/2012
Had a Call from SEAT HORTON customer services to say how as their work on the car was like and if I was happy. I explained that the car was still with them and I would wait to pass judgement on their service when they had finished with the car.
I did point out however a few things.
1) When I booked the car in there was no mention that the car was to been driven to a nearby Skoda dealership to be done. I quote back to them about their own courtesy car policy about paying for the mileage and wondered if there is any compensation to the mileage done on mine as it was driven to another dealership I thought it only seemed fair. I would not minded if there was a small discount off the bill.
2) Was the health check done at Skoda or Seat? If it was done at Skoda and they knew there was a coil spring that was broken then it should not have been driven back to Seat
3) The car would be completed at lunchtime! 2:20 pm is after lunchtime in my opinion.
4) There was a courtesy car and now it had magically disappeared.
There was food for thought for this and customer services was going to relay the information back to Caroline.
There was a phone call from Caroline.
Summary
The health check was completed after the cambelt had been done back at Seat so they would not have driven it after it was noted that the coil spring had gone.
To make matters worst they had ordered the wrong part as the spring coil they had got was too small. Caroline said that they had ordered another part but it would arrive tomorrow but could not guarantee the time? A courtesy car would be driven to my wife so she had a car for her home visits! There would be £5 put into the courtesy car for the compensation for the fuel used to transport our own car to the other dealership for the cambelt change.
The courtesy Car was delivered to my wifes place of work in the afternoon. They offered to deliver it at home which was a little stupid as nobody would have been there I asked them to drop the car off to my wifes place of work after telling work that she could not do home visits. I was as at a football academy with my son all day.
My wife received a Mii! OMG it was certainly not what she is used to.
In the afternoon my wife rang up SEAT to figure out how she was going to get their car back and pick hers up on the 26th July 2012! Someone from SEAT HORTON will drive her car and drop her car off and pick up their car during the day. There will be a receipt for the fuel they had put into the her car to compensate. We wondered
how to pay for all the work but assumed it will probably be over the phone I am guessing.
The only issues I have is the fact that they has ordered the wrong part for the car and the underestimate the time taken to do the cambelt, misadvised on the 80,000 and what was needed and not telling me that the car had to go off Seat to Skoda!
One other issue is I am sure that the car would have been driven on garage plates if it needed to be transported to another dealership would it of not? And what is the insurance on the courtesy car? What happens if the police stops the courtesy car?
No paperwork completed with the courtesy car.
Update 26/07/2012
Just had a call but could not answer but I phoned back. The part (Coil Spring) that was promised to be delivered between 8 - 11am I was told this in this phone call but the supplier had let SEAT Horton down. The call was made to me at 2:53pm and Caroline stated that it is unlikely that the car will be done today because of the part which is due to be delivered around 4- 4.30 will not be able to be fitted as it is a 3/4 of an hour job!
I did question a what if scenario! What if the part is still wrong again?. Caroline then put me on hold and spoke to the parts person and said there are two parts for that model coil spring and it could have been the wrong one or the one supplied was the wrong one. Why take a gamble? Order both and send one back! This would have ensured the car would have been back on the 25th NOT the 27th July.
I am questioning as a SEAT dealer that I am sure that your parts person should have knowledge of all cars that are in the Seat Range especially if you are providing 3-10 year fixed price plan.
I asked what was the status of the car? The car has had a cambelt change and the 80,000 service has been done but waiting for the coil spring to be fitted for the car.
I have been to VW/SEAT/SKODA independent garages and they get their parts are are normally delivered within the hour? These are smaller operations than a main dealership. Also some mechanics work later than advised to ensure that the customer is not left high and dry.
I am annoyed at the length of time the car has to be in because of I am guessing lack of technical expertise?
Will not be going to SEAT Horton for anything that needs to be completed now on both of the SEATs in the family and if anybody asks I will not recommend them.
Come SEAT UK you need to do better!
Just my experience
K Li
(and it's free!)
![[:@]](/forums/styles/seatcupra/oldforumsmileys/furious.gif "Furious [:@]")
