Seat Smc Exeter

[cupra-c_ya]

THIS SEAT FRANCHISE SMC EXETER IS A JOKE! TRIED CHARGING ME BACK ALONG FOR A CLUTCH MASTER CYLINDER THAT WAS CAUSING MY GEARBOX TO CRUNCH (UNDER WARRANTY), NOW RESOLVED BUT WAS NOT HAPPY THAT THEY WANTED TO CHARGE ME OVER 100 POUNDS FOR THE PLEASURE.
RECENTLY ORDERED A DOOR TRIM WHICH COST 17 POUNDS (FOR ABIT OF PLASTIC) GET THIS HOME AND FIT TO THE CAR AND ON CLOSER INSPECTION REALISE THAT IT IS A MOTTLED EFFECT ONE UNLIKE MY SMOOTH FINISH ONE.
COMMUNICATION WITHIN SEAT IS POOR AS I SHOULD OF BEEN TOLD ABOUT THIS WHILST ORDERING NOT AFTER WHEN I RANG SMC TO QUERY THIS DOOR TRIM, PARTS MANAGER HUNG UP ON ME & ALSO SPOKE TO A LADY (SUPPOSED MANAGER) SEAT UK CUSTOMER SERVICES WHO COULD NOT FIND A RESOLUTION FOR ME AND ADVISED ME THERE WAS NO ONE I COULD SPEAK TO WHO WAS ABOVE HER, TOLD ME THE ONLY REASON I WAS NOT HAPPY WAS BECAUSE I COULD NOT GET MY OWN WAY
(HANG ON A MINUTE WHO IS THE CUSTOMER HERE)
MUST JUST SAY ALL I ASKED HER FOR WAS A REPLICA DOOR TRIM BUT APPARENTLY SEAT DO NOT MAKE THEM ANYMORE SO I WOULD HAVE TO BUY ALL MATCHING NEW ONES WITH A COST OF OVER 160 POUNDS, LADY ALSO SAID TO ME THAT I WANTED ALL NEW DOOR TRIMS FREE OF CHARGE WHEN I DIDNT EVEN SAY THIS
(CHEEKY BINT!) ALL I WANTED WAS THE SAME AS THE OTHER DOOR TRIMS ON MY CAR, NOT MUCH TO ASK I DONT THINK.
I WILL NEVER USE THIS DEALER AGAIN, CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS ARE CRAP AND AS FOR THIS LADY MANAGER FROM SEAT UK, WELL GOD ONLY HELP US.
IM NOT SAYING ALL SEAT DEALERS ARE LIKE THIS BUT SMC EXETER WANNA TAKE THERE HEADS FROM OUT OF THERE ARSE'S!
I ALSO RANG A DEALER IN TEIGNMOUTH WITH THE SAME QUERY FOR DOOR TRIM AND STRAIGHT AWAY THE GUY ADVISED ME THAT THE TRIM FOR MY YEAR OF CAR IS NOT MADE ANYMORE AND I WOULD HAVE TO USE AN ALTERNATIVE ( THUMBS UP) SHAME I WAS NOT TOLD THIS BY SMC SEAT IN EXETER, THINK I WILL USE THE SEAT GARAGE IN TEIGNMOUTH FOR FUTURE PARTS/SERVICING.
I WILL BE RETURNING THE NEW TRIM BACK TO SMC EXETER SO THEY CAN STICK IT WHERE THE SUN DONT SHINE, I WILL REPLACE MY OLD TRIM (WHICH SHOULD NOT OF COME OFF IN THE FIRST PLACE, NOT MY FAULT) WITH NEW STICKY FOAM TAPE.

A HUGE APPLAUSE FOR SMC EXETER FOR BEING SO ****!

 

[BeezerDiesel]

Maybe you were just letting off steam when typing this up, but I would be surprised at both the Dealer's parts manager hanging up on you and the lady from SEAT customer services being off with you too, unless you were unduly rude or aggressive to them.
I'm not going to defend SMC having been a customer of theirs on and off for about ten years and have had my fair share of niggling problems with them but I don't find them any better or worse than any other dealer I've had dealings with, in nearly twenty years of driving. Staff at car franchises change dealerships quite frequently in my experience, due to low wages and poor training, so it can be a lottery with any dealership how helpful and knowledgeable(sp?) their staff are at any one given time.
SMC do have some very long serving staff who do know their onions - you ought to try the VW dealer around the corner if you want lack of parts knowledge sometimes (but they do try and be helpful, mostly).
You do have my sympathies though as I'm very fussy who works on my car, having been around cars all my adult life and once briefly worked in the motor trade. I have little trust in main dealers and even independant specialists aren't always that good especially if they don't have plenty of experience of a given model due to their lack of dealership training packages and info, despite their best efforts and enthusiasm.
Perhaps SMC are going downhill, I think their main problem lies with the fact they are still a very small dealership despite SEAT sales having gone up a lot in the last few years.
I think with a simple bit of trim like that I would have just stuck it back on in the first place with some heavy duty double sided tape from B&Q!!!

 

[16v-cuprasport]

Ive been to SMC this morning,there about as helpfull as a fart in a space suit!!!!!
I rung the other Seat dealer in Teighmouth,they were helpfull,had a answer for me & 30mins later they rung me back with some more info.
SMC,are not interested unless u have a 04 or a 05 plate Seat,so bollox to them!!

 

[sssstew]

thats sad to hear, when i used to live in devon i always used them and never really had a complaint, their staff changed near the end though, and they lost their head mechanic which didnt help. But i always found everyone else there really helpful and polite.

But hear from a friend who still uses them that some more staff has changed so maybe this could be the reason for the poor service.

Just be lucky you didnt have to deal with Richardsons of Plymouth before they shut down, they were truely awful in my experience.

 

[BeezerDiesel]

I wonder how SMCs sister garage with the Skoda dealership are, as you generally expect bad dealers from SEAT after being on here 5 minutes and reading people's experiences, but Skoda dealerships are usually expected to be quite good plus they fare better when it comes to ownership surveys.

Not heard a bad word said against County Garage or Croyde Motors yet so us Devonians still have a bit of choice!

 

[Charlie Br0wn]

Has anyone had any recent dealings with SMC in Exeter. I have just bought a Cupra R 54 plate and will need a helpful garage i'm sure. Just a bit worried by a few bad posts for them on here. I have the choice of this one or County in Teignmouth. Any ideas?

Cheers

 

[RikH]

id go with Teignmouth if it was me
the two nearest dealerships to me have very duff reviews so im taking it to a reputable one amongst SCN even though its near on 50 miles away!!!!!

Can cause serious headaches and wallet pains if you get a duff dealer

 

[devonmikeyboy]

I dont live very far away from SMC but i bought both my 04 PD130 Ibiza and 05 PD Cupa 160 from County Garage since the parts team know there stuff,you can drop your car off up to about 9pm and pick up a loan car plus most of all the lovely emma works at customer services

 

[cupra-c_ya]

Hiya charlie brown,
go with teignmouth county garage, they are really good! I bought my car from them and they are very helpful unlike exeter smc.
My sisters husband bought a seat leon cupra from them and had probs!
the parts/sales people at teignmouth are down to earth and know there stuff.
all the best with your purchase mate!

 

[Fen]

Weird. I live much closer to County than SMC but I always used SMC and they were always great. In fact I find most of the dealers in Exeter are pretty good when I have used them; Porsche are superb, BMW seem pretty good, Pug were usually really good too and I would have said the same about SMC, but it's nigh-on 3 years since I set foot in there. Alfa and especially Subaru (when it was Parks) were horrendous though and I have heard lots of negative about VW.

I don't use sales, all parts experience with occasional service. County don't (or used to at least) open the workshop on a weekend. FFS how was I supposed to work with that when I used the car 1,000 miles a week?

 

[ScottyP]

bunch of unhelpful monkeys - didn't bother ordering a part I asked for, had a service done on my girlfriends mk2 which was a joke, half the bits they didn't bother doing, then filled the report sheet with junk - eg; exhaust touching rear bumper - no its not, you can see daylight between them, filled out the tyre depth part as all having the same tread when 3 tyres are a year old and 1 was brand new etc...
got the impression as above that if it wasn't a new seat i was a second class customer - POOR!

 

[Fen]

I guess my car was new, so maybe there is some truth in that.

 

[Net]

I must admit, my first and probably last trip to SMC Exeter a couple of months ago was not too impressive.

The mechanic left the plastic sump cover hanging off the car, so I had to go back a couple of days later when I had worked out what the weird noise was under the car. They tried to blame it on me hitting something! Would have been a bit of a coincidence if you asked me, straight after an oil change........:s

If anyone can reccomend a dealer nearer, it would be great to know of experiences!

 

[devonmikeyboy]

If you want a part from county you can always order it during the week and pick it up at the weekend from a sales person thats what i did.

 

[ScottyP]

Yeovil carshop and holders of congresbury are both excellent - but a bit out of the way for you nET

 

[quattroman]

With reference to using SMC Exter

With reference to using SMC Exter,
I bought My Cupra R from them two years ago and have never had cause to moan about their service.
Over the christmas period my engine management light came on and I was forced to use the AA to check it out. they cleared the fault code and gave me a print out of the problem (coolent temp sensor playing silly buggers).
The light reapeared and Today I phoned SMC to ask if they could have a look at it as I was passing that way.
Jo the service receptionist was a bit hesitant as to whether it could be fitted in as they were very busy ,so I asked if they kept the sensor in stock and a few mins later I was told that it was in stock and they should be able to task the job in between other commitments.I was overjoyed, I arrived at 4.00pm as suggested, handed over the keys,had a drink and then the General Manager asked if I had driven the new Leon yet, and promptly handed me the keys to his brand new(210 miles) 2.0TFSI and said go and have a play. Nice car -infact I was shocked to how good this car drove.
As I was returning I saw my car being test driven and it wasnt being ragged- I returned to SMC and talked about the new Leon then my keys were given back along with a full descrption of what had been done and that a new sensor had been fitted and coolent topped up and also they refilled my screen wash.
Now you dont get better service than that ANYWHERE and I'm talking from experience -By the way the car now runs a sweet as a nut -the temp sensor is responsable for a lot of rough running on Cupra Rs and they must know that.
SMC do have a large turnover of salesmen but so does the rest of the garages.
quattroman

 

[Charlie Br0wn]

thats pretty impressive stuff. I wish that all SEAT dealers were always like this as their product is good, but their name isn't yet. Look what Skoda have managed to do with their reputation over the past few years.

Might well use SMC when it needs its service now! Cheers quattroman

 

[cupra-c_ya]

im glad you had a happy experience when you visited smc exeter, you must of caught them on a good day, everyone is entitled to voice there opinions as I did, however im still not convinced and I will only use county garage teignmouth as they are spot on everytime, I am the paying customer and I will not give my business to a negative seat franchise with attitude, just my opinion.
This is the great thing about freedom of choice, its good to hear people's negative & positive views, cheers quattroman for the good review

 

[quattroman]

The only reason I used SMC to purchase car was that when I walked into County to enquire about LCR 225 purchase the salesman did not take me seriously and wanted £1000 deposit and wasnt interested in part ex on my Audi S4 avant so I walked out the door, Went to SMC, asked about ordering one of the first 225's and they said no problems and the deposit was £50.00 so that did it for me and I live 6 miles from County -30 from SMC but thats their loss -not mine.
As I said the salesmen have changed many times over at both garages since I bought mine.
But who knows ? maybe someone from SMC has read the posts and decided to put things right.
Can only be a good thing.
quattroman.

 

[cupra-c_ya]

I understand why you didnt buy from county garage and I would of done the same thing, dealing with seat franchises is down to how you are treated at the end of the day, you get treated like a second class citizen most people will just walk.
I hope they have read the forum as reflective practice is a good thing.
so quattroman where about you from? ill keep a look out for ya.
cheers