Beadles Skoda - Maidstone..

[Sheppeygirl]

Just purchased my 1.6tdi 105ps monte Carlo today and I must say the man I saw (Clive) was lovely. He was ever so helpful no pressure for anything explained everything clearly any questions were answered no problem would reccomnd them to anyone

Was told any questions don't hesitate to phone or pop in, he will phone every couples to update on car build progress etc even of not any heard he will let us know. Nice to be treated like the car owner not ignored like some places due to being a 19 yr old female. Will update when I hear more from them on my order.

[bluecar1]

had call from clive at beadles to say my car (fabia II greenline estate) has arrived in UK and should only be days away

so far promises kept and can't fault the service, car is arriving a couple of weeks sooner than expected but that is a pleasant surprise

not seen any issues of noted elsewhere on this thread, and the parts department are good, use them regularly for service items for wifes mk1 vrs and my sadly departed roomster

[Sheppeygirl]

Picked the monte up today fantastic service from Clive and the others. No issues with the service, all very polite and friendly, everything was explained and always asked if I had any questions and told any issues just to phone and theyre more then happy to deal with me etc. all in all a very good dealership to deal with will happily use them in the future

[Taylor93]

When i was putting in my CitiGo order, they said that it wouldn't be any earlier that mid September, and would call at every stage, then a week ago after i enquired about a few extras, i found because the car was "being produced" it would cost me £120 instead of £50 for the spare wheel and that the car was infact going to turn up end of august (despite my requests for it come come in September for financial reasons), thus also meaning its going to be a 12 plate instead of 62. They are making it very difficult for me to get it moved to a 62 plate so far. Not too pleased with the outcome of the sale department.

***UPDATE***

Once i had fought to get what i wanted, they quickly started to help me and the customer after-care was good, I had a phone call within a week asking if there were any issues with the car. I also had a call due to the issues i raised in this thread and they arranged for me to have a spare wheel and kit for free as compensation.

I was very impressed with this and the overall Skoda After-care

[FAVrs]

I think that anyone who has problems with Beadles, or Motorline Skoda in Dartford should check out Whitehill in Meopham - they used to be the Skoda dealer in the area for many a year and know and love the cars - they even have three vintage models in the showroom,

[group1rs]

+1 for Whitehill and also Caffyns in Tunbridge Wells.

[Sizey1980]

My friend John works here and my old Peugeot Garage Manager Paul. Both have been really helpful when i was trying to trade in my Type R. Regular phone calls, with updates, and suggestions. I know, i know them, but even the staff who didnt know me were very accommodating aswell.

[bill2]

had my car serviced at beadles maidstone today ,they phone me at 8 30am to say the guy was on his way to collect my car from rainham. car serviced washed and hoovered and returned at 5 PM very smooth and painless will use again.

on the downside they forgot to stamp the book so now they have got to collect and return the book stamped.

bill

[richie]

For info, they are now in the former Audi showroom round the corner opposite Range Rover.

[AJ7788]

Car booked in for tomorrow to get the door seals sorted, will let you all know how it went when I get the car back on Wednesday

[AJ7788]

Dropped the car off this morning with no probs. Got a call this afternoon saying the car is ready - great as it was booked in for 2 days

It went in for wind noise at motorway speeds as well as leaking door seals.

They have carried out the following work;

Stripped off door panels and sealed all holes as well as checking all the door seals etc.

For wind noise: Adjusted drivers door on hinges.

Adjusted door mirror so as to seal properly.

Further modifications carried out on front grille to reduce wind noise.

Service valet

The service advisor was Ron Williams - really nice guy and knew what he was talking about.

Wasn't sure what to expect as not everyone has sung their praises, but on the service I have received from them today I can't recommend them enough

[Alex B]

When we decided to purchase a new car we went to several other manufactures dealers for test drive their cars then we went to Beadles the salesman was great, we explained it would be a cash deal but the money was not in the bank yet but we were interested in the Roomster. To give them their due they let us have a roomster to test drive on our own without a salesman. We had a great drive and decided that of all the vehicles we had driven this one was the best one. I returned about a fortnight later and just to confirm our decision and asked if we could test drive a Fabuia estate they replied they did not have one as it was out on loan and did not know when they would have it back and generaly showed disinterest, that was it as far as I was concerned and walked away. they lost the sale and Caffyns of Ashford who were interested and were able to allow us to test drive both vehicles got the sale.

[richie]

Had SWMBO's Ferbi in there recently for a few bits and bobs and it's annual service, all good. Yesterday evening, I opened the bonnet to check the oil level, coolant and top up the washer bottle to find a greasy rag stuffed in the engine bay! Luckily it was not near any drive belts or the fan etc, but what the heck??

I'll pop in there later to see what they say.... I'll report back :think:

[richie]

Ref the above. Had a good check round the engine bay, no harm done as far as I can tell, so no further action required.

[dinger19]

We went to this dealership (Beadles Maidstone) Saturday 03/08/13 and have to say the female sales woman was the most unprofessional person I have ever had to deal with the lies etc she came out with were unbelievable and to make matters worse more or less every question I had she could not answer and had to go to the sales managers office to get the answer.

 

Would not let us demo the citygo sport they had in there showroom as they are not allowed to demo brand new cars and she tried to tell me that it's only been in the showroom for 2 days when we knew it was there 7 weeks ago (on our first visit) and had this confirmed by another sales person,but the best one was to be informed that they had a citygo ( spec we wanted) coming into the branch in 10 days times and assured us that if we place a £500 holding deposit to reserve it and once we test drove it and did not like it we would get our deposit back yer right .....but hang on how would we be allowed to test drive it as there not allowed to on brand new cars. 

 

 Beadles Skoda of Maidstone you have lost a car sale. 

[AJ7788]

I recently went to a accident repair place as I was involved in a minor accident. Anyway while they were doing the estimate (a VW group approved paint and bodyshop repairer) the person asked me if I knew that the front arch on the drivers side has been repaired before - I advised yes as Beadles Maidstone scratched my car and had it repaired. The guy said it's been done really cheap and rubbish and wants to point it out to me before they do work so I don't blame them once they are done. I could see it once he had pointed it out but still not great.

I am aware Beadles don't have their own paint shop but who ever they use didn't do a great job at all.

 

Been using Sherlodge instead and they have been much better (and cheaper on servicing)!

[Jay Mitchell]

I have nothing but good things to say about Beadles Maidstone.

We have bought two from there, my dad's mk2 vrs.. Which should be soon being changed for the mk3 car that the sales manager has. And my monte, they have gone all out for us, have had no problems, they have saved us from an issue within buying another van as they dealership paid off the wrong van. Also doing a reveal of my car for me on my 17th, and finding someone to do the decals on my car. They are always honest with us, they let us test drive whatever we want to when we ask.

Service department is great, had no problems.

I couldn't put a bad name to them

[richie]

SWMBO's Ferbi in for its MOT today, passed, all good. However, I checked the washer bottle and other bits before the MOT and found the oil filler cap missing and sitting on the engine cover!! The car was serviced at the back end of December and to be honest I haven't been under the bonnet since.....

I mentioned this to the service dept and they were horrified. They did knock £19 off the cost of the MOT and "washed the car" It was bogging!! I wish they didn't bother, totally crap "clean" job, windows looked like the were covered in grease as did the paint work!!

Come on Beadles!!

[Sondy]

Have just purchased my first Skoda from Beadles in Aylesford and I have to say, I couldn't be happier. Previous cars have included a Seat Leon Cupra which was upgraded to a Cupra R before long, then a BMW 330d M Sport before buying a dog meant I needed the practicality of an Audi A4 Avant 2.0 TDI S Line. I now needed something newer that hadn't done quite so many miles, so went to look at the Octavia vRS estate. To cut a long story short I've ended up buying a 2011 Superb Estate 2.0TDI (170) Elegance DSG.

 

The salesperson I dealt with was Kristina and I found her to be very helpful and knowledgeable but she also did everything that she said she was going to. Matt in parts was also very helpful and advised on practicality and suitability rather than just telling me the price of something.

 

I collected the car last weekend and so far, all is good. I'm hoping that the service department is up to scratch as so far, I would highly recommend Beadles.

[richie]

Purchased my 4th (!!!!) vRS there today. Karl was very good with the sales process, helpful and knew everything about the car I purchased. All things being equal, I'll be getting the car on Tuesday. Happy days.

[Minimoke]

I'm simply amazed at the good reviews coming through regarding this bunch. Personally I have had nothing but trouble and incompetence from them. Here's just a small (but typical) sample of the issues I've had in order to provide a counter view (this covers my Octavia and the wife's Fabia both supplied new by Beadles):

 

(1) Gave me the wrong service book when I collected  my brand new Octavia. They mixed it up with another new (but different spec) Octavia so it had the wrong bar code and option numbers in the book. Our subsequent service records were then potentially being mixed up on the Skoda computer. When I discovered the error I had to peel the proper code and barcode sticker from the rear boot floor and  stick it in the service book.

(2) I've lost count of the number of times they have either forgotten to stamp the service record or have updated it with incorrect information.

(3) Failed (on 2 seperate occasions) to change the brake fluid at the designated service interval.

(4) Rust appeared on most of the Fabia's door and boot hinge bolts. They made it as difficult as possible to lodge a warranty claim. In the end had to contact Skoda directly who promptly kicked Beadles up the ****. Only then did they pay attention to my claim (after 6 weeks!!!!!)

(5) Car in for service at 8:00am. Telephoned that afternoon to ask if the car was ready for collection. Assured that it was. Travelled to Maidstone only to discover that it was not ready. Had to sit for 2 hours in service reception waiting for the service to be completed.

(6) In February of this year I was ready to trade in the Octavia for a new Octavia 3. Did my research and got good service and prices from Crawley Down, Allams and Caffyns T/Wells.  Despite reservations because of past history I thought I would give Beadles one last chance to redeem themselves.  Walked into the showroom, told the salesman I was interested in a new Octavia and asked if Beadles would match the price of the other Skoda dealers. Salesman said ".....we don't go in for Dutch auctions and we don't do discounts".  I was gobsmacked by his rudeness and attitude - all I had (politely) asked was if he would match (not even beat) other Skoda dealers as I had been a good customer. Anyway that did it for me. I went to Caffyns T/Wells where I had a totally different sales experience.

 

I will say that the Beadles Parts dept was always very helpful and informative. The service and sales crew on the other hand are very poor in my opinion. I have also noted that they appear to have a constant staff turnover which may explain some things.

Edited 2 April, 2014 by Minimoke

[Sondy]

Minimoke - sounds like you've had the flipside of the coin!

 

Points 1-5 are poor, I agree, some of that is just basic.

 

However, point 6 is an interesting one! I've worked previously in car sales and a customer who has done his homework getting prices from other dealers and is upfront about it is not an easy one to deal with. A salesman should not only sell you a car, but also themselves and the service. When asked if he would price match, his back probably went up straight away and you got the response that you did. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with going armed with info from other dealers, far from it - look after the pennies and all that, but maybe if you'd sat down, indulged him a little, it would have made more of a case for him to lower the price.

 

Unfortuanately, all sales execs have to report to a sales manager who controls the purse strings. If they can't build value into a discount request then it's very hard for them to justify it.

 

'Boss, will we price match??'

'No'

 

or

 

'Boss, customer has bought cars from us before, loves the Octy, cars right for him, knows his stuff, we're going to need to be sharp on this one, let's do this...'

'Go on then'

 

I'm not trying to have a go, just explaining it 'from the other side'. There's no excuse for him being rude though, should be polite at all times - unless you scratched his demo!!

 

Hope you enjoy your new car though!

[Sheppeygirl]

Helpful as ever! I bought a citigo from them in sept and picked up March and took the other car in to have something looked at as the passenger window had fallen asleep in their terms. Ended up coming home having swapped the monte for a new rapid spaceback. Once again excellent service from Clive and Nick the finance manager, very helpful and welcoming. This will be my families 5th car in two years and all times been very happy with the service provided from sales. Today was the first time we've had to book something in under a warranty issue and the service was good, had a minor recall adjustment regarding a wiring loom and also noticed a tyre had many bulges from all the potholes locally so called to let us know and recommend a new tyre which was all dealt with for us. Shows they inspected the tyre as the biggest bulge was inside and only seen when up on the ramps.

Overall very happy with the dealer and will continue using them

[JamesVRSmk3]

Ordered an Octavia vRS from them in December.

I had phoned a few local dealerships to try and find one with a Petrol vRS to test drive and this was the only branch at the time which had one so I arranged an appointment to test drive the car at the weekend.

I dealt with Charles who was great. Handed me the keys and said take it for a spin. He didn't have any appointments for an hour so said I had 45 minutes with it. It's the first test drive I've ever had where the dealer didn't come with me which was surprising (in a good way). He explained the controls and off I went.

Arrived back and went through the figures and options I wanted. I said I'd like to go away to have a think about it. No pressure at all to purchase there and then but was informed the deals on offer would only be on until the end of the month. (Which they were and the cost rose significantly)

I had a good think about it and arranged an appointment for the following weekend.

Went through the figures and after a little negotiation I got the price I was after. I was told there would be a long wait for the car (up to 5 months) so I was prepared for it and the initial build week was roughly 5 months. However as time moved on the build week moved forward and the car arrived a month earlier than planned.

Was told I could come up and view the car when it arrived so did so but when I arrived it was in the workshop and all the staff had gone home except for a sales lady. She did however let me into the workshop to have a look over the car and was great.

I've had a couple of minor problems come up this week which were looked at under warranty. Unfortunately if I wanted a courtesy car I would have to book the car in a month in advance! That was unacceptable to me as I wanted the issues sorted ASAP so arranged my own lift to and from the garage. Other than having to wait a month for a courtesy car I found the after sales team great and they went through all the 'faults' in detail and what they have done / will do etc.

Cannot fault anything so far in my dealings with them (except the courtesy car situation) and I would go out of my way to recommend them.

[MickyH]

This is the 4^th car I have purchased from Beadles, and I can honestly say I have never had an issue with them.

Charles has sold  3 of the cars and has always been polite & helpful, and goes the extra mile to help, I honestly  believe they want to keep their customers, and so far I agree.

As a team I think they work very well  , thanks Charles & Nick