27 replies to this topic

[DGW]

Sherlodge Garage
26 Hoath Lane
Wigmore
GILLINGHAM
Kent
ME8 0SW


01634 377444


Services:  New, Used, Repair, Fleet

Edited by DGW, 11 February 2009 - 11:39.
Details updated

[ncarring]

Originally posted by TaviaRS - Thu Sep 30, 2004

Pros: Friendly
Cons: Supplied the wrong car

I bought a new car from them in February.

Ordered an Octavia Estate, went through all the hoops and arrived to pick it up on the Friday as agreed.

The salesman, Paul was on the 'phone at the time so he just pushed me the keys and said to check it over whilst he finished the call. I asked where it was as all I could see was a hatchback. He then informed me that the hatchback was my car.

I decided to accept the car, even though it was incorrect as I was due to go to France that evening, my insurance had all been transferred to the new car and I didn't want to wait another 6-8 weeks to get the new one for various reasons.

I got no form of recompense for the error (other than a tank of fuel), I even had to go back 1/2 hour later as they'd forgotten to put the tax disk in the car.

Would I buy another car from them? Er, no.

As to servicing, well, I live the other soide of the country now, so I won't be using them.

Hopefully, this was just one of those things that happens. I'm sure that normally they are good.

[ncarring]

Originally posted by Kentish - Thu Sep 30, 2004

Bought my Superb from them back in 03/03, and before that an Octy in 98 from their previous premises.
Sales staff have always been very friendly and relaxed, and never once given me aggro or problems.
Servicing staff could be a little less prone to moods, but parts staff are also very friendly and helpful.
Generally I find them helpful, polite and unassuming especially to the wife.

Would I use them again...yes

[ncarring]

Originally posted by patnmand - Fri Oct 8, 2004

Just moved into the area, so used them for the first time. Have to say it was a massive improvement over the service I got from my previous dealer. They seemed genuinely knowledgeable, and interested in looking after their customers. I had decided that this would be my last Skoda because I was so fed up with the previous dealership, but now I'm not so sure......

[ncarring]

Originally posted by Buggs - Mon Nov 22, 2004

Used as local dealer for service and MOT on my Ocy VRS. Completed work as necessary and phoned me with updates and to inform me of minor things that needed doing, which they completed when given the ok.

Provided Fabia while car in work shop and this was very clean and ok apart from fuel warning light on when collected.... Guess no one likes giving away free fuel.

Staff appeared friendly and polite but one did come across a bit stropy but guess every one has bad days and in generall very pleased with service....

Will use again next time......

[ncarring]

Originally posted by The Jimmy - Sat Aug 27, 2005

Always look after my Dad well after he bought an ex-demo Felicia and greeted by name, even after a good gap between visits. Went there to look at a Fabia vRS, booked a test drive and given the keys to go out by myself for an hour :-) (I came back!). Happy to haggle and willing to do some legwork to close a good deal. Factory order car delivered in 2 months, no problems and a thorough handover. Fitted me in at v short notice on a Sat to get xenon beams lifted although technician wasn't prepared to accept that I thought them to be far too low and told me to use main beam instead!! (adjustment made and now much much better). More than happy to use again.

[Dread1977]

Bought my first car from them back in october last year, they at least managed to get the car/delivery correct, clutch failed at 6000 miles and ended up being looked after by them for 5 days. Granted they did fix the problem, but i had to do all the chasing to find out when my car was going to be ready, they did give me another fabia to run around in, but i guess it was expecting too much to be given a decent one, still its free........

I guess my only real gripe is with the rather large scratches i recieved inside the passenger/drivers side door sill. 4 to be exact, not sure i can do anything about them but i will talk to customer services and see what they say.

All in all, im 50/50 as to getting another skoda after this one is done..... may go JAP as they appear to look after thier customers.

[tarzey]

I have recently bought a three-month-old Skoda Superb Elegance 2.5 V6 TDI 160bhp Tip demonstrator from this dealer.  There do not seem to be many 2.5 V6 demonstrators around, and the price it was offered at made it worthwhile travelling over a hundred miles to see this car. The trip was not wasted and a deal was quickly done. I gave the dealer a list of small works I wanted doing (adding a Parrot Blue-tooth kit, mud flaps, fire extinguisher, etc.) and I returned a week late to find all the work done and the car ready and waiting for me, exactly as per specification.

Conclusion; recommended. Why can’t all garages be like this?:thumbup:

[richie]

Had the Octavia vRS serviced there today.

Brilliant job, good price at £276.09 for a second variable service ( 37000 miles), the car feels better than when I first picked it up in December 05!! :D

Nice Roomster to drive around in for the day. All in all a good day, promt service from the garage, car deliverd at 0830, done by 1530.:thumbup:

[AndyG_1979]

Bought my Fabia vRS in Feb 2005.  Barry Crook (sales manager) bent over backwards to help and called every few week after the car had been delivered to make sure all was ok :D  

Service and parts guys always more then helpful and usually run a little discount :)

I will be buying my next car from them and will always use them for my Skoda..

On another note, they were really good when we took our little Fiat Seicento run around in to have its rocker cover replaced.  They gave me a price of 1 hours labour.  We dropped the car off at 9am and when I called at 2 to see how they were getting on they were just finishing as it was a lot more work then they had thought.  They only charged me for the 1 hour which I though was great as im sure some garages would have charged for the full 5 hours..

Andy

[The Jimmy]

Still very happy. Just got corroded alloys replaced, with none of the difficulty that some others have experienced with other dealers on this subject (quick inspection by SM and parts ordered in 5 minutes) :) top line. Will be back for MoT and service soon.

[richie]

Not too happy with them at the moment.

Had the Octi in for them to diagnose a noise from the front. I asked for a day when I was off and a loan car was availiable, told it would be at least 2 weeks befor a car could be sorted out to match my day off etc (today, the 26th). It was suggested that I come in on last Saturday morining so the teckie could do a road test.

Okay, fair enough. Turned up at 8am and road test conducted. The teckie thinks it is a wheel bering on the off side, though not 100% sure, willl need to order the parts in for all 4 wheels. Again, fair enough.

Back to the garage only to be informed that the date booked for the loan car etc was not actually booked as I had agreed to come in on the Saturday morning. Now wating for a phone call once the parts have come in so I can make another booking for a loan car etc. And this may be "at least another 2 weeks as all the loan cars are all booked up and what with the easter weekend, the parts will not be in till at least Thursday................" :mad:


Update 26/04/08.

After chasing them up......................................:rolleyes:

Had the car back a couple of weeks ago. The wheel bearings are fine. The noise was the 2 rear tyres which had "distorted" £235 later for 2 new tyres.....................

What pi%%ed me off the most was that the tyres were inspected on the Saturday the teckie came out in the car with me!!!!!

[richie]

Right, ref the above. To cut a long story short. The garage lead me to beleive that the Avon tyres were returned to Avon for an inspection to see if they were defective. It turns out that they are under a 5 year warranty from the original supplier, so I could get a 100% refund from the supplier.

Got a call today from the Skoda garage asking me what was going on with the tyres as they are still at the service centre!!!!! 3 weeks after being "told" they were being sent away.

After taking a very deep breath, I infromed the serivce manager that a college of his informed me that THEY would send the tyres back to Avon with a S.A.F (????) report and they would call me when the report was back.

So, I now will go and get the tyres and take them back to the orriginal supplier and hope fully get the job done and my dosh back.

[richie]

If you get an extended warranty, make sure they update Skoda Assistance................................ :rolleyes:

They are now charging £15 a day for a loan car for "insurance reasons" :(

Edited by DGW, 11 February 2009 - 11:47.
2 posts merged

[richie]

Thanks to Barry for the sale of my MK2 Vrs :thumbup:

[badgepikey]

Just bought an '06 Octavia vRS 2.0T FSi hatch in Corrida Red from Sherlodge, and can't rate them highly enough

Dale

[T31VRS]

just had a 60k service on the fabia vrs come in at £229 all in !! Quite good service as booked me in within a few days, let me keep there car over night as i work nights and needed a car only thing that really buged me was they did not even wash the car !! will prob go back tho !! ***********************************

Edited by DGW, 24 June 2010 - 20:19.
Where car is going in the future is not first-hand feedback on this dealer.

[skodanewboy]

For a long time now I’ve been a VAG fan, with various company cars in the past and now my own car, including 3 golfs, 2 passats, a sharan and an Audi A3.

Keeping a very long story short my last car was a VW purchased from and serviced by a local dealer,  all went wrong 3 months after the 3 year warranty had run out, and a day after it had been serviced! Although the VW dealership did try to help out, there was a “computer says no!” mentality from both service desk and workshop staff. Which after ten years of customer loyalty left a very bad taste in my mouth.

We had already been using Sherlodge for servicing & MOT’ing my wife’s car and I had always found the service desk & workshop staff very polite and helpful. This made me decide to look into maybe my first Skoda purchase.

I started talking to Barry Crook the sales manager there and found his knowledge and advice second to none. After a couple of test drives, both the Superb and Octavia, I plumped for the Octavia vRS CR TDI as I still notch up some mileage for work.

With a background in sales myself, all I can say is that Barry’s experience of 20+ years in the motor trade, mainly with Skoda, plus their human after sales face are both very valuable assets to Sherlodge Garage and they can rest assured that with this kind of service both my wife and I will be spreading the word!

Edited by skodanewboy, 15 January 2011 - 10:21.

[richie]

Bit of a mixed few hours there yesterday.......

Went to get a valuation done on Mrs Stigs Ferbi tdi Sport, as its on the Skoda PCP finance deal. Turned up to find a busy show room with both sales staff tending to customers, fair enough, played with the show room cars for a 10 minutes or so. Barry the sales mamager asked what we were interested in and we replied the Ferbi vRS.

Not a problem, the demo car was filled up with fuel and Barrry handed the keys with the words "Go and have fun, see you later."

Great fun and 30 minutes later, we (reclucantly) handed the keys back and took our seats for the fun and games to begin. The Ferbi was valued and the number crunching began. The sales chappie was new to Skoda and found it difficult to get the numbers to balance up. He appologised for this and admitted the difficulties he was having. At least he was honest and didn't try the "bullpoo baffels brains" routine, which is not a good idea when the wifes chartered accountant.

The salesman realy tried to get it all right, but was realy having difficulties. In the end it was agreed that he would sit down with Barry and try to get some thing organised and send an email ASAP. Fair enough, at least he's trying........

As of today, no email...... Sorry chaps, too late. New car ordered with another dealer.

[cj_uk]

I've been dealing with Sherlock for the past 9 years and they have been great. I bought 3 Octavias from them in that time, all been serviced by them, no problem. That is until now.

This is not so much of a problem, but more of a disappointment really.

Car due for a service, cambelt change and front and rear brakes. Called them and asked for a price and also if they do a discount in all of it for me. Got told a price and then they discounted by nearly £400. I was quiet chuffed, that was until I called 4 other dealers and 2 indy garages and they all quoted the same price that was the discount price by Sherlodge prior to offering me further discount. I called Sherlodge confirming the individual job prices and them told them my findings from the other garages. The service guy got quite short with me saying that their own labour rates were probably higher than the others and would not be able to offer any discount.

Just seems strange that being a loyal customer doesn't always count.

[SteveL&K]

I have been using Sherlodge for many years ...........  but no more.
Took my Octy L&K in because air con was not performing properly thinking it just needed a regas. Half hour later get called in, gas is fine, problem is with motor for the flaps under the dash. When I query this they get quite shirty! Any way they want £200 as a starter to take the dash out, then they will tell me how much they want to sting me for! Well I dont go for this.
Took it to a local aircon guy, he plugs his gauges in and lo and behold the gas is 2/3rds empty! £40 later job done.
........... any way a little later, time for a new Cam Belt, your in luck im told 20% discount at the moment, that will be £480 !!!  Phone Canterbury Motor line £280. What a diference among main dealers. Wont be using Sherlodge any more, ever.

[RainbowFire]

So far, so good.

Collected my '57 Octy three months ago. Knowledgable salesperson (Lorna), with the added attraction of no BS, when she didn't know something, she fessed up and found someone who did.

Couple of weeks later, I came home to find a card saying that the brake fluid needed to be done. I'd known the cam-belt needed to be done, but this was a suprise. Also, as we'd moved into winter and the heater was used more, the distinct smell of stale cigarette smoke(*) was coming through the system.

Both problems resolved painlessly, car went back for a day (had a FL for a day, base model I think - amazing how much you miss the little things), accomodated out of hours return as well.

As mentioned previously (SteveL&K), the cam-belt ended up being done elsewhere at just over half the "discounted" price (collected and returned), with OE parts as well.


Been there before for a couple of parts on the Octy and the Fun Truck. Parts guy (Russ) is a wealth of information.


Service 10/10 (so far.......)



(*) Original post said "dog", that was the newly aquired loan car. I mentioned this to the service guy when he called to let me know mine was ready.......he groaned.

Edited by RainbowFore, 23 December 2011 - 21:39.

[bill2]

i had  several bad experiences with sherlodg garage in gillingham.

one they tried too make me pay for two alloy wheels that they said they would replace under warranty,  two weeks later get a phone call from the a very pushy service manager trying too pressure me into paying £450 for the wheels saying if i did not i would have to return the wheels

This is after they had checked the wheels and said they where covered under the warranty.
i had to contact skoda uk to get them to resolve this which they did

they are only ten minutes from me but i now use beadles in maidstonewhich takes 30 minutes but better service

[TeebsVRS]

I have had 3 x alloys replaced under warranty with minor, but definitely faulty, lacquer peel. Absolutely no fuss whatsoever. So far they've been spot on with me.

[Matt Bodycombe]

Barry their sales manager is a top bloke but i can't stand their service manager. He is sarcastic and always makes you feel like one at fault when you mention a problem. I would buy a car from them but get it serviced elsewhere. I had my car recovered a few years ago to Murray Skoda in Newton Abbott Devon ( dad has place down there ) and they were lovely: fought for goodwill when my turbo went. I had them do the car for a while and now use my sister's husband who works for ford dealers but knows TDI engines from old Galaxy.

Edited by Matt Bodycombe, 15 March 2013 - 14:15.

[RainbowFire]

Which service bloke?

[Matt Bodycombe]

Can't remember his name but he is probably early to mid 50s grey hair and ruddy complection. He is Glenn the young sales guy's dad. To be fair he was civil to me at the Octavia launch and I have a good relationship with Barry and the sales team so I may go back should I want to get rid of my mk 1 vrs which would not be yet. I have looked after it and i still can't find a better motor for my need: economy, punchy acceleration and relaxing on a run. I thought the new Mk 2 VRS would but despite DSG and dual charging was much more frantic. Oh welll we will see.

[CRASH67]

I brought My Monte Carlo off Glenn whole thing went smoothly and very helpful. So no issues there.
As from a service point of veiw no real issues other then my seat wear they said was down to clothes causing friction but im compaint is the the foam inside crumbling, i didnt argue but may take it too motorline dartford or beadles for a 2nd opinion.

I tried asked for discount on parts due to being in the trade they refused, welk next time il supply them the parts as at work we run a couple VWs and get good prices with the local TPS branch.