Claybank Motor Company - Eccles, Greater Manchester

[TONY VRS]

When i was doing the rounds for a new Fabia vRS in the North West and wanted the best price for my PX which is a 2008 Focus ST2.. Simpson of Preston and Whiteclife of Warrington were both very helpful and gave me a price no problem, the guy at Claybank sorry dont no his name just said a bit offhand your ST doesnt float my boat i just said oh right see ya.

[InexEng]

This lot have just phoned me to tell me my car has just passed its MOT :S

Even though its not due until August

And I've not been near the place for well over a year :no:

[monkeykler]

Just had my cambelt done there, amazing service, had thermostat done same time, in and out within the day, dropped off in morning had back at end of play, would really reccomend, and ignore all the previous bad reviews, I get all my work for m vRS done here always top class service!

[The Skud]

Just had the 40K service and DSG service done, £430 all in, great service, they have a guy I have not dealt with before, the service dept has always been a bit surly, whilst good, the guy I dealt with was called Craig and he went out of his way to make sure everything was spot on! Very pleased with the technical knowledge and efficiency of Claybank, I have been using them for years, I tried lookers for the first oil change service and they were fine, I wish I could say the same this time, they made the process so difficult I went back to Claybank ( even though its a 12 mile drive as opposed to 3 miles).

[White Flag]

I called then Thursday to request a test drive Friday. My call wasn't returned. So, I had my test drive elsewhere and my new car is now on order. A lost sale for the sake of a phone call, very very poor.

[napalmdaz]

Adrian in parts is a very nice guy.

[monkeykler]

Adrian in parts is a very nice guy.

Adrian? don't you mean Alistair

[Juniorpiglet]

Went to this dealer enquiring about a citygo.

Salesperson was disinterested and offered me £1000 less than another Skoda dealer for my part-ex. (BMW 1 series)

Needless to say, bought one from the other dealer.

[monkeykler]

Exact same thing happened to me 900 for my vrs? No thanks!!!!

[Evil Miyagi]

Where to start?

My car was recovered to Claybank by Skoda Assist on Saturday 25th August following 3 breakdowns in 24 hours (http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/247993-i-give-up-update-2nd-update/).

Unfortunately when the car was dropped off the service side of the dealership were closed but the sales staff were more than helpful and booked my car in, taking all the details and instruction from the VW tech who took the car in. I passed over my contact details and times I would be available as I was starting a new job on the Tuesday following bank holiday.

Fast forward to Tuesday: I took my hire car for a long, hard trek over the moors to start my new job and sure enough at dinnertime I was called by Claybank to confirm details and provide me with initial information and contact frequency << small things make the big things so much better and it was agreed they would call me Wednesday afternoon / Thursday after they had been able to look at my car.

Wednesday afternoon I got a follow up phone call to confirm that the initial diagnosis had found a vacuum leak at the back of the engine to go with the excessive oil consumption and the mysterious disappearing spark plug tip. The decision was taken to fix the vacuum leak as the first point of call to ensure that this wasn't masking any further issues so they ordered the parts in and fitted them as soon as they arrived .

Following this they contacted me again to confirm that they had checked the cylinder in question out and that they could see no damage also that the compression test was coming back fine.

They said that now they believed they had a "level playing field", so to speak, they would start looking into the dramatic oil consumption I had been experiencing, given that I was in a Skoda Assist provided hire car and not a Claybank courtesy car the decision was made (in agreement with myself) that their Service Manager would use the vehicle to travel to and from work to cover the 180 mile required distance, as most people know I don't let anybody drive my car but my mind was put at ease.

3 days later and another phonecall to confirm that the car had now completed the 180 mile roadtest and failed the consumption test hands down (expected but good to hear) and that they would be following the fix on the TPI and fitting the MK2 breather system. Unfortunately this was out of stock with SUK but wanting to go the extra mile, they ransacked VW UKs stock and the breather kit was fitted straight away .

I was called again to confirm that the kit had now been fitted and that I could collect the vehicle when was convenient to me (allowing them time to clean up the oil marks that were visible) we agreed on collecting Monday evening.

Having just collected my car, its been fully valeted inside and out and more to the point is running like a dream.

Having been told that my car was perfect and running within Skoda parameters by my previous dealer, it was good to actually find a dealer who listened to what I had to say. They really did go the extra mile and I would have no qualms recommending them to anybody.

Thanks again Claybank!!

Damian Hirst

[JerryT]

3 days later and another phonecall to confirm that the car had now completed the 180 mile roadtest and failed the consumption test hands down (expected but good to hear) and that they would be following the fix on the TPI and fitting the MK2 breather system. Unfortunately this was out of stock with SUK but wanting to go the extra mile, they ransacked VW UKs stock and the breather kit was fitted straight away .

Dammo

glad it is sorted and that you are happy with the work put in by the dealer. Here's to you enjoying the VRs.

However, i have not heard of the Mk2 breather kit before, what is this?

[Evil Miyagi]

Dammo

glad it is sorted and that you are happy with the work put in by the dealer. Here's to you enjoying the VRs.

However, i have not heard of the Mk2 breather kit before, what is this?

On the MK1 variant it sends the oil fumes out of the exhaust whereas on the MK2 it pushes this back into the engine.

[Simon TDI Sport]

Glad the car is fixed Damo, lets hope all is okay now!!!!!!!!!!

[lfc4me]

Not exactly a review sorry but Claybank have some absolutely cracking deals on 63 plate pre reg cars with delivery miles at the moment. Popped in there yesterday on the way from the Trafford Centre and was very tempted by a Octavia 3 1.4 SE DSG hatch in silver at £15995 , £4500 below list. There were also a couple of Superb estates and a Rapid , all massively below rrp.

[3ddice]

Recently Bought my Ex-Demo Octavia VRS 15 Plate with 2200 miles on the clock, got a good deal, about 6k off list price, dealer was fairly good to deal with, I do a lot of mileage per year so I can then say something about their servicing.

[sparky2]

Had a letter from Claybank saying they have been taken over by Lookers !

[3ddice]

Yup same here, the lookers website hasn't been changed to reflect that though...

[speedsport]

Apparently the Lookers sites at Eccles and Manchester don't meet the new Skoda sales site size requirements so are going to be combined onto a new purpose built site (with their Manchester Seat dealership) near the Salford Rugby Stadium, half a mile from the current ex-Claybank site at Peel Green, Eccles.

 

It'll be interesting to see how this affects their customer service experience. It can only be a good thing for their mechanics though, as the existing cramped remote service department in Eccles can't bet a nice place to have to work, especially in winter.

[Wardy]

Good to know - no great surprise that Eccles fails on space requirements! I'm surprised they lasted so long at that location....

[20vKarlos]

I purchased my Superb Elegance from them last week and came away at lunch time feeling rather annoyed...

I was trading my Octavia VRS against the Superb and we had struck a deal on the car before I'd even made the 5 hour drive to the dealership.

Not being a fan of long distance deals they were very hesitant on offering me a GOOD price for my car, I offered to send them detailed photos and offered to do a video so that they could see the condition of my car, which I had described as WHEELS NEED A REFURB BUT EVERYTHING ELSE IS MINT.

I made sure Daniel was aware of just how particular I am over the phone, so that he could tell me know any defects on the car immediately. Nothing was mentioned!

I arrive 18/08/16 @ 10am, very welcoming, Daniel brings the car out and says "Have a Luke round, then come and grab us when you ready" I spent a good 20 minutes looking around the car and found a list of things I wasn't too happy with and wasn't made aware of.

The bits I was mostly concerned about were:

- 2 Dents to the roof 2x 6cm circles

- Big Scrape to N/S/R Bumper and O/SR Bumper had previously had a very poor Smart Repair

- Machine Polisher 'Strike Through' on the N/S/R Quarter Panel

But also had:

- 5cm Deep Scratch to O/S Lower Bonnet

- Chunk/Gouge missing from silver panel on the O/S/R door card

- Several Small dents over the car and a ripple dent to N/S/R top of the Window

(The Dent magician happened to be on site, so I asked him how much it would cost to sort the dents to the car and if he could do them today)

Daniel came back out and so I pointed the bits out and Daniel immediately got Dave (Sales Manager).

Dave looked at the car and said "what do you expect, it's a Used Car" to which I replied "Here's the keys to my car, it's done 10k miles more and it's 2 years older and that's what I expect of a car at this price, I appreciate its used, but it's not as described and we need to come to an agreement about the price, not to mention it's very poorly prepped for a £17,000 car" without skipping a beat Dave abruptly replied "In your opinion"

This rather annoyed me, so I asked him to open the boot so I could show him what I meant, he then said "I need to look at the numbers again and see if this deal is even worth us doing" I then replied, "Don't worry I am prepared to walk away"

He came back, offered me an £80 budget to get the work on the bumper carried out as he said that's what he would pay to get it sorted as a smart repair. I said no and that it would cost me a lot more to get the bumper done and what about the dents to the roof.

We agreed that they would get the Dent Magician back to sort the roof, whilst we went away for lunch and he offered me £200 as a budget to repair the bumper. I said I'd get three quotes from reputable garages closer to home and I would let him know when we got back.

This gave me time to get a few quotes (all were £250 or just above) and call Skoda UK to get some info regards the 'strike through' and sure enough they clarified my first thoughts "It's up to the dealer to rectify".

Got a text "your car is ready for collection"

Arrived back at the Dealer, tried to push for £250 for the bumper but no luck, No mats thrown in with the deal and they were just not budging when It came to any negotiations I had. They agreed £200 for the bumper, a full tank of fuel and they couldn't do anything about the 'Strike Through' but they would put it on the system, to which I replied, "I've spoken to Skoda UK about it and they have already logged it on the system, they are also aware that I have photos and they have asked me to send them in if I do purchase this car, so they can keep a record should there be any issues later down the line. Dave was a little shocked I'd called them but he didn't know what to say. So I just said, just make sure that it's on my paperwork and I am happy that it's logged.

So, to summarise;

Skoda Superb Elegance CR170 DSG Estate, Metal Grey, 28,000 Miles and One Previous owner

£10,450 for my VRS (they now have it for sale at £12,499)(I was offer £9,500 everywhere else)

£17,000 Advertised price on the Superb negotiated to £15500

£200 that they will reimburse me when the work is completed (I must send them a receipt)

Full tank of Fuel estimated at £50 (it had just under a 1/4 tank)

OVERALL

I feel that a set of mats would have been rather easy to throw in with the deal, but ultimately I got the car I wanted and the few niggly bits that are wrong with the car I will sort throughout ownership.

Their customer service skills leaves a lot to be desired and I left there annoyed that they were being so abrupt and not working with me. I ultimately knew the deal I'd made before arrival was a good deal and the car drove fantasticly well. We left that office at 16:30 and I was devistated I was leaving the VRS in such poor company but happy I was the owner of the superb I'd been looking for.

It wasn't all bad, but I hope you all have a better experience than myself, but it will be good to see how others find this Dealership

Edited 23 August, 2016 by 20vKarlos

[Wardy]

I think your findings match what others, including myself have found.

 

Always worth a shout within the local groups if you're looking at something a distance away. I'd have been happy to pop down and look at the condition of this one for you

 

It's my nearest dealership, but one that I don't use...

[20vKarlos]

I think your findings match what others, including myself have found.

Always worth a shout within the local groups if you're looking at something a distance away. I'd have been happy to pop down and look at the condition of this one for you

It's my nearest dealership, but one that I don't use...

Now thata a thought I didn't have! These forums are awesome and that's Great thought! Well there is always a next time

Thanks you bud I appreciate it

Edited 24 August, 2016 by 20vKarlos