mangochutney

Already happening at Hortons, Lincoln. Servicing standards are dropping (and they used to be excellent) to such an extent that I now check carefully everything they've been paid to do, and it must just be the corner-cutting that we've come to expect from main dealers. I have no wish to contribute towards the £1.3m Hortons have had to spend, and once the warranty's out of the way (maybe sooner) I'll be off to somewhere less glossy, but more reliable.

Just as a follow-up to this, it's now practically impossible to get hold of anyone on the service side - even by phone. Every (and I mean every) time to call them, you get the reception people, and every time they say they'll have to get someone to call you back. That wouldn't be so bad if they called back quickly, but they rarely do - it's sometimes a matter of hours later. Very convenient, no doubt, for Hortons, but not remotely convenient for the customer. I'm thoroughly fed up with this level of customer service now - such a change from the way it used to be, when the customer mattered. Now all that seems to matter is a glossy image, but when you get under the gloss, there's nothing there. I'll be defecting very shortly to another much smaller garage. A lot less glossy - but rather cheaper, much better communications, and they don't have to find ways to claw back £1.3m from their customers.

Just as a follow-up to this, it's now practically impossible to get hold of anyone on the service side - even by phone. Every (and I mean every) time to call them, you get the reception people, and every time they say they'll have to get someone to call you back. That wouldn't be so bad if they called back quickly, but they rarely do - it's sometimes a matter of hours later. Very convenient, no doubt, for Hortons, but not remotely convenient for the customer. I'm thoroughly fed up with this level of customer service now - such a change from the way it used to be, when the customer mattered. Now all that seems to matter is a glossy image, but when you get under the gloss, there's nothing there. I'll be defecting very shortly to another much smaller garage. A lot less glossy - but rather cheaper, much better communications, and they don't have to find ways to claw back £1.3m from their customers.

That's pretty much exactly the way I feel about Hortons now - and Skoda. Hortons was an excellent local family company offering excellent service with a really friendly feel to it. The last couple of visits have shown pretty plainly that it's lost that since the revamp. It's now a very slow process booking cars in and equally slow getting them out again after servicing - really annoyingly slow, with unnecessary layers of staff and delay. The servicing itself was indifferent and had to be corrected later. The friendly feel has been replaced with corporate cooolness, and I'm thinking it won't be long now before one of the multiples takes it over. Maybe that's Oliver Horton's aim. Whatever the situation, I don't like it, other customers also don't like it, and it's probably going to mean that the servicing wil go elsewhere and that the next car won't be a Skoda. Sad really, because I liked Skoda, and I liked Hortons. That 1.3 million has to be paid for, and so do the reception staff that actually get in the way of good customer service - I suspect the savings will come from cutting corners on the servicing, as already evidenced, and that's not good.

I think Hortons ought to take notice of this thread: I was happy enough with Hortons before the 'facelift' but rather less so now - mainly because it's impossible to take a car in for service, or collect it, without a built-in delay while you wait in the waiting area (coffee provided, of course) for someone to come over from Service. You're greeted pleasantly enough, but it's impossible to talk or go directly to the service people - there's always a delay. All very glossy, all very white, but all very impersonal, corporate, soulless and sterile. That £1.3m has to be paid for - and it can only come from the customers. Reaction on the above thread is pretty negative too. Oliver, I think you need to be aware of this - though it's probably too late now, and I appreciate that Skoda probably didn't give you any option. I think the unofficial Skoda/VW service places in Lincoln are going to have a field day.

"Lincoln car dealership set for £1.3 million transformation" - that was this one (Horton Skoda). Very difficult to see how they can recoup that sort of money without substantial increases in labour rates - or corner-cutting. That's what bothers me about all this - there's only one person that can pay for it, and that's the customer, even though in reality the customer service is actually reducing because of the loss of direct communication and the delays introduced.

I really don't want to - I've been happy enough with Hortons - but these recent changes are driving me in that direction, and that's obviously quite the opposite of what Skoda and Hortons are trying to achieve. I was just curious to know whether this is happening across the country, and whether people are happy with the set-up. For example, on a recent visit, I'd estimate that the new reception procedures added around 20 minutes to the waiting time for the vehicle. Another guy in there was hopping mad about it. I was more sanguine, not being in a particular hurry that day, but if I'd been in a hurry I'd have been spitting feathers!

I've been happy enough with Hortons (Lincoln) for quite a while now, but lately they've had a £1m facelift. Probably no different from anywhere else, and doubtless all driven by SUK, but what we now have is this: 1 Smart new all-white showroom - nice, but absolutely sterile. 2 No access to anyone (service, spares, sales, whatever) without first having to go through an initial reception desk placed at the entrance. 3 Having to wait (not enough seats frequently - there are about 6) every time for someone from service to come to talk to you. That applies whether you're delivering or collecting a car for service. 4 Having to pay (inevitably) for the reception staff, who do nothing but act as a barrier between the 'real' staff and the customer. 5 Never being able to get straight through to service on the phone - it always involves their calling back, sometimes quite quickly, sometimes not. 6 Nice surroundings, coffee machine etc, but a real sense of having to pay for it all. Is this happening everywhere? Presumably it's all an image thing, but it's tempting me to go back to the much smaller, but much friendlier, 'scruffy' VW specialist in Lincoln where I know the work to be good (I'm sure they'll be as competent with Skoda as they are with VW for obvious reasons) and where there are no barriers like this. Just me, perhaps?