That's Sparshatts for you Andy, I gave up with them and got everything parts wise from Peter Cooper in the end, I had terrible trouble getting anything done, I had to take the car back because they'd tried to clean rather than replace part's, wouldn't take my word for it and had to come have a look, not that I minded, but the "we'll be the judge of that attitude" really put my nose out of joint, especially when the mechanic just echoed what I'd already said word for word.

I never complained to sparshatts supurbia...i went and complained to skoda uk when the problem of the car became apparent. Sparshatts in my own personal opinion, have always given my wife and i very good service, when buying new and a used vehicle over the years, and when it came to find another vehicle quickly for my wife via the motability scheme, and having already tried fords and vauxhall, sparshatts just went that little bit further in making enquiries in order to get a vehicle for us.

Of course, they also said that all new cars were subject to a 5mth waiting list along with ford and vauxhall, but they tracked down the superb that we have now, and we received it within 2 weeks....brand spanking new straight out of the box, and its that kind of service and customer dealings that my wife decided to go with sparshatts and the superb greenline. I firmly believe that once you have a gripe with the dealer or start being shirty and what have you, then the comunications and the bull poo will then begin to surface.

When i mentioned to sparshatts about the car and its terminal problem and when they checked the warranty expired, they knew that i was on a dodgy wicket regarding getting the car repaired , but it was nice of them to say that once the car is repaired ( at my expense ) they would be interested in purchasing it off me...yeah i know the car's value will be nothing short of pathetic compared to what we paid for it, but the fact they were interested, does give one a bit of hope that there are some dealers that will go that little bit further, in order to keep their customers......after all, without repeat business, they wouldnt be in business. And to be honest the young fellow who dealt with my wife's application for her motability vehicle was basically 1st class in his approach, communications and customer service...and looking back, i can see whay we still deal with sparshatts and skoda...its a shame suk hq doesnt have that kind of attiude to match those of some of their franchised dealers !!!

I never complained to sparshatts supurbia...i went and complained to skoda uk when the problem of the car became apparent. Sparshatts in my own personal opinion, have always given my wife and i very good service, when buying new and a used vehicle over the years, and when it came to find another vehicle quickly for my wife via the motability scheme, and having already tried fords and vauxhall, sparshatts just went that little bit further in making enquiries in order to get a vehicle for us.

Of course, they also said that all new cars were subject to a 5mth waiting list along with ford and vauxhall, but they tracked down the superb that we have now, and we received it within 2 weeks....brand spanking new straight out of the box, and its that kind of service and customer dealings that my wife decided to go with sparshatts and the superb greenline. I firmly believe that once you have a gripe with the dealer or start being shirty and what have you, then the comunications and the bull poo will then begin to surface.

When i mentioned to sparshatts about the car and its terminal problem and when they checked the warranty expired, they knew that i was on a dodgy wicket regarding getting the car repaired , but it was nice of them to say that once the car is repaired ( at my expense ) they would be interested in purchasing it off me...yeah i know the car's value will be nothing short of pathetic compared to what we paid for it, but the fact they were interested, does give one a bit of hope that there are some dealers that will go that little bit further, in order to keep their customers......after all, without repeat business, they wouldnt be in business. And to be honest the young fellow who dealt with my wife's application for her motability vehicle was basically 1st class in his approach, communications and customer service...and looking back, i can see whay we still deal with sparshatts and skoda...its a shame suk hq doesnt have that kind of attiude to match those of some of their franchised dealers !!!

Sorry Andy, that's not how I found them, sales they are fine, the deceased Ivan was a good salesman who would give time even if there wasn't a sale, same thing with Ben iirc, though his name might be Dan, I always mix it up, but that's selling a car, getting it fixed is another ball game over there, Mike the service manager I felt was under pressure not to spend anything they could get away with, the girls on reception again were very good, but when I give Sparshatts the it's not the staff, it's the company that I don't like too much, and one time I was chatting to a member of sales about a car, he told me they'd had one in but the manager offered such little PX the guy simply walked out in a huff, do a little test for me, call and ask how much they will offer you for it now it's repaired and running sweet, (just blag it) I predict it won't be anymore than 4k, and should you sell it to them, it'll be outside with £7999 on the screen, trust me I spent the first 5 years of my working life working in garages, I know how they do things, and it's never for our benefit I can assure you, the only two I know of who gave me good service locally are Perry's & Richmond's, Perry's always endevoured to fix a shoddy 405, and the same no arguement when I had a Vectra from them, Richmond put a gearbox in a car I'd had for 2 weeks that cost 25% of what I paid for the car, whether the warranty company or the dealer coughed for it I don't know, but they put a factory recon box in it for me without me even asking.

I personally would've pressured Sparshatts to nudge Skoda, and I would've cancelled the new one however much I wanted it out of principal, if they can't help the dealer keep repeat business happy, then they don't deserve the loyalty, without wishing to upset you, it reads like you bought the bloke who mugged you in the alleyway a pint and dinner, and thanked him for the black eye.

Knowing my luck if i asked if i said to sparshatts the car is now fully repaired and i'm interested in what you have to offer they prob send someone round to check it out.....and i'd look a bit daft saying no you cant take it out for a spin as the repair hasnt been done yet !

I'd sooner wait till i've checked the car myself when it it is up and running.....then yes i will contact them and see what they have to offer, and go from there. Strange about richmond....i bought a rover 2.5 v6 fastback from them and they did a few things to the car and i had no end of trouble with the car......eventualy got rid of it and went on to skoda's would you believe lol....i suppose everyone has different views on how they are treated by garages and dealers, personally i would much prefer to buy the car brand new and do all the servicing myself, that way i would know it was kept in tip top condition. And if i knew that the car in question was going to be problematic then i wouldnt have bought the car in the 1st place.....i guess thats the luck of the draw...i didnt know about the car in question when i bought it.....and as it went past the 3yr warranty, i should of extended it...but as the car was running extremely well, i didnt bother,,,,,,hence the headache when the oil warning light appeared.

i suppose its a case of one learning by ones mistakes, and accepting that it is vital to have continuous warranties connected to the car during ownership wether new or not, and the peace of mind will always be there if needed,,,but then again it all adds up to the cost of ownership...does one want a car that they hope will run for a few years without any problems, or does one want to pay through the nose with expensive warranties and actually not even have to use them?

As for the for me being mugged by a bloke and me buying him a pint for the black eye, it would take a brave man to do that....unless he wants to take on someone who resembles a gorilla

In all fairness to you, back when you bought it, there was no real talk of it being anything other than another good VAG sourced engine and car.

With Richmond, I think you'll have to blame Rover for that one rather than the dealer, the guy that own's Richmond is a bit of a task master and I've seen him rollicking the staff before when they've messed up, but I will say one thing for the man, he didn't duck the issue and made good to me, we had two visits to a specialist for a rebuild, both times it came back still broke, then out of the blue he just said, order a new box and they fitted it, lasted exactly the same miles again as the first one had, and that VX box was a stroke of luck if it went more than 70k without any trouble.

I agree with what u said about richmond.....they let me have the rover for a few hours to try it out, and in all fairness the car was rather nice, but i did allow myself to be taken in by the power it delivered and the fact it was a one owner model , but again not doing my homework and finding out about the model and its hidden problems !!...and basically comparing it to the knackered vauxhall cavalier i had at the time which had 250k miles on it...but then again, i never had access to a computer at the time, and i would of found out about the running costs of the rover and its problems with oil in the cooling system and cylinder head warping !! but the car was bought and i did have a couple of trouble free years motoring in it before p/x it towards my first octavia ambiente....what i find annoying most of all, is the previous cars that i've owned, is that they are still on the road...compared to the superb that languishes on the driveway !!