Just had some interesting news from Clarion Worthing, where I bought my car. Those of us left in the lurch when the Citygates lot disappeared [saltdean, Ballamys etc.] will be please to hear that Rivervale, at Portslade near Hove, can now do authorised warranty work on Skoda, although they do not sell them [they are a Porsche/Mercedes dealer mainly!!]

Clarion still do sales [and have the national "good deals" going at present] and do servicing at substantially below main dealer prices. But they can't do free warranty work.

Clarion Hmmm. First time I e-mailed them I was impressed with the response to my queries.

However, I can't say I was impressed when I used them for a service.

(1) They charged about £275 - I was told about £240 in my original query (there was no extra work). £275 is is a highish-average main dealer price for the 40k service I believe.

(2) The previous owner had had the cambelt changed at Clarion but the stamp had been missed from the service book. This point was also part of my original query and the only real reason I used them for this service. I stapled a note to the service book asking them to complete it accordingly. They failed to do this, leaving the service book in the car, so I had to come back, the service history is now out of order (just annoying not important).

(3) The service receptionist was dithery, not very cheerful and left me hanging around like a lemon for no apparent reason. He hadn't a clue about the cambelt and this was only resolved efficiently by the chap that answered my original query. The place had an air of lack of work - may have just been the time of year though.

(4) The car was returned with minor scratches on the front wheels where the wheels had obviously been spun and contacted by the power wrench whilst undoing the bolts. The driver side front wheel (but not the others) had been torqued up so hard I needed a 3ft bar and all my body weight to crack the nuts off 3 days later.

So generally I was underwhelmed, they just didn't make me feel like a valued and respected customer and didn't give the impression of being very organised or efficient.

No I didn't complain - I'm rubbish at complaining, but I won't be using them again. Shame for them really as my brother is a Taxi driver and previously bought a car from them too.

Little bit further East but I took mine to Saunders Abbot in St Leonards for its 20k service.

Price seemed a bit high to me but I've never had to service a car of this type before.

Guys were friendly, polite and knowledgeable and even washed the outside for me and did a cracking job on the alloys too.

Mike

Odd how different owners have different results. I've only had the first [1 year] service with Clarion and they charged my £104 and seemed efficient [i stood around watching the work being done!]

I tried to get warranty work [door seals] done at St. Leonards and just had two wasted return journeys without any real reason or compensation for 160 miles worth of fuel. "Oh", they said, "we ordered the wrong parts!" So I had the work done at Crawley Down, also a fair trip inland for me.

Rivervale is only a mile up the road from me. Hope I never need them, but if I do I can walk home if necessary.

Sparshatts of Chichester is open now I think.

Station road Ewhurst did my EGR/wheel bearing warranty, 10/10 for service.

I've had my last 2 octavias serviced there and I've never had a problem with them at all.

The only thing is it's a trek from Worthing but that's about it.

Station road Ewhurst did my EGR/wheel bearing warranty, 10/10 for service.

I've had my last 2 octavias serviced there and I've never had a problem with them at all.

The only thing is it's a trek from Worthing but that's about it.

Is that Ewhurst East Sussex, or Ewhurst Surrey?

Just over ze border in Surrey, north west-ish from Horsham - GU6 7QY to be precise

Would that be Rivervale, Victoria Road, Portsalde the Mazda dealer - where did you hear that they were doing warrantly work? do they also do servicing as well? I can't see anything on their website advertising this?

My car is due for its first year fixed service soon any ideas what the cost might be ?

As per my post, I heard by by letter from Clarion. I don't know if Rivervale do servicing - can't see why not, but I still like Clarion for cost and service [others apparently do not].

The letter said that Rivervale do not sell Skodas, only do authorised warranty repair work.

Yes, it is the place in Victoria Rd., Portslade but they seem to have several buildings at different positions along it. They are mainly known here as a Mercedes and Porsche dealer but somebody told me they do other makes now as well. I can't imagine them being cheap for servicing, but who knows?

Just had reply from Rivervale. They are not quite up and running yet but will be very soon.

The service manager for Skoda repairs will be Alan Mechen. They say they will let me know when the swing into action. (H'mmm....wonder if they can cure my door seals. They are still a little noisy sometimes!!!)

Station road Ewhurst did my EGR/wheel bearing warranty, 10/10 for service.

I've had my last 2 octavias serviced there and I've never had a problem with them at all.

The only thing is it's a trek from Worthing but that's about it.

For what its worth, I've just had my first Octavia VRs variable service there and everything went smoothly. No idea if they charged too much tho, it cost me just under 300 to get that done plus get a fog light replaced that I was quoted around 110 for(for parts AND labour).

Great service as far as I can tell, and its local for me because I live in Horsham!

Well, if it comes to it, I'll give Rivervale a try - like I say, they are within walking distance on a sunny day! And we might as well find out what they are like - unless of course anyone forms an opinion before I need them.

I have an official letter sent from Skoda customer services that arrived this morning stating Rivervale are a new authorised repairer (note this means servicing not sales). So hurrah for us on the Sussex coast

Details are:

Rivervale Skoda

Victoria Road

Portslade

Brighton

East Sussex

BN41 1XQ

01273 707007

Open 8am till 6:30pm weekdays

8 till 2 Saturdays.

Station Garage are OK and friendly enough, the drive up the A24 and through the country lanes is good but you have to wait around a week & a half if you want a courtesy car, they don't have enough of them IMHO.

They also failed to sort out the groaning noise on the Fabia vRS despite replacing a wheel bearing (review to follow).

Station Garage are OK and friendly enough, the drive up the A24 and through the country lanes is good but you have to wait around a week & a half if you want a courtesy car, they don't have enough of them IMHO.

They also failed to sort out the groaning noise on the Fabia vRS despite replacing a wheel bearing (review to follow).

Cool. My Experience of Station Garage has been good so far, from purchase to first service. I guess the true test will be if things ever go wrong...

Rivervale, Portslade, tell me they are now open for warranty repair business and already seeing customers.