Dales Cornwall Reviews 61

I had a great experience with the service department at Dales Cupra Summercourt. Sean was really helpful when booking my car in — I mentioned I might need new tyres so he arranged a convenient time for me to drop in prior to my service to have them checked. He was also very accommodating with dates and made sure a courtesy car was organised for the day, which made everything much easier.

On the day of the service, Nikki was brilliant. She handled the booking smoothly and helped me find the hire car without any hassle. I initially approved the work for four new tyres, but after checking, they advised that the front tyres were still in good condition and well within the legal limit, so they didn’t need replacing. I really appreciated their honesty, which saved me money.

Overall, excellent service and a very professional, trustworthy team.

Trustpilot ask what went wrong?

The question should be what went well or good??

Answer is NOTHING !!!

I trusted Dales without reading any reviews.

The sales guy seemed and appeared to sound ok.
HOW WRONG WAS I??

Nearly 12 months on and still locked in battle with Dales and Renault HQ UK!!!

They are all tarnished with same brush!!

Beware buy elsewhere and don’t buy Renault.

Read Dales shocking reviews then look for a more reputable showroom.

I’ve tried to be calm not angry whilst writing this so they can’t appeal it with trustpilot and have it removed like they do.

Why because they do not want you to read truthful open and honest reviews.

They are embarrassed but don’t care one iota once they’ve had your money.

Beep beep beep!!!!

We purchased a seat from the scorrier branch and cant recommend them enough. We are very happy with the car, it was at a reasonable price and when we picked it up it was pristine. After care has been great.

I remember many years ago someone from Dales was so helpful trying to sort out a problem with our Samurai. More recently the purchases of our Jimny and then our first Ignis were smooth and pleasant. My second Ignis was bought from a dealer who no longer deals with Suzuki. As I now do fewer miles I wanted some guidance re servicing, hence I filled in your online enquiry form on your web site. I hoped to get some guidance so I could book the ignis in a little later this year. It would appear that the days of your excellent customer service are long gone. It is now 2 weeks since I received confirmation of receipt of the form. I assume my enquiry is resting in your delete bin.

Our experience with Dales Cupra Scorrier has been superb: a lesson to other dealerships as to how it should be done. Right from ordering our Terramar 1.5 Hybrid to collection it was fantastic. TONY HARRISON was excellent—knowledgable, personable and professional. It was a pleasure to buy from him. In more than 50 years of having new cars, this was by far and away the best handover we’ve had. Highly recommended. Also, the Terramar is brilliant, a pleasure to drive, economical and extremely well built. Again, highly recommended.
I have no connection with Dales other than being a satisfied customer.

"UPDATE (Feb 20th): Formal Adjudication Open – Motor Ombudsman Case 00324168
The Respondent’s public reply below is a documented misrepresentation of the facts. While they claim my account is 'wildly out of line,' I hold the following date-stamped evidence now with the Adjudicator:
THE WRITTEN INDEMNITY: I hold a written email from the Aftersales Manager (S.P.) explicitly promising to 'organise the hire car to be covered without [me] having to pay.' Their claim that they didn't 'instigate' this is factually false [1.1, 1.3, 1.5.5].
THE TECHNICAL FAILURE: Dales gave my car a 'Clean Bill of Health' on Feb 2nd. The exact part I warned them about on Jan 21st failed catastrophically 24 hours later. This wasn't a 'scenario,' it was Gross Technical Negligence that put my family at risk on the A30 [1.1, 1.3, 1.6.1].
THE BLACKLIST: I am now on a Global DNR Blacklist because Dales failed to honor their B2B payment commitment to Enterprise. I am writing this as a warning to anyone considering Dales (Cornwall). Due to the staggering incompetence of their Aftersales Manager, S.P, I was left driving a corporate hire vehicle UNINSURED for 8 days.
Despite this being a Corporate Hire booked via the Dales/Spoticar account, Dales failed to manage the booking or provide any invoicing details. While Sean claimed he was "waiting for figures," he allowed the hire to lapse without notifying me. This is not just a "communication failure"—it is a criminal liability. Dales effectively facilitated me unknowingly committing a road traffic offence on public roads for over a week.
The situation escalated to a point of sheer thuggery. Because Dales failed to reconcile their own corporate account, Enterprise viewed the car as "unauthorised." Dales then allowed/directed recovery agents to arrive at my home at 7:00 PM to seize the vehicle. I have autistic children who were deeply distressed by this aggressive "goon-squad" tactic at our front door.
To top it off, I am now nationally blacklisted (DNR) by Enterprise because of Dales’ internal chaos.
Summary of Dales’ "Service":
Criminal Negligence: Left me uninsured on the road for 8 days.
Total Incompetence: Failed to manage a corporate booking they initiated.
Harassment: Sent recovery agents to a private home at night with children present.
Defamation: Caused me to be blacklisted by a national rental agency.
I have set a deadline for a formal resolution. If not met, I will be escalating this to The Motor Ombudsman, Spoticar UK, and the FCA regarding the insurance breach. Avoid this dealership at all costs if you value your legal standing and your family’s peace of mind.

"I wouldn’t trust Dales Summercourt with a toy car, let alone a real one. After my car went in for repair under a Spoticar warranty, they arranged a hire car via Enterprise. However, due to a massive administrative blunder on their end, the hire was never correctly paid for.
As a result, I was accused of 'theft' by the rental company. I had a recovery agent at my door threatening me with the police while I was still authorised to drive the vehicle. Even after the car was returned, Dales failed to settle the bill, leading to a second 'mystery' van visit to my home and a permanent ban from Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
Despite multiple calls, Dales have blatantly ignored the issue. They are happy to take your money but will leave you to face 'repo men' on your own doorstep for their mistakes. If you value your privacy and your credit rating, stay far away from this dealership. Formal complaint to The Motor Ombudsman now in progress2

Great customer service by all staff members in the Cupra showroom from the sales to service team. Dealt with James as this is my second time buying a Cupra from Dales and everytime I leave satisfied, pleased and cared for. 5* review, very happy customer.

This is the second car i have bought from Dales. I went to test drive and loved the complete lack of hard sell. Thus I appecited it when Luke offered to do a search of existing stock just to see what they had. The car they found was perfect for what i needed. Reserved and bought it. It wasnt just the car though it was the thoughtful service. Thanks Luke!

Horible customer service. Stay away from this business. Garage manager, total unprofessional, rude, lack of knowledge, does not about customer. If you want to get offended, go speak with that man. Stay away from this business.

The service team are unhelpful and below what you'd expect from a main dealer. They do not encourage you to continue to use their services and I would recommend using a smaller garage who pride themselves on their service and reputation. It seems that main dealer do not need to care about repeat customers as they are too busy to care.

Had my car serviced yesterday at Dales Summercourt. Great service as always, I needed the car back at a certain time and they accommodated with ease. Nikki and Sean from the Seat service department were fantastic! Highly recommend.

So here is my final update for dales!, financial ombudsman took my complaint on and all my evidence, case was upheld and van was rejected last week as most likely all issues were there when purchased. Waiting on finance company to do their paperwork etc and still using the van to work. Today the noise they were adamant was the air duct was getting louder and louder then eml lights no power then red eml light. OBD confirmed a turbo code and the noise disappeared funny that. Anyway vans going back full refund to but do need to get my gap insurance payment back off dales so I’ll be speaking to them soon 👌🏻. Don’t be fobbed off and genuinely listen to the negative reviews they aren’t all fake.

Edit- in response to dales Harvey received an email which he replied to stating that the radio still isn’t fixed on 26/9/25 it’s 100% worse have proof from that day until now to! And Andy received and replied basically saying take it up with the finance passing the buck! to a copy of a formal complaint on the 2/10/25. I wouldn’t be putting a formal complaint if it was all ‘fixed’ would I? No follow up since on how the vans going either and in one email I provided Andy with my number so we could discuss the issues no call, he said he’d come out and see me when I collected the small hire van he never and there’s a witness to it, can’t get through to the desk the ignore your call when your number flashes up as we found out while trying to contact when the motor home took the wing mirror off the demo van. Happy to share everything on request with anyone that needs to see it.

In Really disappointed in this experience and with dales after buying a car from them in 2017 which was actually really reliable and no issues!

This time I needed a van from a reliable ’trusted’ dealership but unfortunately dales don’t seem to be all that anymore! This van is for a small business that doesn’t make a fortune after being let down with private buys Tom knew the situation and in his video of the walk around he states a few bits to do and it’s good to go! Picked the van up on the 3rd June and the problems started as soon as I hit the a30, long story short dales have had 4 attempts at fixing it and this 4th time it’s the worst it’s been so gone down all the right channels now.
Left feeling scammed out of thousands but going by other reviews I should have trusted them!
Everything’s documented even when I collected the van after the 3rd repair it was recovered for smoke coming out the bonnet and the service manager reassured me the turbo had been tested as this was where the smoke was coming from but when I checked with the girl from reception before driving off again the pipe still wasn’t attached to the turbo the mechanic come out and said it’s because the wrong bolt was on it- been driving like that since I picked it up the service manager was present at the time to same one that said turbo had been checked and tested!

Second time I collected I just got in set up the camera and heard a bang under the small canopy there was a grey car parked up and one of the sales guys reversed a customers car in to that one parked under there got out had a look pulled forward and walked off!

Didn’t want me collecting the van the forth time either insisted it be dropped here used the excuse of wanting to clean it but like i said I’m not bothered about it being washed they had it 4 weeks to long, to fix the same things as before that’s worse now.

Definitely will not be dealing with dales again unfortunately vans still not fixed and in a worse state than it was to start, staff don’t listen to what you report sales manager Andy said he’d test drive it with Harvey I know full well they didn’t as Harvey said the mechanic had. Always got the impression they weren’t telling the truth to, also tell you you’ve been misled by the actual maker which in this case would seem they were telling the truth and dales was cutting more corners.

Save your money and spend somewhere that give a hoot about their customers.

Response to Dales reply below; That is incorrect and misleading to anyone reading — the vehicle was physically inspected in person by an independent engineer (ACE) appointed by my finance company, and a legal report was produced confirming the dpf issues issues and unsuccessful repairs. ACE & DEKRA are both companies that only produce legal reports after a physical vehicle inspection. Their entire purpose is to send a qualified engineer to assess the vehicle in person, take photos, run diagnostics, and compile a formal written report. The report, which supports everything I have said from the outset, is now on file with all parties. I’m afraid it’s very clear at this point that if you genuinely wanted 100% customer satisfaction, you absolutely had ample opportunity to rectify selling a now-proven defective vehicle long before this was ever escalated. Helping isn’t denying faults, then offering an inspection after the fact — nor is it telling customers to take on personal debt to cover negative equity arising from your own failings.

Update - Defective car purchased August last year…

After months of being fobbed off and blamed for faults that clearly weren’t my doing, my finance provider commissioned an independent engineer’s report on the Range Rover Evoque that Dales Cornwall sold me.

The report confirmed ongoing DPF issues likely present since purchase and directly pointed the matter back to the selling dealer — Dales Cornwall — due to failed repairs.

In other words, everything I’d said from day one was true.

Dales’ response throughout this process was dismissive, contradictory, and frankly dishonest. They told me I “didn’t drive the car enough” and even suggested I take out a personal loan to cover the negative equity on a vehicle they sold in a defective state.

My finance provider are now resolving the issue with me directly. It speaks volumes that it took an independent investigation to uncover what Dales should have acknowledged over a year ago.

If you’re thinking of buying from them — please, read the independent reviews carefully and tread very carefully.

My wife has been coming to dales for years and has amazing customer track records in Dacia cars, so i thought i would join in and buy my very first Dacia i absolutely love my new car, Jane has been absolutely superb throughout, Jane has a wealth of experience and is so kind and and knowledgeable she is an absolute credit forn Dales in my eyes. We love coming to Dales and will be enjoy our future with the whole Dales team.

Symon, the CUPRA sales person was exceptional. Really easy to do business with, a great ambassador for both the CUPRA and Dales brands. Bought a brand new car in record time through him, and everything has gone seamlessly.

car went in for MOT and Service.
Car passed MOT, but after the service was told the handbrake lever was stiff and needs replacing (nothing showing as advisory on MoT), quoted £275 for new lever, which i declined.
When i got car back, the handbrake was a lot stiffer than when i had left it. Had a local mechanic look at it after explaining what happened, they figured the problem was that the lever had been purposely bent to the side to make it stiff against its housing. They bent it back and handbrake was like it was before, local mechanic didn't charge for this as was sorted in less than a minute!
Don't trust their mechanics, always get a second opinion before forking out for costly repairs that are not needed!

Excellent ,strongly recommend
Fantastic customer service !!

UPDATE:
Thanks for replying. To clarify for anyone reading:
• I reported repeated faults (including a critical safety failure requiring police recovery)
• Dales did not “investigate” beyond asking me to pay for an engineer’s report first.
• I offered a reasonable settlement (clear £6,000 liability + £332 wasted finance). This was refused.
• The vehicle had already had a failed repair within the first 6 months (Consumer Rights Act “one repair” rule). The same DPF fault has recurred.
• I have escalated to the finance company under Section 75, notified Trading Standards, and will go to the Financial Ombudsman Service if needed.
Happy to share the email chain and Land Rover invoices with any party who wishes to see them.

Original review;
I bought a Range Rover Evoque from Dales Cornwall in August 2024 for £13,500. Within weeks it developed serious faults and over the following year I had three major breakdowns — including one terrifying incident where the car lost all steering and electrics and had to be recovered by police.

The car spent weeks off the road, including being sent to Land Rover because Dales couldn’t fix it themselves. The same DPF fault has now recurred, leaving the car in limp mode. Despite this, I have been left with over £10,600 in losses after finance payments, negative equity, recovery charges, insurance costs and wasted servicing — for a car I only had 336 days’ use of.

The way Dales have so far handled this was worse than the car itself:
• They’ve denied being aware of most recent fault, despite me calling on the day and being told to come in.
• Most shockingly, when I went in they even suggested I take out a personal loan to cover £7,000 negative equity so they could sell me another car. The senior manager was present at the dealership and said nothing.

I have now escalated the matter to the finance company, Trading Standards, and the Financial Ombudsman Service.

If you value your safety, your money, or your time: do not buy from Dales Cornwall.

Appalling service. Approved Dacia warranty useless. No recompense from either dealer or Dacia both blamed each other. Unless you have very deep pockets, avoid like the plague. Clutch burned out apparently £2075 to repair. Complained about clutch smell shortly after purchase, told it was hottest day of the year. 12 months on told need new clutch.

Response from Dales:
Hi Steve

I have discussed the issue with your clutch feeling heavy with my team and after reviewing everything, including your warranty policy (copy attached for reference) I believe the service team have handled this appropriately. Clutches are usually considered wear and tear items which means they are not covered under most warranty policies – refer to page 12 of the booklet.

To inspect the clutch for defects we would need remove the gearbox, which is a fairly big job, the policy holder would need to approve this as explained on page 16 of the document. If there is no obvious defect and the clutch is found to be worn, the cost of dismantling and rebuilding plus the replacement parts is down to the policy holder. The estimate you were given was to replace the clutch including the associated parts, labour and Vat.

I am sorry that you are unhappy with the way this has been explained, that’s never our intention. We’ve tried to be up-front and clear.

I hope this email has helped clarify how the warranty works.

Kind regards