Stratstone Reviews 30.428

Fault with car not resolved

Test drove a CLA-220D in May 2025 and wanted to buy it, although there was a slight smell I couldn’t place that wasn’t right but couldn’t get the same colour / spec anywhere else in Scotland so went ahead with the purchase with their agreement that they resolved the smell issue. Pickup day at the end of May, car appears freshly valeted with no trace of the smell - all good. Within a week the smell was back and bad – strongly suspected it was damp that I could smell at this point. The Sales Advisor agreed to get it in for a deeper clean. Got it in a week or so later, they cleaned it, picked it up and apparently resolved. Within another week it was bad again, back in for a 2nd clean, this time with an external valet company. I advise that I’m not just looking for a clean; I’m looking for the underlying cause to be identified and resolved and any residual smell addressed, which they agree to. Then booked in for another investigation / further valet late July. Get it back, again appears resolved and apparently investigated with no cause found. Mid August into September– smells back and bad, they get it in a 3rd time – investigate - no sign of water ingress and they change the filters in the car. Apparently the “manager has been in the car a few times over the week and he is convinced there is no smell coming from carpets or roof liner.”
Suffer with the smell for a few months, but gets to the point where it’s unbearable to the point where I’m concerned that if it is damp it’s a health risk to my baby due to potential mould spores. Moisture meter in the car showing as 99% humidity.

Get back in touch with the Sales Advisor and he advises he can’t personally do anything further and they get a Sales Manager to call me. The guy is aggravating and arrogant from the off – apparently he was “unaware” that damp causes mould when I raised the health implications of such to him. When he asked what do I want to achieve if it couldn’t be resolved, and I said “replaced or refunded” he laughed down the phone. Exactly what you want to hear when you’re at your wits end with the issue. He eventually conceded to have the car in for a final inspection with the statement that there’s “nothing further we can do for you after this”. Reminder that that this was agreed to be resolved prior to purchase and regardless, is still under warranty.

Whilst awaiting getting it in and having no faith they’ll do anything other than yet another ineffective valet , I get an independent assessment and the guy finds the water ingress fault (failed door seal) in 1.5 hours and finds the sub-carpet absolutely sodden – water pouring out of it when squeezed. Present the independent video evidence to them upon dropping it off and they agree to replace the carpets.
Eventually get it back 2 weeks later, no response in the meantime to several emails asking whats happening, every phone call to them results in “they’re unavailable, I will ask them to call you back” which never happened until the day it was ready to be collected. They confirm the independently assessed found fault, stating it’s now fixed, carpets replaced etc. Eventually they cover the cost I had to pay for the independent assessment as a “gesture of goodwill” – not exactly compensation. Complaint I made in writing has never been responded to. At pickup, their Service Manager stated that it would need to be their General Sales Manager that dealt with my concerns – have never heard anything back.
And to top it off, there’s still a bad smell.

Great customer service & aftercare.
Friendly and knowledgeable staff.

Helpful
Quick and lent a car while been servced

Great service

Audi had my vehicle for a standard recall , they missed placed a part and I received lies and excuses and I’m constantly trying to get answers but all I’m getting is lies and excuses from poorly trained staff.

Delays in service, wrong advise on MOT, reckless driving when returning the car, historically claiming a service has been done which wasn't as evident from a car tracker. AUDI UK you can do better.

From start to finish, I found the experience to be highly unprofessional. The issues began with the collection of my car from my home and continued throughout the entire process.

I was left without a vehicle for a full week due to what I was told was the need for new tyres. I find this unacceptable, particularly given the nature of the work required. Furthermore, I have serious concerns regarding the accuracy of this diagnosis. I had two tyres replaced only two weeks prior, so I was surprised to be informed that three tyres needed replacing. This has not been reflected on my vehicle’s system, which raises further questions.

In addition, if there was going to be a delay in sourcing tyres, I would have expected a company of Porsche’s reputation to provide a courtesy car. No such offer was made.

Throughout the process, I received very little communication and had to repeatedly chase for updates myself. At no point did I feel informed or reassured about what was happening with my vehicle.

I have owned vehicles from a range of manufacturers, and I must say that this is one of the most disappointing service experiences I have encountered.

Very happy with Finlay who took care of my car. He provided amazing service. He was very professional and easy to communicate with.

Team were very helpful in sorting out a warranty issue.

We test drove and collected my wife’s new, but 2nd hand A-Class on Sunday morning. Unfortunately the boot parcel shelf was broken and did not shut, so after a lengthy discussion with the sales man (Jordan) he eventually spoke with his manager and he authorised and agreed to replace the broken parcel shelf. Also there were no car mats in the front or rear of the car, which the dealership would not provide or supply, so we ended up taking the old mats out of our old part exchange car as a solution. Finally there were no dust caps on any of the 4 tyres. Although these issues were not massive, they did unfortunately take the shine off collecting my wife’s new car from Stratstone Mercedes Benz dealership in Wakefield, which I had arranged for her. Hence only 4 stars. However on a positive note the sales man (Jordan), was very nice, helpful and friendly as he came to work on his day off, to oversee the test drive and collection of the car. Also we spoke with Jordan’s manager who also very nice.

Thanks Porsche Centre Wilmslow for looking after my car via the Stockport dealership.

Good service

Gary
Was very
Helpful and dealt with my requests

Robbie made my experience of buying my car feel relaxed and comfortable and was never pushy. Robbie communicated every step of the process. I really appreciated his honesty and professionalism.

Needs to take car of peoples Cars when being checked. Communication

The Sales Executive Bilaal Farid was very professional and a pleasure to deal with.

Sent a request about a car and got the information for that after a bit of effort. However I received a string of unwanted text messages selling stuff I had no interest in. They were sneaky short code texts which are hard to block or spam so effectively no way to stop myself. Stratstone's own procedures for dealing with this either don't work, fake/non existent email addresses online complaints forms that don't work or go no where. Also complained to the dealer in question, no reply but received a string of unwanted emails afterwards, connected or not I will never know but these are easy to add to spam and I have blocked their communications. I have had one other previous dealing with stratstone where they over charged me for work they performed on my mini, took weeks took 5 weeks to get the money back. They want their money before the car leaves the shop but apparently they don't like giving it back. Lessons learned in my opinion stratstone is best avoided.