Martins Volkswagen

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Avoid. Purchased a Used Caddy with 30k miles, which turned out to be damaged and poorly repaired. It has taken my solicitor five months and thousands of my hard-earned pounds to simply get the vehicle picked up and refunded. John Hill should start an internal investigation into the quality of used stock his service centre is putting out rather than cop an attitude with fully paying customers over the phone. Shame really, as the salesman David Lyones was a nice guy who did a good job and I would have used him for future purchases. Inspection video I received from VW service centre Manchester showing subframe damage, a protruding headlight, misaligned front end panels, groaning noises when steering and evidence of overspray. Plus, they refused to collect the vehicle from me.

The staff are very friendly and helpful and my car was serviced and MOT'd very professionally . They cleaned the car and left biscuits and air freshener in the car. Little touches that I loved.

Long story short, the lady got my date for a service wrong, lied about it and then chinned me off when I confronted her with the card with the service details on it. Then told me I still couldn't have a service on that day and tried to offer me a different date, despite me telling her 3 times I was out of the country on business. When I told her I was going elsewhere she got a monk on. Bunch of amateurs.

Took my 61 reg VW Scirocco in for service (6 months after I had bought it and with 12 month dealer warranty) at Farnham branch. Was pressured into paying large sum for auto-gearbox service (at 40,000 miles!). Asked about vibration and whining at motorway speeds (I do a lot of motorwar driving). Was told rear tyres are 'feathered' but 'they do that, don't worry'. Took car for subsequent service at end of Dec to local specialist. He advised that rear shock absorber was leaking (and would fail MoT) and tyres cracked. They asked me whether I had heard noise like a bearing! So the problem had existed since the summer. When I challenged Martins they stated it was 3 weeks outside warranty and tough!! Very arrogant about the whole issue. Don't trust Martins.

I have been to this VW Martins in Basingstoke garage a few times and generally they have been good in particular female members of staff and mechanics. However, on the commercial side, for some reason our vehicle comes under even though it is a passenger vehicle, service is very basic and they try to fob you off any warranty questions with any excuse. If you are a female good luck and bite your tongue and fists so you don't swear and punch them! May be they have their favorite customers. They are reasonable for basic service but repairs are expensive.