Arnold Clark, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire Review

Overall Rating

The car is okay. sales was fine to deal with

The service department has no idea of the meaning of "service", the service manager is beyond a joke to deal with and the manager of the Mazda dealership doesn't want to know. I will never buy another car from these people.

I bought a brand new Mazda3 2.0ltr Turbo Diesel Sport in Sept 07 from Arnold Clark Mazda in Aberdeen. Very happy with the car and got £4k off screen price. Had I known then what a nightmare their service department is I would not have bothered. The first service the car went in for, no courtesy car available, I went to collect the car after work to find it parked on double yellow lines out front of the showroom (public road in not the best of areas) and the salesman was not even aware it was there. I collected my keys from him and took the car home and then out with me for an on site job for work. Around mid-morning I received a phone call from the service department asking if I'd collected the car. I was then told that the car wasn't ready and that it was losing oil through the camshaft oil seal and had I noticed any oil on my driveway(???). They wanted to send a tow truck to collect the car but having had a look at the oil level I elected to take the car to them once finished with my customer. I asked for a courtesy car as I needed to be mobile for work and was told there was nothing available. I asked to speak to a manager but he didn't even leave his office to speak to me. I was then offered a car which had just been traded in which although not ideal I accepted. The car stank like someones dog had died in it and by the time I got to work I actually felt physically sick. I phoned Arnolds and after some fairly firm negotiating was put through to the area service manager. I explained the problems I'd had and eventually got his assurance that the car would be delivered to my work with a full tank of fuel for my inconvenience and the other car collected.
The second time my car went ot their service department was to have a towbar fitted. I dropped it off before work first thing in the morning and was told it would be ready after work, once again no courtesy car available. I phoned before leaving work and was told the car would be ready. Upon arrival at Arnolds I found the car was still in pieces and the service clerk denied she had told me the car would be ready, apparently I now suffer from auditory hallucinations. This left me stranded with about an hour of convoluted bus journeys to get home, had I been told the car wasn't ready I'd have simply borrowed a van from work. I therefore asked if a courtesy car or demonstrator could be made available and was told there weren't any. I explained this left me no way to get home and was told they couldn't do anything for me. I stood my ground and did not leave the counter and eventually they relented and agreed to pay for a taxi. I got a friend to drive me to work that night and collected a van to allow me to get to work in the morning. I phoned the sales guy in the morning and explained what had happened and he seemed genuinely annoyed for me and said he'd have the car valeted before I collection. I collected the car that night and got home only to find grubby black finger prints on the headlining above the drivers door, I didn't even bother phoning to complain as I wanted nothing further to do with them. I bought a three year servicing package with the car which seemed good value at £300 but now I want nothing more to do with their service department.
I have just found the car to be making a squealing noise, possibly brakes although the car has done only 16k miles. I phoned their service department and they were totally unhelpful. They have moved to Tullos in Aberdeen which is a nightmare to get to and from, still had no courtesy cars and only after a lot of badgering agreed to at least listen to the noise and tell me if it was an urgent fault. I don't think I'll bother, going to take it elsewhere.