Carcraft, Rochdale, Lancashire Reviews

AI86's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
Report this review

Read on for an epic story and true representation of Carcraft.

Me and the wife decided it was time to get a new car. We headed of to Carcraft of Rochdale just to have a browse. They had plenty of cars to look at and we were allowed to look at them at our leisure. No pushy salesmen which was the only good thing - until you show a keen interest in a particular car.

Me and the wife settled on a BMW 1 Series and traded in my old Punto. webuyanycar.com (who incidently are owned by Carcraft) had valued my car at £900 on their website. When I got there, they decided that it was only £500. After the sales rep realized he was about to lose a sale, the car's value suddenly began to rise from £500 to 600 to 750 before landing at the mark off £900.

Whilst we was going through payments, deposits and value of my car etc, I asked 'How long will this take?', the chap said 'It's 11:45 now, we'll have you out be 12:30'. 'Great' I thought.

So we was told to go and sit down and just wait for their finance department to sort out the paperwork and we'd be of on our merry way. Or so we thought.

Time went on and on and on, being passed from one person to the next constantly being told 'We'll just be five minutes now', 'Just ten minutes' etc. We finally left the building at 19:30. Yes seven-f***ing-thirty in the PM! By the time we got out of there, we was exhausted.

I paid tax for the car and was told it'd be £120 for the year, turned out it was £96 for six months! Sales man kept lying to make sure you bought the car and didn't lose interest.

Was told that had to wait for the tax disc now because the Post Office had closed (because of how long they were taking). However, I was assured that someone would buy the tax the very next day and personally delivery the tax to my house . As you guessed, they didn't, not even the day after they said they would. I had to go there (an 80 mile round trip) to get the tax.

Once the deal has been done, they try and pressure you into adding things to the deal e.g. MoTs on the car for three years with servicing for XX amount of £££s. Or warranties going from bronze to super ultimate gold packages. They simply will not take no for an answer and we went over this stage alone for 45 minutes. And besides, the warranty isn't worth the money at all. 'Oh, it'll cover this, this, this and that' - if said things should break, you take it there, and they'll tell you it is something else that ISN'T covered in the warranty meaning you have to spend more.

A week or so later, they needed an additional proof of I.D. So my wife sent it. We asked them to send it back as it was important. Over a week later they still hadn't sent. Numerous calls later and no where to be seen. Fobbed of with 'It'll be in tomorrow's post'. We had to go down again to pick up the I.D. Another 80 miles.

A week after this, we get a call saying that there was a problem with the finance regarding the I.D. My wife's name hadn't been changed from her maiden name, rendering the I.D. Useless. Now, at this point, we we're so annoyed with the company. They have their OWN finance department which is FSA approved and they check things over e.g. the finance agreement, the I.D., what you can afford etc etc, so two weeks later, they start telling us the problem, we was furious.

We had to phone them throughout the whole ordeal around about 85 times (yep eighty-five), and they didn't give us an 0800 number. They said that they would issue us some sort of imbursement for the petrol we had used and the inconvenience they had caused. One chap had the audacity to hurl abuse at my wife when we rang for the 60th time querying where the cheque was. I went down (yet again) and spoke with him and he acted as if nothing had happened.

In the end, we just wanted rid of the car, Carcraft and our money back. It took them ten days just to refund the deposit and tax back. But this is where the real problems start.

They said that they had only valued my old Punto at £500, when the sales rep said £900. So they only gave me £500. I had lost £400 because of his lie. They said they can't get the car back because it had already been sold in auction.. So I was out of pocket and without a car. Brilliant(!)

Eventually, me and the wife got Trading Standards involved. But we was so fed up with the whole thing, we decided to just leave it, and never, EVER go back.

In the end, we was about £700 out of pocket (car, fuel from the repeated trips, calls etc), without a car and left very dejected by the experience.

Two other things which I have just remembered. Several people within the building don't get on and there is rifts between them, which they clearly display to the customer. The second is the extortionate APR. By a car for £10,000 after deposits, pay back £19,000!!

So, if you don't mind waiting for hours on end in store, then receive empty promises, numerous calls to them, bad service, lies and over paying, you'll feel right at home at Carcraft.

Guest's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
Report this review

Writers comments are Spot-On. Carcraft Rochdale are a nightmare company. Steer well clear...

Guest's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
Report this review

NEVER AGAIN! Beware the commission starved car salesman...charming and helpful to a fault, willing and more than able to lure you to his bargaining den.... the `let`s put some figures together table`. BEWARE... either be astute of mind or a maths genius for you will easily become ensnared in a vast web of figures that to the more gullable of those amongst us, would seem a bargain was being thrust upon us... But dare not leave and deprive him the fruit of his labours and utter the unforgiveable ...

throttlemonkey's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
Report this review

Went to the Rochdale site. Was sceptical, but any worries were proved unfounded. I'd bought a new car and needed to sell my 'old' one quickly so in theory this would be perfect.

I arrived on time for my appointment (11.30am) and was seen straight away. You walk inside Carcraft. A few details of my car were taken and then the chap went to have a look at my car. Ten mins later he came back, confirmed the car was as described and so they were happy to pay the amount I had been quoted. They gave m ...

Guest's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
Report this review

We went to Carcraft after seeing a car that we wanted to buy in Autotrader. The salesman we spoke to was very unhelpful. As soon as we said we did not want credit he did not want to know.

We gave him a print out from Autotrader, he said that the car was actually worth £8,000. This is not the case as the £4,500 that it was for sale for was reasonable for a 55 plate Citreon C4.

We looked at the car whilst the salesman took my key to give me a value for a part exchange. He came back ...

john9's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
Report this review

I have bought my new shape Vauxhall Corsa from Carcraft with no problem whatsoever. I applied for finance and was accepted straight away and the next day went to test drive the car then aggreed the monthly payments and finance package. The staff are very professional and helped me a lot. Would buy again from carcraft most definately.

Guest's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
Report this review

Great choice - loads of cars.
Fairly helpful sales people - particularly happy to test drive.
Wait was too long.

KJ23's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
Report this review

Wasn't too sure what car I wanted, but after wandering around and speaking to a salesman, I was able to test-drive a few different cars. I chose a VW Golf, which I love! Had a bit of a wait whilst they valeted the car and I had to ring them back for a radio code - but they sorted it OK. Wide selection, helpful salesman, fun test-drive, good price. I love my new Golf and they rang me up a few days later to make sure everything was OK & referral voucher - nice touch!

On average, people found this review very helpful
Report this review

I am happy with the car I bought, a Ford Fiesta. The car was in excellent condition and exactly as expected although I did have to return to the showroom to get the radio code which was missing. I was happy with the part exchange value on my old fiesta and thought that the deal overall was reasonable.
Although I had to test drive three cars to find the one that I wanted which took two hours, once I had chosen the car I was back home with it in an hour and a half.
The salesman was really helpf ...

morsgary's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
Report this review

I recently bought a BMW 530D from Carcraft. I found the whole experience great. With no hassle and was offered a really good finance package. My wife is looking for a car soon so in the words of Arnie I will be back.

clark1241's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
Report this review

Arrived at Carcraft Rochdale excited about buying my first car and on arrival was greeted by the salesman, was asked questions about the type of car I would like. Once found the car I liked I went through all the details, I signed up for a finance contract of paying 108 pound a month over 60 months totalling in the regions of 6500 with 2 years free warranty. 2 months later and I check my banking online and realise I have two direct debits, one for 109 pound and one for 108 pound. I was bemused s ...

Zippy57's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
Report this review

I have had my car over 18 months and could not be happier. I finally settled on a Y plate BMW. I can't understand all of the negative press about Carcraft. Do people not haggle or read financial paperwork anymore?
I have dealt with many dealers in the past, and Carcraft have been head and shoulders above many!!
It's just a shame that the only people who seem to write bad reviews are the people daft enough to not know what they are signing!!