Ridgeway Group - www.ridgeway.co.uk

Referring only to experiences with Ridgeway Select. Overall, avoid this lot - the whole environment is smarmy with sales people only concerned with their %. Quite a pressured environment too - everything I thought had gone from the good car people. Poor knowledge of product (in case of my vehicle). Promises made are not kept - eg return calls to chase radio code. The warranty is not all your told it is from the warranty booklet either - looks like there's a bias to using Ridgeway for service/repairs - hope not to find out!! It was not a fantastic experience.

Purchased a £23k vehicle from Ridgeway Select Southampton. Car had multiple issues, brakes were completely worn, and warning lights came on the very next day after purchase.

Was informed "ALL" their used cars come with a 3 month warranty. Complete liars, they will not honour this, I never received any 3 month warranty. Rather then resolve the issues, Ridgeway will just simply ignore your emails. Once they have your money, THEY DO NOT CARE.

Please be aware when buying from this group, ensure you bring in your own mechanic or the RAC to fully check the vehicle if you HAVE to buy from them. Personally I would avoid and use another dealership. Do not be fooled by their website and the lies they publish on it to fool customers into trusting them.

I was offered a service plan for the first 3 services of my new Golf and told the car itself would remind me when one was due. What I was not told was the model had 18000 mile long service interval so only needed to be service every 18 month or so but the 3 services under the plan all had to be completed under 30000 miles. Totally inconsistent and has resulted in me paying for services I will never need. Made worse by the fact that they called me recently saying a service was theoretically due I said it was over 30000 miles they said it was OK as it was still under 3 years... duly went to the garage having taken time out of work only to site there for 1.5 hours before they said the service had been rejected due to mileage. The inclusive services were very poorly explained, inconsistent with the cars service plan and therefore miss-sold. Service management thereafter incompetent.

what a waste of time....

review... why bother

I recently purchased a nearly new 120d from Ridgeway BMW in Salisbury.

While I am pleased with my new car I am more than a little disappointed with the standard of customer service that I have received.

I made an enquiry for a pre registered 1 series last September. The quote included £95 for fuel and £55 for road tax. 12 months road tax on a 120d in only £30 (and free for the first year) and £95 for fuel is close to £2 per litre.

Anyway, following a test drive I sucessfully asked for a figure of the screen price. I didn't realise after I paid my deposit that the salesman rounded the cost of change to the nearest £100 in their favour.

During the test drive, when asked how I planned to fund the purchase, having indicated I wished to pay cash. Upon returning from the test drive I was presented with a finance illustration, including all those added extras like gap insurance. Sorry, but I wanted to buy a car and not a insurance package.

Having agreed a deal I was asked when I would like to collect the car. I said that I would like to collect the same time next week. The reply to this was that they have a new car sales event on next weekend and this may not be possible. My opinion is that if I am spending a large amount of money on a car then I'll collect the car when I want and that an appointment would be kept open for me or at least I might be contacted mid week to discuss.

Having had no reply to my Wednesday evening email, I contacted the salesman to confirm at collection time and I was a little bit annoyed to be told that the salesman had no appointments available. When I asked if someone else would be available the salesman found a slot for me!

When I arrived to collect my car I was met by the salesman and did the necessary paperwork. Unfortunately when I went to pay by debit card I managed to get my pin wrong and lock my card (not helped by trying to rush because the salesman was sat right next to me when I entered my pin). The one good thing that they did was take me to a cash machine to unlock the card.

Writing this just over a week after collecting my car I have received no follow up courtesy call to ask how I was getting on with the car. I don't really need a call but I am expecting a certain level of service, which I don't believe that I have received.

It seems that once Ridgeway BMW have you money, they lose interest. I recall receiving a much better standard of service from Baron BMW of Farnborough when I purchased my previous car.

Not sure that I can recommend them, my main reasons for buying from them because they had the car I wanted. Let's hope that another dealership has the car I want next time.

i bought a used evoque from Ridgeway Land Rover and part exchanged my BMW. I love it!! The sales team were fantastic and even delivered the car to my house. I had bought cars from this dealership previously when it was Hartwell and it felt like a completely different place. They even knew how i took my coffee from a previous visit.

DONT DO IT, Worst experience I have ever had, Mercedes in Winchester mislead their Customers with false pricing on their cars, the 30 day exchange scheme is a joke, Work promised to be completed just wasn't done, they tried to get out of servicing my car before it was sold to me and one entire side of my 2012 car was re-sprayed 4 times because they tried to botch up a 8 inch scratch

Following the test drive I was assured this scratch would be repaired, However when I came to collect the car the repair had been botched using what looked like a paint pen, The car was returned to the main dealer who had assured me the scratch was going to be repaired by a professional, my car was returned to me some 4 weeks later after 4 attempts at repairing the scratch and two and a half complete re-sprays.

It appears trying to save a few quid comes before quality at Ridgeway Mercedes

Running alongside this debacle is a catalogue of poor after sales service, dodgy sales practices and a string of broken promises

1. When I test drove the car I was told it was going to be cleaned, it was muddy and had a musty smell, when I collected the car it hadn’t been cleaned and I had to do it myself, I have subsequently rejected the car under the Mercedes 30 day returns policy but now the dealership are trying to rip me off. The car was supposed to be cleaned when it went back to be re-sprayed, I left chalk marks in the car and they were still there when the car was returned to me,

2 I had to chase the insurance certificate for the loan car on every occasion, and on one occasion I was actually driving it uninsured. The communication between the dealership and your customer has been awful and I have had to chase them on every occasion, this is unacceptable.

3 When I bought the car I was told it didn’t need a Service until July and that I would have to pay for it, when I collected the car it was actually within 90 days which means it should have been serviced before it was sold to a customer

4 The dealership is mis-leading its customers, selling a red Mercedes coupe that I had been following as a potential replacement car, The Red Coupe was previously being advertised at £17,295 down from £17,900, it’ was then advertised at £18,400 with the Ridgeway Mercedes claiming it was previously priced at £18,999 and not £17,295 down from £17,900, Apparently Mercedes approve of this practice.

DONT DO IT, Worst experience I have ever had, Mercedes in Winchester mislead their Customers with false pricing on their cars, the 30 day exchange scheme is a joke, Work promised to be completed just wasn't done, they tried to get out of servicing my car before it was sold to me and one entire side of my 2012 car was re-sprayed 4 times because they tried to botch up a 8 inch scratch

Following the test drive I was assured this scratch would be repaired, However when I came to collect the car the repair had been botched using what looked like a paint pen, The car was returned to the main dealer who had assured me the scratch was going to be repaired by a professional, my car was returned to me some 4 weeks later after 4 attempts at repairing the scratch and two and a half complete re-sprays.

It appears trying to save a few quid comes before quality at Ridgeway Mercedes

Running alongside this debacle is a catalogue of poor after sales service, dodgy sales practices and a string of broken promises

1. When I test drove the car I was told it was going to be cleaned, it was muddy and had a musty smell, when I collected the car it hadn’t been cleaned and I had to do it myself, I have subsequently rejected the car under the Mercedes 30 day returns policy but now the dealership are trying to rip me off. The car was supposed to be cleaned when it went back to be re-sprayed, I left chalk marks in the car and they were still there when the car was returned to me,

2 I had to chase the insurance certificate for the loan car on every occasion, and on one occasion I was actually driving it uninsured. The communication between the dealership and your customer has been awful and I have had to chase them on every occasion, this is unacceptable.

3 When I bought the car I was told it didn’t need a Service until July and that I would have to pay for it, when I collected the car it was actually within 90 days which means it should have been serviced before it was sold to a customer

4 The dealership is mis-leading its customers, selling a red Mercedes coupe that I had been following as a potential replacement car, The Red Coupe was previously being advertised at £17,295 down from £17,900, it’ was then advertised at £18,400 with the Ridgeway Mercedes claiming it was previously priced at £18,999 and not £17,295 down from £17,900, Apparently Mercedes approve of this practice.

I was looking for a new CLS Shootingbrake and was put in contact with WH at Winchester Mercedes. He couldn't have been more patient or helpful - I has so many questions he looked a bit stunned by the end, but was still answering gamely! They worked really hard to get the deal and couldn't have been more professional or friendly. Highly recommended.

Not impressed.

I phoned around nationally to get the best price on an Octavia tour de France estate. Reading skoda (Ridgeway) were not the cheapest but were easy to get to and importantly confirmed that they physically had all the extras supplied with this model. 3 months after collecting the car I am still waiting for these extras as when I turned up to collect the car after a 2 hour journey I was told that in fact they didn't have them. I am really happy with the car but think Ridgeway skoda will say anything to secure a sale. Fortunately I will not be using them in the future and if down to me I wouldn't pay their sales staff in washers.

I would like to quote sales staff names but unfortunately this site is a bit timid about doing so.