Stratstone BMW, Wallsend, Tyne And Wear

At the beginning of March we approached Stratstone BMW in Newcastle to purchase an M4. They had a grey one at their branch but weren’t very forthcoming in selling it. At no point did they call back when we made enquiries, and we had to do all the chasing.

On the 23rd March we visited the branch as we had found a car at the Doncaster branch. We just wanted to put a deposit down, and have it sent up. The staff at Doncaster were extremely helpful, they sent videos of the car, and so we were confident that we’d found our M4.

We gave our £500 deposit, and were told by the salesman that he had spoken with the Doncaster branch whilst we were there, and they may be able to have the car delivered as early as the Monday. We were told to sort out insurance, and change our private registration from our current car as soon as we got home, which we did. By Wednesday we’d heard nothing, as always from the Newcastle branch, so my husband chased it up. We were informed that there had been a delay in getting it but it should be here by Friday. Friday arrived, and as always we’d had no calls so we chased it again.

To our utter astonishment we were informed that the car had actually been sold on the Tuesday morning in Doncaster. The Newcastle salesman had known this information on the Tuesday afternoon but stated he hoped the sale would fall through so he’d kept up the pretence when my husband spoke with him on the Wednesday. Which we think is appalling from any company but particularly from one as large, and supposedly professional, as Stratstone.

Obviously we were shocked, and also very confused as to how this had happened when we had been told that the Newcastle salesman had secured it all whilst we were there on the 23rd. Upon discussion, he explained that he hadn’t actually called them but had sent a WhatsApp message instead. We spoke with the helpful team at Doncaster who outlined that Newcastle had only enquired if it was for sale on the Saturday then hadn’t followed this up to say it needed to be sent, hence why it was sold on the Tuesday. Newcastle only asked for it to be sent up on the Tuesday afternoon, a day after they told us it could already have arrived! We were told they would try and find another in the Stratstone group, however, our faith in the company was severely limited at this point.

From the 23rd we had started making purchases for our new car:- the insurance, change of registration, then we had bought a carbon dash (£500) and bodykit (£1500) for it. We are now thousands of pounds out of pocket. We discussed this with a more senior member of the team once we found out the car wasn’t ours, and were told they would get back to us.

On the 13th April we visited Stratstone again, and asked for our deposit back, something they hadn’t even offered us despite not contacting us once with an alternative car to consider. Interestingly, Doncaster Stratstone had called to say the M4 was back for sale, although Newcastle hadn’t identified this despite supposedly checking for cars across the group! We spoke with the same senior staff member as before, and reiterated the loss of money we have encountered. He reimbursed us for the change of registration, as well as finally returning our deposit. He said he would speak with the Dealer Principal with regard the other items as he also agreed some sort of compensation should come from their error. We only asked for the dash to be reimbursed as the bodykit could be used on another car, and surely £500 is a small amount to pay for their incompetence, and poor service. Low and behold, we have chased Stratstone on a number of occasions, and are still awaiting an outcome.

We have tried to complain to parties removed from the Newcastle branch, such as on social media. We have called the complaint numbers they gave us, emailed the addresses they gave us, and at no point have had a response from them either.

Currently we are left out of pocket, angry at being so misled, fed up of being ignored, and completely disgusted with the company. Due to their ongoing lack of communication we have been forced to leave reviews in the hope no-one else has to go through a saga like ours, and to hopefully receive a response, finally!

I bought an Approved Used Car from Stratstone Tyneside in Nov 2011. They had the exact car I was looking for so I flew up from the South East after paying a deposit over the phone, this could have been risky but the car was exactly as described by the salesman in the phone call. As promised, the front end had been re-sprayed because of stone chips, work that a car supermarket certainly wouldn't have carried out.

I was picked up at the airport and driven to the dealership, where I was made a cup of tea. The sales process was quick and simple and the various 'add-on' insurance policies and finance options (I was paying cash) weren't pushed with a hard sell.

Unfortunately after 2 months the car developed clutch judder, my local BMW dealership looked at the problem said it wasn't covered by the BMW warranty. I phoned Stratstone, they were incredibly helpful and bent over backwards to help. In the end they authorised a payment and covered the complete cost of a new clutch and flywheel plus all labour.

Not only has it been worth buying from a Authorised Dealer, it was worth the flight from Gatwick to Newcastle to buy the car from Stratstone.

My experience of Stratstone couldn't have been better, Non-pushy sales, excellent post-sales service and all the benefits of buying a BMW AUC.

I was looking for a used BMW 320CD M sport on Autotrader and found one at Stratstone Tyneside,it was priced similar to non BMW franchised garages but obviously came with a BMW approved Warranty.I was offered a very good part ex price for my 8 year old Toyota Celica,being far better than offered at an Audi garage against an A4.I had a few hours travel to Tyneside but was met by polite and professional staff and received good service.The car was immaculate,and had been prepared to a high standard including I suspect a front end respray as it was devoid of a single paint chip at nearly five years of age.The only disapointment is that the previous owner was a heavy smoker however due to an excellent interior clean prior to my viewing, it masked the ingrained cigarette smell that made itself known a few days after I had bought it. Despite spending a small fortune on Febreze,and numerous in car airfreshner the smell is always in the background,this little piece of the cars history for obvious reasons was not mentioned on the sales information. To date being 4 months on, the car is fine, and having not had any problems with it I am not in a position to comment on Stratstones after care. It,s just a pity there appears to of been a bit of deceit in relation to the cigarette smoke smell as everything else in relation to buying the car was very good.

Absolutley disgracful!! I would NEVER EVER buy from this dealership again. The staff sell you a car filled with promises and claims that it does certain things and then when you find out it doesn't deliver they wash their hands of you. Oh, and the salesmen leave the company right after you take the car. Funny that. Messed up finance and no one to go back to. Only thing I can do now is lodge a compalint with Pendragon after getting no where with Stratstone. Thanks Stratstone for wasting my time... and money on you!