G & M Motors - www.gandmmotorgroup.co.uk

My wife had just had her car written off and decided that a similar model would be best. We wanted to buy local so wee were pleased that G&M Motors had a few choices. We were asked for a £500 deposit and arranged a test drive for 2 days later allowing them time to sort out the flat battery, check the tyre depth and move the car into an accessible place.

I had to give a £500 deposit to secure the vehicle, although it was still "for sale" on their website.

I noticed the last service was Dec2016 and that this be sorted before we took ownership of the car. They said the service would be discounted to £75 if we agreed to buy. I would expect to negotiate some reduction in prices especially as we are cash buyers, not be charged extra to ensure roadworthiness. There was no negotiation and they wanted the asking price of £8750 plus the £75 for the service plus the road tax.

We arrived at the agreed time and were asked to wait upstairs for "no more than 3 minutes" while the car was extracated, which turned into 25 mins. A man we had not met before asked my wife to sign a form which was for the test drive, while Jess (the sales girl), went to Shell for petrol. I don't see why this wasn't all done in readiness, seems sloppy to me.

We were given the keys to test drive on our own, which also seemed odd and there were no trade plates.

On the road we heard a knocking sound from the rear and returned to say we couldn't proceed with the purchase. The other salesman came over and tried to explain what the noise probably was and that they would get it sorted for us. I said I wasn't interested as I want to buy a car that is fit for purpose. IE: in a condition to drive away confident it would not require repairs.

We felt that the "sale" was infinitely more important than good customer service and there was little on offer to be confident in their after sales service.

Jess was polite and customer friendly throughout our discussions but seemed to lack experience, often asking others for answers to my questions.

We were due to travel 250 miles to Yorkshire immediately after the test drive and we had seen a suitable car in Marshalls of Hull, also a Honda Main Dealer. Their salesman, was/is friendly and engaging. He listened to us and allowed us to discuss our needs. He took us for a lengthy test drive, with trade plates, with both of us driving.

My wife's concerns were buying so far home and the validity of the warranty (13 months too). He informed us Honda warranties are nationwide. This car was reduced from £9495 to £9165 so we felt we had secured a good deal and it has 15000 less mileage.

We had 2 experiences of good and bad salesmanship in our search for the perfect Honda Jazz. I'll leave you to decide which dealership got our business.

I was extremely pleased with the whole purchase experience of my Mercedes CLS, everything went smoothly, the two salesmen were helpful and courteous and the sale and P/X of my CLK were handled seamlessly and a 12 month Honda warranty arranged. However, I had problems with starting even on the lot and was assured that the problem would be sorted out prior to collecting the vehicle. It wasn't. I took the car to Mercedes in Ashford for a full service and had the problem diagnosed as faulty glow plugs. When I called the service department at G & M, trying to get them to agree to the work was like pulling teeth, they wanted to 'run diagnostics to see if the fault was covered by the warranty' and insisted on having the vehicle overnight to check the fault when cold. ( why, if they just had to plug it in to the diagnostics? Mercedes spotted the fault immediately...) I then had problems with the appointment time and asked if I could drop off the car earlier. No go. I then asked if Mercedes could repair the fault and send them the bill and was told that 'we don't know if the fault is covered by the warranty'. All this for a pre-existing problem on a vehicle that should have been PDI'd before I collected it. Mercedes also told me that the car had one wheel incorrectly placed on the front and one on the back - tyre rotation direction was wrong and G & M hadn't spotted that either. I've rebooked the appointment, but think I'll probably lose patience and replace the plugs myself to save all the pissing about. Not impressed G & M - get your act together please.