Lindvale Volkswagen, Chelmsford, Essex

Had so mug help from one of the car salesman [name removed] I think. Definitely go to him he is very professional and knows the product well

Would not recommend if you are looking for parts. Forget phoning them, last year had to get something, phoned for the parts and was left hanging for ages before it cut out. Same again this week, just rings out. Even I called into them and was left waiting for ages to see someone from parts, they didnt even have a proper parts counter at the time. How on earth can they expect to sell parts if nobody is there to tend to potential customers?? Will take my business elsewhere I think.

Just had a service done on my 05 Golf. In the past I have always used local garage but this time chose main dealer. £119 for the service was great value and all the staff were friendly and helpfull. It would seem that they have decided to take on the local garages with this sort of pricing, which didn't expect from a main dealer - excellent!

I rang inchcape chelsford three times and asked for the parts department each time i was put on hold and then cut off. I am not going to beg them to take my money and have gone to another dealer.

I have a 90 BHP Bora that did not seem to be starting as well as it used to. I booked it into inchcape as they are a main dealer and have the knowledge to fix quickly. They found the fault (solenoid valve) and replaced (£133.69). The next day the starting issue was still there and after travelling to work found my MPG was down 20%. I booked it back into Inchcape and explained the new issues. They charged me £234.77 for a new air cut off valve. They explained that the two components had gone wrong at the same time and my lack of MPH was due to the cold weather. I still have starting problems and my MPG is still down 20%. My advice is that if you have any technical issues then going to a main dealer is no better that any dodgey back street garage. Ironically the work was done by a technician called Richard Hammond.

Phoning Lindvale Volkswagen constantly for 2 days no one answers the phone. Went into Chelmsford Inchcape left contact name and phone number and still no one contacted me. In the current financial climate l fail to see how this company can ignore the prospect of me buying a new car.I have now decided to purchase the new Ford Focus.

I started going to Lindvale Volkswagen back in February 2005 when I bought a MkIV VW Golf TDI.

The initial feel of the place was very positive. Plenty of parking outside and a clean modern showroom full of very approachable friendly staff. Due to commuting the mileage on my Golf stacks up very quickly, combined with the relatively short service interval (10,000mls), I found myself at Lindvale about three times a year.

I decided to maintain a main dealer service history at first purely for resale value, but began to doubt this decision when the bills became unreasonable.

I was starting to find that even the most basic services were costing over £200. These bills increased dis-proportionately when anything additional needed doing (such as bulbs) and I also noticed that they never attempted to fix anything in situ.....it always needed replacing, new for old. Also, despite being a main dealer and having the benefit of ordering in bulk, Lindvale always quoted well over the odds for the part itself. Any Internet enquiry would find the same part for a fraction of the cost. Combine this with the hourly labour charge meant huge bills for relatively simple work.

Nonetheless, they always appeared genuine and would flag up minor faults for attention only. This engendered trust, as they never seemed to over egg faults to generate revenue.....until today.

While driving home from work my drivers side door window 'slipped' into the door. I rang Lindvale who said it required a window regulator and to bring it in. I dropped it in and also requested an air con re-gas as the system wasn't blowing cold air when stationary. I got a call later stating that my air con compressor was seized and that two cooling fans were faulty. Combined with the window repair the bill would be £1600! I was also informed that the fuse for the fan was blown and this warranted a whole new unit as the fuse was integral. I authorised work on the fans and window but said I would get quotes on the compressor as it was going to cost £938 fitted inc vat.

I picked the car up the next day and noted that I now had no air-con effect at all. Prior to going to Lindvale it still worked but gradually lost cooling when the car was stationary. I arranged for a mobile air con engineer to visit me and upon checking the compressor found it moved freely and was blatantly not seized. He then checked the system and found it totally devoid of refrigerant gas, this could only have been by Lindvale draining it. He refilled the system with gas and it worked perfectly. This cost £80.

He also showed me the fuse for the radiator fans, this was clearly a renewable part and speculated that the air con had been faulty originally as a direct result of the fans being fused and that renewal of the fans fuse (for £1.83) would have cured the fans and air con problem in one fell swoop.

Put simply, it was possible that I might have paid well over £1000 when a fuse costing £1.83 would have cured all the problems. I will clearly never know if the fans were faulty per se, but can state with absolute certainty that my compressor was not seized despite a diagnosis to the contrary.

It is my personal opinion that Lindvale decanted the air con gas because they knew that working radiator fans would have sorted the air con and they wanted to perpetuate the myth that the compressor was faulty. I have since reported them to trading standards for profiteering.

I, along with everyone else, know that a main dealer will always be that bit more expensive due to the notional value of dealer stamps. I do suggest though that this particular franchise should be avoided or at the very least, have its diagnoses heavily scrutinised to ensure fair play.