Stratstone Jaguar, Cardiff, South Glamorgan

Unfortunately my time writing this is limited as I’m busy with the running of my own business, however I feel I needed to make some sort of comment on my experience.

Despicable behaviour and approach, disgusting attitude and treatment from Stratstone branch management. Spoke to me like absolute rubbish though out my transaction. In fact I’m still in absolute shock how staff members this bad at a Jaguar main dealer can be allowed to continue to represent and damage the brand.

Approved used £25k Jaguar not prepared properly at all. Travelled 6.5hrs to find the Jaguar F-Pace I’d bought in a terrible state, scratches, bad paint chips on bonnet, rear bumper loading edge, front bumper, boot lid, front wing in-fact on several body panels, badly damaged window trims, badly scratched interior plastics throughout the interior, damaged leather on front arm rest / chunk out of leather.

Every alloy wheel on the car had many large paint bubbles and blisters, all four budget road tyres were badly perished, two of which had puncture repairs and one of these was on the outer edge, they also had cracks on the side walls, also in between the tread the patterns, tyre tread level was good but the tread was crumbling due to age and the rubber had gone hard, dates on the tyres were from 2019. Filthy engine bay, split rear wiper blade, worn out front wiper blades. Drivers leather seat bolster edge had colour missing due to wear, plastic boot lid has impact damage and a dent, bonnet paintwork had been machined polished but tree sap or fall-out had eaten into paint finish. Bird lime shadows on the roof paint.

Interior cleanliness was really absolutely disgusting and despicable to put it mildly. Literally thousands of dog hairs on the black headliner along with ingrained filth from a wet or slavering dog. Ladies makeup stains on door cards, safety belts, black sun-visors, black headliner, black interior windscreen pillars, steering wheel, dashboard buttons and switches, indicator stalks. Vanity mirrors were filthy. Carpets and carpet over mats filthy.

Spare wheel well was literally full of dog hairs, dog biscuits and god know what else. Disgusting. All the interior was covered in a filthy film of dog hairs, general dog filth, and muddy marks.

The boot compartment smelt terrible.

The boot compartment was just ingrained with filth.

All disguised with silicone spray.

This car for 31k miles has obviously sustained a hard life, not been treated with disrespect and is not the quality you would be expecting to buy from a Jaguar approved garage.

The issues, filth, marks, damage, scratches etc were not visible at all on hand over as this was carried out in a dark badly lit hand over bay. I gradually noticed everything wrong whilst driving my first 35 miles of the return journey home.

I called the Jaguar dealer after stopping at some motorway services to further inspect the car in the daylight. The response I got from the manager was rude, abrasive and slightly aggressive and certainly defensive. I was asked to bring the car back so the manger could inspect it as I got the feeling she doubted what I was saying. So I did. It involved driving back another 35 miles, my journey home was already 5.5hrs by car and this return trip to the dealer extended this even further.

Once I arrived back at the dealer I showed the Manager the issues. She made no apology whatsoever. She did make defensive remarks, had a constant condescending attitude and engaged in a low level confrontation of excuses even though she could clearly see everything with her own eyes I’d mentioned. After a long, exhausting and embarrassing exchange she reluctantly agreed to pay £150 for a valet, £400 for wheel refurbishment. The manager also offered to fill up the car with fuel which I accepted.

The manager later the following week agreed to the replacement of all the tyres with a budget brand. The whole situation of resolution was far from stress free, in fact it has left me totally troubled and has totally ruined my car buying experience from Jaguar.

The promised payments to the various companies used to carry out the work in my home town were also not without issue and took longer than they should.

In conclusion, I was left to arrange preparation of my own vehicle to an acceptable standard. Still no apology or good will from the dealer after such a disappointing and distressing experience.

This could have all been avoided if staff had done their jobs properly at this dealer. They should have checked this car over properly and carried out the work required prior to my collection. Having to arrange preparation of your own vehicle after purchase is not acceptable. This has particularly been a very bad experience and situation to navigate for me.

Google reviews and other online review platforms highlight deep, troubling and underlying issues with this particular dealer, things don’t seem to be improving and it’s the paying customer that is left with sub standard goods and a bad taste in there mouths. It’s hard to imagine how this level of bad customer experience is sustainable for the Jaguar brand.

Just for the record, I myself have been an independent classic Jaguar specialist for over 20 years and prior to that worked for a Jaguar dealer from the age of 16 as an apprentice. Totalling 31 years of supporting and embellishing the brand I love I couldn’t in my wildest dreams imagined I’d have to write a letter like this.

In days gone by Jaguar customers were treated with respect, manners, dedication and the upmost care.

I’ve waited a long time to be able to afford a modern Jaguar from a proper main dealer and my experience has been just atrocious in every way possible.

I hope you take my comments seriously, these care free franchise dealers are in my opinion seriously damaging the brand long term just at a juncture where Jaguar is to reimagine itself once again. This time into the realms of models starting at £100k+.

JLR’s products are right, let down by the quality of supplying dealers in my opinion.

We travelled from North Derbyshire to Cardiff to collect the vehicle...

We're made to feel very welcome by reception and our salesman. They did everything they were able to accommodate us..

The car was exactly as specified and met our requirements perfectly...

Would not hesitate to contact and use this dealership again...

this is my first experience of jaguar after having two Audi's.

having owned the jaguar after 4 months if failed to start due to a starter motor problem.

luckily the car was still under manufacturers warranty.

trying to get any information from this dealer is nigh on impossible,if you call the dealership you are lucky if anyone answers the phone,and if they do answer they'll say someone will get back to you, they never do.

im very disappointed in the customer service for what is supposed to be a premium brand.

I brought my car (volvo) there for MOT and service having booked an appointment and after one week nothing has been done. My phone calls have not been returned, promises of writing emails have not been followed through etc. etc. Appalling service and rudeness all around. I will go some length to discourage my friends using this garage.

I have had two jags both of which have been serviced at Stratstone Jaguar, Cardiff, either for warrenty work or scheduled servicing. Every time i have taken my car there the quality of work and the help of the staff has been fantastic, if i needed to borrow a car there was one waiting at no extra cost. when they give me a time for collection it is always the time stated. they always keep me informed and after the terrible service i was used to from VW service centre at splott i just cant say enough good things about them. i have even had tyres changed at this garage and the cost was less than many trye centres quotes i got around cardiff. Staff very helpful and polite

After having paid £959.67 to Stratstone Jaguar in Cardiff for repairs on fuel pump etc. Advised by staff that we needed new brake pads, and they would be able to replace for £700.00 plus vat! We found this very stange as we had it serviced recently (not by Stratstone Cardiff) and had asked them to check brakes etc.

Collected car and made a srong complaint to the garage who carried out the service, they guaranteed us that they had carried out the service in a correct manner, they asked us to take the car back to them, where after checking they confirmed that there was no need to replace the brake pads.

They also replaced 3 tyres as advised by Statstone that we would require 4 new ones at £90.00 each, the local garage fitted 3 at £45.00each.

So conclusion, why pay £700.00 plus when there is no need to do so,you can make your own conclusions!

Guess where we will be taking our car in future! Answers please. On a post card to!

Why state that we should replace brake pads, and in reality there was no need to do so! We could have forked out £700.00 for no reason!