Martins Group Avis 

Based on Martins Andover
I placed a deposit for a car on Friday, but on Saturday the dealership took a deposit from another customer. Despite being aware of the issue the dealership invited the second customer into the dealership to sign paperwork on Sunday. Perhaps the other customer had offered more money or perhaps local custom is preferred (I live some distance from the dealership). Very frustrating as meanwhile I had arranged for my existing car to be sold, leaving me without a vehicle the following week. Management and sales staff had no interest in rectifying the issue they just wanted the car sold with no interest in customer service or doing the right thing. I would not advise entering into any contract or buying a vehicle from this company.

I had an awful experience in Martins Ware high street.
The manager was so rude to me I am absolutely disgusted.
What an attitude on him!!
I asked him a question he put his hand up and said don't approach me until I'm I'm my box (guessing he meant the till)
I then asked him if you sell batteries, to which he snapped and abruptly said batteries, No. Then shooed me off, absolutely appalling, I was so embarrassed I put my items back on the shelves and left.

I have just brought a car from Martins VW Basingstoke. Charlotte was amazing and helped me through the whole process. The handover was so easy and she explained everything so clearly. I was unsure when i first went in as to what i was looking for but i was offered help and now ive got my new car!

I took my new Troc in for the third time to Camberley Martins VW to resolve the jumping windscreen wipers (back and front) their response was “there’s a waxy material on the windscreen, You must get it valeted?” “No i said, I do it myself with Halfords car shampoo (they jumped all over that) however, your team valeted my car last I said” (No response)
They cleaned the window (apparently) which took them all day, but the wipers still jump. What did they clean it with spit? - “Nothing we can do I’m afraid the lady says, the windscreen is not under warrantee and you did bring it in on the hottest day of the year for wiper tests” (blonde lady!!) Can you believe the cheek of this woman after I waited 3 wks for an appointment, windscreen wiper testing can be done under any condition! I can simulate the issue on the spot!
My suggestion, How about you exchange my wiper blades or adjust the wiper arm in finding a resolution, you know good old customer service!
What’s happened to a bit of initiative?!
Needless to say their incompetence leaves the problem unresolved - All I got was smart ass fob offs by counter staff!
Avoid this garage, a forever decreasing level of good quality mechanics and experienced customer service agents.
Bring back the team from 10 years ago.

Since my last visit the manager (who is very professional) invited me back to discuss the issue, and in the first instance changed my wiper blades which resolved the problem (thank you) However if the original mechanic tested new blades like he said he did then surely he would have got the same result as the manager?! But instead they had the car 2 days in total to resolve an issue the manager did in minutes.
P.s I would have paid for replacements if that was the original issue wear and tear. !! Their mechanics are full of lies

I booked my van in for a service in Martins of Basingstoke and was told by 3 separate members of staff it would be washed as part of the service. It came back washed on one side. I rang to complain and was told the manager would call me. I chased several times over 3 days as he didn't bother. One member of staff said he would speak to him and passed on a message from him that no staff member would have ever have said that as they don't wash vans and the manager couldn't help me. They just said log a complaint with Renault customer services. The member of staff I booked the service with, the
Jamie and the delivery driver all confirmed it would be washed. And this was also despite washing half or it. I felt pretty insulted to be basically accused of lying by the manager particularly as a regular customer of 6 years.

Just bought a new Zoe GT from Martins Reading.

Great communication from them throughout. Delivered everything they promised and more. Made the whole experience an easy and pleasurable one.

Shane was the main contact during our purchase. What a nice guy and he did a first rate job. There was quite a major problem at the start of the process but he went that extra mile to fix it. He was happy to take time to explain things and got the sale back on track with trust restored

The car was well prepared for us to pick up exactly when we had requested it. All the paperwork completed and various things on the car set up that have been a pain to set up from home on previous vehicles.

I’ve no reservations about recommending Martins they were a pleasure to deal with and provided an outstanding hassle free experience from start to finish.

Terrible after care , after having my vehicle for only a few months and being an 18 reg vehicle with low mileage I had a major clutch issue where my whole clutch needed replacing , I contacted the basinsgtoke showroom and had help from Andy who forwarded it on to his manager , clearly his manager shouldn't be in the position he is and doesn't understand about good customer service as despite numerous calls and emails with Andy to try and get the manager to call me I have heard nothing , be very vary when purchasing a car from this showroom as the experience has put me off dealing with both martins and renault again

I brought my Renault Scenic to Martins for a service and cambelt change. They completed the work to a high standard and notified me when it was finished. The customer service I received was very professional and I would definately recommend this dealer in future.

I was recommended to get in contact with Martin's of Reading by friends who have had cars from this company for quite a few years.We were contacted them and Shane Huntley phoned us back and so helpful and patient with us.Within a month we had a new car,so lucky that he managed to find us one so fast,as our old one had to go into retirement.Highly recommend this company.Special Thank you to Shane.

AVOID AT ALL COST!!! DO NOT TRUST MARTINS VW OF CAMBERLEY!!! MARTINS VW (CAMBERLEY) WASTED MY TIME BY MISDESCRIBING A CAR THAT I WAS INTERESTED IN PURCHASING. I WASTED VALUABLE TIME VISITING THIS DEALERSHIP ONLY TO FIND RUDE STAFF TRYING TO SELL ME SUBSTANDARD GOODS. AVOID MARTINS VW!!!

Absolutely disappointed!!! Liability equal to 0. Avoid them at all cost if you are an NHS employee or a keyworker who rely on cars to be able to go to work for the public. My car was under extended warranty and needed the water pump to be replaced as it was leaking. When I call them I made it clear that I work for the NHS and I will need a loan car while they keeping my vehicle for repair so they told me that I had to wait 3 weeks if I need a loan car which I did. The day before my booking I received a text message saying (Good afternoon, Please accept this as confirmation your vehicle is booked in with Martins Volkswagen on 3/11/2021. Please bring your drivers licence in relation to the courtesy vehicle.
Kind regards, Martins Regards Martins Volkswagen Basingstoke) however when I got there I was told that for unforseen circumstances they couldn't give me a loan car and if I want to rebook, the nearest time was December. So I had no choice but calling my ward manager to tell her that I couldn't get to work the next day because I didn't have a car and public transport were not suitable for my journey due to the delays caused by Salisbury train crush (that is an unforseen circumstance).When I went to collect my vehicle I didn't even get an apology

Lovely place, worth having a look at if you haven't already.
Nice customer service

If you’re looking for honest sales people then I suggest you look elsewhere. The aftercare of this place is NON EXISTENT.

Purchased a Golf R-line in April 2021 (NU67 NHB) and made a 10 hour round trip to go and pick it up. The car did look good and drove like new. We were told on the phone when we paid the deposit that we would have TWO YEARS FREE SERVICING included in the price by Ryan the salesman (Martins of Andover). We paid the deposit immediately as we didn’t want to lose the car.

Now it’s October 2021 and the car is due it’s service and the free services are not available. Apparently they meant the car came with two years free servicing when the car was brand new? How is that a selling point when we were buying a three year old car? Martins bare-face lied to us over the phone and to our faces on more than one occasion. There was two of us there when they said it so they have no leg to stand on. Now it’s going to cost us £80 to take these crooks to the small claims court and we are questioning even if our two year warranty is valid too as the car came with very little paperwork as we were told everything is “done electronically online”.

Not only that we part exchanged a Seat Ibiza while we were there. The car was taxed for six months at the cost of around £180. Martins took our logbook and told us they’d notify the DVLA and we would get a tax refund. THIS DID NOT HAPPEN. They sold the car to another dealer who had the car on their forecourt for over five months before selling it. Each month we were paying for it to be taxed and there was nothing we could do as they had the logbook. After numerous phone calls and emails they still did NOTHING to assist us in getting our tax refund. The other garage finally sold the car in August and we got under £20 refunded from the DVLA.

THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE JOKE OF A COMPANY AND I DEFINITELY WOULD NOT RECOMMEND TO ANYBODY. NOT EVEN MY WORST ENEMY.

The car itself is lovely but the guys working here are crooks and obviously work on commission and will tell you anything to get themselves a sale.

See you guys in the small courts where I’ll be pressing for my full tax refund and the cost of two years servicing.

thought I had found a trustworthy garage when I took my car to be serviced at Martins in Reading but this is not the case. 6 weeks after the service my service light flashed so assuming it would just need turning off I returned the car only to be told that the car now needed another service to change the oil and would cost me £160 on top of the £500 that I had paid. No mention of this was made when I had the original service and I do assume that an oil change is a fairly standard procedure in any service. I was told that car now needed 2 services a year but no mention of this had been said 2 months earlier or the previous year when my car was serviced by the same people. would probably avoid this garage an my search continues for a trustworthy one

I picked up my VW UP on Saturday and the car is a delight Ken and Yarnov went above and beyond during the sales process what a delight to deal with.

Thank you from Mrs MAY (Lisa & Bluey the up)

Oliver in Service was very helpful. As always very pleased with the service department. Thanks again. Rj

Our car (under warranty) needed a door lock’s repair. Zak , the Renault delegate, offered us a slot the next day and was waiting for us outside at 8 am to pick up the car, in an efficient and professional way. Zak kept us informed on time of the repair status. When collecting, the car was carefully washed and everything was done in accordance with covid regulations.

Amazing customer Service from Shane, very polite and helped us every step of the way!

Purchased three year old ''Approved Used'' Polo from Martins Basingstoke

Leaked water into drivers footwell +++++. Martins abdicated all responsibility: refused to even look at it when we contacted them unless we paid £250 up front for investigation, in contradiction to Consumer Rights Act 2015. In the end had to get it investigated and repaired elsewhere.

We eventually got the leak identified. It turned out the vehicle had been in a crash, wing replaced and seams not properly sealed. Investigative works to identify included re-installing windscreen as that was primary suspect. Eventually had wing removed reinstalled, leaking seams re-sealed to cure problem.

Found a date scrawled under bonnet, 2 weeks before purchase from Martins, when it had been crash repaired!

Salesman, Mr Dan Woolway, refused to investigate simply citing''...vehicle may have had a light repair by the previous owner..'' and refusing liability.

Second hand car buyer (''Group Used Car Buyer'') Mr D Handley: ''...we do not except (sic)liability for these issues as the repair looks to have been done prior to Martins selling you the Polo ......''.

Letter before action spelling out Consumer Rights Act obligations ignored.

I then had to serve proceedings via the County Court as I had made zero progress, despite citing Consumer Rights Act etc . Finance Director, Mr J Miles, then contacted me. Eventually settled: but haggled over every last penny!! No thought of saying sorry we messed up in this case.

No apology , no contrition , no acceptance of training issues

My final email : ''Your firm has failed on multiple levels, consistent with how numerous people inside and outside the trade warned me that you do business. That is you are good at selling cars but take no interest and attempt to evade your legal obligations when things go wrong. I am wearied by your and the other Martins employees obstructive and ill-informed approach.''

The facts speak for themselves....a warning about this firm!

Addendum: I have now made contact with Chief Exec office at VW HQ UK who are equally shocked by the behaviour of their franchisee and hugely apologetic. I doubt Martins will change.

We popped in to Martins Renault in Reading to look at cars. We were greeted by Shane who helped us find what we were after. We arranged a test drive the following day. Everything was ready and waiting and following the test drive our minds were made up. Shane was very helpful in organising the finance, extras and finer details. A couple of days later we drove away in our new car. Many thanks again Shane.