Ponko Reviews

Having made telephone enquiries regarding a car advertised as ready to drive away I made an appointment to view the same day As I was about to set off on my 35 mile journey to their premises I received a call from the salesman advising that I could view the gorgeous car but it wasn t ready to drive away When I enquired why the salesman couldn t be specific but said I couldn t drive it away I still thought it would be worth a look so I made my way on the 50 minute journey On arrival I was introduced to the salesman a very pleasant young man who appeared very helpful I thought the pre-test drive paperwork and introduction to the company history unnecessary and time wasting Following the test drive and subsequent inspection various things were found to be needed mostly the quality of the paintwork which was badly scratched There was also a severe keying scratch diagonally across the rear door hatch which had been very amateurly touched up I do not accuse Reed Autos of this poor quality work which was probably done by previous owner but the vehicle was poorly prepared for a test drive and apparently needed two days of valeting before it would be ready for collection In view of this I managed to negotiate a small discount on asking price I was then required to place a 200 non-refundable holding deposit which I subsequently did On my journey home and after further reflection I was unsure the car was of the quality described Then on checking their website again I found an almost identical car priced at 2000 higher but with lower mileage and being 2 years younger I made enquiries as to whether I could transfer my deposit to this other vehicle if I made the journey to their premises again and the vehicle was acceptable I had made a specific request that the car should not be started prior to my arrival which it hadnt In fact I dont think it had been started or moved since they took it in part exchange It was covered in dust the inside clearly needed valeting Once again there were scratches along the nearside of the car - likely caused by overgrown hedgerows in country lanes but nowhere as bad as the previous vehicle viewed The big moment came when I was given a key to start the vehicle ignition lights on then nothing The battery was flatter than last weeks pancakes A mechanic was called with a Battery Pack to jump start the car Start it did I was then asked to move away so that it could be removed from the Parking lot and presented to me nearer to the entrance A test drive was completed and found to be satisfactory On my return to the sales office I raised the issue of the flat battery and the salesman had it checked later advising it was perfect My response was that it would be after a run of several miles thus putting charge into it There were other issues I raised ie no luggage load cover no drivers handbook or instruction manual a damaged rear offside light lense After much to-ing and fro-ing from salesman to managers the result - a discount of 300 on windscreen price I was not happy as the vehicle required a service although they did offer to service it themselves if I returned at a later date ie another 70 mile round trip Again a vehicle advertised as ready to drive away was in fact not I decided to purchase the vehicle and duly paid for and signed all the documents I was then passed an ignition key I asked for the second key only to be told there is only one key I was not at all happy with their responses or offers but in view of all the travelling I had done and spending some 3 hours negotiating I had had enough and wanted to get away The vehicle drove ok on the return journey The real shock came when starting the vehicle next morning nothing battery flat again I was able to jump start it and took it to my local garage and trusted mechanic who tested the battery and advised it was unable to hold a charged The result a charge of 145 for a new battery I have since been left with further costs to replace the luggage load cover Source a Drivers handbook Establish the cost of replacing the rear light lens 214 A full service at 430 Replacement ignition key 252 All for a supposed vehicle that was Ready to drive away I have since contacted the Salesman advising of my experiences who was very apologetic - Full Stop In my view at the very least - an offer to pay for the new battery would have been the very least they could have offered I would hasten to add that the Salesman was a young man who was very enthusiastic and charming He is however bound by parameters and limited in how far he can go The management structure of this company and working practices both in the offices and workshops leaves a lot to be desired and in my view and experience is not focused on Customer Service or satisfaction in any way I cant say whether my experience is unique or typical of Reed Autos but I would never buy from them again nor would I recommend their services to anybody In my view they are very lucky to be given 2 stars

From a great experience dealing with Jacob prior to purchasing the vehicle who was very helpful and listened well to what I wanted He was polite and made the transaction and buying experience really smooth- very happy with Jacob in particular not too sure about other team members then to an awful experience with reed autos after purchasing the car I have got several issues Main issues being communication Reed autos seem to promise you they will phone you back or give you feedback will never deliver I have had 2 ongoing issues with my car which is practically very new and very pricey There was nothing offered to make a customer feel special No package nothing The management team does not want to get involved at all and it is very hard to get in touch with them I had to request their contact details a few times The people I have dealt with are Jacob Edwin Daniel I believe Sam but he may be from the warranty department Awful experience with Edwin each and every time I spoke to him On one call after asking if there was maybe an earlier appointment available which was during mid week of 1st March Edwin contacted me back near the end of the working week stating that he would pencil in an appointment for Saturday 6th for me to bring my car in drop it off - and for me to pop into a loaner vehicle Only then finding out that my vehicle would not be looked at until my actual appointment date which therefore means I d be in your loaner car which is not a like for like for the car I have purchased my car is kept on your site for longer than it needs to be - which I m not happy with I don t find it acceptable On top of that he said he will confirm that with me on Friday 5th Yet again he did not phone me back or email me I ve had an ongoing bad experience

Just got home from a very frustrating 224 mile round trip to see a car I spoke to this company both over the phone and obviously face to face today I had questions over the cars servicing history which were vaguely answered over the phone I was led to believe that the car I was viewing had been recently serviced as the next service was not due until Sept 2021 or so they thought Upon arrival there was actually no service history with the car It is a 3 year old mini with 7000 miles on the clock Having spoken to mini servicing is advised at either 2 years or 20000 miles whichever is reached first After sitting down with George we then discovered that a hpi check had not previously been completed on the car and that finance was owed on it I was prepared to purchase the car but these things completely put me off And maybe lessons have been learned that I could check that these things have definitely been done before driving that distance but you expect slightly better of a dealer It transpired that they have had the car for 5 weeks and I would have thought that a hpi check would have been done in that time We left completely disappointed I was sure we would be driving the car home George was a nice lad though and very apologetic but I think it may have been more professional for his boss to show his face and explain the cock up considering how far we had driven

Purchased a vehicle 28 03 19 broke down the same day In Reeds defence they did rectify the issue a blocked fuel filter Very disappointing thought to have occurred within hours Subsequently discovered that break discs were well worn and needed replacing immediately Not Illegal despite sailing through the MOT with no advisories This despite an earlier MOT 3 weeks earlier showing advisories for worn pads Overall a very mixed experience leaving a biter taste for a 20K car and not what I would have expected from their brand or other reviews

I purchased a car in October with 6-month warranty The experience was great and the company is very professional However before I drove away I asked to fix the windscreen chips and stains on the trim which was agreed I also noticed a faulty seatbelt after driving home and I am not sure how it got through an MOT worrying Since then I have had a lot of radio silence and the invite to place a review seems to expire soon after purchasing which makes me think they don t want feedback on their after-sales support

James was great on the day I looked at the car friendly and helpful That s the positive Knowledge of the car Very limited I know they have lots of cars But know about what your selling If you don t ask someone who does or should 100 point check what a load of cods wollop So I work full time so asked for car To be delivered Sam Smith who was covering for James had the audacity to say you not thought about collecting it Err no working and gonna pay for the benefit so rinse your rudeness luv Back to the 100 check well I think the only checks they do is to make sure your money has cleared Flat battery lights not working no handbook owners manual guess I was lucky they gave me my locking wheel nut Tick sheet let s just say Sam asked 8 of the questions not the full amount he ticked before asking me to send it And when I say I drive max of 3000 miles guess what that s cause I do I don t need anyone to round it up cause you know what I had a car for 10 yrs and only did 29000 miles in it Do your maths I know how much I drive Maybe it s cause I am a woman On a positive the delivery driver was fabulous he knew more about the car than any of the people I dealt with I looked at a your awards I now wish I had looked at the dates on them bet they are from when the business opened and before they became so conceited I will be sending my bill for the lights which do not work and the new battery cause actually you did not do your job correctly So disappointed

Bought my son s first car here and travelled 450 miles to get it On arrival the staff were very pleasant and after a short test drive we set off on the long drive home After about 15 minutes on the hottest day of May we realised the A C wasn t working With such a long journey ahead I decided to just carry on and have it regassed when we got home rather than turn round and have a delay of a couple of hours Then we reached the motorway and felt a strong vibration through the whole car Turned off at Peterborough Kwik Fit and had all four wheels balanced Back on the motorway and vibration still there Decided to carry on and let our trusted local garage look into it This they did a few days later and reported that all 4 wheels were buckled Ponko maintained the car had just been MoTd by them and that would have been spotted I pointed out that MoT does not specifically test the true of wheels and that I was hardly likely to have all 4 balanced within 40 miles of leaving them if there wasn t a problem So began a tedious back and fore negotiation which results in them making a contribution after about week 3 of about the half the cost of the A C regas and 4 new wheels When we did replace the wheels this is now week 5 since purchase it turned the buckling had also ruined the tyres so I had to buy 4 new tyres as well Didn t bother going back to Ponko re this as to get the contribution I had to agree to full and final settlement of my concerns re wheels and I knew they would wriggle out of the tyre cost All this time I had also been fighting another problem with them which was the V5 they had was for the original registration but the previous keeper had put a cherished plate on the car so DVLA had it listed under the new number Salesperson who I won t name and shame here assured me at the time that it would remain taxed until the new V5 came through Checking online however I noticed the car became untaxed after we bought it So we now had a car which we couldn t drive safely due to the wheels and couldn t even have sitting legally on the road as it was untaxed And you can t tax it without a current V5 I understand we could have done all this at the time at the post office if the vendor Ponko and buyer fill the right form in together Anyway again after going back and fore a lot for about 4 weeks Ponko somehow managed to get it taxed without a V5 The correct V5 only arrived after 6 weeks So I wouldn t say avoid these guys but be very very careful Their prep of the cars is cosmetic rather than reliably mechanical and their after sales is hit and miss If you know what you re doing carry on as their prices are fair and you may well have a better experience than us And have a long test drive on a variety of roads

Bought a Volvo v90 r design for 24 thousand pounds car was ok passenger seat needed attention didn t slid back had to phone up for vat receipt because receipt I was given was wrong after 6 day had phone phone for my v5 down loaded v62 applied for v5 myself car had hp on it still haven t had anything to say it is paid off

We popped in on the off chance to have a look at a car we like on the website when we got there spoke to lad called James took us to have a look at the car explained that I already had my finance in place ready to go so didn t need there s not a problem James explained that there is a admin fee of around 220 for my own finance easy so far so went home rang my finance company and said yes this is the car not a problem and money transfered from finance company to reed autos so all I have to do is wait is for my text from my finance company to arrange pick up this is where it all starts to be a problem so receive my text from my finance company to arrange pick up with reed autos so go to ring them to arrange pick up and am told that i cant pick it up as it has to be put back in the garage for final checks fair enough but i would say two weeks wait to pick up my car that I m already paying for is not good enough and I was past to a bloke called hayden to deal with With very little knowledge on customer service sorry just my opinion I felt like I was not important once they had the money and was past back and forward to try and pick my car up from them one last thing don t take any extras from them you will find them cheaper elsewhere on the market and if you want my opinion try and deal with James But some good news finally picked my car up today

Sadly not the best experience Wanted to upgrade my car to something more reliable now I have a baby Spent more than I wanted 12k for something decent they wouldn t negotiate on proce at all Got convinced into paying even more for 12 months warranty When I picked the car up it was missing the back parcel shelf which cost over 100 online They confirmed it should have come with one as they looked back and it was pictured with one Took multiple phone calls chasing and the best part of a month before someone finally posted one out to me Fast forward 4 months after the purchase I break down on a very busy part of the A1 car is literally undrivable as I m told if I do the engine will likely blow up The voucher they gave me for a years free breakdown did not work I hadn t realised as I got nothing sent when I activated it to say it hadn t gone through This meant I got stuck with a 244 breakdown bill Then going through the warranty process Of course they then confirm the warranty I paid extra for doesn t even cover the problem so I now have another bill of 1500 and left carless for nearly 2 weeks There is also an issue with the door handle since the day I picked it up getting stuck causing the door not to stay closed Which is likely a screw spring issue which wont be covered by warranty So annoyingly I just avoid using this door This is the most expensive car I ve ever bought seeing I wanted something reliable for my daughter Yet it is the car I ve had most issues with and in such a short amount of time When you spend over 12k on a car you don t expect to have to pay nearly 2k just 4 months later and a door you can t use This is certainly worst case scenario for a new Mum who is not working