Originally I posted a number of updates about the service that my wife and I received from Trade Centre UK – Coventry on this blog.

Back in January this year, I posted a trilogy of blog posts to summarise our time dealing with Trade Centre UK – Coventry. At the time of the third post, we hoped that the issues were resolved and that it would be the final post.

Unfortunately the problems did not finish and we still have had to deal yet again with a company that fails to deliver after sales care and cause customers great stress. A part 4 has now been added (unfortunately) and can be found towards the lower section of this post. This keeps events and reporting chronological and depicts where we were at and how we felt at each stage.

My general advice is to avoid this company. Any issues with the car and you will have loads of additional stresses dealing with them. Other than fixing the car, we have not had any compensation to date though we are pushing.

If you are unlucky to be reading this and have issues with this dealer, reject the car and push for a refund. Don’t waste time with their offers to repair, they will keep you waiting extended lengths of time to their advantage which will often then push you outside legal time frames to reject the car.

Remember, even if you do not take out an extended warranty, legally, if any issues develop with the car it is deemed that it likely existed at time of purchase.

TRADE CENTRE UK – COVENTRY BRANCH (REVIEW) PART 1 – 07-Aug-2023

My family and I were recently looking at swapping our car for a different model. 

Trade centre UK have 5 branches that are located strategically throughout the UK. The branch we visited was Coventry. Sites are also also in Rochdale, Rotherham, Wednesbury and Birmingham. 

If you have not visited one of their locations, their sites are large with hundreds of cars on site to view. Hence our visit as we would likely find a car of interest. A warehouse of cars with plenty of space inside and out. They of course also have an online presence. 

So, what did we think? 

On arrival, we did not have an appointment but we were greeted and our needs identified. The sales person then shows us cars that met our requirements, while using an iPad to identify possibly vehicles. 

The team members who helped assist with identifying a car were very helpful. The focus on sales is almost too intense though with the sales team. They will stick by you like glue unless you ask for some space. While very friendly and process driven, they are slightly too scripted with the sales patter. Some more natural and genuine interest would be appreciated. 

When purchasing a car, the team do push their after sales lifetime warranty. Of course you would expect this from any company wishing to gain ancillary sales. Quite a hard sell though so you must stand by your guns if you are not interested. To be fair, it is probably a decent warranty but everyone has to make up their own mind on whether it is a good offer for you. 

Our purchase was in June and you gain a standard 28 day warranty and you are also assured that a 99 point check list has been carried out on the car to check reliability and quality. If any issues, you can then get in touch to resolve. 

When collecting the car, a nice touch was a cleaning kit with contents including cleaning solutions and cloths. 

But what are they like when you need after sale assistance? 

While you will get all the help and support which includes phone calls prior to the pick up of your car, getting hold of the staff afterwards is more of a challenge. 

We faced a difficulty which also has caused great inconvenience. While I wont get into all that detail about the issue, the point is that contacting the team to get an issue resolved is stressful. No one is ever available to talk to when you phone the customer service team. Over 9 days we had to leave messages 6 times. Eventually we had to speak to reception and leave a message after advising we would have no choice but to visit the branch if no one was going to speak to us. 

Trade Centre UK need to address this balance of available staff between sales and support. It is not good and we have an ongoing issue that is still not resolved. When complaining, they do not address the need or resolve. No initiative or attempt to make you feel valued, and a total lack of urgency. 

If you provide after sales, even when something goes wrong, it can result in future follow up sales. Get it wrong and you lose the customer for life. Trade Centre still have an opportunity to effectively resolve the issue. Let’s hope that do. 

Would I use Trade Centre UK again at present? Doubtful but like I say, they have the opportunity at present to put things right. The staff are pleasant enough but the company has some serious issues. 

Rating due to after sales service is at best below average. Certainly a good option to buy a car but be mindful that gaining after sales support is difficult. This view appears reflected in their TrustPilot reviews. 

Proceed with caution when purchasing. Like many companies these days, no interest in retaining the customer after the initial sale and they have your money. 

TRADE CENTRE UK – COVENTRY BRANCH (REVIEW) PART 2 (04-Dec-23)

Since writing the original article here, it feels appropriate to update on further issues using Trade Centre UK.

After a purchase of a car in the Summer, we had a nightmare with failing air con and electronics. Trade Centre UK being slow to respond resolve the issue.

At the time, I gave them the benefit of the doubt but I would now advise to strongly avoid any purchases from this dealer. Since my initial review, we have had more difficulties and have been without a car since mid October.

As a fault with the car that will have been present at time of purchase, we are now having to wait until late January for their mechanics and no sign of any courtesy car – they don’t seem to have any available. We will be without a car for three months.

While we could go elsewhere to get the car fixed, it will cost a lot more than Trade Centre UK will contribute. Their offer to contribute is a fixed amount and if other issues arise, we will then be stuck with the costs. They argue that it would cost them less to fix but they do not have any mechanic availability.

We did gain advice from the Citizens advice bureau and Which.

It has been a complete nightmare really. The result being that we are occasionally booking car hire at our expense currently. We also traded a rather good and reliable car with Trade Centre UK, as we wanted to have a larger car. The 120 point check at time of purchase is worthless and obvious that it means nothing.

Like I said in the previous review, Trade Centre UK invest all their efforts in sales and neglect after sales service. Please do not buy from them, you will have nothing but difficulties. Avoid trading with this dealership.

TRADE CENTRE UK – COVENTRY BRANCH (Jan 2024) PART 3

Since writing the original article here, and then part 2 here, it feels appropriate to update on using Trade Centre UK. This relates to their Coventry branch.

Maybe our nightmare with the current issues for our car is over! If that is the case, I would like to think this would be the last post on this subject.

Without our car since late October 2023, Trade Centre UK finally provided a courtesy car unexpectedly in late December (28th). This was handy as it was a day before when we were planning to get car hire again at our expense. If only we had been given such a car sooner, it would have made such a difference to how we felt about the service provided by Trade Centre UK. Up to that point, you just get advised that they do not have any courtesy cars available.

On receipt of the courtesy car, our expectation was that our car would finally be looked at late January.

Thankfully this issue has been resolved sooner. A call received early January confirmed that our car had finally been looked at and needed a new engine. Work has now completed, just over a week later and our car is finally back in our hands some 11 weeks later. The new engine being reconditioned.

While the after sales manager did eventually come good, it has still been a difficult journey which took way too long. We now need to update the DVLA and we have Trade Centre’s agreement that they will provide a full service after 500 miles. Despite the issues, the staff we dealt with were nice, handling a difficult situation. But I would still not recommend that you trade with this dealership as capacity to deal with after sales support is poor.

Hopefully this will be the last update on this saga. As previously advised, Trade Centre UK invest all their efforts in sales and neglect after sales service. I hope that they rethink this policy.

You may also find my post about Enterprise car hire of interest as well here.

TRADE CENTRE UK – COVENTRY BRANCH (REVIEW) PART 4 – 21-Apr-2023

As you will have guessed, the story did continue. After the engine replacement, we noticed difficulties with the clutch. When the service was due in February we mentioned the issues and a technician advised the vibrating dash and clutch movement indicted an issue with the fingers (whatever that meant but clutch related). Trade centre then booked the car in, agreeing that as the clutch was under warranty, they would strip it out, return it and replace. We were also told the car was still safe to drive while we waited for the work to take place in a few weeks.

Mid March, the car broke down. The car was eventually picked up be Trade Centre after being recovered by roadside assistance and this is where the fun began. Despite recovery men advising not to drive it, when Trade Centre eventually looked, the approach was that all was okay. Nothing was wrong. They appeared to have conveniently forgotten that we were told by a technician that issues needed rectifying when they carried out a test drive in February.

The date to fix the car in March passed with Trade Centre advising that they tested and nothing was wrong. Going back on their previous acknowledgment that more repair work was required.

The most important thing to note here is that if we had not kept pushing, they would have handed the car back and we would have had a bigger headache.

My wife had been dealing with this and Trade centre were becoming increasingly difficult. I took over to try and support and get this escalated. The issue now was they were treating the matter as if nothing was wrong and they would not confirm the previous conversation with their technical. After a lot of back and forth and chasing, the car which has now been with them about 5 weeks again was finally looked at and repaired again.

While I was always copied into the emails, the manager ignored my contacts when I attempted to contact. Not even an acknowledgement and I escalated the matter copying in as many Senior managers as possible. It worked and got their attention. All of a sudden, I gained responses.

In total, for the 10 months that we have owned the car, it has been off the road for about 4.5 months. Mainly because issues that go back to when we first bought card. The stress this purchase has caused is shocking.

Our treatment from some managers who ignored us is documented here separately. At no point should any customer be ignored and the truth is, while the car has been repaired to the standards supposedly it should have been at purchase, we have never received any compensation or actual meaningful apology from Coventry. Though a Senior manager did apologise who I believe may be based in Wales – the after sales director who I contacted.

While some are lucky, Trust Pilot has many stories of individuals not getting the after care and their cars off the road for long periods. Just don’t do it, shop elsewhere.

Now that we have the car back, we are concerned and hope that we will not break down again. Here’s hoping that all is finally fixed and I do not have to write further about this fiasco.

Certainly on driving it, I live in hope that now all is finally well. And of course, when you visit the after sales department, you find others who are treated the same. If you have had any experiences with this firm, please do share your thoughts in the comments.

And lastly, just don’t do it. Don’t buy from this company. One word “Cowboys”.