Essex Auto Group Reviews 

1,059
TrustScore 1.5 out of 5

1.6

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Booking price given was wrong, checking price was nearly double, rude staff, poor communication, during service broke the vehicle likely due to heavy handed rushed work and they didn’t admit until as... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Drove from Somerset 3.5 hours to view a car although listed as silver by delayed was not it was blue/silver, shoddy wheels shoddy inside. Lost £500 reservation fee. You need to be accurate with your... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

I took my b max in for diagnosis,was informed that the car needed new fuel pipes,spill pipes and injector seals etc. my own mechanic didnt agree but spent a day removing and refitting all these parts... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I recently purchased a new van from Essex Auto Group at Rayleigh & felt the need to post a quick review about the process or more importantly the salesman Kade. He was by far the best salesman I have... See more

Company details

  1. Car Dealer
  2. Auto Repair Shop

Information provided by various external sources

Essex Auto Group specialise in new Ford cars, Ford commercial vehicles, Mazda, Fiat, and Kia vehicles in addition to used cars and vans. We have a number of franchised dealers who stock a wide range of vehicles to suit all your motoring needs. With over 1,000 vehicles always in stock, brilliant business solutions, state-of-the-art facilities and full aftersales support, at Essex Auto Group we’re proud of our long-established reputation for integrity, first-class customer service and competitive pricing.


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1.6

Bad

TrustScore 1.5 out of 5

1K reviews

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1.6

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(1,059)

4 reviews in the last 12 months

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Absolutely disasterous "vehicle service".

Essex Auto Group Rayleigh.

I took my wife's KA for a full service and MOT in the summer.
Much to my surprise I had a phone call to say it failed the MOT because of serious corrosion and the brakes were worn by 90% plus new discs required. The cost of the corrosion repair was put at £912. I stated I would like to consider if it was worth repairing (the vehicle is 12 years old though relatively low mileage 35,000) however I was informed I would still have to pay £250 approx. for the service. Why was I not told before the service was carried out? Cutting a long story short we agreed a 50% reduction in repair costs and discount on the service. When I checked the repair seems to be only 4" square and not of a very good standard. When I checked the brakes I could clearly see the discs and pads the had NOT been replaced. EVEN THOUGH THE MOT CERTIFICATE HAD BEEN ISSUED. This meant the car had to be returned.
However since then I received a video from the dealer which shows an inspection report which clearly states the corrosion as "slight" and the brake discs as "slight" plus the brake pads as only 40% worn. (not 90% as shown on the paper work).
So was any of this work needed??
I have suspicions and have contacted the Which magazine legal dept who want me to report back. I understand it would be advantageous to contact DEKRA for a vehicle report.
I will never use this company again.

November 15, 2018
Unprompted review
Essex Auto Group logo

Reply from Essex Auto Group

We are extremely concerned to see that the service you experienced did not meet your expectations. In the unlikely event that you have not heard from us or you've already provided detailed feedback, we would very much appreciate it if you could fill in the form at http://www.allenmotorgroup.co.uk/ford/contact-us/ (including the name of the registered owner of the car, its registration number, and your contact details so that we can find the correct records in our database and get in touch as soon as possible) so that we can investigate and help. Thank you.

EDITED TO ADD: We would very much welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss the issues further and review the job sheet and reported work in person.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

i placed a negative review with this…

i placed a negative review with this company, i was contacted by a member of staff.
The gentleman who called was rude , ignorant and shouted at me down the phone,
There attitude is the customer is NEVER right.
Iam appauled at their workshop and even more appauled at their lack of respect for a customer and their lack of respect when contacting me when discussing an issue i had , i beleive a genuine grievance.
I came off the phone shaking i was so angry a blatent disrespect for for a customer or ex customer.

October 27, 2018
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Terrible services industry another dealership

Terrible service, appallingly treated I have no confidence in their ability to repair Kia's
I would not recommend this company to any Kia owner,

October 17, 2018
Unprompted review
Essex Auto Group logo

Reply from Essex Auto Group

Again, we are extremely concerned to see that the customer service you experienced did not meet your expectations. In the unlikely event that you have not heard from us before now or you have already provided detailed feedback, we would very much appreciate it if you could fill in the form at https://www.essexautogroup.com/kia/feedback/enquiry/ or email enquiries@essexautogroup.com to leave constructive feedback so that we can investigate to help you and future customers. Thank you.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Appalling Service Booking Team / System !!!!

I have no complaint about the sales team the servicing/booking team however a different matter. I have a 2018 registered Mustang GT and wanted an (unscheduled) oil change carried out. I booked online and received a call to confirm a date 18/10 time 8am and cost £145.

Today 17/10 I called with a question only to be told they had absolutely no record of my booking whatsoever. This isn't the first time they have let me down either, on previous occasions they have failed to return calls when asked questions they needed to investigate.

Its a good job I checked first otherwise I would have completely wasted my time !

All in all....very poor !

October 17, 2018
Unprompted review
Essex Auto Group logo

Reply from Essex Auto Group

We are extremely concerned to see that the customer service you experienced did not meet your expectations or our own. We will use your constructive feedback to investigate immediately to see where this breakdown in communication lies so that we can help you and future customers. Thank you.

EDITED TO ADD: Thank you for taking the time to talk with our Customer Relations Manager to clear up our confusion. We very much look forward to welcoming you back in March.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I have recently used the Essex Auto…

I have recently used the Essex Auto Group Body Shop for the painting of a rear Spoiler that I have now fitted to my new Kuga Vignale (I don't understand why Ford do not fit the rear Spoiler to one of their top of the range models).
Upon collecting the completed painted Spoiler, I am very happy with the colour match (Magnetic Metallic) and the finish on the clearcoat. The price was resonable and their work guaranteed. An all round good job done.

Thank you!

October 15, 2018
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Recently purchased our courier Kombi…

Recently purchased our courier Kombi and experienced great customer care and assistance from Sarah. Loved the experience and would have no hesitation in recommending Sarah and Rayleigh commercial EAG.

September 23, 2018
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Fraudsters.

After making an enquiry about needless to say a car, that was advertised by Essex Auto Group on the Autotrader website in which I asked for a valuation for my current car as a p/x, firstly I didn't get any response from what was a long and detailed email to it. After a period of several hours because I was genuinely interested in the vehicle advertised I took the considerable amount of time needed to submit a further email to it again expressing all of my cars details etc. The manager then telephoned with a simple request of "when do you want to come down" following which I said that, that all depends on their valuation of my car to which he replied "depending on condition somewhere between £4,200 - £4,700" a figure that was considerably lower than I was expecting. On the following afternoon the 21/9/18 I ventured on-to the Autotrader website to get its figure and low and behold it was £5,400, some 21.3484% higher than the midrange figure of £4,450 that Essex Auto Group had given me the day before. Hardly confidence inspiring, and obviously, I didn't take my enquiry any further and neither have I made any contact with it regarding my disappointment, simply because (while I normally would) I couldn't see any point at all in doing so. Perhaps this is its normal way of doing business, all I can say is Caveat emptor.

September 21, 2018
Unprompted review
Essex Auto Group logo

Reply from Essex Auto Group

Autotrader's valuations will undoubtedly be based on some of the same criteria as those that we use to value vehicles. However, although we advertise on Autotrader, we are independent of them and like most dealer groups we are free to value cars using criteria which are more closely aligned with the specific part of the automotive market we occupy, unlike Autotrader which uses data from the national adverts on their website, dealer websites such as ours, and also major car auctions. Autotrader's online valuations are based on the vehicle being in good condition only (https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-valuation/valuation-conditions). As a bricks-and-mortar company that has an online presence, we ask to see the vehicle in person so that we can give a reliable valuation that is not misleading. Without seeing the vehicle, we give a range of value based on many factors including that particular model's likely worth in a poor condition and that particular model's likely worth in good condition. Should you still wish to visit us, we would be more than happy to help in any way we can.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

After several years of buying cars &…

After several years of buying cars & services being carried out i can safely say we won't be using Dunton Ford anymore!
In March of this year our car required a new fuel filter at a cost of £185 (investigate & replace)..... The car was then serviced last Friday at a cost of £529.70 over the weekend whilst checking through the service documents we noticed that a new filter had been replaced on the car at a cost of £91.98. This afternoon we popped into the store and questioned why the technician had not picked up on the fact the filter was 5months old and did not need changing. Apparently "The technicians do not have access to the cars history" so he would not have known the filter had been changed.
I asked the desk team member if he would be happy in paying out £91 for a part that was only replaced a short while ago... He agreed and would not be happy... But this is where no further attempt was made by the employee to discuss a refund...
Allen Ford / EAG over the years we have spent £70k+ in buying cars from you and £1000's in servicing our vehicles...
Customer relationship status 0/10
Previous major services carried out by EAG did not include fuel filter replacement Allen Ford scheduled maintenance major service includes a new filter this was not mentioned when booking the car in that the service content had changed....
If this is how you treat Ford Employees i would hate to see how the general public are treated.

Regards
Graham & Sarah

September 11, 2018
Unprompted review
Essex Auto Group logo

Reply from Essex Auto Group

Edited to: Thank you for highlighting your concern. We have reviewed your response with our team and senior management. On this occasion, we feel a goodwill gesture as an acknowledgement of your concern can be applied. Please advise how we can make contact with you to further discuss. We look forward to hearing from you.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Needed our wing mirror replaced as we…

Needed our wing mirror replaced as we were unfortunately hit by a car at the weekend who failed to stop. We ordered the parts Saturday and by Monday we were able to pick the parts up and a very kind technician helped fit the parts.

Thank you so much for everyone's help!

August 14, 2018
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

As a Ford Privilege customer I asked…

As a Ford Privilege customer I asked for an on the road price for a Kuga Vignale from your sales office (Rayleigh I believe ) but to date I have not received a reply. As a result I have decided to go to another dealer.

August 13, 2018
Unprompted review
Essex Auto Group logo

Reply from Essex Auto Group

We are extremely concerned to see that the customer service you experienced did not meet your or our expectations. In the unlikely event that you still have not heard from us already, please fill in the form at https://www.essexautogroup.com/ford-privilege/feedback/enquiry/ or email enquiries@essexautogroup.com to leave constructive feedback so that we can investigate and then help you. Thank you.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

The original sales person was useless…

The original sales person was useless only interested in poaching other salesman’s customers but the salesman who took over the sale was very helpful and did a lot more than normal I would recommend any one I know to go and see him but not your Mr. Rider

August 3, 2018
Unprompted review
Rated 3 out of 5 stars

I needed to change my direct debit…

I needed to change my direct debit details before signing paper work which then delayed the process. I had to go back home and come back to sign the paper work. It was a nightmare as I dont live close by.

August 2, 2018
Unprompted review

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