Waves Car Wash Reviews 

waves at exeter has the most ignorant human working there who is rude and aggressive towards woman, he spoke to my wife like rubbish and called her thick.
have complained to waves but really unhappy with this location

We had our car washed and vacuumed at the waves at blackpool today absolutely great job they did. When we arrived the young lad was polite and explained everything. When we got back to the car it looked like a professional job had been done on it. Will definitely be taking it there every month on pay day.

Well done and thank you.

Utterly terrible service and rubbish effort at washing cars. Manager wanted to charge £40 to wash inside and out of SUV but the front was left full of insect splatter. When pointed out, he said it was £300 to detail a car and he didn’t wash off insect splatter. Pointed out everyone else washes these off and he became annoyed. Insisted I pay him £40 or else! Paid him £35 quid and when I left he gave the middle finger.

£20 for a basic outside wash with wheels cleaned.
They missed lots on the wheels and the plastic .

Took my 3 week old car to Tesco Wrexham, caused damage to paintwork (water marring).
Sent video evidence and proof it’s the only car wash I used they have closed ranks and are denying, only wanted them to put it right! Stick to English run companies at least they care.

Slow service and rude workers. Don't waste your money here. Their staff need training on how to relate to customers with respect.

Went the Boston UK Waves for the second time yesterday 2.7.26 and was very disappointed. The guy said come back in 1hr 20 minutes. But I walked past 30 minutes later to find them cleaning a car that came in after me. Some 2hrs later it was finally cleaned. Well I say clean, it wasn't clean. Had trouble seeing out the windscreen when the sun hit it, it was covered in rag marks. Wheels not cleaned properly, dust and gravel all round. Not going there again.

I booked a "Full Monty" clean for my vehicle on 25/06/26 via the app at the Tesco Hastings site. The app classified my car as "Van 1" (£85 inc VAT) based on the registration number. I was very impressed with the app, the booking process was straightforward and quick.

I dropped off my car at the agreed time. The operative queried the vehicle classification and said it would have to be the top price bracket "Car Volume 4" (£105 inc VAT) - I felt mildly deceived but decided to proceed nevertheless. The staff were friendly and polite.

When I returned just after 14h00 the car wasn't ready yet and I was only able to collect it at 14h30. While waiting, I noticed that the rear retractable parcel shelf was no longer in the car and queried this with a staff member. They were adamant that it was not in the car when I dropped it off, whereas it most definitely was - it never leaves the car - I had to insist and get quite irate before they eventually checked another client's car (totally different make and model) and found my parcel shelf in the boot ...

The interior of the car was very well cleaned - the seats in particular came out spotless.

However, the standard of cleaning on the bodywork was disappointing to say the least, given that the "Full Monty" is meant to be a premium service. Issues:
- Door jambs - driver and passenger front door, bottom corner not touched at all.
- Plastic trim - slapdash / uneven application of product on these with the product overpainted onto the car bodywork.
- Wheel trims - not exactly what I would call clean ... lots of dirt left in many places

I wasn't able to comment on the above on site because it was quite dark in the area where they work and it only became apparent when I parked up again in the sunlight.

Absolutely not a premium service, and most definitely not worth £105 ...

Out of courtesy I contacted Waves customer service before posting negative feedback publicly - all I got back was a "brush off" saying it's not their problem, I should go talk to the employee on site. WRONG - it is your brand reputation that is at stake so you should absolutely be taking responsibility for the sloppy work of your franchisees ...

Used the Tesco Newmarket Rd in Cambridge branch in April and was impressed. Went back on 30/6/2026 and was told my car, an MX5, was now volume category 3 ('management had changed the category') and the charge would be £15, not £12. The operator quickly backed down when I challenged this. I was told it would be 30 minutes - I went for a coffee where I could see the work being done. It took about 15 minutes. I collected the car and was prompted to pay in cash, I said I would pay by card. The drivers side carpet was wet and had stone chips on it. When I got home I took a closer look at the work and there was still stains on the paintwork and little effort had been made to clean the wheels. I wrote to head office and they confirmed that my car was volume category 1 but showed no interest in my complaint of shoddy cleaning despite a photograph. Waves need to understand that trust leaves on a horse and returns on foot. Never again.

The response from Waves is the same dismissive response I got from, head office and repeated multiple times to the 58% of 1 star reviews.

Bunch of cowboys, depending who is there they quote £35 (usual) or £60 younger guy saying there’s too much dog hair. Seems they’re happy to valet as long as there’s nothing to do.

I asked before the wash if they could provide a VAT receipt which I was told they could. So when I paid all the offered was a till / card receipt without a VAT number. Despite asking twice, the operator whose English was perfect to begin with suddenly did not understand or want to understand me and by his body language was dismissive. Further, they did not do a particularly good job and £50 was an excessive cost given the end result.

car wash tore my running board off and car wash would not cover damage Manger looked at the camera and seen where it did it.They did nothing about it.The wash did not even get the wheels clean and all the bugs off of the car .Enjoy that $16.00 it will be the last from me>this was at the Powdersville location.The manger even said car wash would not cover it.

Would definitely recommend they were very kind and gave a discount also very helpful.

Rather disappointed with Waves car wash Tesco Blandford Forum. Normally a good service but the Apple tag attached to the key ring was removed/ mislaid and deactivated. It’s of no use to anybody but they suggested it had never been there despite it displaying the location. I’m afraid I’ve lost trust in there staff so shall not use this service again.
JB

Happy with the car, was pretty dirty so it's handy to drop it off whilst shopping, would definitely use again! Waves staff were friendly and helpful.

Fantastic service. Very attentive

I have used waves tesco wigan on a few occasions now, and found to be very good.
However this latest experience was way below par.. booked gold .. when i did my shop. Got back to my car and guy was just finishing it off.. i could clearly see it hadn't been washed properly or in a rush.. as there was still visible dirt on the doors and the sill looked to have been missed.
I pointed this out and he said dont worry I haven't finished.. and got some stuff in a spray bottle and started to wipe the dirt off... the car is 4 months old .. and we know what happens when you rub dirt with a cloth.. and there where patches all over the car on the tailgate around the number plate.. hadn't been touched. Inside was ok. But had overspray on the inside of windscreen.. which I had to stop and clean.
I heared the guy tell the manager that the dirt just wouldn't come off.. hmmmm.
So I will have to take it to a in out hand wash today to get rid of the patches..
£35 not well spent.. Will have to think long and hard about going back again.
Very frustrating when I have received goods results in the past..
You are only as good as your last job.

Booked online for tesco,shirley southampton. Looked inside and immediately said very dirty on inside will be £10 more than the booked £30. Even told me i had dogs when the hair they pointed to was one of mine! Argued i would not pay extra, they told me to lower my voice as i was getting upset. Manager then came over, took my keys and said it would be £30 as booked. I had a suspicion that i would come back and find something wrong with the car. They handed my keys back and i thanked them. Seats were moved so far forward only a child would have fitted! The car is clean but not to the standard i would expect. Got home parked in the garage and noticed one of the steering control buttons was missing. I am afraid to go back and ask what happened. Im assuming payback as i had shouted. Would not recommend this car wash. Staff rude and flippant, i will not use again and will let my friends and family know of my ordeal.

Paid for platinum, barely got bronze.
Inside not cleaned to a satisfactory standard, outside just looked like it had been sprayed, wheels not cleaned. When I pointed out areas that had not been cleaned and stated I was not happy, I just got shouted at by the attendant in his own language. No idea what he said. Extremely poor service and rude staff.

I’d give zero stars if this was an option. I took my car to Waves in St Helens Tesco on Saturday 30th May 2026. The usual cost for a wash and wax spray is £15.00, a rude, bald employee stated it was £24.00 as my car was within volume 4. I refused to pay this and chose a basic car wash @ £16.00. I have since reviewed the car volumes on Waves website and my car does not fall into volume 4 so I was overcharged. I emailed Waves (twice to receive a response) their response was equally arrogant it was my responsibility to take this up with Waves in St Helens. On Saturday 6th June I saw the same rude, bald headed man whose misogynistic behaviour rose to new levels. He refused to do anything about the overcharge in an extremely threatening manner. I watched him communicate with a male customer, so very different. I’m out of pocket and I will never go to a Waves car wash again, if you choose to avoid St Helens Tesco if you are a women as there is a clear lack of respect women and they will take advantage of you and overcharge you.