Wessex Garages Reviews 

At Hyundai Cardiff. Jonathan was amazing and attentive polite.. he was informative with vast choice of cars at Hyundai. And we're able to choose a car with confidence.

Jonathan ensured throughout the application very communicative, and whe car were and when was delivered. The day of handover was fantastic, and talked through the car facilities and ensured a test drive with me to make sure I was confidence and understanding of each sound etc the dashboard made.

I highly recommend Wessex = Hyundai and Jonathan. Hyundai are very lucky to have Jonathan.

please be aware if you require even a basic level of customer service this company will not provide it .no one at any level ie site manager or service manager level. You will be the only person ringing and wasting your time.

Had the pleasure of meeting and going through with the whole experience at Newport Kia.
Connor was an amazing young man.
Very friendly, courteous and polite
A credit to the team.
5 stars to Connor.
Martin Francis

I would like to thank everyone at wessex kia newport a big thank you to mathew and rhannon who made the whole process of buying a new car easy and stress free they know what they are talking about and do what they say.this is my forth car a sportage from kia newport and would not go any where elsr fantastic staff and fantastic service .peter jeremiah from pontypool

Just brought a used Mazda 3 from the Bristol Mazda Branch .i live in London and the whole process was completed via emails and telephone calls. Not 1 issue car was as described and all the questions that I had were answered quickly and accurately by the sales man Clayton. I travelled down on the day and they offered to pick me up at the station which I did not use as I wanted to walk through Bristol as I had not visited before . Arrived earlier than expected but car was ready cleaned and sat on the forecourt for my inspection .Clayton took me through all the features and then sat did the remaining paperwork with a offered drink and then I was on my way . Easy, excellent price no issues would recommend, well worth me going so far out of my way. Thanks you Clayton .

UPDATE 18/01/2024: Just been forced to return courtesy vehicle as they cancelled Insurance demanding we return the car in 48hrs. This current repair which lasted Oct 2023 - Jan 2024. Completely unreasonable timeframe for a repair. Was greeted by the new manager Rhian who was just as bad as Jason who runs the Newport Store. Went for test drive with Rhian who was heavy handed with gear selection trying to hide the resistance to the gear selection. Blames our driving style, Sorry, but when is it normal to have resistance in gear stick is beyond me. Unfortunately, since all the faults and trauma that has been caused over this vehicle, we are now forced to take this up between the Motor Ombudsman and Financial Ombudsman who are now dealing with the dispute. There have so far been 5 faults with this Used Nissan Juke - FAULTY GEARBOX - FAULTY WASHER JETS - BOLD CRACKED TIRES - FAULTY ABS - FAULTY DE-MIST ON BACK SCREEN (Not what you would expect from a main dealership like Wessex Garages) I believe that the car has been given back to us with the same gear select issue but will not own up to the gear resistance - It’s just the characteristic of this vehicle apparently. This is after 2 diagnostic reports we have obtained from independent garages confirming issue with gears. (1 of which was a Nissan approved garage in Pontypridd. Been an absolute shambles this all has. You don’t expect to have Wessex Garages to dispute the issue with the gearstick then later on say yes there is confirmed faults with gears. Nothing but praises for Rhian today as she has been placed in an awkward situation picking up on Jason’s mess who no longer runs the Cardiff store.

!!!AVOID AT ALL COSTS IF YOU WANT TO SAVE YOURSELF FROM THIS MISERY!!!

Me and my partner used this store and left with a Nissan Juke on Hire Purchase. Faults occurred within hours of driving away with it. Been back and forth with Managers Kim (Customer Service Manager) & Jason (General Manager) who constantly deny faults despite 2 independent garage reports confirming same faults and still not enough proof for short term right to reject. Turns out Gearbox needs rebuilding and 2 new washer jets even though Jason claims that these faults are non existent. All Kim and Jason do is deny all faults and have now said we need to prove the vehicle was faulty at point of sale. (HOW VERY SUSPICIOUS OF THEM) They are now implying that we have damaged all these things. Treated us like we are an issue and spoken to us poorly and refuse to accept that this car is a heap of scrap. They lied to the finance company RCI and prevented rejection of vehicle to go through even though that was what was offered. Offered an exchange then when we found a like for like vehicle refused exchange. This exchange later on changed into offering a part exchange and require 3-5k payment. Absolutely ludicrous offer by Jason. We are now forced to leave this with the ombudsman’s to investigate. My advise: AVOID! AVOID! AVOID!

Read this before purchasing a Nissan, or any other brand of car, from Wessex Garages. (see separate review of Nissan)

My Juke Hybrid has now been in the workshop at Wessex Garages for over THREE MONTHS, it was towed there by the RAC on 29th August. It is now December 2nd.

My car has not been available to me for around 20% of the time I have owned it!

It was new when I purchased it from them in August 2022 & therefore just over 12 months old when it broke down. It suffered a HEV system Malfunction & lost all power. Luckily this was on a country road, with a layby just ahead, rather than a smart motorway with no hard shoulder.

While waiting for the RAC, my wife searched the web & found this fault had been experienced by other drivers, some on a reoccurring basis. These can be found on the “Juke owners club” & “Money Saving Expert” forum. Neither Wessex or Nissan will admit this is a known fault.

A couple of days after it arrived at Wessex Garages, they called me to say it was fixed – they had reset the electronics. That wasn’t very reassuring because of the cars mentioned on the forums. Wessex claimed not to be aware of the problem but begrudgingly agreed to test it further. In less than an hour, they called back to say it had failed again!

Every time I called them over the next few weeks, they were “running diagnostics”. After 5 weeks I was told they were escalating it to Nissan Support – why did it take 5 weeks to do that?

None of their Shareholding Directors are willing to contact me. The only contact from them was an “out of office” auto reply from their MD. Instead they have lots of people with impressive titles (such as Director) that like to have lots of meetings. But, for all that, very little positive action is achieved.

My initial email to the Shareholding Directors was responded to by the “Group Operations Director”. 9 weeks ago he briefly seemed interested and provided his contact details. But didn’t respond when I next emailed him & called his mobile.

Since then contact has been from the “Nissan Brand Director”. I told him I had lost faith in the car & the Juke Hybrid model. I suggested it was replaced and that I would be willing to accept a cheaper "petrol only" model. He unfortunately saw that as the chance to make some profit. He quoted me £4,192.36 to do that. That apparently included some goodwill – goodwill to their finances maybe!

As we approached week 11, out of desperation, I asked him if swapping my car for one of the "used cars" on their website could be a compromise solution? He initially indicated that might be possible but he needed to speak to the Used Car Group Manager. 10 days later, and after chasing him for an answer, he said it could be done if I paid them £2,000! The suggested car was on their website for a similar value as the “goodwill” amount in the New Juke quote. THREE MONTHS without my car & they are still looking to make more profit.

Almost 2 months ago, the Group Operations Director said “I can only apologise for the poor level of service that you have received from Nissan’s Customer Service team, but will certainly feed this back to Nissan’s team of directors, who I have direct dialogue with”.

If he has direct dialogue with the Nissan team of Directors, why after THREE MONTHS aren’t their businesses working together to cut through the red tape to help a customer that put their faith (and hard earned cash) into their product? This problem has existed for far too long and Wessex Garages / Nissan are still happy to ping-pong me and my complaint between them.

Today, Saturday 2nd December, it is 14 weeks since my car broke down.

The financial accounts for Wessex (available on the Companies House website) indicate a huge turnover and a very healthy “after tax” profit. Meanwhile, Nissan have a huge expensive advertising campaign for the Juke Hybrid that boasts

A THRILLING ELECTRIFIED EXPERIENCE

The “About Wessex Garages” text on the right of this Trustpilot screen seems to describe another company!

Assisted by Andy Shorland of Wessex Garages Nissan Newport branch. Friendly caring approach made the process very easy, stress free and kept me updated via emails on the progress of the vehicle. Andy made the experience special unveiling the car in the showroom.

Disgusting behaviour towards customers. Staff are arrogant and unhelpful. Won’t ever use Wessex Garages Bristol again.

Wessex Mazda,Pennywell Rd,Bristol
If you value your time, money or sanity don't go near this garage. Our initial reaction was that the staff were unfriendly, uninterested and bordering on the rude. Still we pursued. We liked a 2022 Kia e-Niro 4+ and had a look at the car with Haroon who frankly seemed to have little knowledge of the specifications for this car. He told us it didn't have a reversing camera (it does) the seats won't be real leather (they are) and told us the battery size was larger than other e-Niro 4+ cars advertised online (wrong again, there is only one battery size for the 4+) but still we pursued and asked for a test drive.
Told that we could test drive the car on Saturday by appointment only as it's so busy. Went home and came back later to a completely empty showroom!
We decided we liked the car but there were others online (same model, same year with similar or lower mileage) for several thousand less, although not in Bristol. Haroon asked us to prove this and so we gathered details for 6 other cars and then 6 more because 5 of the previous 6 weren't main dealers! Still we pursued and eventually negotiated what we thought a fair price. We were due to pay a desposit later that day and started to look at insurance quotes.
Imagine our surprise when we received a call from Haroon to say we'd actually been negotiating a price for a completely different car! An identical model but with a higher mileage which had been on their books for longer.
Apparantly they were confused about which car we wanted and we'd negotiated a price for the other car. REALLY? We pointed to the car we wanted out of the window. We walked around it. We sat in it. We test drove it and sent an email quoting the registration number of the car. At which point was there any confusion?
If it's this stressful buying a car imagine having a problem. God help all who enter.
They are either stupid, incompetent or complete cowboys (and possibly all three). I for one will spend my money elsewhere.

Well what can I say, I have never had such an amazing experience buying a car before, seamless transaction, Nicky was amazing, attentive and just the way you want to be treated. Regular updates, amazing delivery nationwide and a superb vehicle at a great price.. what more can you ask? thanks Nicky your a star.

I purchased a VW UP Street in August last year,

The aftercare I have received from Wessex has been awful,

I was promised when I purchased the car that I would receive a receipt to prove the Cambelt had been done upon delivery, I had paid an extra £200 on top of the vehicles list price for this to be done.

I never received the evidence and I had have been waiting for almost 6 months for this to come through.

I firmly believe the work has not carried out.

I had dealt with Gary Roberts and Mark Gordon and both have failed to ever return my calls or even bother to send me over the receipt to prove the work was carried out.

This has left me anxious about the car and it's history.

I had even emailed their General Manager Neil Derrick stating my concerns on the 14th of September to which I never received a response.

I am very upset at the way I have been treated by Wessex Mazda in Bristol and I will never return to this dealership ever again.

I feel due to me being a Sub Prime finance customer, due to finance issues that where 10 years into my past that I have been treated differently to other customers as they could not secure me finance in house with Mazda Wessex.

Since owning the car I have had several issues, First the rear brakes making a horrible droning noise and the car even had the footwell fill up with water over recent weeks.

When I asked for this to be looked at I was told I had to pay in excess of over £125 to just have it investigated, I have since rectified the footwell issue my self.

As someone who is a Car Sales Executive, I feel the level of care has been poor, I would not recommend this dealer to any one.

No evidence of work done which I paid for, No after care service and I'm not happy.

AVOID!!!

Liam

Bought my latest pick up truck through HeyCar. Within a day I was contacted by Jacob from the Bristol branch of Wessex Garages.
Jacob explained everything I need to know about the vehicle in great detail which complemented the details and review of the vehicle.
He explained everything to me about the whole process of buying and the electronic paperwork that would require signatures.
In all, very pleased with my new vehicle, the service provided by a very competent salesperson and Wessex Garages. Have no hesitation in recommending Wessex Garages for your next vehicle. Well done!!

Recently p/x'd our 17 plate Ceed sw for a 20 plate sw model through Wessex Gloucester. The salesman Troy was excellent and gave us a great trade in. After looking over the vehicle I noticed it was dirty in the boot area. I was assured it would be thoroughly valeted before delivery. As we live in Oxford they delivered the car and took ours away. When I took a closer look at the new car I was shocked to find how filthy it was inside. There was a stain on the passenger seat which took me 10 minutes to remove and boot area was my greatest concern. The carpet was heavily stained with brown sludge. When I looked under the floor the spare wheel area was 2 inches deep in the same sludge! It resembled liquid plated that had dried. It took me 3 hours to clean it out and the carpet may need to be professionally cleaned. Good job I'm a technician and know what to do. Seriously not impressed and should not have to do this on a Kia approved car!!!

I live in Bristol and have had my Mazda serviced at Wessex Mazda on Pennywell Road for the last 3 years. At my most recent service in January 2021, items were removed from the boot of my car without my authority or knowledge. I thoroughly searched my car 3 times between 2 visits to Wessex Mazda 6 days apart but they were definitely not in the car. On my second visit to Wessex Mazda I mentioned the missing items to the Workshop Supervisor and when I collected my car at the end of the visit he informed me that they were in the glove box. I asked if they had just been returned but both he and the technician involved informed me that they had been there all the time. This I knew to be lie because I'd searched the glove box on all 3 occasions and the missing items were too big to be missed. I spoke to Cathy Aldridge (Wessex Service Manager) and despite her best efforts, Wessex still insist that nobody removed the missing items from my car. This episode has proved rather costly for me because I'm unable to return to Wessex Mazda after such dishonesty. I had a service plan through EMaC which I'd already paid c.£233 into and only received one service invoiced at £149. However despite this EMaC have told me that I'm not due any refund on my service plan because there was a £30 cancellation fee plus other admin.charges. Under the circumstances Cathy Aldridge agreed to cover my cancellation fee which I really appreciate but am still substantially out of pocket with EMaC through no fault of my own. I will never ever again give any future business to either Wessex Mazda or EMaC. I've given my review two stars instead of the minimum of one purely because of the positive help and support from Cathy Aldridge and the refund of my £30 cancellation fee.

Just visited Gloucester branch, with my Kia on which the 7 year warranty runs out on the 27th of this month, last week it started to get sluggish to start, so thought I'd better get it looked at, they can't look at it until the end of the month, by which time the warranty will have expired, I asked if they would honour the warranty, as I've informed them before it runs out, was told No once the warranty date has expired that's it.
So thank you Wessex Glos. for being so unhelpful !
Was thinking of getting another new Kia in place of this one, as it's served me well, but now I will have to rethink this, and most definately won't go to Wessex Gloucester again

I do wish I'd read these reviews before my mother dealt with them.
They delivered her a sub spec Kia Picanto with incorrect registration documentation, and invalid drive away insurance! Despite several confirmations that the car she would recieve would be the same spec as the one in the show room, (but in a different colour), the latter was the only thing they got right!
And, yes, I am talking about you, Gloucester!

Was told by the salesman called Ali that the Seat I bought had full service history. It did not. I was told it was serviced before sale. I found out recently it was not! Got £22 back to put towards missed service but I didn't pay £6600 for a car with no service history

Will not budge on px prices.
Fairly hard selling tactics.
Once cash has been handed over, inadequate back up service.
Car good but aftersales abrupt.

This Group has treated an elderly disabled lady with such u professionalism, leaving her scared to drive her car. The site manager closed the complaint and failed to provide any assistance and after two years of constant failings they have finally turned their backs. Any offer of good will for the mismanagement and horrendous treatment will only be given if linked to the purchase of a new vehicle. This Group should be ashamed !!!