Alan Day

I rarely write bad reviews but I can’t justify giving this place anything but a 1.
I came here after moving to London to regularly service my car. I have never experienced problems after a car service. I put less than 1000 miles on it a year (one thousand!) and the car, as a result, has been a dream for me.
My car developed an emissions warning light so I brought it in to get it checked and opted to get a full service as well. I was advised that the car needed an array of fixes including new suspension bushes, new cam belt and new air con filter. When all was said and done I had spent a small fortune on fixing a car that is barely worth more than the price of the fixes.
I drove away confident that there would be no need to spend more on my trusty ride but was surprised to discover that on the very first trip after all the aforementioned fixtures my car developed a very serious and dangerous transmission related problem. Cruising on the motorway at 70mph, the car would suddenly lose power and speed would rapidly decrease. No amount of pressure on the throttle could rectify the issue and I was left dawdling on the hard shoulder at 40mph. I booked an appointment to get it seen to straight away but the mechanics did not find a fault. They were however very happy to charge me a fee for looking into the problem in spite of my having already shelled out for thousands of pounds worth of fixes.
On the way home an airbag fault light came on. A week later, after trying to open the passenger door for the first time since taking it into the dealership, I discovered that it would not open and the window would no longer roll down. On a few occasions I had issues with the transmission but thankfully only while I was in the city. I took it back to the dealership to look into all the issues. £350 to replace the motor in my passenger door and yet again, they were unable to find a fault with the transmission.
The door turned out to be a very easy fix (loose connection) and I had the the car’s motherboard flashed to remove the airbag fault light. Not long after, the oil warning light lit up, and I was pretty surprised that a few hundred miles after getting a full service (which includes oil change) my car was running low on engine oil. Fearing a leak, I took it into a different place for a check up. Turns out absolutely no leaks, Alan Day had simply neglected to top up to the correct mark. Astounding!
I can’t believe this dealership. I am now due for a new car but will never return to Alan Day to service or purchase. A shame as I think VW is a great brand and would love to have a GTI as my new car.