Burrows Rotherham

[Stivino]

25 minutes ago, Davidhee58 said:

I had my car serviced at a local Jemca Enfild this year, and found their service was so bad, and people there was helpless. and will never use Jemca again. I used to have my car service at  the Hills of Woodford Toyota dealership which is 10 miles away from my house,  the service there was much better than Jemca Enfield, they were very friendly when I needed help. 

What was so bad about the service?

[Excel777]

1 hour ago, Davidhee58 said:

I had my car serviced at a local Jemca Enfild this year, and found their service was so bad, and people there was helpless. and will never use Jemca again. I used to have my car service at  the Hills of Woodford Toyota dealership which is 10 miles away from my house,  the service there was much better than Jemca Enfield, they were very friendly when I needed help. 

Two years ago, I got my gearbox oil changed by Jemca Enfield.  I found changing gears wasn’t as smooth as before.  The garage wasn’t helpful and too far away to keep taking the car there. I did a bit of research  and got the Castrol 75 SAE and asked an independent to change the gearbox oil for me  - changing gears was smooth again and have not had an issue with it since.

[Cyker]

56 minutes ago, Stivino said:

What was so bad about the service?

Oh don't get me started...

<warning massive rant>

It mainly boils down to terrible communication skills and a lack of enthusiasm. You get the strong impression they don't care about you as a customer, as they generally ignore you and when you do try and catch someone's attention you get the impression that you're just an annoyance to them. When I was trying to sort out the spec for my Mk4 the salesman would just wander off mid-conversation to speak to another customer; No wonder he messed the spec up! Which still hasn't been sorted out after 8 months I might add. They even omitted several important things in the paperwork, so rushed this was, like the finance, which they were very quick to chase me up on and walk me through over the phone.

Conversely, when I've ever tried to contact them by phone or e-mail it's been a practical impossibility - Amusingly, and with a touch of schadenfreude, even their head office had trouble, when I started routing my queries through them instead of going to the dealer directly... (I can't fault the Jemca CS team - They actually call you back!! I've never had a call back from the Enfield dealer regarding a query unless it's to chase me for money, then they're suddenly very available...)

The only people there who seem to have had any customer services training are the reception/greeter ladies, but they always look stressed as they don't seem to have any support from their colleagues, even when there is a queue of people waiting to drop off their cars or wanting to speak to someone about servicing or parts or something. I always feel really bad for them as they always look rushed off their feet and I never see any of the other staff lift a finger to help them.

The mechanics are generally competent at basic servicing - Aside from never changing the remote Battery during the Full service, I've yet to catch them using the wrong oil or not doing things like spark plugs or air filters, but they also lack any enthusiasm when I've talked to them, and their diagnostic skills are pretty bad and definitely not worth the £150 they charge for diagnostics. I think this forum is better at fault-finding than they are, as they don't look past the obvious and seemingly have no historical knowledge or even the ability to search TSBs for known issues. Thank god for people like PartsKing, DevonAygo, KonradC, flash22, and several others who sadly don't frequent the forum much these days...

I also suspect they caused the failure of my Mk2's first gearbox by using the wrong oil, but was unable to prove this, and like an idiot I gave them a second chance with trying to sort out the aircon, as I didn't have luck with supposed AC specialists I'd tried... the only silver lining is after initially trying to cover their ubiks instead of admitting the misdiagnosis, I bullied them into discounting all the work they'd charged me off a Mk4 and taking my increasingly worthless Mk2 at full scrappage. It galls me I bought the car from them rather than Hills (Which was my original plan in 3 years...), as it feels like I'm just rewarding them for their awful service, but Hills were unable to match the offer and I was fed up with dealing with the Mk2 by this point. Thank smeg the Mk4 is such an awesome car... that helps take a lot of the pain out of it all!

Now I only use them for servicing, as I don't want to give them any excuse to wriggle out of any warranty issues, and won't let them do anything more difficult than an oil change as so far their skill levels have been more akin to 'fitters' than mechanics.

 

The salespeople at Hills seem far more competent - They seem to have actually familiarised themselves with the vehicles they are selling (Shocking, I know!), and are more willing to discuss details about them and pay attention to queries. It got a bit awkward as they didn't have any cars to sell at the time (I've never seen the Hills and Enfield bays so empty! The car shortage is real yo) and, as you have all found, the lead time is very long at the moment, but at least we were offered a test drive of some vehicles.

I will sing praises of the parts team at Hills as they've always been courteous and given good advice. I always buy parts from them rather than Enfield, mainly because they are actually there - They have an actual desk with a human you can talk to! Amazing! Compare this to Enfield, who don't have a parts desk, (or any desks with humans you can talk to) - No, you have to ask the stressed reception person if you can speak to them, and if you're lucky it won't quite be 30-45 minutes before someone deigns to descend from their lofty office to not listen to you and then try to overcharge you.

I haven't had much interaction with the servicing team, but so far they only seem slightly better than Enfield - I once asked them to action a TSB on my Mk2 and they refused, citing that they had to charge me for a diagnostic first and were absolutely unwilling to budge on that. To be fair, Enfield took the same stance, but with them I was able to e-mailing Jemca Customer Services and explain what I wanted and why, and they just told them to do the TSB without the diagnostic. The other thing was I gave Hills the job of fitting a Dashcam and procuring the 15" rims and everything else needed on my shiny new Mk4; Like Enfield they also initially said you couldn't put 15" rims on the Mk4 until I passed on the magic part number PartsKing found for me, but on the day I'd found they'd gotten the wrong tyres (Like Enfield, the only seem to be able to read the tyre manufacturer and not the model...), reprogrammed the TPMS sensors unnecessarily (Important for later, as this prevented me from seeing the tyre pressures while the system re-learned...), apologetically said they couldn't install the Dashcam because there was a one-use part they had to take out to fit it and I would have to pay another £50 and wait a week for the part (I can't even...), and when I got home I'd found they hadn't inflated the tyres properly on one side and I had driven home with them at less than 20 psi! I e-mailed the service manager to complain about that; Predictably, never got a response. So yeah, not impressed with them either...

<end rant>

Phew! It really does seem you Northeners got the better deal on good Toyota dealers!  

 

[Red_Corolla]

This makes worrying reading because my faith in main dealer aftercare was already quite low and my local dealership here in Barnsley is, of course, a Burrows branch like the rest of South Yorkshire.

I didn't buy my car from Burrows because the discount they offered was less than generous. I also tried RRG Bradford who were good with discount but derisory when it came to their p/x offer. I ended up at John Roe in ScunIhorpe (deliberate typo to bypass the dodgy censoring) who offered a genuine good deal and were also helpful in sorting out a couple of minor snags that I found on the car post delivery.

Dealer servicing is something I pay for to preserve the service history and warranty, but I have little faith in their ability (or inclination) to  preserve the actual vehicle properly. That's why I always baulk at the pricing.

[Cyker]

It does seem like there are good dealers and bad ones... it's find out which is which is the trick!

It seems a vague trend that the smaller and non-franchise dealers seem to care more about their customers than the big franchise ones, but that seems to be a general rule with any company or organization...

 

[TonyHSD]

If I can buy a new car directly from the manufacturer and delivered to my house like an Amazon order I would do it , no middle men like dealers and I would prefer to service the car by myself or independent qualified mechanic or garage equipped with all necessary tools and knowledge, someone’s proud of their work done and not just earn their living. Big chains main dealers are no better than kwick-fit and the likes unfortunately. 

[Steven83]

Thought I’d give another update to this.

so burrows Rotherham had difficulty getting the part as it wasn’t a part that is kept in stock.

it’s been around 5/6 weeks that I’ve had the car now and it is eventually going in tomorrow.

danielle the service manager has kept me up to date with regular phone calls and they are picking the car up tomorrow and giving me a new Corolla as a courtesy car.

since I have had to go through a lot of fuss and had a car with heated seats that turn themselves of almost instantly I asked if they would be willing to update my touch&go to the latest 2021 software for free and Danielle agreed without hesitation.

if all goes to plan burrows have messed up without doubt but Danielle the service manager has done a great job of trying to set matters straight.

on a side note a month in I still didn’t have my V5 which I needed for the code to check the service history and so on.

I contacted the DVLA and they had received nothing from the dealership and they said the dealership should do it online which instantly updates their records.

I contacted the salesman at burrows then instantly I got an email from dvla saying I’m the new owner and V5 will be sent.

the salesman then emailed me saying “all done”.

basically this is yet another thing he had forgot to do.

so the warranty wasn’t started until 5 days after I bought the car… someone forgot

the dvla wasn’t updated about the change of owner until a month later…. Salesman forgot.

I have reported this all to the service manager who was clearly disappointed in her staff and she said she will raise it with Rebecca burrows and hopefully sort out the few members of staff letting the branch down.

however if you intend to buy from burrows Rotherham and the salesman is Warren, I would ask for someone else.

from my time in the dealership to the contact with him over email and phone the best I can describe him is dizzy. 

When I first viewed the car warren was off (I’d already been assigned him as my salesman when i made a phone enquiry)

the salesman that helped me on the day warren was off was great and even told me I was lucky because I didn’t have to deal with warren because things are better when he isn’t involve 🤦🏻‍♂️

If things go pear shaped I’ll update again but hopefully it will be fine from now.

i do however love the car and have no regrets in the model I bought. 

[Cyker]

Thanks for keeping us updated on your saga!  I'm just glad they're trying to make it right...!

 I have a similar sentiment to you - I was so glad the car was this good; It helps distract from the loathing I have for the dealer, as out of the whole thing the dealer experience was by far the worst part of getting the car!

[Steven83]

Hi all. Just a further update and a question please.

The car went to burrows for the repair on 25th November… it’s still there! 

I’ve had regular updates from the service manager who has been apologetic and I’ve still got a brand new Corolla estate courtesy car so I’m not complaining at this point as I understand with Covid getting parts is difficult, and that’s the issue, they have a part on order from japan and the date they are being given for delivery keeps changing.

my concern now is I’ve got a hybrid car that has been sat for over a month.

im not sure if they are running the engine from time to time and taking it out for a spin to clear brake rust but I imagine not.

so they question is, how bad is it to leave a hybrid sat there for over a month? They way it’s going I think it will be 2 or 3 months before I get it back.

obviously leaving a car sitting isn’t good for Battery, brakes, tyres but I’m also concerned it will need a fluid change too. 

Does anyone have any experience with this? 

[TonyHSD]

Lol, that is  a long time without your car. In general there is nothing to worry about the hybrid Battery or tyres etc, but the 12v one will likely to be dead and you will need a new one most likely, if they jump start your car after the initial repair is complete and they send you home ok then the next day or two whenever you need to start the car again maybe the surprise. To prevent that happening perhaps you may request to them to fully charge your 12v Battery before they give you the car or you do that straight after you have your car back or wait to happen and ask for a new Battery as complimentary replacement, I think that’s the only issue you may have. Brakes will get rusty but that should clear off as soon as you start driving again. 👌

[Steven83]

4 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

Lol, that is  a long time without your car. In general there is nothing to worry about the hybrid battery or tyres etc, but the 12v one will likely to be dead and you will need a new one most likely, if they jump start your car after the initial repair is complete and they send you home ok then the next day or two whenever you need to start the car again maybe the surprise. To prevent that happening perhaps you may request to them to fully charge your 12v battery before they give you the car or you do that straight after you have your car back or wait to happen and ask for a new battery as complimentary replacement, I think that’s the only issue you may have. Brakes will get rusty but that should clear off as soon as you start driving again. 👌

Thanks Tony, I just believe flat spots can occur on tyres that haven’t moved, but maybe I’m wrong with that. 

ill probably have this courtesy car for the rest of my life so might not be an issue anyway 😆

 

must say tho I don’t like the interior of the new Corolla, it’s a cold place to be and the seats don’t have much padding under your bum. 
 

i also much prefer the small gear selector of the older hybrid.

[TonyHSD]

20 minutes ago, Steven83 said:

Thanks Tony, I just believe flat spots can occur on tyres that haven’t moved, but maybe I’m wrong with that. 

ill probably have this courtesy car for the rest of my life so might not be an issue anyway 😆

 

must say tho I don’t like the interior of the new Corolla, it’s a cold place to be and the seats don’t have much padding under your bum. 
 

i also much prefer the small gear selector of the older hybrid.

Definitely the gear selector on the previous models and Prius is a way better than the one of the Corolla and the likes but you have to try it first to understand and appreciated ✅👌 For the tyres and anything else except 12v Battery you shouldn’t really worry about as any of those to go bad you need a lot more time 2-3 years without moving it at all. Hybrid Battery is ok for a few months without use but should not be completely drained, and I don’t think a garage will let this happen to any customers car as obviously they have to replace it if something goes wrong while the car been kept there. 👍

[Cyker]

I definitely preferred the 'puck' design to control the hybrid system too! It makes more sense to me and it's nice just being able to directly select your mode instead of going through half the other modes each time. I get why they went back to the crummy old PRND-style auto selector, but it's so inelegant and clunky compared to the puck, and takes up so much space that frankly I'd rather have given to a handbrake  

If the tyres are at normal pressure, they can get flat-spotted if left for long periods; This is why they inflate them to 60-70psi before putting them in storage (And is why I suspect my Mk4 never had a proper PDI, as they were *still* at 60psi when it was given to me!). A few weeks would be fine, but if we're talking half a year I think they would start to flat spot.

That said, I don't think you have anything to worry about - Usually just driving on them and putting some heat into them will quickly un-flatspot them, but likely it won't even be an issue as dealers often shuffle cars around to make space so it's likely not been left sat there.

I don't know if Toyota have a standard procedure for looking after customer cars their dealers have for long periods, or if it's left to the dealers themselves to decide what to do. Hopefully they are at least turning it on to charge the 12v or connecting it to a charger!

(If you have a Dashcam maybe you can see when you get it back! When my Mk4 had its first service it was left in Ready mode for over 2 hours and my Dashcam was on the whole time!  )

 

[Steven83]

So after 3 months (it will be 3 months in 2 days) I actually have my car back.

im still left feeling annoyed though. 
 

there is marks and scratches in the car that weren’t there when I handed it over to them. The leather above the glove box now has 2 marks that won’t ever come off, there is a deep scratch on the silver inner door handle, gouges on the sill near my drivers seat and the white A pillars have black oily finger marks on them, which I have tried to clean off, just waiting for it to dry to see if it has worked.

 

I sent it in for an issue with the front blower and heated seats fault. 
 

On my limited test of a short drive it seems those issues may be fixed, however my lumber support button now does nothing at all.

I will obviously chase them up on this, but seriously do they not check things at burrows before sending them out, this is a ‘used approved car’ that has now left the garage with yet another fault. 

[TonyHSD]

17 minutes ago, Steven83 said:

So after 3 months (it will be 3 months in 2 days) I actually have my car back.

im still left feeling annoyed though. 
 

there is marks and scratches in the car that weren’t there when I handed it over to them. The leather above the glove box now has 2 marks that won’t ever come off, there is a deep scratch on the silver inner door handle, gouges on the sill near my drivers seat and the white A pillars have black oily finger marks on them, which I have tried to clean off, just waiting for it to dry to see if it has worked.

 

I sent it in for an issue with the front blower and heated seats fault. 
 

On my limited test of a short drive it seems those issues may be fixed, however my lumber support button now does nothing at all.

I will obviously chase them up on this, but seriously do they not check things at burrows before sending them out, this is a ‘used approved car’ that has now left the garage with yet another fault. 

Unfortunately they are not checking cars properly and so most other car dealers. Used approved Toyota means absolutely nothing and  not a quality reassurance, I know from personal experience, and my thoughts are if you find a fault or two just walk away because when you have the car and take it home soon after you will discover a lot more faults and the hassle that comes with it it’s not worth it.  Often main dealers offer worse cars in worse condition than an independent small local dealer or home traders. My case wa was bad as I returned the car although was given options to choose, discount, extra warranty blah blah , how can you offer a product with known issue, be proud of yourself and your service and then say to your customer take it home and Toyota will take care off,., really I am buying a nearly new car approved exactly because I don’t want issues and wasting time and resources. But not always everything goes smoothly. I hope you can sort it out . 👍

[Steven83]

Thanks Tony, the marks although disappointing I won’t chase to be fixed, but I want that lumber supper working as I can get a bad back and like to change it, also if I come to sell the car I want it to work as it should. 
 

how they can be so lazy as to not press a button is beyond me. 

[mpm235]

I know this is an old thread, but just in case anyone searches "Burrows Rotherham",  looks like the original poster had some rotten luck and was very understandably upset. For a bit of balance, I have always found Burrows Rotherham to be absolutely spot on. They did bits of stuff on my old Gen 2 Prius and now I have a Service Plan on my Auris. They have always been great with me. All the work they have done has been 100%. Brilliant customer service. Just want to be fair about a bunch of hard workers who always seem to be doing their best.