Dealer service stories

[anewlime]

Well I never to decide if I'm going to use:

Stoneacre Volvo Sheffield; 15mins, 5mls from home

Or

Riverside Volvo Doncaster; 30mins, 25mls from home

I've only heard good things about Doncaster, haven't heard anything either way about Sheffield. Anybody got any experience with Sheffield?

[soupytwister]

Just my 2p on Stoneacre given seems to be a few comments on here. My input relates to purchasing the car only, I've never had it serviced there.

XC90 purchase in 2017 from Stoneacre Chesterfield. Andy was the sales guy. Perfectly good, always in touch, did a great deal, looked after me fine. Delivery was on time, picked it up, and he took me to the nearest petrol station as I left and told me to fill it to the brim and he put it on his card.

S60 purchase last week from Mill Volvo Sunderland (who are now owned by Stoneacre). Smooth seamless purchase. 1 week from order to pick up - asked to get it a few days earlier than original date and they go it through PDI to meet my request. Got the train to Newcastle railway station and they met me outside. Driver pleasant. Handover done well. Drove off. Had follow up calls asking me if all ok etc. This time it only had 60 miles of juice in it though - ah well, not everything is perfect

[Philip Fisher]

Originally Posted by anewlime

Well I never to decide if I'm going to use:

Stoneacre Volvo Sheffield; 15mins, 5mls from home

Or

Riverside Volvo Doncaster; 30mins, 25mls from home

I've only heard good things about Doncaster, haven't heard anything either way about Sheffield. Anybody got any experience with Sheffield?

I got my XC70 from Stoneacre. Sales was fine. Aftersales was awful.

The issues were many, but my issues boil down to 2 main points.

1. High staff roatation and rotation across brands. Staff therefore do not have a Volvo ethos and also appear not to give a stuff as they might be servicing Fiats or Citroens or Peugeots or whatever next week. Product knowledge was poor.
2. The call centre. Boy oh boy, the call centre. You cannot speak to the service staff directly. It is all via the call centre with the usual bull you get from a call centre. Different person each time, interaction is all via a crib sheet. No product knowledge. No understanding of anything Volvo related. No continuity, just a minimum wage employee reading a script.

I had a courtesy call again from the call centre. Usual stuff, 10 questions, rate from 1 to 10. First question, something like "how happy are you with our service". Rated 1 for the worst and explained, in detail, all about why it was so bad. At this point anyone with a brain would stop the call and get a supervisor to speak to me or try and do something. No. She just carried on like some sort of robot asking all 10 questions and asking me to rate each one. When I rated each one with a 1 she would then ask why, and I would just repeat my grievance. Did I then hear from someone to sort it out - nope. Nothing. Just the worst example of heavily proceedurised, thoughtless box ticking customer service.

Then out of the blue 12 months later another call about booking my car in for its service. I explained carefully and politely how their customer service was so woeful that I had removed all business for our company fleet from them and would not be using them again. Their response "OK no problem, thanks for letting me know!". I was trying to explain how this should actually be a problem for him and how he should care, but it fell on deaf ears. Decided never, ever, to darken their doors again.....

[techwatcher]

Originally Posted by Philip Fisher

I got my XC70 from Stoneacre. Sales was fine. Aftersales was awful.

What a terrible customer experience.

Problem in that situation is that you never get to speak to anyone who actually CARES. The call centre people doing the courtesy call and the chap calling about booking your service have been asked to do a job and they do it, tick the 'done' box and move on to the next call. Management will eventually receive some collated statistics and your responses will be lost in the noise.

It's all very 'corporate' and I'm not surprised you're not using them any more. I wouldn't either.

[ian77]

I haven’t had an issue with the Stoneacre Sheffield service team, one of the guys on the service desk has worked there (well for Bristol St/Harratts) since I first took a Volvo there in 2007. The other guy had been there longer and recently retired but his replacement seems to have his head screwed on. Not had to test the workshop team hard yet though!

[J30 YAP]

Originally Posted by nu11eaf

As above the map or other app updates are not part of the service they are owner updates and very easy to do.

I know it is easy to do, if you have a 64gb usb stick that is. Plus it takes a while to install it.

Well, According to VOLVO.

“When you have your car serviced at a Volvo dealership, we make a pledge to you. It's called the Volvo Service Promise - and it guarantees an unbeatable combination of quality, reassurance and expertise. First, your personal service advisor will deal with any of your questions and make sure you get to where you need to go. Our expert technicians will then give your car a full health check including a free software upgrade to ensure that it's performing at its best. Finally, we'll provide you with 12 months' complimentary Volvo Roadside Assistance and a car wash.”

So a software upgrade doesn’t include any relevant software update?

[Quacker]

Originally Posted by J30 YAP

I know it is easy to do, if you have a 64gb usb stick that is. Plus it takes a while to install it.

Well, According to VOLVO.

“When you have your car serviced at a Volvo dealership, we make a pledge to you. It's called the Volvo Service Promise - and it guarantees an unbeatable combination of quality, reassurance and expertise. First, your personal service advisor will deal with any of your questions and make sure you get to where you need to go. Our expert technicians will then give your car a full health check including a free software upgrade to ensure that it's performing at its best. Finally, we'll provide you with 12 months' complimentary Volvo Roadside Assistance and a car wash.”

So a software upgrade doesn’t include any relevant software update?

Firmware updates to the car’s ECU’s are done by dealer at service time FOC.

App updates are the owner/driver’s responsibility to update, just like your phone or tablet.

Hint...
You do not need to update your maps every time an update becomes available.

[Fursty Ferret]

It does vary. Stoneacre Harrogate updated the maps without being asked the last time my car was in for its service, which I thought was good of them.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by J30 YAP

I know it is easy to do, if you have a 64gb usb stick that is. Plus it takes a while to install it.

Well, According to VOLVO.

“When you have your car serviced at a Volvo dealership, we make a pledge to you. It's called the Volvo Service Promise - and it guarantees an unbeatable combination of quality, reassurance and expertise. First, your personal service advisor will deal with any of your questions and make sure you get to where you need to go. Our expert technicians will then give your car a full health check including a free software upgrade to ensure that it's performing at its best. Finally, we'll provide you with 12 months' complimentary Volvo Roadside Assistance and a car wash.”

So a software upgrade doesn’t include any relevant software update?

A Service software upgrade updates the cars main operating software not the Toys. (maps or apps) . The maps take nearly an hour to go in , If the garage have 30 services in each day how can they manage that huge task as each car has to be connected up to a power supply whilst the update goes in ?
That is the practical answer , however if you ask they may well help you out if you explain you are not into computers and don't mind waiting an extra hour . .

The latest cars Service software update takes around 50 minutes , they usually do that whilst carrying out the rest of the service which takes around an hour these days .

[SignumGB]

Has anyone here ever used the Independent Volvo Specialist Craig Moncrieff in Edinburgh? I dont want to use my local dealer whether Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee due to the extortionate servicing costs.

Cheers