Harwoods Group Reviews 

I purchased a Jaguar XF 2L Diesel car from Harwood’s Jaguar Crawley
(Manor Royal Crawley)
Specifically choosing a “Jaguar Approved” vehicle to ensure a “like new” experience with reduced risk.
This has been a complete fabrication.
Within five weeks the car required roadside assistance for high exhaust temperatures.
This was only the beginning of a saga involving several more roadside assistance call outs & several visits to a local Jaguar dealership who replaced sensors & repaired the vehicle.
The final detailed inspection revealed a shocking list of modifications that should never of passed a “rigorous 100
Point check”
REPLACEMENT ECM
The engine control module had been tampered with.
DPF TAMPERING
The DPF innards were removed and the
unit re-welded - An illegal modification that renders the car unroadworthy.
SYSTEM ALARMS MAPPING OUT
The Ad blue system alarm was intentionally disabled in the ECM to hide faults. Harwood’s Jaguar have not responded to the local Jaguar dealership to discuss the findings.
Despite being sold a vehicle that was fundamentally misrepresented and potentially illegal to drive, Harwood’s resales manager and his superior manager has offered no resolution other than suggesting I contact the MOTOR OMBUDSMAN
Jaguar Land Rover has been equally unhelpful.
We are now without transport and left facing a very expensive repair bill for a car that is supposedly under a “comprehensive” warranty.
Harwood’s Jaguar Crawley has failed in their legal duty under the Consumer Rights Act to provide a car of satisfactory quality and as described.
AVOID this dealership at all costs.
Their “vetted and certified” promise is worthless.
DESPITE Harwood’s reply on this site no communication has been made whatsoever and mail boxes to them are full. Please note this company has sold up on the 27/02/26 & no longer exist.

Had reports from other customers Harwoods service dept was very poor, but until I had to use them for a warranty repair I hadn't realised how appalling they actually are. After a breakdown, Jaguar warranty only recovers your car to the local dealership, despite my requests not to use Harwoods Basingstoke. They replaced the failed part, but didn't fix the obvious cause, an oil leak. Now I am using an independent Jaguar garage to fix the problem at my cost. If you value your car, don't use these people, you'll pay for it in the end!

I recently had my vehicle 24 plate Range Rover serviced and made it very apparent that I wanted the oil sensor replaced that had never worked since the vehicle was purchased new.

At the first service they didn’t fix it.

On the second service, I again requested the sensor was fixed, i politely suggested alI didn’t want to have to ask a third time.

When i had to ring in to find out how my vehicle was doing as i’d received no update by 2:38, I was told that my vehicle didn’t have an oil sensor, just a manual dipstick.

I told the polite but compete lack of knowledge service advisor that the dipstick was the technician working on the vehicle as indeed the V8 Petrol does have an oil sensor, readable from the dash. Please go speak to someone who has this rather basic piece of knowledge.

I was then told that a level 4 tech had confirmed that indeed I did have a sensor. I was then told my vehicle was ready an hour later.

When i arrived - I was handily ( sarcasm) printed off the manual page that told me how to read the oil. I said I know how to do that - it doesn’t
work. I was then told after my £1000 service that they had noted my rear parking sensors didn’t work and the washer bottle was leaking. I said ok, did you fix them - no was the answer - would I like to book them both back in under warranty.

Now I found this difficult to understand that after a £1000 service for little more than an oil change their tech didn’t know it even had a sensor and they expected me to return for the warranty repairs.

I then asked to speak to the service manager Riccardo. Riccardo and I went to a quiet side room and I enlightened him in a calm but frustrated manner of what an appaling service.

I told Riccardo I didn’t want to write a negative review. He looked dutifully sorry and apologised blaming an acute lack of staff for what he agreed was not acceptable service or knowledge of my vehicle….. a very simple basic piece of knowledge even the most fresh from school tech should know before being called a mechanic.

Alas weeks later despite Riccardos promises that he was going to sort everything I have heard nothing.

Today I rang to ask for Riccardo to remind him of our conversation, alas he was not available, he was in a meeting.

Judging by the fact that when I was picking my car up the gentleman to my right was also having to recant his unacceptable service levels i suspect Riccardo must be in a lot of meetings with unhappy customers.

To fix my oil sensor is quite a major job requiring
quite a major disassembly …. i know this…maybe they hope i’ll go away… i won’t.
1

Took my SQ5 in for an oil service at the Crawley branch. Should have been simple but instead Audi took it upon themselves to undertake two recalls to my car without express consent. When I checked into reception the receptionist couldn’t be bothered to check me in so directed me to the self check in machine. The machine confirmed it was an oil service and showed the sentence “no recalls at the time of booking” and I duly signed the screen without reading all the small print (who does when it’s a trustworthy company?!). 2 days later I received a call saying that my car now shows an adblue fault. Turns out the software updates which I had not been verbally warned of had reset my adblue delete and now Audi wants £800 to fix the problem otherwise my car won’t start in 300 miles. Would have been nice to have been warned of this as I would never have knowingly authorised the recall updates had I been aware of the consequences. Audi of course want nothing to do with it and rather than compensate me for the inconvenience they would rather lose the business of my partner and I who both use them for servicing our SQ5 and Q2.

I know Audi will respond to this stating that I authorised these updates by signing the check-in summary, but the document provided is contradictory and misleading. The document explicitly states "No campaigns/recalls at time of booking". While items such as "Carry out filling up adblue reducing agent" were listed, they were not identified as "recalls" or permanent software overwrites that would delete existing engine modifications and therefore this is failure of Duty of Care.

Bottom line is that Audi performed work I did not authorise. If Harwoods believed my vehicle's modifications were an issue, the correct professional procedure was to inform me and refuse the service, not to unilaterally delete them without my knowledge or consent.

Poor form Audi and total shortsightedness to lose two customers over something where a goodwill gesture would have preserved this relationship.

Avoid this dealership if you want your car back in the same condition you gave it to them!

We have been customers of Audi Southampton for at least 12 years and have always had good service from them. We first tried them after having had negative experiences with the two competing dealers in German cars in the area - after waiting around to be able to speak to someone, it was then like we were doing them a favour in asking about their cars. Our visit to Audi Southampton then followed where we were treated with friendly courtesy by a sales person and we then bought two cars - an A3 convertible & a Q3. At our latest visit, I bought a Q2 to replace my previous Q2 and my wife bought an A1 to replace her A3 convertible. Our sales person, Megan, was very helpful and saw both deals through to delivery - a very pleasureful experience.

Awful aftersales experience over 70 years of dealing with car dealerships Harwoods are definitely the worst

Buying a car from a reputable company
Thinking I had the best car and warranty
To find 6 months down the line that I needed a new battery
To find it's not covered and they are not prepared to do a good will gesture
On research to find out a battery has about 3 year life span
So surely a company of that size should have replaced battery as not knowing how it had been treated in the past
We have checked the age of battery as its on the battery so was fitted over 3 years ago
So does this mean it's something a customer should check before buying

Great service from first contact to car collection.

We bought a 2022 Defender 130. Fantastic service from Tom Simpson at Harwoods Basingstoke. Curteous, helpful, happy to advise, he answered emails and telephone calls immediately and made the whole process an easy, stress-free experience

I bought a new Q3 from Harwoods (Crawley) Audi. Brilliant service from start to finish. The staff were excellent, especially Dan, Xander and Frankie who were very professional. Highly recommended.

Friendly, quickly narrowed down spec, pricing, trade in and availability of an Audi to offer. Salesman was helpful in all the above areas, other staff contributed as needed. Result I bought an Audi Q5 my first Audi having had other makes till then. Took delivery a week later.

Overall excellent.

Ended up with a lease car thru these guys via a broker and basically they ignored any attempt to contact them

This meant an awful delivery experience and has put me right off Audi as a brand

Avoid them

Factual Errors in Complaint Response & Mis-sold "Complete Wheel Cover" Insurance

As an IT Consultant, I expect a high level of data accuracy and professional diligence. Unfortunately, my experience with Harwoods Audi Southampton (Chandlers Ford) has been characterised by administrative negligence and the mis-selling of insurance products.

I was sold a "Complete Alloy Wheel Cover" by sales executive, under the premise of "peace of mind." However, this policy is fundamentally unsuitable for an Audi S4. The "Complete" cover fails to reinstate the factory-standard "Audi Sport" branding on the wheels, a critical aesthetic and value component of the car.

Furthermore, the dealership's formal "Final Response" was a masterclass in poor service:

Harwoods claim that they have provided a "full response" is demonstrably false. They completely failed to address the second point of my complaint, which Mr Harwood stated "Your detailed account of the challenges you've faced is concerning, and I want to assure you that this is not the level of service we strive to provide at Harwoods. The miscommunication and lack of follow-up you've described are unacceptable, and I understand how this has added to your frustration." and highlighted to Mr WIlliams and who acknowledged as: "Poor communication from Southampton Audi when raising the concerns with them, and the lack of response". Harwoods investigation did not provide any findings or resolutions regarding the dismissive attitude and lack of basic competence I experienced when dealing with staff members.

Administrative Negligence: The formal document was addressed to a template placeholder "[Enter name]" despite weeks of correspondence.

Factual Errors: The response claimed repairs were "completed" and "benefits paid" for claims were approved but repairs that were explicitly declined. No work has been carried out on my vehicle.

For a prestige brand like Audi UK, the "Complete" wheel protection sold at this Harwoods branch is misleading and fails to meet the basic demands and needs of the vehicle. I have now escalated this matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

#HarwoodsAudi #AudiUK #AudiS4 #MisSelling #ConsumerRights #SouthamptonAudi #ChandlersFord

Steve Robson was extermely helpful and accommodating during our visit to the showroom. he thoroughly explained the condition of our vehicle and kindly offered his assistance whenever we may require support with our car

I had my car in for MOT and oil change and the reception from everyone I met was exceptional but if I had to pick one person it would be Steve.

We are in the process of replacing our current car with a new one.

Our current car is an Audi Q8 bought new in 2023 and the PCP ends in a couple of months time.

Although the Q8 has been an absolutely supreb car.....and it is our second one....we have decided to come out of a big SUV and replace with an Avant.

So, my wife and I entered your showroom at about 1.30 today as you have a new S5 Avant in black in your showroom. The showroom was not busy. We spotted only 2 other customers. There were about 5 maybe 6 sales staff sat at their desks.

So, we spent about 30 minutes inspecting the S5. We got in and out probably 20 times to make sure that it would be easy for us as we are a pair old Oldies now.

And it was. So much sho that we decided that the S5 Avant would be our replacement car for the Q8. We would like to place an order for a new one in our spec delivered fromDeutscland as we are not fans of the Edition1 Pan roof.

In that entire 30 minute s plus not one sales person.....who were not dealing with customers....bothered to avtually come up and enquire whether we wanted help. Didnt even make eye contact !

And then, the icing on the cake was as we were about to exit through your door, anoler couple came in to your showroom and a saleman immeditaley jumped up from his desk and welcomed them !

Not a good way to sell new cars is it ? So we will move onto another showroom with an alternate Dealership.

Bought an Audi Q2 from Harwoods Portsmouth. All staff were very friendly and helpful. Donna was excellent. Communication and purchase all great. Thank you.

I dealt with Steve Robson who was exceptional. He answered all my queries and nothing was too much trouble. He followed up with an email straight after the call. Would highly recommend.

Thank you to the Team at Crawley Audi for their assistance and care while navigating a new car purchase. Excellent service and aftercare. All the team we interacted with were friendly and helpful. It can be daunting experience but this surpassed our expectations. We shall be back in the furture.

Wow what customer service from Audi Cobham. You call up and book a test drive. Get ready and almost leaving the house and get a call back saying we can't give you a test drive in the SQ5. I said why what's changed? We never had it available to try as a manager is using it? So I ask why are you advertising it for sale on auto trader. It's what we do the guy goes, we can take your details and call you back in Feb when it will be ready for sale. I was polite as not the salespersons fault but was clear as first time trying to buy from Audi that this isa farce and is very poor practise. Anyway said no problem will not by an Audi now. You hear of the state of the car industry but frankly I am surprised they sell anything with such practises. The issue was over they don't have customer insurance on this car, then why advertise for sale?! Complete waste of time. Wonder what other practises they have that are "so customer friendly". The salesman was polite and apologetic just poor practise either by the branch, Harwoods or Audi. Anyway plenty of other of car firms and brands to buy from. Just thought others should be aware. Probably will never buy an Audi ever again.