Helston Garages Group Reviews 

"All In" warranty.... don't waste your money.
Took the car to VW Indian Queens today as the electric handbrake switch has failed. The internal spring on one corner seems to have broken so the button sticks. Of course, according to VW "its not failed, its damaged". There is no visible sign of any damage so when I asked "you mean I have damaged it" I was told that's not what they were saying, but its been damaged so not covered. How can the internal part of a switch not be covered under the "all In" warranty. Suffice to say I will be cancelling the warranty package as its clearly not worth the paper its written on. They did at least let me know my oil level was low and they could top it up for £18, great seeing as it was serviced there less than 3 months ago and I have barely driven the car since!

My impromptu visit to Westerly BMW in Exeter as a result of a loud scraping noise coming from drivers side front wheel. I went into the service reception, explained my problem to the gentleman on the counter. He took my details, logged the vehicle... first time to the garage as my 9 year old vehicle was only purchased 6 months ago not from a local dealer. They were busy but managed to find a hoist to check out the situation. I received a text with a link to a report and a video of the problem (corroded back plate) and picked up a couple of issues. £30 later I was on the road. Whilst I'm not looking forward to the £500+ bill next week to fix my brakes and spring, they were very helpful and accomodating and the service I received was excellent.

Helston VW Garage

I'll try and keep this review as constructive as possible and give the benefit of doubt etc.

We dropped our VW Polo in for a service and MOT on the 29.07. It is now the 16.08. It failed on a couple of items which we were told were ordered on the 29.07 from another dealership and being couriered direct by TNT and that the work should be complete by the 02.08. We received a couple of calls to say that they were still waiting for TNT to deliver the item. Has it been lost, apparently not, it is still in transit

It is now over 2 weeks since the part was ordered and still nothing. Why has another part not been ordered in its place? Why have we not been offered a courtesy vehicle as a good will gesture? We have had the inconvenience and added expense of not having a vehicle

We will struggle to use this garage again or recommend to any friends or family

Please can you let us know when our car might be ready to collect

Taunton Volvo, part of Helston Garages. I am, as a rule, very critical of main dealers, but recent repair to wheel speed sensor on our XC60 done promptly, carefully and at the advertised price (£225) with a courtesy car thrown in and no habitual upsell half way through the job. Our car has done 102,000 miles and no doubt was tempting but the service team Adam and Georgia were HIGHLY efficient and a joy to deal with, and one cannot always say that as an experience with garages where a degree of disappointment usually creeps in...a sincere thank you. Richard Robinson

Absolute garbage. I contacted them FOUR times to view a vehicle. They didn't bother to call me back.

Thank God I didn't buy from them, can you imagine how poor the customer service must be.

It was Carrs Select Exeter

Just Purchased an Audi Q2, from Carr's of Truro !!
Ben Pittock has been absolutely brilliant from Day One, offering a Great package , & ending with a fantastic, imformative handover.
2013 bought my 1st audi from Inchscape, Swindon ( despite living in Cornwall ) because, I was disgusted with the manner in which the then, Sales manager spoke down to me, & vowed I would never buy a car from Audi Cornwall.
Ben Pittock has changed my opinion, & I am Happy, to once again, be able to ' Buy Local '

Re:- CARRS SELECT IN EXETER.
If it were possible to give this company a minus 'star' I certainly would have done that.
I am not at all surprised to see that the reviews or this company are SO bad! If there was a minus marking that is what I would have given here.
I was so upset by my experience of them that I couldn't bring myself to get emotionally involved enough to even write a review for months even though I fully intended to do it.
I bought a Range Rover Evoque last year from them for what ended up being £13,600 and it took weeks to actually collect it due to the lies of the salesman John Hardee who I had the misfortune to have to deal with. I mention the price because when I spoke with the General Manager he told me that if I was going to buy an old vehicle (2012) with 60k on the clock then what did I expect. Obviously I was shocked to hear him say that, it's still a lot of money (paid cash) and that is no reason to talk down to anyone. It needed attention to the bodywork due to a dog's deep claw marks on the back bumper and some scratches on the bonnet. I ask for them to be dealt with and I was told 2 weeks. When I went to collect it two weeks later having had it confirmed by John Hardee that it was done and ready, it was not done. So I left it and agreed to go back a week later. The back end was done but the rest had clearly not been, it had had black Tcut and not been touched in - I only noticed that having washed it a couple of times. I also asked for a new battery to be put into the key - he took it and gave it back to me saying it had been done - 3 times on different visits.... unbelieveable!
In all the confusion on collections and adding a 3year insurance costing another £300+ and time delays I ended up paying an extra £300 for the vehicle over and above what I had originally negotiated him down to.
Even worse, the ECO was not working, his answer to that was, well it will work sometimes and sometimes it doesn’t..... go figure!
I happen to know an excellent, extremely experienced mechanic who told me about the battery affecting the ECO system, he checked it on diagnostics and told me that the battery was only at 24%. John Needham virulently argued that, so my mechanic called him. JN even had the gall to argue it with him. It was finally agreed that the battery would be changed so I arranged to take it up to Exeter. I sat for FOUR hours while waiting for a battery to be put into the vehicle. FOUR HOURS for a job that takes around 15minutes! I sat patiently in their waiting area in Exeter and waited. Finally drove it away very late in the afternoon and found it to be the same. Of course, I rang the garage the next day and John Hardee was not answering his phone, obviously not wanting to speak to me.
Eventually I spoke with Neil Gooding, I told him all about it and it was agreed that I would let my own mechanic fit a new one and that Carrs would reimburse me. Which is what I did, it took him 15minutes to change.
During all this I did have a conversation with their Exeter General Manager Steve Lindsay who's attitude was disgusting and very much not at all echoing the customer service that Carrs post all around their waiting area. How this man was ever given the position I will never know.
My most recent contact with Carrs, to put in a complaint was with a man called Kevin Turner. If you try to do this you will find it extremely difficult since they shockingly don't even have a customer service dept and no direct email to anyone - his position is that of Centre Principle, his attitude was very much to brush it all off and clearly did not intend doing anything with my complaint.
I will NEVER use this garage again ever and I would always dissuade anyone from going there for any vehicle.

Out of the 10 reviews here on Trustpilot for this group called Helston Garages, I see 9 are rated bad /poor.....So it cannot just be my experience, but others with main dealers . As I said in an earlier comment , be very wary of business dealings .

I’m reluctant to give even one star as it’s not deserved. I’ve had nothing but poor experiences with the Carrs VW dealership at Indian Queens.
I have my business VW van and three VW cars in the family. On every single occasion something goes wrong. Even writing this I wonder why I continued to use them.
I’ll only go back to the most recent incidents.
My van has the start/stop facility, and didn’t work. As unimportant as it is I though I would be best get it checked anyway, at least because it’s under warranty. After a few non-returned calls (which is not unusual) I eventually did get through and booked it in.
When ready I was called to pick it up. When I got there they said they had replaced the battery, but that hadn’t fixed it and a new sensor was needed to be ordered. The new battery was also done under warranty. I can’t say if that was necessary, given that the fault wasn’t fixed, but that’s not my problem I guess.
While waiting for the new part lockdown came around so understandably nothing could be done. I did get a text when it was over, to say I could call to book in again. When I did call, the receptionist pointed out that it was to come in for a new battery. When I corrected them they said that no part had been ordered but would do it now and get back to me. Ok maybe lockdown had caused a hiccup with that so fair enough I’ll have to wait a bit more.
Next time I call to book they say they can’t find the part and will call me back. They did find it and I got booked in.
When I collected the van again, my containers in the back had tipped over completely. These are plastic drawer type cabinets full of small items. I drive the van every day, have done with the past five vans, with no issues. Yet to move the van from their car park into their workshop they managed to decimate my van storage. Nice touch of vehicle care there.
Going back a bit - about a year or so
ago I had a text from them saying I must get booked in for my van’s first mot. Nice touch maybe but the van was only two years old. I replied to say so but no answer.
So this year I arranged to give it to them for its first mot. When I arrived I was booked in as normal and pointed to the seating area to wait whilst it was done.
Five minutes later reception called me over. Did I know that the mot is not due for another year? Van was regd in Jan 2018, so mot not due yet, and “we checked with DVLA”. We’re now December 2020 by the way.
I apologised for the trouble and walked out to take the van away. Then I realised I was right, it’s definitely three years and it must be motd now. When I went back in and managed to convince reception that I was right, the only answer was that I was too late and had missed my slot. I arrived at 0855 and the slot was for 0840, even though I wasn’t told a time slot, just that I was asked what time I would bring it and I said it would be in the morning, which was apparently fine at the time of booking. When I complained about this I was told that the only option was to re-book for end of December. Needless to say, and given that I’d taken the morning off and driven an hour to get there, this wasn’t good enough so I left.
I booked in with Halfords the next day and it was fine without any of the usual Carrs dramas.
These things are only parts of a long list of poor experiences with this place, too many to mention. Why did I keep going there? A misplaced belief that I’m better using the local main dealer, even if they may be a little more expensive, because they’ll have the competence and the best customer care. I’ve been proved wrong on almost every visit. But that’s it, as much as I might like to have VW, I’ll now consider whether or not to change brand next time or travel out if county to use another dealer.
Shame on you Carrs VW, you probably shouldn’t be manufacturer’s representatives.

I purchased an Audi SQ5 from your Exeter branch at the end of June 2020. There is a problem with previous mileages stated on the MOT forms. Clearly incorrect. The Branch has promised for 5 months to sort this out and after consistent and many calls and emails failed to do so to date. This is unacceptable and extremely poor customer service. I was going to buy another Audi from them for my wife, but because of this went to Audi themselves and purchased an almost new Q3 and received excellent courteous customer service. Never again always go to a main dealers if at all possible.

The national website advertised a fixed price service of £310 for my vehicle but on collection I was charged £430. The garage (Exeter Porsche) showed me the website and the price list has indeed now been removed. I appreciate they are legally allowed to change their prices but would it be advisable to inform anyone who had booked a service prior to the change?

Reply now received. No explanation for the 39% price hike and the price WAS the national published price when booked (although now removed). Another example of incredibly poor customer service from this garage.

Travelled from Scotland for the Mini experience wish i hadnt bothered!
I expected much more fro Mini but usual car dealers anxious to talk until they have your money and then ignore emails and call. Have contacted Mini direct see if they can help if not trading standards next.

Could be improved!
But haven’t sad to say just getting worse!

No respect for long term customers.
I have been a loyal customer of their Launceston branch for some 30 years and have usually recieved very good deals.Not any more.My latest expetience was marred by a shoddy trick of adding a last minute so called Administrative Charge to my car purchase price. This is no way to treat a loyal customer and has totally destroyed my view of this dealership.

Phoned on Tuesday for a replacement keyfob .I was told they would call back as the service department phone was busy .Phoned twice . Today is Friday still have had no call back .I have now had to call out an automobile locksmith .Very poor customer service .

The service and courtesy I received at the Helston Garages VW dealer by all the staff I dealt with was excellent and the work done on my car first rate. I would have no hesitation recommending them to anyone.