Stratstone - BMW Leeds Reviews 565

The vehicle that was found by the Financial Ombudsman Service to be of unsatisfactory quality is now being advertised for sale again by the same dealership that sold it to me.

This dispute started in 2024 and dragged on for nearly two years, after I was sold a faulty special edition BMW (140i championship edition) that became too dangerous to drive within three months - while still being chased for payments. A situation that ultimately had to be resolved by the Financial Ombudsman Service.

I purchased a special edition BMW from Stratstone BMW Leeds with around 26,000 miles on it, expecting the quality and reliability that comes with a premium brand. Instead, I was sold a vehicle that was faulty from the outset.

The car had a serious engine fault which ultimately required a full engine replacement, as well as a failed rear differential and a long list of additional issues. The vehicle became so unsafe that it was parked up just three months after purchase because it was too dangerous to drive. Even BMW’s own internal engineer, after a short five-mile road test, described it as the worst vehicle he had ever driven and said he couldn’t wait to get out of it.

What makes this even more concerning is that the only people to have ever worked on the vehicle were Stratstone BMW Leeds themselves.
Despite raising these issues, Stratstone BMW Leeds repeatedly ignored my calls. I was forced to take the car to another BMW dealership for assistance, as I could not get any meaningful response. On multiple occasions, members of management at Stratstone BMW Leeds simply put the phone down on both myself and my partner.

Despite the vehicle being unsafe and unusable, BMW Financial Services seemed far more interested in continuing the finance agreement than addressing the fact the car was not roadworthy. I was subjected to months of harassing letters and phone calls chasing payments, while being left with a vehicle I could not safely use.

Stratstone BMW Leeds failed to engage properly at any stage - even after the Financial Ombudsman Service became involved. I was ultimately forced to escalate the matter.

The Financial Ombudsman Service has now upheld my complaint, confirming that my concerns were valid, the vehicle was not of satisfactory quality, and I was not treated fairly.

Even after the Financial Ombudsman Service issued its final decision, the matter was still not resolved within the required timeframe. BMW exceeded the deadline for implementing the outcome and only progressed the case after repeated chasing from both myself and the Financial Ombudsman Service. After nearly two years of dealing with this situation, it was extremely frustrating to find that even a final and binding decision did not result in prompt action.

What is particularly concerning is that, despite the vehicle's extensive history of major mechanical failures, the need for a replacement engine, the failed differential, and the findings that led to my complaint being upheld, the same vehicle is now being offered for sale again by the same dealership.

It should not take intervention from the Financial Ombudsman Service to force a company of this size to act fairly. Selling a faulty vehicle, ignoring the customer, pursuing them for payments on an unsafe car, failing to act promptly even after a final Ombudsman decision, and then placing the same vehicle back on sale raises serious questions about customer care and vehicle preparation standards.

Based on my experience, I would strongly advise others to think very carefully before dealing with BMW Financial Services or Stratstone BMW Leeds.

Very poor experience buying a used BWM from BWM in Leeds. Didn’t clean or prep the car for collection. Misled and lied to with complete incompetence thrown in for good measure. I paid notably more than other local comparable cars for the peace of mind of buying direct from the manufacturer. My advice is don’t! Avoid this dealership!

Only a fool would ignore all the negative reviews!
Check them out before you visit and walk away.

Car in for a regular service, they carry out a vehicle health check only to tell me the rear suspension needs to be replaced. £1000 pounds later it is replaced and the result is a car that makes a horrific noise. After weeks of them refusing to take calls or call me back to look at the car they take the car back in to charge another £400 to fix the problem they created “it’s just a coincidence” apparently that this problem started the same day the changed rear suspension. Absolute con artists avoid their service centre at all costs

We purchased a Mini here in Oct 25.
We paid significantly more than the book price - but if dealing with a dealer like this - you expect reliable and trustworthy relations.
We were sold 2 valet packs in the deal £200+ and were explicitly told that these could be redeemed at any Stratstone dealership - which was particularly important because we live in Stockport and do nt want to drive to Leeds to get the car valeted.
As soon as we try to redeem - sorry we can't do that - you will have to travel to Leeds.
I am quite reasonable - policy changes and organisations change. It is a shame that I cant get it done in Stockport or Wilmslow - but fine - please refund.
No refund. This is just not good business. I would not recommend working with the managers in this dealership.

Disorganised, terrible at communicating. They fraudulently tax a car in the old keepers name just to get me off the forecourt. I’m
Now currently in the process of handing the car back due to constant ongoing issues. Stay well away

I enquired about a car online and received only a video of the vehicle—no phone call or email. I followed up twice by both phone and email but received no response. I was interested in buying an X5 and was ready to proceed, but it seems they simply don’t care about potential customers. I was also told I would receive a callback, which never happened. Terrible service and I would not recommend them.

Read a lot of these reviews which put me of somewhat, I found my experience one of the Best I’ve had with main dealers,and I’ve dealt with a few,
BMW M60i I saw and asked for a detailed video , this came and I put a deposit down, I live over 200 miles from Leeds, the communication was good , I’m not the best to deal with and have lots of questions and I’m really fussy about my cars.
So I travelled up to view and collect car, I arrived and was promptly met by Helen , William and Charlie had answered all my questions before and understood I was in the trade and I was a very fussy person! By my own admission !
Back to Helen , she showed me the car and we went on a test drive , car needed fuel so we stopped, she very kindly filled the car up ! I was only expecting £25 fuel.
Back at the dealers the process of paying was dealt with and on leaving she gave me water and coffee for my return journey .
Helen answered all my questions, I was given as much time as I needed to complete the purchase.
I would make the journey again to Stratstone Leeds just for the excellent experience I’ve had with dealing with them.

I purchased the premium guarantee on my car with Stratstone, with this I was told I could get my car repaired at any Strastone garage.
Staff at this branch were unhelpful over the phone. They kept offering to call me back and never did, over 4 days, clearly an excuse to not deal with my repair.
I am having to take my car to another (much more helpful) Stratstone garage which is over an hour way to get mine fixed. Which is annoying as this is my local Stratstone, which is only 10 minutes from me.

Your service dept is a joke. I booked my car in for a 9am drop off. I waited in showroom as I live some distance from dealership but my car wasn't worked on until 4pm. 10 minutes later my car was ready & charging correctly so you said. On return home my car still had the fault which was limiting charging at 4kw instead of 7kw. I wasnt convinced so booked into another dealership who confirmed a problem with charge module. I have had previous issues with Stratstone leeds but gave them benefit of dought from a previous issue. When I bought my 2025 i4 we discussed any car can have issues, but it's how they are dealt with. Again you failed to even discuss the problem. I won't fall for it again. I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER CAR FROM YOU AGAIN. WHAT A SHAME.
Please don't reply to my review saying contact customer service as they don't care either.

Once again a fab service, had a lovely chat with Hari who, as always, was super smiley and positive. Always the best help which will always keep us coming back!

** DO NOT DEAL WITH ** Regrettably a cliched dreadful experience with this business that apparently represents BMW. Unethical sales behaviour to secure the PCP sale. Guess what, when it comes to claim the complimentary service, the person has left the business and the leadership team wash their hands of it. No thought for long-term customer value and customer experience. VERY POOR organisation indeed. Never again.

If you want anything done don’t waste your time with anyone except for Nathan he gets things done. Highly recommend

From the moment I purchased my vehicle to collecting it and dealing with the endless issues since, my experience with this dealership has been extremely disappointing and frustrating.

Just four days after collecting the car, I noticed a fault with one of the buttons on the steering wheel which was temperamental and clearly not working properly. I contacted the dealership and was told to bring the car in, and that the only requirement for a courtesy car was being over the age of 21. No other conditions were mentioned at all.

When I arrived, they then told me they couldn’t provide a courtesy car because my driving licence would not go through due to a previous disqualification. This was the first time anything like this had been mentioned. I was then told they “don’t have access to people’s driving data”, which felt like a complete excuse after the fact. If that’s the case, there should be a very clear statement made to customers beforehand explaining that if you have anything on your licence you may not be eligible for a courtesy car. Instead, I was led to believe I would have one available and planned my day around that.

Because of this, it directly affected my job as I had clients booked in and ended up having to get a taxi to work with no access to a vehicle. The lack of organisation and communication caused me unnecessary stress and inconvenience that could have easily been avoided if the correct information had been given from the start.

I was also told I would receive updates about my vehicle throughout the day. That never happened. I heard absolutely nothing until I chased them myself 15 minutes before finishing work, still having no idea how I was getting home or whether my car was even ready. I tried calling the service line multiple times and nobody answered. After waiting around 10 minutes on hold the call simply cut off. If you ever try calling their service line, don’t expect anyone to answer because in my experience it is almost impossible to get through to anyone.

Since then, the vehicle has been back to the dealership a total of seven times for the exact same issue and it still has not been resolved. Seven visits and the problem remains exactly the same. I have been passed from pillar to post and dealt with at least six different members of staff, which clearly shows a complete lack of communication, organisation, and accountability within the business.

At one stage I was even told that they believed the issue could be related to how I was driving the vehicle. This was honestly insulting. I fail to understand how the way someone drives could possibly cause a button on a steering wheel to malfunction. Rather than taking responsibility for a clear fault, it felt like they were simply trying to blame the customer instead of fixing the problem.

After receiving no response for two weeks, I was eventually passed to a senior member of the service team who told me she would personally take care of the issue. Once again, I was let down. Promised calls never happened and I was left chasing yet again.

More recently I was passed to a manager who told me I would receive an update within 48 hours. Two weeks later, I am still waiting to hear anything from him.

Overall, this has been one of the worst customer service experiences I have ever dealt with. The lack of communication, constant excuses, being passed around multiple staff members, and the failure to fix a simple issue after seven visits is completely unacceptable. I would strongly advise anyone considering buying a car from here to think twice.

I had a very disappointing experience when visiting the BMW showroom today. Last night I requested a video demonstration of a car from Stratstone BMW in Leeds. This morning a lady called Helen rang me to ask which vehicle I was enquiring about. I explained that it was the BMW i4 M50 (72 plate) that I was interested in. I also told her that if we liked the car we would visit the showroom later that day. She asked what time we would arrive and I said it would be around 3:30pm at the latest.

We arrived just after 3:15pm and spent some time looking around. After a while, a member of staff approached us and asked if we were okay. I explained that we were there to see the car and that we had already spoken to Helen. He went away and returned shortly after to say she was with another customer and would be about five minutes.

Unfortunately, we ended up waiting around fifteen minutes and nobody else came to check on us, offer assistance, or even suggest that we sit in the waiting area. We were simply left standing there feeling ignored and unwelcome. Eventually my son said we should leave because it felt like they had no interest in helping us.

For a premium brand like **BMW, I expected a much higher standard of customer service. Instead, the experience was poor and unprofessional. Potential customers should not be left waiting without any communication or basic courtesy.

I hope the management at Stratstone BMW Leeds reviews this and improves how they treat customers, because based on this visit alone I would not return or recommend this dealership.

On 20/2/26 I test drove a BMW 2 series at this garage, which, that day I paid a £250 deposit to reserve. Once I had returned home I searched the reg plate of the vehicle and to my surprise the vehicle that I had just test drove didn't have a valid MOT. This is a £1,000 fine and usually invalidates the insurance, which I was quite appalled to find out. So, I emailed the garage to let them know I would like my deposit back as I would be going elsewhere due to being put off.

The garage then ignored my email for 5 working days, when they sent me a seperate email telling me it is 'highly unusual' for a person to reserve a car and not go ahead with the purchase. I explained my experience and was told that this 'wouldn't be a reason to cancel an order' and asked if the vehicle had trade plates when I test drove the car.

I then looked into how to correctly use trade plates, finding that when using trade plated the car must be 1. roadworthy 2. insured 3. have a valid MOT. Furthering this trade plates must be placed on the outside of the vehicle, which, on the test drive they were actually placed inside the car on the front dash (obstructing the view & causing reflecting of the plates) and on the rear parcel shelf. The fine for incorrect use is up to £5,000 or the invalidation of a trade plate licence. I referred this back to the garage and they haven't even bothered responding to this email send on 27/2/26 which was 15 days ago to discuss the return of my deposit! This garage still has my £250 for a mistake on their behalf. From such a reputable garage I am quite shocked about the customer service I have recieved.

Please do not purchase any vehicles from this dealership unless you want to experience zero support and constant resistance should you have issues with the vehicle.

I purchased a 74 plate BMW M135 brand new from the dealership in November 2024. Unfortunately in May 2025 the vehicle broke down and as a result required major gearbox related repairs to be carried out. I collected the vehicle from Stratstone Leeds after what was confirmed to me to be a completed repair.

In October 2025 the vehicle broke down in an identical way and again required major gearbox related repairs and replacement.

At that stage, having experienced two major failures within a short period, I made clear to Stratstone that I did not wish to accept another repair and sought to exercise my legal right to reject the vehicle. Despite this, I was informed that rejection was not an option and that I was required to accept further repairs and continue making payments. This position was fundamentally incorrect under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

The manner in which my case was handled was extremely disappointing. The level of customer service I received from Stratstone BMW Leeds fell significantly below the standard I would expect from a premium brand such as BMW. Rather than being supported through what was already a frustrating situation, I was met with resistance and misinformation regarding my statutory rights.

This forced me into having to experience further frustration by taking my complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. I have recently received the Financial Ombudsman Service final decision which in summary, it confirms that the position I outlined in October 2025 was correct and that my request for rejection should have been properly actioned by Stratstone and BMW UK at that time.

I must also advise any potential future customer that throughout the last 6 months I have been left without a vehicle of any kind and yet BMW have expected me to continue to pay the finance payments for the vehicle and without providing a replacement courtesy. This has obviously left me having to resort to paying for hire vehicles until this matter has been resolved.

I encourage any future customers to learn from my experience above and take your hard earned money elsewhere. Nobody expects a brand new vehicle to have major issues, but when it does the least you expect is some support from the business you purchased it from.

Of note the head of business at Stratstone Leeds, was personally aware of my situation and was individually responsible for some of the fundamentally incorrect decision making and poor customer service. So this clearly shows the direction to staff from a senior management level.

Took car in under warranty as seemed like coolant bottle had ruptured, was dried up coolant all over engine bay, which minutes before the bmw tech turned up I filmed the engine bay to show others on m5 forum's that coolant bottle had sprayed everywhere, on this video it shows the cable in question in place with a nick in the cable, I was later sent a image of the cable completely missing which seemed to me it was too cleanly cut to be rodent damage, I've posted the picture to make your own assumptions. I was told wasn't warranty work and won't investigate the coolant bottle unless I agreed to pay for the damaged wiring, I asked them to leave it so I could come look at the wire to see how cleanly cut it was, as shown in pictures they didn't leave and seems like removed rubber parts to cover tracks, bare in mind they told me wouldn't start the work until I agreed to pay, I didn't and asked to leave as the pictured shown! What they didn't know is I took a video a hour before it arrived at BMW and I also own a bodyshop and in the trade myself, I can't say for 100% at moment they purposely damaged to generate more work hours as I'm having to go through Vosa and trading standards, once they rule they've damaged the wire to generate more work. ( Quoted £360 to repair, although I've 5 Quotes Stating its a hour at most for references in the case) then they will be charged with section 20 and I'll be notified, at that point I will update the review with the findings. It's alot of hassle and headache I don't need! As mentioned I'm in the trade so I couldn't just turn a blind eye as no doubt if doing once, then doing often as alot of other reviews would indicate. Basically a nick in the wire which I could of used a cable joiner or simply twisted together and taped, has been cut off completely so needed a new cable putting on, which it took  me 10 minutes (not 2 hours BMW Quoted) if it had come into my shop, with a nick in wire, we would of fixed and included the cost in diagnostics charge!

D CUTS
1 review

just now
New
Where do I start. I have had a terrible experience with this business from the first communication. I booked my car in for a recall, I received a call a few days before my appointment early January 2026, I informed them I need a courtesy car. I was informed this appointment would need to be postponed to February of this year if I wanted to be provided with a courtesy car. It’s time for the postponed appointment tomorrow and I have been told no arrangements were made and no courtesy car is available. What this demonstrates is the lack of care for customer service and they do not value your time. Stay away

If I could give 0 stars, I would.

Never left a negative review in my life but this company is by far the most backwards I’ve ever had the displeasure of being involved with.

After spending almost a grand in MOT, service and works, I had drove off the forecourt with a warning message on my sensors (which wasn’t there before). I spoke to them and asked them how this could be and they mentioned the warning came on 1 mile before and it would cost to have the car put through the relevant diagnostics… Having being pretty disappointed with their response I asked to speak to someone more senior, I was told he would be in touch, this never happened. I had to chase them up and eventually agreed to take the car in as my warranty was due to finish on the car so wanted it fixing. I was made assurances I could have a courtesy car (I work full time) whilst the work was being complete, the day before I called to check if we was still good to go and I was told no courtesy car and simply told “sorry if I could give you one, I would”. Honestly, you’re just simply £ to them, terrible customer service, constantly made false promises and they give you no confidence. I would recommend you stay as clear as possible.