"Avoid at all costs - A series of events forms my conclusion."

A series of events forms my conclusion.

Incident 1
Replacement blown headlamp bulb – paid a pricey sum of £50 (£4 bulb + labour +VAT). Ridiculous price however it was convenient rather than trying to replace it in the half-light and rain.

Incident 2
Car broke down outside Platts. Staff were helpful to get car onto their forecourt, in anticipation of getting the work! Quick decision was required as couldn’t leave car. Rather than arrange to have it towed to another garage made sense to have technicians review/fix it. Ignition switch replacement diagnosed (£500 quote parts/labour).

Collected car and on driving up the road over a road hump, the dashboard rattled and the frontage fell off!
No just the trim, it was snapped/broken is several parts. Managed to glue to couple of pieces including the internal brackets, however the rattle continued. Found a screw in the footwell, not sure from where.

On closer inspection and purchasing a torx screwdriver, found that the entire driver’s dashboard housing unit had been broken into 14 pieces. Garage staff had lent with their full weight on the dashboard, as well as kneeling on the driver seat! Breaking the dashboard and breaking a spring in the driver’s seat!

Considering the vehicle age impossible to get parts, so ended up gluing the individual parts on the dash. Repairs to the seat spring is not something that can be done without removing the seat! Now left with a driver’s seat that vibrates and bounces when driving.

Absolutely disgusted - it’s an old vehicle but regardless all cars should be treated with respect. The car went in for one issue to be returned with a broken dashboard and broken driver seat. Neither had previously had damage prior to visiting Platts. Have had the vehicle from new have the full-service history.

Incident 3
To top it all, 3weeks later, car went for MOT obviously at a different garage, it ‘Failed’. Why? Platt’s technicians had put the replacement headlamp in upside down!

Conclusion
Have no confidence in Platts and wouldn’t want further damage done to the car! If they can’t put a lightbulb in the right way, could they also tamper with something these more serious after making a complaint?!

The technician/s that worked on the vehicle would had known the damage they had done, and can’t believe that they and Platts have tried to cover it up! Intentional or otherwise the team would have been aware so it would have been a conscious decision not to highlight the damage in the hope that it would go ‘undetected’ by the customer.

For a third generational family run business which claims “values customers above everything else”, not sure that the founding Grandfather would think this instance is in line with their company’s mission.

Formal complaint sent requesting acknowledgment - no response! Hence posting this!

Don’t be fooled that you’re supporting a long-standing local family business with great service. Staff are sloppy, unskilled and disrespectful. Not only will you be significantly out of pocket, more than likely the vehicle will require further work or have damage that they won’t own up to!

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

"Terrible garage"

My daughter sent her 4 year Old Ford Fiesta for a service and MOT. They charged her an extortionate amount of money. £660 Just for the service in MOT. Do not use this garage they are extremely expensive. Was hoping by using a Ford main dealer, you could trust them, but obviously our mistake.

"Profit before reputation and fairness"

I wanted to support Platts as what I thought was a local family firm in the heart of Marlow and they’re one of the only garages that still does tended fuel pumps and have what seem to be nice people working there. Unfortunately, I found to my cost that loyalty doesn’t pay when I asked them to get me some Bosch windscreen wipers for my car. I’d already seen these online for less than 25 quid. When I went to collect I ended up with a bill for £69 quid. The guy there said that included a discount. I politely pointed out I wasn’t born yesterday and they’d made quite a profit out of someone who’d been trying to support local. They just did away with any future custom from me. I worry for elderly people just believing what they tell them and paying through the nose. Get your stuff online or from someone you know you can trust. Really disappointed.

"Absolute disaster"

Absolute disaster. We took my daughters ford ka to this garage to diagnose a misfire issue . we were told at the desk that they would assign 2 hours diagnostics which they said is the maximum they would need to diagnose the fault. we were shocked when given a bill of £359. I make that to be £175 per hour labour!! The guy at the desk said he warned me of the hourly labour cost in advance HE DEFINITELY DID NOT ! The result of the 2 hour investigation concluded that the misfire was caused by probable cylinder issue and advised that the cylinder head will need to come off to find the full extent of the problem which would require another 6 hours work (I make that to be around an additional £1000 labour to find the cause of the problem only), and so I paid £359 to be told that further investigation will be required. Needless to say I told them I didn’t want them to proceed with any further investigation. Absolute disgrace! Oh and by the way the misfire issue was far worse when I drove the car home. When I took it to another garage they discovered that the engine bolts were loose making it very dangerous to drive. Platts obviously did not tighten the bolts following their investigations. To think that my daughter continued to drive the car for a while with the engine bolts in that condition makes me shudder. They also damaged the air box breather outlet and it was not properly re-connected. My advice is don’t use this garage, particularly for fault finding because you will live to regret it. fault finding to them means a bottomless pit to charge what they want without finding the fault or resolving the problem and also causing more damage in the process. We only tried this garage because they boast they are a Ford specialist but if they can produce results like this on a Ford then god knows what they are capable of on other makes of car.