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9 reviews from our car dealer reviews community
Leave a review for Richard Barnes Cars
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9 reviews from our car dealer reviews community

Leave a review for Richard Barnes Cars
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"Great BMW 5 series diesel purchase"
5 out of 5 stars
Dealer's knowledgeable
Vehicle cleanliness
Value for money
Resolving issues

Knowledgeable dealer. From my experience, these gentlemen know BMW cars very well and a variety of other premium brands. They have a passion for BMW, Merc and Jag cars through the years, and having test ridden some of their cars on sale and carefully checked them over, I think they’ll find something suitable for you. A good range of secondhand vehicles in good condition, chosen for reliability and value.

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"Great service "
5 out of 5 stars
Dealer's knowledgeable
Vehicle cleanliness
Value for money
Resolving issues

I just got a Mini Cooper from Richard and Troy today Great service thank you so much guys brilliant service from start to finish. Spoke to Richard on phone Met Troy who done the hand over. Thank you both great car yellow mini love it. Thanks again Ian and Anita 👍👍👍

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"BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE !!!!!!!!"
1.4 out of 5 stars
Dealer's knowledgeable
Vehicle cleanliness
Value for money
Resolving issues

I bought a car from this dealer in March 2020, travelling over from Ireland to collect the car, which was a birthday present for my wife's 50th birthday. The dealer was friendly to deal with and answered all questions seemingly honestly. Having collected the car and 20 minutes up the M6 the engine management light came on and the drivers window stopped working. Phone calls and reassurances from the dealer and I proceeded, though missing my original ferry because of the delay and rebooking with a different company cost me £200. On arriving in Ireland we sent the car to a mechanic to check out the warning light. It turned out that a sensor had been disconnected and this revealed a host of problems. We are now 4 weeks without the car and the repair cost is £1500. The dealer doesn't want to know, telling me that ALL BMW specialists invent problems with cars to get money. He offered to send over an irrelevant VANOS part and won't make any contribution to the costs of repairs at all. 6 weeks after purchase it is now in solicitors hands.

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+6 Found this review helpful

David Gray in response to BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE !!!!!!!!

Sadly, I had a similar very bad experience with Richard Barnes Cars.

Richard Barnes from Richard Barnes Cars in response to BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE !!!!!!!!

*****PLEASE READ*****. Firstly we have complained to this website provider and trading standards. This customer purchased the vehicle and drove back to Ireland, it was 3 weeks later that he "popped the car in for a check over" at his mates garage who then sent it to his BMW specialist mates garage who then scared the life out the customer and insisted he carry out repairs immediately even though he is closed due to the lock down. The first time I was contacted was a few days later when I was told repairs are £1600. I offered to fly a BMW mechanic to Ireland to inspect and fix which was refused, I then offered to collect the car which was again refused. We not only have no proof of fault with the vehicle we are not allowed to see it either. It appears the chain was "badly fitted and needed immediate replacement" We put the new owner in touch with the previous who provided proof that the chain was replaced 45000 miles ago by a qualified mechanic and he had suffered no problems. Since writing his review the new owner of the car is now fighting his 'mates' garage regarding the repairs as they have now asked for a further amount to replace the ECU which has made him realise what they are about. I think this review highlights how flawed the whole reviewing system is, it is not uncommon for some mechanics when they know the car is warrantied and the dealer is miles away to invent repairs or increase charges, the customer will always believe (at first) the repairer and automatically attack the supplying car dealer, You can see this on the previous review where another mates garage sent us a bill initially for over £600 for a non starting problem on a classic car. The actual fault was down to an £8.00 relay in the fuse box. Result as usual garage would not give car back till paid, IN THIS CASE OVER £500 LABOUR TO REPLACE A FUSE!. customer expects dealer to pay full amount which obviously cannot happen, outcome angry customer pays ridiculous amount to mechanic, mechanic walks away with no come back, dealer gets bad review for not bailing customer out. Please if you are the type of person who writes reviews remember that their is another person and business on the receiving end. Your review can have serious effects. Thank you for reading. Richard Barnes

David Gray in response to BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE !!!!!!!!

It is incorrect to say the fault was a faulty fuse or relay, it was actually a faulty engine starter ECU and to change this with reprogramming would have cost a lot more than fitting the starter bypass switch that that mechanic fitted at the cost of just over £300. This involved a considerable amount of diagnostic and fitting work for the mechanic (who is well respected with 5 star ratings and only charges £60 per hour). I am not trying to damage the reputation of any business, just letting other potential car buyers know that I had a very bad experience with this particular dealer- who refused to offer any help whatsoever with the faulty car that was sold to me.

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"Very Poor after sales service "
1.4 out of 5 stars
Dealer's knowledgeable
Vehicle cleanliness
Value for money
Resolving issues

This is a review of a BMW bought in early January from Richard Barnes Cars (I state this so that he can’t claim to not know who I am, as in some other reviews). Richard is quite amiable and helpful on first meeting, the problems arose when the vehicle developed a serious non-starting fault shortly after purchase, initially Richard appears quite helpful, suggesting some simple solutions, none of which sorted the problem; then the excuses begin and shortly afterwards he would not answer the phone at all or respond to several polite emails. At the point of sale I was promised a 3 month Warranty and was informed that I would receive the warranty details in the post and in the meantime if I had a problem then I was to phone him- but if he refuses to answer the phone- what is one meant to do, as I live hundreds of mile from his premises it was not an option to return the vehicle nor was this option offered, in fact Richard offered no help or guidance in resolving this issue at all and I ended up having no more comeback than if I had bought privately and yet he charges top dealer prices. The promised 3 month Warranty has never materialised and Richard also promised receipts for suspension work done on the vehicle which I have also not received (despite reminding him by polite email), so I suspect he was not truthful about this work having being carried out. To date the issue has cost over £600 to resolve and I have regrettably having to resort to litigation in order to recover this, under clearly defined rights through the Consumer Rights Act 2015. My honest and best advise would be to avoid buying a car from Richard Barnes Cars, unless you are very confident there are no faults with the vehicle; you are probably better off buying from a more reputable dealer from a trusted dealer scheme or something similar, so at least you will have some comeback if the car develops a fault shortly after purchase. I would like to be clear, that I gain no pleasure in posting a negative review, I wanted to give Richard a chance to help to repair the faulty car he sold to me, but as no help or even any goodwill gesture were offered I had no option but to give this review.

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+8 Found this review helpful

David Gray in response to Very Poor after sales service

Thanks for your response Alan and I am sorry, but not at all surprised that you sadly had a bad experience with Richard Barnes Cars, you know there is a phrase- what goes round comes round! He will get caught out eventually if he chooses to treat customers like this and think that consumer law does not apply to him.

Richard Barnes from Richard Barnes Cars in response to Very Poor after sales service

Hello David and Alan. Whilst I am really sorry you both still feel this way, I must point out the following 1. You both live hundreds of miles away, Northern Scotland & Ireland. 2 You both went in to a BMW specialist garage, neither of you attempted to contact me before hand. 3 You both then contacted me with requests for huge amounts of money after the garage had had to immediately start work. 4 You both then constantly bombarded me with calls requesting I send just money. Alan you hounded me for £600 initially then sent an invoice from your garage for just over £300. The fault on your car was a RELAY it is just a FUSE and costs me £8.00 for which your trusted garage charged £27.00 + VAT. Also as we discussed its a classic car and has mechanical warranty only. David you hounded me for £1600 to repair a car that was driving perfectly. The management light came on then went off on your trip home, I contact you several times over the following week to make sure all was ok and you said it was great and your wife loves the car. Then suddenly after a trip to a garage the car is diagnosed as (just about to break) and needs to have work carried out immediately. As I have proved this was not the case and I know from our last conversation the garage are now trying to get more work from the car and you are fighting them. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, understand how damaging these reviews can be. Neither of you phoned to say you had an issue can i help fix it, neither of you believed what I was telling you when you had your diagnosis from your garages, neither of you questioned the amounts the garages wanted to charge and at no time was I allowed to inspect the cars. If the situation was reversed would you simply send me a cheque?. I would also point out that eventually particularly in your case Alan you realise that perhaps things were not all as they seemed at your garage, once everything is straightened out you will have forgotten this review, however it will remain against my company from now on, Perhaps both of you should review your repairers and add a link to your reviews on here...but I bet you won't.

David Gray from Richard Barnes Cars in response to Very Poor after sales service

Richard, you are not being truthful or honest. I tried about 6 times to contact you by phone and twice by polite email, you never answered my emails and you never phoned my back to resolve the serious non stating issue, so I tried my utmost to resolve the faulty BMW you sold to me, by contacting you, but you refused to contact me and therefore I had no option but to sort the problem out myself. I never hounded you at all, I actually sent you a letter requesting that you help to settle the independent specialist garage’s bill - who charges a very reasonable £60 per hour and by the way has 5 star reviews (proof on file). You are correct that the parts cost £27 (relay and switch) but fail to point out that this needed to be fitted which was quite a complex job, requiring 4 hours of labour. You did not offer to take the faulty car back or inspect it, nor did you offer to pay the very reasonable repair bill or even offer to help with the repair in any way. The bottom line Richard, is that you sold me a vehicle with a serious fault and despite repeated polite requests did nothing to help resolve the issue, which trading as a car dealer you have a legal responsibility to do.

"great car"
5 out of 5 stars
Dealer's knowledgeable
Vehicle cleanliness
Value for money
Resolving issues

Bought my first car (Ford Fiesta) from Richard Barnes Cars after looking at several other dealers. Really pleased with my car and I found the purchase very easy and would recommend to friends.

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+1 Found this review helpful
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"Appalling. Deadful."
1.4 out of 5 stars
Dealer's knowledgeable
Vehicle cleanliness
Value for money
Resolving issues

Bought a Bmw which quickly developed problems. Richard quite simply didn't want know. Appeared helpful on the phone but then avoided our calls eventually blocking them. To be given a wide berth.

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+10 Found this review helpful

richard barnes cars from Richard Barnes Cars in response to Appalling. Deadful.

I have no idea who you are. According to my records no BMW has been sold to anyone called 'Tom' and I have no complaints at all regarding a fault on a BMW. Please check to see if you have recorded this review against the right dealership. I have contacted the review body for your details in the mean time in order to find out why this has been left.

Richard Barnes cars from Richard Barnes Cars in response to Appalling. Deadful.

**UPDATE** We have at last found the details on this vehicle. We had you down as Mr ****** and no first name. We found you had left another review for us under a different first name for some reason and could not link the paperwork until now. If you remember Tom/Andrew you purchased the car in May 2017 and the fault occurred over 7 months later, we spoke and due to your younger age even though it was out of warranty we agreed to help fix the car by way of free labour. However because you were unable to reach me by phone the following day as I was with a customer you had your friends constantly phone me, when I became free and phoned all the missed numbers I was either swore at, laughed at or had the phone put down. I understand if a car develops problems people become upset but a dealer can only warranty a car for a certain time, we agreed to help and would of happily done so but need to be able to work effectively without having our phone lines blocked in order to be able to afford to offer that help. I hope you understand why we could not continue and really do hope everything has been sorted with the car.

"Barrie Metcalf"
5 out of 5 stars
Dealer's knowledgeable
Vehicle cleanliness
Value for money
Resolving issues

The measure of a good business is not necessarily how they deal with things when they are going well but how they perform when things go wrong. I recently bought a car from Richard which developed some serious problems fairly quickly. I cannot praise him highly enough for his efforts to sort out the problem or indeed the offer of an alternative vehicle or refund. We eventually took the refund. Do not have any worries buying a car from here!

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"birmingham car buyer"
5 out of 5 stars
Dealer's knowledgeable
Vehicle cleanliness
Value for money
Resolving issues

Had a good experience with Richard Barnes Cars, all of it was just brilliant, they stayed open late for us to see the car and pick it up, he was friendly and knew about the car. I would have no hesitation recommending him in the future.

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+2 Found this review helpful
"David and Debbie Kings Norton"
5 out of 5 stars
Dealer's knowledgeable
Vehicle cleanliness
Value for money
Resolving issues

well, my wife and i are over the moon with the price of the BMW we have bought from Richard. I would say that what he does not now about BMWs you could write on a pin head, he has really put himself out advising us on the choice of car to buy and besides his friendly manor he is a real credit to all the good second hand car specialists out there. IF YOU ARE EVEN THINKING OF BUYING A SECOND HAND BMW MY ADVICE IS SPEAK TO RICHARD BECAUSE HIS KNOWLEDGE AND ADVISE ARE FREE. David and Debbie c K/ Norton

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Dealership Information

Richard Barnes Cars is an Independent dealership that is based in Birmingham. If you’re the owner or employee of this business, please send us a little bit of information about your dealership and why customers should come and visit.

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Manufacturers: Sells a variety of makes and models
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9 reviews3.8 out of 5 stars — Rated Very Good
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    Address

    Richard Barnes Cars
    Pool House Farm Alcester Road
    Birmingham
    Worcestershire
    B48 7JA

    Get in touch

    07977 135005
    http://www.richardbarnescars.co.uk

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    Dealership Statistics

    66%
    Would recommend this dealer to family and friends
    33%
    Percent of reviews responded to by this dealer

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