I had arranged to view a 20019 M140i , i spoke to the salesman on Monday 6th July who assured me that the car was in excellent condition, he invited me to attend at 16:30 on 8th July as it need to go through preparation, and any issues he would let me know. I arrived at the dedicated appointment only to be told that the car had not been prepared (So where was the phone call to let me know?), after waiting for the salesman to seek the car he took me outside to see it........... Oh dear, the car was dirty, the front valence was scraped and scratched, the off side front wing had a scratch, the drivers door was scratched and dinted, the offside rear bumper was scratched, the nearside rear bumper scratched, the offside rear door scratched, all this on a 14month old car which they were selling at a premium price! they sell themselves as Tynesides flagship BMW dealer, all I can say is the flag must be at half mast as I have never had the displeasure of such an unprofessional outfit.

At the beginning of March we approached Stratstone BMW in Newcastle to purchase an M4. They had a grey one at their branch but weren’t very forthcoming in selling it. At no point did they call back when we made enquiries, and we had to do all the chasing. On the 23rd March we visited the branch as we had found a car at the Doncaster branch. We just wanted to put a deposit down, and have it sent up. The staff at Doncaster were extremely helpful, they sent videos of the car, and so we were confident that we’d found our M4. We gave our £500 deposit, and were told by the salesman that he had spoken with the Doncaster branch whilst we were there, and they may be able to have the car delivered as early as the Monday. We were told to sort out insurance, and change our private registration from our current car as soon as we got home, which we did. By Wednesday we’d heard nothing, as always from the Newcastle branch, so my husband chased it up. We were informed that there had been a delay in getting it but it should be here by Friday. Friday arrived, and as always we’d had no calls so we chased it again. To our utter astonishment we were informed that the car had actually been sold on the Tuesday morning in Doncaster. The Newcastle salesman had known this information on the Tuesday afternoon but stated he hoped the sale would fall through so he’d kept up the pretence when my husband spoke with him on the Wednesday. Which we think is appalling from any company but particularly from one as large, and supposedly professional, as Stratstone. Obviously we were shocked, and also very confused as to how this had happened when we had been told that the Newcastle salesman had secured it all whilst we were there on the 23rd. Upon discussion, he explained that he hadn’t actually called them but had sent a WhatsApp message instead. We spoke with the helpful team at Doncaster who outlined that Newcastle had only enquired if it was for sale on the Saturday then hadn’t followed this up to say it needed to be sent, hence why it was sold on the Tuesday. Newcastle only asked for it to be sent up on the Tuesday afternoon, a day after they told us it could already have arrived! We were told they would try and find another in the Stratstone group, however, our faith in the company was severely limited at this point. From the 23rd we had started making purchases for our new car:- the insurance, change of registration, then we had bought a carbon dash (£500) and bodykit (£1500) for it. We are now thousands of pounds out of pocket. We discussed this with a more senior member of the team once we found out the car wasn’t ours, and were told they would get back to us. On the 13th April we visited Stratstone again, and asked for our deposit back, something they hadn’t even offered us despite not contacting us once with an alternative car to consider. Interestingly, Doncaster Stratstone had called to say the M4 was back for sale, although Newcastle hadn’t identified this despite supposedly checking for cars across the group! We spoke with the same senior staff member as before, and reiterated the loss of money we have encountered. He reimbursed us for the change of registration, as well as finally returning our deposit. He said he would speak with the Dealer Principal David Guy with regard the other items as he also agreed some sort of compensation should come from their error. We only asked for the dash to be reimbursed as the bodykit could be used on another car, and surely £500 is a small amount to pay for their incompetence, lies and poor service. Low and behold, we have chased Stratstone on a number of occasions, and are still awaiting an outcome. We have tried to complain to parties removed from the Newcastle branch, such as on social media. We have called the complaint numbers they gave us, emailed the addresses they gave us, and at no point have had a response from them either. Currently we are left out of pocket, angry at being so misled, fed up of being ignored, and completely disgusted with the company. Due to their ongoing lack of communication we have been forced to leave reviews in the hope no-one else has to go through a saga like ours, and to hopefully receive a response, finally!