Hartwell plc Reviews 365

I strongly advise avoiding BYD Reading (Hartwell). My experience from placing a deposit to trying to get it back was an absolute masterclass in poor communication and sheer incompetence.

The False Promises & Shifting Dates:
On March 30th, I test-drove a BYD Seal Excellence with Xander Nowlan. I paid a £250 refundable deposit via Apple Pay but wasn’t given a single piece of paperwork to take home (my first red flag). When discussing a collection date, I suggested Saturday. Xander pushed for me to collect it the very next day (Tuesday), confidently claiming the dent repair, alloys, and service would all be finished by Tuesday morning. Since Tuesday didn't work for me, we agreed on Saturday.

Because Xander had assured me the car would be fully prepped by Tuesday morning, I called on Wednesday hoping to bring my collection forward. Suddenly, the story changed. Xander told me that because we had officially agreed on Saturday, they "weren't in a rush" to get the car ready. He then told me it was in for a service and I could collect on Friday instead, promising a callback with a time.

The Ghosting:
By Thursday, with no callback, I spoke to another salesman, Finn. Finn openly admitted the situation had been handled "totally unprofessionally”, the service and repairs hadn’t even been booked in. He claimed he did in 5 minutes what the showroom couldn't do, booked an urgent service, and confirmed a Saturday collection was now impossible. He promised to call me back the next day to confirm details. He never did.

Over the next few days, I tried calling repeatedly. If my caller ID was visible, it went straight to voicemail. If I hid my caller ID, they picked up immediately, only to tell me "Finn is with a customer, he'll call back." The callbacks never happened. I finally sent an email on Saturday to cancel the sale, which was completely ignored.

The Manager's Incompetence:
After a week of being ignored, I used their AI chatbot to finally get through to the Sales Manager, Jason Rowlands. Despite knowing about the situation, he had made no effort to contact me. When I demanded my refund, Jason insisted I had to physically drive to the dealership to process it because I had used Apple Pay.

I drove all the way there, only for the staff to process the refund immediately using just my card details. They openly admitted that Jason simply didn't understand the process and that my trip was entirely unnecessary.

To top it all off, after stringing me along, dodging my calls, and wasting my time making me drive in for no reason, the staff still had the audacity to try and "recover the sale"!

An incredibly unprofessional outfit from start to finish. Take your business elsewhere.

Having bought a BYD seal from this company at hereford branch, I experienced my first problem after mice/rats ate the fluid lines under the bonnet. Service was exceptional, and the matter was dealt with expeditiously and pleasantly. Well done, Hereford branch, great service.,

We had been on the waiting list for an Omoda 7 since December and received zero communication — not a single update. We only discovered they’d actually received one in stock through an online chat, which says it all.

We then requested a test drive… again, no contact. It was only after I sent a fairly abrupt message that I finally got a call from Bradley, who bizarrely said his manager told him to “call me and start the process again” — despite us already being on the list for months.

We booked a test drive for the following Saturday and turned up on time, only to be completely ignored by the nearest lad who wasn't with a customer, who was more interested in folding up a micro-fibre cloth neatly than us walking in!. When we were finally acknowledged by him, he went off to find Bradley, came back, ignored us again, and then walked off with another customer. We were left standing there with no explanation.

After going to reception myself, a manager eventually stepped in and sat us down — this was around 20 minutes after we had arrived.

The test drive itself was fine, and we discussed figures (including some conveniently included “extras”), then went away to think.

I emailed the following Tuesday with a query — no response. I called later that day, spoke to Bradley, who said he’d check and call me back if needed. Nothing. No call, no email.

At that point, I contacted another dealership who were professional, responsive, and actually seemed interested in our business — and we are now progressing with them instead.

To top it off, I finally received a reply two days later asking me to resend all the details we had already discussed because he “needed reminding”.

Genuinely unbelievable.

Overall, the experience felt disorganised and unprofessional, with a clear lack of basic customer service and communication standards. The team would benefit from proper training and a more customer-focused approach.

This dealership completely lost a sale due to poor communication, lack of organisation, and a total disregard for customers’ time. Would not recommend to anyone. I should also add that I had been warned about their poor service beforehand by a friend — unfortunately that turned out to be completely accurate.

I had a test drive booked at Dunstable dealership (Hartwell). I left without a test drive, without seeing a car properly, and frankly a bit stunned by what happened.

I'd done my homework before coming in. I knew I wanted a BYD, I knew I was looking at your zero percent APR conditional PCP deal with 50 percent deposit.

The salesperson I dealt with, Jude, didn't start with "let me show you the car" or even a basic welcome. The very first question was about financing. What followed was genuinely odd. When I mentioned I was also looking at the Jaecoo and the Kia Sportage, Jude spent most of our time together trying to convince me that the BYD PCP wasn't financially right for me and that the Jaecoo zero percent apr deal was better. He kept coming back to whether I could afford the deposit — even after I'd told him several times that money wasn't the constraint here.

I had to spell it out: I'm not just looking for the cheapest monthly payment. I'm here because I actually want to feel the car and drive this car to help me take buying decision. That didn't land well. The conversation became quite tense and at points felt outright confrontational.

Eventually, despite having a confirmed appointment, he refused to take me on a test drive. No apology, no attempt to reset the conversation. I told him that I was having a bad experience. Nothing changed.I was told I should go ahead and complaint and they did not want to waste time on me. That's outright rude.

I had a Puma serviced today. Thank you to Aleena and the team-very professional.

We bought a Ford Explorer on 30th January 2026 from Hartwell Kidlington. Whilst the sales staff were very friendly and attentive, aspects of their service and especially the after sales service leave a lot of room for improvement.

The things that went wrong:

- The Gap insurance was calculated incorrectly (not in our favour). A 3 pin plug charging lead was thrown in as an apology.
- The sales process took over 3 hours. In the end I was signing anything to get out. My brain was fried!
- The finance was approved on the Thursday, the following morning, I received a call to say that the finance company had questions. I waited around all day to see whether we had bought the car or not. Finally, at 4.30pm , we had a call to say that alternative finance had be arranged. Why say that finance had originally been approved, when clearly it had not.
- Within 2 days of purchase, an error warning appeared in respect of the air conditioning. We were told that this was a common fault and that an engineer was visiting the garage on the 17th Feb to fix a number of cars. We live in Swindon (a 50 min drive away), and took the car up the previous afternoon. The next day we were told the car was fixed and ready to collect. We drove to Kidlington again, got into the car and the error message was still there. We very much doubt that the engineer even looked at the car. As at the 16th March, we still havent got any resolution. The issue remains.
- We asked that the car be charged when they had it on the 17th. They used our charging cable and it wasnt until the next day that we noticed the cable had not been returned to us. We had no way of charging the car. The salesman then had to drive a cable to us the following day.

This is a very expensive purchase for us and one, at our time of lives, was not taken lightly. Too many mistakes have been made. There has been a lack of care and a lack of professionalism.

Great dealing with Joe Rogers @ Hartwell Ford Kidlington, would recommend to friends and family

Everything was great I would of given 5 star's if there was some fuel put in the car, I only just made it home. It was peak time so traffic was horrendous then I had to use a jerry can to get more fuel later that evening

Extremely rude salesman at Watford Would not let me test drive 2 cars even though I said I wanted to drive 2 models at my appointment. I was kept waiting 30 mins as salesman was busy with previous customer. However I was told I had to finish by the top of the hour as another customer was booked in. The salesman actually shouted at me. No skills in customer care at all.

Extremely poor service from Hartwell plc (Watford and Hemel Hempstead)in fact the worst experience of buying a new car in 30 years. I ordered a new Ford Puma Gen E in September 2025. I received numerous emails and text messages updating me on the progress of the build. I have now been advised that they have cancelled my order as one of their staff forgot to process my finance proposal. They stated the deal has now gone and there is nothing they can do!

I’m extremely disappointed with my experience at Hartwell PLC.
I have an extended warranty with them and took my vehicle in for a fault diagnosis. I was charged £150 for a diagnostic check, only to be given a report that essentially said: “We can confirm it’s not working - please contact the main dealer.”
That was the full outcome. No diagnosis. No root cause. No repair recommendation. Just confirmation of the problem I already knew about.
This raises two very simple questions:

What exactly did I pay £150 for?
What is the point of an extended warranty if the garage cannot diagnose the fault and simply tells you to go elsewhere?

I expected professional troubleshooting and meaningful advice, not a costly acknowledgment that something doesn’t work. The service provided added no value and left me feeling that both the diagnostic fee and the warranty were a waste of money.
I would not recommend Hartwell PLC based on this experience

I made an appointment to test drive a brand new Omoda 5 petrol all booked and confirmed. Called just to make sure the appointment was still ok only to be told the 1 and only car they had was out on loan. The sales advisor didn't seem to care that I had taken the day off especially for the test drive. I won't be using Hartwell's Abingdon even though it's closer to me than other branches.

I had a fantastic experience buying a used car from Hartwell Abingdon! Krzysztof was friendly, honest, and incredibly helpful throughout the whole process. He gave me plenty of time to inspect the car, explained everything clearly, and never made me feel pressured.
The car was exactly as advertised—clean, well‑maintained, and in excellent condition. The test drive went smoothly, and I appreciated the full service history Krzysztof provided so I knew exactly what I was getting. I feel I got great value for money and genuine peace of mind.
Overall, a smooth, stress‑free experience. I’d highly recommend Hartwell Abingdon and a big thank you to Krzysztof for making the whole process so easy!

Fantastic service from BYD at Scunthorpe (Hartwell). From start to finish, everything was easy and stress-free. Booking the service was straightforward, the team were friendly and professional, and nothing was too much trouble. Communication was clear throughout and the whole experience was smooth and efficient. I absolutely love my BYD, and the great service just reinforces that I made the right choice. Would definitely recommend and will happily return for future services.

I purchased a Ford Transit from Dunstable . It was sold to me with a warranty provided by a Third Party called AutoTrust.
The salesman Vinny was brilliant I part exchanged my Vauxhall Vivaro which had courier livery on. The Finance agreement with Santander was agreed,my occupation as a COURIER!!
Hartwell Ford claimed on this Policy with AutoTrust successfully. When I went to claim on it I was told by AutoTrust that they don’t cover couriers!!!
The response I got from Simon at Dunstable HF was “ what’s your problem,you had previous repairs done”!!
I wouldn’t buy a sack barrow from this set of Clowns!!!

Brought a truck 4 days ago from Abingdon and it’s already broken down twice. You have rights to hand it back within 30 days so I did. They have my old truck and they are 1.5 hours away. If I want this back I have to collect it. I have gone through ombudsman. I have to keep receipts of costs of my journey back to them and i can claim compensation if it means im out of work. Make sure you log emails to them

I took my BYD Atto 3 to Hartwell BYD Kidlington for a battery range issue and collected it with swirl marks that were not present before, alongside a very poor customer experience.
As a professional detailer, I know this car had a 2-stage machine polish and ceramic coating. Despite this, the dealership carried out an unauthorised “service wash” using a brush and alkaline chemicals. I was told the products were pH neutral, but product data shows Typhoon Plus is pH 10. Further inspection is needed to determine the full condition of the paintwork.
Key issues:
Dishonesty: I was told only the wheels had been cleaned, but photos from my wife showed the entire car had been washed.
Lack of Consent / Liability Confusion: Hartwell said BYD “requires” cars to be washed unless customers request otherwise, and any issues fall on the owner. BYD themselves appeared confused by this claim. I never consented to a full wash.
Poor Communication: My wife collected the car without being told what had been done, even though I later received a video update by email.
Management Avoidance: Michael (Service Manager) and Jon (Area Manager) were copied into correspondence but never responded.
Valeting Concerns: When I purchased the car, I saw valeters dropping microfibre towels on the tarmac and jet-washing them. I flagged this, warning my car should not be cleaned in those conditions.
I’ve raised a formal complaint with BYD UK. If you care about your car’s paintwork, do not let Hartwell BYD Kidlington wash it. Their processes lack transparency, communication is poor, and responsibility is deflected when things go wrong.

Richard Brewer from Hartwells in Oxford is the best! He is so honest, reliable, funny and professional person! I always go to the Oxford branch(even thoughit is out of my way and takes 2 hours to get there) ! The best bunch of people you can come across. Lee and Emily are so friendly and make you feel so welcome when you walk in!

Bought a car from this lot in January 2025. Was off the road for 4 months whilst waiting on them and their recommended warranty partner sorting out a new engine.
To save money, they moved it mid way through to a cheaper, less established garage causing further delays. I had it for a couple of weeks and already back in the garage for further repair so still not fixed. Whole thing started on 6th August 2025.
Was told my costs for renting a car would be covered which hasn't happened. Partial payment and I'm still around £1500 out of pocket.
Also no response to my complaint at all.

Do not use Hartwell Banbury if you want your sanity intact. Angel is extremely rude and shouts at customers outside the building. She has lied and lied. We took our car back several times and they have never fixed the fault. We will NOT recommend them to anyone. In the area most people who have experienced this garage do not recommend them at all