Servicing Stop

I booked my car in for a service never thinking I would be conned. The only reason why I chose them was my car would be collected and delivered back and Servicing Stop have "as seen on Dragons' Den" on their site. Obviously, with them mentioning Dragons Den I thought it would be a good option to go with. I can't believe that they would have their name associated with such scam artists.
A man from a garage near me collected the car so I thought everything will be fine. A matter of a few hours later I had a call telling me I had to pay another £249 for oil change, brake flush amongst other things. I asked to speak to a manager (still waiting now). Also up to 4.50 I did not even know which garage had my car - despite me contacting them on several phones and email. So had to start ringing around local garages to find it, with this company closing at 5pm. Spend over 3 hours in total with them today and no one called me back.
I will be contacting trading standards tomorrow to report them, especially after seeing their reviews and articles online. So I am not alone. No one should get away with ripping off people, especially in such difficult times. £350 for a service - what planet do they live on. I even threatened them with the police if they didn't call me back - no response.
DO NOT USE THIS FIRM

This Booking Service is flawed and in my experience failing. My booking was confirmed then the car collection aspect cancelled, when offered driveway parking for the service agents vehicle, the date booked for the service changed the afternoon before it was due to be carried out. 12 minutes telephone hold to get through to customer service where a pleasant woman tried to validate their actions, I cancelled and will now rebook directly with our local Audi garage.

The old adage of if it seems to good to be true it probably is too good to be true. Sucked in by the low advertised cost of a full service. I even asked are there any hidden costs? Any add ones I should know about? Operator told me no. The cost is as stated unless the garage find anything when Servicing Stop have the car an they will call you before doing the work. Which they did and told me on top of the price I had already paid I had to pay an additional £228 for
Oil surcharge (specialist oil)
Renew: Brake fluid (Service Advisory)
Perform: Engine diagnostics (Service Advisory)
All of which I expected to be included in the cost advertised for a FULL SERVICE. £172.33, which I paid upfront.
Turns out this full service cost me £400 way over what the Ford Dealership would have cost me!
Once they have your car they will not release it until you pay in full. When I said I don't want the extra work doing they said thats fine I wouldn't get a refund on the price I had already paid and my service record would not be updated with this service. Meaning I would have to pay again for it to be done elsewhere.
To add insult to injury the one thing I asked them to check, the tyre pressure malfunction, wasn't even looked even though when they rang to tell me how much extra I had to pay they said it had been done.
Rip off if you ask for my opinion.

Avoid, avoid, avoid! Late pick up, ridiculously late delivery (we were late for our holiday!). May seem cheap on the face of things but Servicing Stop recommended £650 of work on top. When I refused they dropped the price. Customer services is a nightmare to get through to with lengthy hold periods. I was told the car would be back between 4 and 6pm, then 100% that it would be back at 12pm the next day, then they were 20mins away, they eventually arrived at 1.30pm the next day. Complained to customer services who quoted the small print and offered £10 off an MOT - an offer I shall not be taking them up on. Please avoid!

Booked in for an MOT and service and paid up front as offered a discount.

No show yesterday to collect the car, no contact from them either.

Rang the garage who basically said it's not them who collect so Servicing Stop couldn't help but... I was the 3rd person that week.

Rang service stop - no answer for 60 mins

Emailed them but no response

Will have to do a chargeback on my card but will have to wait 30 days before the bank will action.

As above avoid this company

I was quoted £96 all in for an interim service which included a ridiculous environmental fee of £7.99 which incidentally the garage that carried out the service were unaware of. My final bill was £141.83. I had a call from Gary their customer service guy who tried to sell up the service with all the "safety" extras I needed (but didn't need at all) I have a Renault Captur which uses standard C4 oil but was told by Servicing Stop that it was special oil which was an extra £24+VAT. I confirmed with Renault that Servicing Stop recommend standard C4 0/30 or 5/30 and there is no special oil. I bought the car on 22/11/20 and had a full AA check. The AA topped up all the fluids including brake fluid, anti freeze, windscreen wash etc. Servicing Stop said they had to top these up and charged me £5.99+VAT. This was on 26/11/20 4 days after it was done by the AA. Gary from SS said that in the 20 years he had been there he had never had a complaint or anyone requested documentary evidence and a photograph of the 'special oil' they had to use. A complete lie as the company was registered in April 2008 so didn't exist 20 years ago! I spent 3 hours trying to get through to them but with no luck. The garage that carried out the work did say that they have had a lot of customer complaints with SS and the hard sell tactics and unnecessary extra charges. Read the reviews and honestly avoid like the plague. An Interim service from my Renault main dealer is only £160 inc VAT so what appears to be a great saving is actually not. AVOID AVOID AVOID

Tried to charge me twice for mot and service, made up oil flush out charges antifreeze charges brake fluid totalling 350 quid. Didnt top up my brake fluid but said Servicing Stop did on the service sheet check list - a massive safety breach.
Impounded my car, stole it wouldn't give it back until i paid unwanted charges absolute crooks do not use ever!

I booked mot service in pay on line 91£ after told my mot failed missing cloo in tyre blood missing in place number and diagnostic 498 £ I refuse ask them bring me my car told you need to pay 283 £ I accepted do nothing in car for 24hours mot fail pay 385£ horrible company too expensive i take car Nissan company

After Servicing stop done my car annual service, Servicing Stop firstly overcharge the service-literally almost 50% more than another garage I actually prefer to use. After the service I had problems with my car, several issues including loose parts, battery constantly dying - never happend before. We have left emails, trying to contact them, use the chat function but still no support of contact. I will never go back to them and will not recommend them at all.

Some of the bad reviews on here seem to be about this company being late to pick up the car. I think they're much worse than that, essentially a big scam. Servicing Stop take your car, say they will do a service & MOT then ring you later in the day to say they've done other work which they are very vague about. The amount varies but I was charged an extra £400. It is made very clear that unless you pay immediately you will have a problem getting your car back. They say they will send you an itemised invoice but then never do. When I got my car back I realised they had failed to do the most basic things (side light bulb needed replacing, 3 tyres worn). Now, a few weeks after a "full service" the car won't start. I know they're cheap but please, please don't use them. At best you will be scammed, at worst you could be involved in an accident due to the negligence of this company.

Terrible, terrible service. Unbelievably expensive, loads of hidden charges (many of which are for things most garages include in their service as standard. £25+VAT for oil?!). Impossible to contact them by telephone once they've taken your car and Servicing Stop just keep finding more "essential" work and hitting you with more and more requests for payment. My MOT & service, quoted at £111 ended up costing over £1200. For a 10 year old Peugeot 107. I could have replaced the car for that! I usually expect to pay in the region of £150 - £200, depending on what work is required. Even factoring in the additional repair work I knew was required in the exhaust, the price was indefensible. Genuinely horrifying experience. Never again!

An intoxicated driver collect my jaguar for full service. Garage called and said it needed suspention parts? Two days after an mot I think not. Then when car was returned no water in washer bottle having emailed servicing stop customer service 3 times and no response turns out after a check at another Garage and the dash cam Servicing Stop forgot to turn of my car was not serviced never to be trusted.

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. Servicing Stop ARE A COMPLETE RIP OFF. I BOOKED A SERVICE AND MOT, PAID IN ADVANCE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE DISCOUNT. THE MOT WAS NOT DONE. THEIR EXTRA CHARGES ARE ASTRONOMICAL - FORTUNATELY I REFUSED TO HAVE THE EXTRAS DONE. THEY DO NOT ANSWER THEIR PHONE. THEY DO NOT REPLY TO EMAILS. STAY WELL CLEAR.

Cancelled on us twice, the first time we were told a day before, the second time we were just left waiting.
Had to wait on hold for 90 minutes to get through.
Had texts promising a "call to arrange collection" 4 times but never recieved any.
Just take your car direct to a local mechanic, these guys are so bad Servicing Stop might as-well be a scam.

SHOCKING COMPANY
As many people have said below, If I could give zero rating I would!
The price for a FULL service on my wife's car was advertised at £165, this is a good £140 cheaper than my local Vauxhall dealership quoted (my Vauxhall dealer quoted for all items in a FULL service), so we thought we would give Service Stop a try... and after reading what we thought were the items included and the specifics of the service we promptly paid the full amount. At 4pm (2 hours before the car should be returned) I received a call from the Service Shop office in London. The guy on the phone then had the nerve to tell me that filters for oil, fuel, pollen were not included, he said the brake fluid needs to be drained and replaced as part of a service, he said the oil was special (its not! And I checked with Vauxhall)... and the list went on and on! He then said there would be an additional £375 on top of the £165 we had already paid to complete the service! - he was completely condescending on the phone and smug, and kept saying 'didn't you read the small print'!
So basically for £165 all Servicing Stop did was pick the car up and then give me a list of all the additional things they want to charge me for! I had to pay £28 on top of the bill for the 'special' oil just to get the car back, so basically Ive paid £200 for an oil change.
So my message to anyone thinking of using this company because they are cheap is... DONT, THEY ARE A COMPLETE RIPOFF. I will now have to take my wife's car to the main dealer for a proper service, this has been a very expensive lesson.

I booked a service and mot for £116 then got a call asking for payment of £385 stating my car needs a special oil and brake fluid! Contacted the garage direct and was told the company is a scam and Servicing Stop can't wait to get out of contract with them! Servicing stop sent me an invoice! Refused to release my car and nobody answers the phone! The garage in the end helped me by closing the job their end stating no work carried out! The invoice still came to £164 despite no work being carried out and the initial quote being £116! I have reported them to trading standards and I am pursuing a case against them in civil court as I come from a family of lawyers and this organisation needs stopping! Do not go anywhere near them! Ever! Fraud alert

It's unbelievable the level and quality of service I am receiving.

Please see state of car just received.

The car is in a very dirty condition, with bird poo all over. Drivers mat is equally very dirty. Dirtier than in the condition I gave it ou.

I lifted the bonnet / hood of the car and its worse. The engine cover has not been fitted with the screws with the engine cooling cap left off and pipe left hanging leaking out.

I can not express my disappointment enough.

See attached.

As expressed yesterday can I have someone acknowledge my emails, respond, call Andd arrange for refund of the payment as this is definitely not the service you guaranteed

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

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Servicing Stop collected my car for full service I got an email saying that all work done and everything was ok with no advisories 2 hours later. Then got a phone call 30min later saying car needed brake fluid replacing@ £77and coolant replacing@ £66 I said BS as I've got report from garage and hung up then they didn't return car till next day. DO NOT USE YOU WILL BE SORRY

I wouldn't even give 1 star (but not an option). Absolutely disgraceful. I wish I had read these reviews and not their own website reviews prior to booking. Professional looking site and offered good priced service. I booked to take out the hassle of messing around but it has caused more issues. Poor customer service and communications, just turn up and take your car off whenever Servicing Stop feel like it, to god knows where. Service today £85 and then emailed quoting £300+ work that needed carrying out, used bully boy tactics, refused to allow return of car until work was carried out. In the end I only got an additional £65 for specialist oil and refused rest of work to be carried out and stuck to our guns. Managed to get name of garage etc. but no paperwork or proof of service or work done, and book not stamped and car oil looks same. Reported to trading standards. Avoid at all costs if thinking of using these scammers! Wish we had!

I have used servicing stop in the past and have had fine experiences

I used in June this year.
Firstly Servicing Stop were two hours late collecting the car despite confirming twice by phone. The man who came to collect said he wasn't told a time. Then they returned my car with a crack in the windscreen. They left my car in a no parking zone with no warning they were returning the car and I was at work, despite me telling them via phone not to park it there risking a huge fine. I have called >10 times and sent 6 complaint emails with no response. Awful.

Last month I booked my car in for an MOT and service tomorrow. There were a few issues with the booking system but today at 1600 a message was left on my phone saying that couldn't be done today but might be able to do next Wednesday. No apology, no resilience and my MOT runs out on Friday. DO NOT USE THEM - Servicing Stop will let you down.

Today i had my car serviced in kent via this rubbish service. Charged £118 for a service then get a call tried to fob me off with extra £185 just had my invoice and becareful on oil £24.99 and Servicing Stop already do the work if you dont pay they wont release the car. So in total the whole price was £157.99 instead of £118.

Fraud Alert!
Do not use them in any situation. I booked services with them and the sales basically said my car fail MOT and there are fault code which then i said it is impossible because my car is new and i have not seen any error code. Servicing Stop insist if i dont get it fix " i will not get my car back " due the car are not allow to be on the road. I told them car are under PCP and still under warranty i only need to fix the minimum and the errors i would do it with the seller ( they are closed at the time due to pandemic and i choose this $#*!ing company they offer free collection but this is hugh mistake - see follow).

So they took my car and promised to send the car and by calling me saying if don't pay them immediately it will delay the repair and hence not getting the car back. Paid them and not heard from them same day, call their phone waited for 2 hours on call ( and i am not kidding) nobody answer, texted the guy that call me for payment and he said he has finish for the day ( after i threaten him i will contact the police for stolen car) and he HAS NOT IDEA WHO I WAS!

Got my car back day after and i called their services and asked them what is the fault that prevent me from having my car back, they said they are unable to tell me, if you think of a logic, if there are POTENTIAL FAULT even before you actual do a details test you will still able to tell what is the potential fault but they refuse to give me those information.

I sent my car to proper dealer to check and they have confirmed that is not fault whatsoever. They are fraud to to scare you into paying more for nothing.

I have made complaint by sending them email, 22 June and 6 July. So far no reply whatsoever.

Beware of this fraud company, i never write review and i decide i will write at many place i can.

Looks like they're having a bad day.
DO NOT use this company. I certainly won't be again.
I've used them for quite a few years now and I think the gaps between services/MOTs are just enough to forget what awful an experience I have each time I go.
If you want to get in touch, you'll be waiting at least half an hour on hold.
If you expect to pay what the original quoted price was, apparently this is unreasonable. Prices a quoted without VAT firstly, then there are surcharges for everything, topping up fluids if needed (although this is included in the full service), adding 'special' oil (I've got a normal diesel), environmental disposal surcharge. So when I booked for a £120 service and MOT is was avtualyl £230.
Then my technician tried to tell me to get a load of extra things done which I was sure I'd had done through them recently, only when he checked back did he see that yes, if he hadn't he'd have got an extra £500 out of me (or there abouts).
To top it off, I still don't have my car back. I had confirmation that the work was complete mid afternoon and it was paid for (reluctantly) then. But it's now 20:00 and I have no way of getting to work tomorrow.
Just spend a bit more, and avoid the stress and annoyance that servicing stop will bring you.

This is a spamming company. Servicing Stop will never care about your car and all they do is promise low prices.

The main reason I used them is because they come and collect the car. I did twice the full services with them and every time they charge me about £500 for doing nothing to the car and I end up paying because I trust their words.

The MOT is due today, I book it with them since last week. Guess what? Someone called me to inform me that they can't pick it today because the garage is too busy and the driver is sick. He offered me a new day but of course, I can't take it because the MOT is due today and I need it done today otherwise I can't drive the car.

If you care about your safety stay away from them. Just because they collect the car it is not worth going through all this hassle. All they want is the quantity and do not aspect quality.

This is a FAKE business. Do not use - take the time to go to the garage yourself. You are NOT their customer, the garages that Servicing Stop make money on for doing nothing are their true customer.

Late collections. Incorrect information on their database resulting in incorrect paperwork. Being oversold add-ons that were not required. Zero complaints procedure other than 'sort it yourself'.

Their whole business model if flawed as YOU will have to deal with any and all issues yourself and you will pay more in money and your own time. What exactly is the point of their whole service again?

Nearly 4 weeks later I'm still going back and forth, did not have my paperwork and service book back for 3 weeks - missed out on selling my car and to date they still cannot see that my contract is with ServiceStop - not the garage.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE - Do not use this service.

I booked my car in for a service and MOT. The next day my car was picked up and taken to the garage as agreed. A few hours later I received a call from a Service Stop agent telling me that my car had a number of parts that needed replacing. I asked for a quote and was shocked by the amount Servicing Stop were asking. I said I didn't want to proceed with any work as I was confident I could get a far better price elsewhere. The agent then became very aggressive and started to use strong arm tactics to make a sale. The agent said that if I didn't get the work done I would have to arrange for my car to be picked up. Although my car still had a valid MOT the Service Stop agent tried to this as an opportunity to make me accept his grossly inflated quote. The agent the told me that my car was legally unfit to drive and started again with the strong arm tactics. After being bullied by the agent I then called the garage who was actually carrying out the work and they told that my car was legal to drive and that they would deliver my car back to me that evening. The Service Stop agent had clearly lied to me. I also took the service report to another garage and asked for a quote. To no surprise it was £450 pound cheaper.

It would appear that Service Stops business model is built on the premise that they are acting as agents for local garages getting them extra work while putting massive margins on top that customer has to pay. They don't add any value at all. You are far better off going to a local garage directly therefore avoiding the ridiculously inflated charges and the harassment from there staff.

Overall my experience was very poor and I would not recommend them to my worst enemy. Don't believe their fake trust pilot 4.5 star rating they put on their website!

THE PROMISE:
Best price guarantee-Find a better deal, we match it!

THE REALITY:
So I've asked the garage I took my car to how much the work would cost in total which was £280 including vat then Servicing Stop calls me and said that it will cost £671.74 - WHY? Servicing Stop now have nothing to do with my booking.

THE COMPLAINT:
Here is my email to Servicing Stop (Which they have not replied to)

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Hi Chris,

I am attempting to contact you by phone which is impossible and also trying to cancel my agreement with you as you have clearly done nothing in this case but your customer services email just bounces back to me so I've sent the email to both directors.

No one came to collect the car on the agreed date just like before so this time I contact the garage directly and booked it in myself.

I then collected the car from thee garage so where did you feel the right to become involved in my service?

The garage told me that they charge £30 for a pollen filter fitted and inc vat so why did you charge £105?

This work including VAT should have been £280 so why are you contacting ne with a bill from your company of £671.74.
This is an overcharge of £391.74 and you have not even been involved.
God can walk on water but please get a grip of reality here Oliver.
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WHAT THEY SAY ON THE WEB:
Look on ReviewFeeder - Says it all!
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Now, If you look at the MoneySavingExpert article
'Servicing Stop rip off garages as well as customers!'
MoneySavingExpert even have a legal team called Resolver who will help you with your issues - 'Having problems with Servicing Stop? Use Resolver to make a complaint. It's quick, easy and (best of all) it's free.'
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Also take a look at 'Servicing Stop 70% off sale advert ‘misleading', ASA finds' by Tom Sharpe.
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This is from DragonsDen's Deborah Meaden
And this is what Deborah Meaden placed on her website…

*Important announcement re Servicing Stop*
Following a number of complaints regarding the service provided by Servicing Stop, Deborah would like to make it clear that although she made an offer in the Den, the investment did not go through and Deborah is not in any way connected with Servicing Stop.
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Reviews on INDEED from former staff:

Poor
Sales Assistant (Former Employee) - London, Greater
Not great, you have to lie to customers about what service a car requires.
It's a high pressure sales, so you must be confident. You do learn about cars.
Pros
Learn about cars
Cons
Long hours
----
Terrible environment
Customer Service Agent (Former Employee) - Enfield
At first when I started I was really excited as it had been my first job after taking a year off work due to health reasons. I must say after a few weeks it all changed. The managers are liars. They pay is rubbish. Thr company just rips people off and lies to them.
Pros
You would get 3 breaks instead of two. Plus a lot of overtime available.
Cons
There are way too many.
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IN SUMMARY:
How can any customer save anything if Servicing Stop are only booking your car into a local garage then calling you with the price for the extras at 3.5 times the price of the local garage?
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SOLUTION:
If you have read this then you know now - DO NOT DEAL WITH THEM!

POST SOLUTION:
If you are reading this now and have already been ripped off by Servicing Stop then contact Resolver via the MoneySavingExpert website.

WHAT NOT TO DO:
Have any protracted conversations with these people trying to state your claim as this will only serve to frustrate you even more.

Regards,

Bill

Wish I could review without having to waste one star.

Booked a full service and I was told I had to pay extra £36 to flush my engine. Who does a full service without flushing the engines?
On top of that I was made to acquire 42mins in telephone bill to a premium number by putting me on hold only to tell me that Servicing Stop are not taking MOT only bookings which could have been avoided if that info was made available on their website.

Dear Toby Richmond,

I booked my car to have a service and MOT for the 4th of August, which you confirmed with me. Late in the evening of the 3rd I received

A call from yourselves, saying that somehow the garage was overbooked, and you would need to re-schedule.

My service and MOT were re-booked for today, and confirmed by email, stating that my car would be picked up

Between 8 & 10am... 10:12... still no pick up. I ring the one and only number available for yourselves... I was on the phone for 1hr, 11 mins and 39 seconds in total.

By the time my call was actually answered I was on my way to the garage address to deliver the car as time was getting on.

The garage were called by your customer service person, Servicing Stop allegedly said they would send someone out now to pick it up, this would have been about 11.23am.

I found the garage, but they were unable to bring me back to work. They have now arranged to pick the car up at 13.15hrs, and return it much nearer to 5pm,

Which at least is within the return time you quote in your email. A few points for you to consider:-

Your booking system is failing miserably, otherwise it would have shown no availability BEFORE you confirmed to me it was booked.
Garages used by you, should be fully aware of the time scales you advise customers of, the garage I was booked in to didn't know that at all!
Customers should be constantly updated as to why a delay, or non pick up is occurring.
Your call answering time frame is beyond appalling, staff it properly or you will lose business hand over fist.
Assuming all is sorted today, I will post this e-mail as part of my review, I will advise all my customers of your poor customer service and systems.
I have lost appointments, due to your late cancellations and non pick ups.
I have had to take time off work to drive to the garage in the hope of getting my service done. Lost income!
I will never, I mean NEVER, use your company again. In just under 40 years of driving, your company is the worst I have encountered!

Yours in utter disgust,

John Tunbridge

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

Please respond to my earlier email sent via your customer service email address.
Thank you,
John Tunbridge

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