“Who do you complain to about the complaints department? Extremely unprofessional women called me. Instead of dealing with the issue, she was looking to fight her corner. Training is required. Probably the worse customer service I have received. I had to end the call as couldn't listen to someone so ........unapologetic and rude.”
“Been dealing with arnold clark for 1 year and half due to noise from car been in more than handful of times being totally itnored by customer services , service manager says will get back to you but dosent . Arnold clark just dont want to admit they are in wrong when its already been admitted by them. Quick enough to take money but when it comes to problems dont want to know. Customer service overall shocking”
“Made a complaint on line as per there customer complaint handling process but I have been totally ignored it would seem the don't accept complaints or want to deal with them”
“I found them to be very unprofessonial.I bought a car in March with four problems,
the back lights did not work including the light over the rear window,excessive play on the hand brake and squeaky brakes.I do not believe these car was ever checked over.
All these items could have been repaired before leaving the garage.I think all they do is to change the oil ,valet it and stick it on the forcourt.When I picked the car up they told me all the faults would be repaired under the warranty,some they repaired the others I had to pay for.I emailed the manager where I brought the car from a few times regarding the issues,he did not have the manners to reply to any of them.So I ended up paying £12000 for a car with squeaky brakes,customers services phoned me and told me if it is not a safety issue they are not interested.BUYERS BEWARE.”
“Bought a brand new MG HS PHEV from Arnold Clark Peterhead. It’s has been back 6 times now with problems and has to go back yet again as it’s still not finished after being left for 2 days getting checked and “updated” yet again.
It’s the worst after sales and worst car I have ever had the misfortune to own.
No one told me when buying the car that they did not have the proper facilities to update software or I would never have bought the car.
I will never use Arnold Clark again to purchase a car and would advise anyone to steer well clear of MG and Arnold Clark.
Ps. Car was quite clean when put in but after 2 days lying outside at the garage it was filthy with dust you would have thought it would have been given a quick wash by the valeters before being handed back”
“Really poor customer care/ service when purchasing car.
Up until point of paying a fairly large sum of money for the car I received copious calls, texts, emails and felt obligated to reply promptly.
However during this high level of communication they failed to take the opportunity to tell me personally that they had reduced the valuation in my trade in and also failed to indicate any charge of £620 for road tax.
When challenging this I received no apology from the sales person who added further insult by emailing me calling me the wrong name once car had been paid for (in the copious communication before that he interestingly knew my name)
The poor customer care, not being listened to etc took the enjoyment out of what should have been an exciting purchase.
The situation was resolved by one of Linwood managers and when collecting car at Dundee click & collect the service by Rachel was outstanding.”
“DO NOT BUY A CAR FROM ARNOLD CLARK
they sold me a car with a major fault and trying to get them to repair it, replace or refund my money has been nothing short of a nightmare. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!”
“Bought a brand new car on pcp from arnold clark, linwood in January. I reported 2 days after purchase that it was scratch and had a faulty break light. 60 days later and the issues have still not been resolved despite 2 visits to arnold clark service dept, numerous phone calls and emails. Never experienced customer service as pathetic as this. Completely inept!”
“I bought a car from Arnold Clark Stafford on January 30th and 30 minutes into the journey home, thick smoke started pouring from under the bonnet. I was genuinely worried it might catch fire. The AA was called, and when the mechanic arrived, he told me he would be very surprised if Arnold Clark hadn’t known about this fault beforehand. The main cause of the smoke was a major oil leak, which was dripping onto the manifold. He said the car wasn’t safe to drive, so he towed it straight back to Arnold Clark.
Also, I took the morning off work to collect the car, only for it to break down almost immediately. Then, because I was left without a car and couldn’t get another one until my refund was processed, I was stuck and unable to get into work.
Understandably, I requested a full refund, as the car was clearly not roadworthy. Since then, I have had to constantly chase for updates, only to be met with delays, excuses and vague responses. The only explanation I was ever given was that there was a "serious mechanical fault"—no details, nothing. To this day, I still have no idea what the actual fault was. Their customer service was non-existent after they had my money. Before the sale, however, they were calling me at least once a day, sometimes more, desperate to close the deal.
Whenever I called to ask for updates, no one seemed to know what was happening with my car or the refund process. When I asked for the right person to speak to, I was always told someone would call me back with more information—but that never happened.
When I finally managed to speak to the manager, Christina, after explaining my situation to a kind receptionist, her dismissive and unhelpful attitude only made things worse.
To make matters even more frustrating, I put £45 worth of petrol in the car before it broke down. They promised to refund me, yet now, on 10th March—well over a month later—I’ve only been refunded £5, despite providing the photo proof of my receipt as requested. Now, they’re claiming they need the log book to process the rest of the refund. What does the log book have to do with fuel reimbursement? It’s beyond ridiculous. I still have the log book and spare key because I told them I’d send them off once they refunded the money they promised—and now they’re using that as another excuse to delay.
After all this, Luke, the sales rep who handled my sale, started responding to my emails with one-word, all-lowercase messages—completely unprofessional and just another sign of how little they care once they’ve got your money.
Safe to say, I will never buy from Arnold Clark again. Thankfully, I’ve since bought a car elsewhere and the experience was night and day—fantastic service, couldn’t do enough for me. If you’re considering buying from Arnold Clark Stafford, don’t bother. They’ll chase you non-stop before the sale, but the second things go wrong, you’re on your own. Absolute nightmare.”
“After speaking to the General Manager at the branch last week who passed on my request to speak to a Manager at the Arnold Clark Head Office. Today i had a call from Customer Services, the same person i have spoken to in the past about the terrible experience when purchasing my new car. I asked to speak to a Manager to which the agent said he cant pass me on to a manager. I have purchased my last 8 cars brand new through Arnold Clark whose motto is to treat the Customer fairly which has not been the case. On rechecking the paperwork for tre car other issues have come to light that i would like to discuss with a manager. In my opinion everyone should steer well clear from Arnold Clark MG in Kirkcaldy. If you do purchase check the paperwork very carefully. Tom Will.”
“I went to Arnold Clark in Linwood for a Motability car as they had 2 models at 2 different advance payments displayed on their website. It was £999 for the car with more spec and £499 for car with lower spec. But after talking with the Motability specialist I was informed that I would have to pay £1999 for 1st car and £1499 for 2nd car. I asked him why I wasn’t getting the price on the website he said those were February prices. This was on Wednesday 26th February. I initially wanted the £999 car but I couldn’t find another £1000 for it so I had to get the £1499 and I have to find the extra money for that. I left a review on Trustpilot and I received a reply asking me to phone the number that was provided by them. I phoned and was asked to email screenshots of the prices as displayed on their website (I’m pretty sure they could have gotten them themselves). I also provided a screenshot of my application with the price I was being asked to pay. That was on Friday 28th February. I have updated my review every day since then stating that the pricing is still displayed on their website as £999 and £499. So today I decided to phone a different company who have the same advance payments displayed on their website and I was informed by the Motability specialist that the car manufacturer will cover £500 and Motability will cover £500 of advance payments if the car is registered and taxed in March. My car will be registered and taxed in March. I phoned the Motability specialist from Arnold Clark but I was told that he was with a customer and could the person who I was speaking to help me with anything and I explained about what I had found out after speaking to another company. He said that he didn’t know anything about Motability so Jon would have to call me back. This was at about 4:30pm and they don’t close until 8pm but I received no phone call from him. I think it’s ridiculous how they are trying to get more money from people when it’s already hard enough to get the advance payment.”
“Car booked in for service & MOT. Shock absorber on front driver side was broken do needed replacing as an MOT fail. Agreed to the replacement, advised OEM spring in stock but needed to keep my car overnight so could be finished Saturday morning. Called at 12:00 as heard nothing. Servicing gone home and wouldn’t now get car back until Monday. So no car, no call and sales team not bothered. Needed car for weekend so having to hire one. Will be escalating to claim back costs. Service levels are desperately poor. Had two cars from them but no more. Not surprised their customer services ratings are less than 2 out of 5.”
“I was misled about the vehicle I purchased. I was promised significant savings on running costs and was told it was a hybrid. However, after signing all the paperwork, I discovered on the pickup day that it was actually a plug-in hybrid, which doesn’t suit my needs and will cost me more to run.
The salesperson was rude, even turning his back on me during the handover. Now, they’re insisting I keep the vehicle—clearly prioritizing their commission over customer satisfaction—despite my right to return and withdraw from the deal.
This is my second purchase from them, and it will definitely be my last. They sell you a dream until you sign the paperwork—then you’re left to deal with the reality.”
