“I'm a broker who uses Close to finance insurance policies. Prompt replies to any issues or concerns and a human approach to dealing with client difficulties.”
“Financed a car for my elderly, disabled mother and it’s not road worthy, in fact it’s dangerous. Timing chain, head gasket and leaking oil all over the brakes and onto the engine and floor to name but a few issues. Had the car assessed at 2 garages and both have said it needs a complete engine rebuild and is not safe to drive.
Close brothers finance took 3 months to arrange with the dealer to have the car back to repair and it’s come back with more issues than it left with. The dealer is a very unpleasant man and clearly a con artist, his online reviews are absolutely dire, a finance company shouldn’t even be working with this “trader” at all.
Now the car is back and deemed dangerous close brothers are ignoring my elderly mothers calls at all costs and have offered no help at all. This car needs rejecting and a replacement found.
My next call is to trading standards and the financial ombudsman in regards to both close brothers and the original dealer to try and get this dealt with.”
“Close Brothers erroneously entered a default marker on my credit file in August 2023. This was an error on their part and I disputed this. Close Brothers agreed to their error and removed this entry in December 2023, remediating the problem. However, in January 2024 they added the erroneous default entry back to my credit file for reasons unbeknown. I contacted Close Brothers once again and they once again agreed that my account was up to date and the default entry was inaccurate. Simultaneously, Experian have been fighting my corner as they can see this issue has been going on for sometime and despite having many other credit accounts I have never ever had any arrears let alone defaults on any of them. I raised a formal complaint with Close Brothers in early February upon seeing that months later that the issue was still not resolved. Their complaints team assured me the entry would be removed. Today is the 20th of March and my credit rating is still showing the horrific impact of the erroneous default entry. Close Brothers are an utterly incompetent, unethical and uncaring company who have no qualms destroying people’s lives - they have ruined my credit score when I had never ever defaulted and never done so in my entire life. They have messed both myself and Experian around for months and months. I have now raised this with the Financial Ombudsman as I am literally at my wits end so are all the lovely people at Experian who have fought with me to get this utter mess cleaned up.”
“Lorraine and Daria at he close brothers , corrupt with least knowledge what they are doing, very unprofessional they force mew to get his faulty X5 when I rejected the car within 7days
AVOID AVOID and AVOID at all costs or…
AVOID AVOID and AVOID at all costs or at least test drive the car you wont buy.
Watson Mike at Ryton Car Specialist, is not a honest person, he is a liar, super defrauds all of his cars either has engine issues , very high price each vehicle has some hidden issues, he is under hues financial crises and misusing the trust of innocent car buyers, once you pay you will never see him and he will never response your calls, because he knew no one else will buy these scarp faulty cars he won’t take it back because he know that he can’t sell it again.
I purchase BMW X5 YC65TZM for £17200 on 21 Feb 2024, he delivers the car on 24/2/2024 after sunset, as soon as I received the car I express 4 points within 5minutes while on the test drive
1. There was loud noise from the Suspension,
2. Car was not smooth because no wheel balancing.
3. Drivetrain engine warning lights on
4. Break does not work at all.
5. He dint provide the service history as th car was market
Watson Mike at Ryton Car Specialist is not only liar but unprofessional he promises he will fix it so I return the car on 26/2/24, he send me some Old dated dodgy repairing invoices
my question was why he try to force me this faulty car as a dealer if he is honest he should fix everything first of all but still I said I will take it back if you repair properly one week later he ask me to collect and promise that everything has been done with high standard.
When I was there to collect the car at 04:00pm on 4th Feb 2024 the noise from suspension was as it is the break does not work at all. I call him at 05:00pm that the noise is as it is and I am coming back to return car I went to his office to return the car he was absconding from the office we have waited there for 2 hrs at this cold outside of his office later he send David one of his friend told me to handover the car and key at 08:30pm on 4th Feb 2024. Than I have taken train reached home at 01:00am.
Dealing with Watson Mike at Ryton Car Specialist has spoiled my 3 weeks, still within 14 time cancelation period waiting for him to send us the cancelation certificate and pay the outstanding amount to lender for this car the simple refuse said he is struggling and don’t have money keep lying to the choose my car and close brothers motor finance that car is fix and still thinking I will take this scrap car back.
I have informed the lenders liar Watson Mike at Ryton Car Specialist and now I have started legal proceedings for fraud, misleading information and forcing a customer to take faulty vehicle which is not road worthy this may take few months but I trust the justice system in UK and sure I will win thankfully I have most of the evidence that includes pic, video audio recording.
sending my technician to inspect the car on 18th March 2024.
So my suggestion to the public there are plenty professional showrooms around if you deal with liar dodge and greedy Watson Mike at Ryton Car Specialist he is not only unprofessional but he will go any label to earn money from all his faulty cars and you will feel sorry for your mistake all your life”
“I've been waiting over 3 months for Close Bros to approve a repair on my vehicle. Their call system is atrocious, I've typically been waiting to speak to a call handler for between 1 to 3.5hrs. When they do answer and aren't able to transfer my call, I request a callback for a claims handler or manager but they don't have the decency to return my call.
If you can get finance with another company, please do. You'll save yourself time, stress and hassle.
Horrendous customer service. Avoid like the plague”
“CLOSE BROTHERS.... PLEASE AVOID, AVOID, AVOID
I recently (less than a month ago) renewed my car insurance with an insurance provider who uses Close Brothers for those customers who prefer to pay their insurance monthly. Less than a month later, as I didnt use that car very much , I decided to sell it, thinking it would be easy to cancel my premium after such a short period and I would'nt have to pay the whole of the remining balance. ABSOLUTELY NOT. Including their cancellation fee, they rinsed me for 85% of the total year premium.
Lesson learned!!! As soon as I clear my Close Brother car insurance payments for my other car, I will ensure to take out future car insurance policies ONLY with insurance companies who DON'T use Close brothers for insurance finance.
CLOSE BROTHERS are RIP OFF merchants who probrably don't even wear masks...
For me, they score ZERO stars.”
“Absolutely awful company. Wish I had read all the other reviews before taking car finance out through this company. Sent debt collectors around to my house without any notice. I then was informed I had to pay the full balance within 7 days. I don’t know how this company has been able to get away with it and it looks like they’ve have done it to many other people judging by the reviews. Stay well clear and I hope someone catches up with these people. I will also be writing to watchdog about these.”
“This company does not accept responsibility for their dealerships selling substandard vehicles, they forget the car belongs to them until I've paid last payment, so come and get your car back as I don't want it,dealer who sold the car is Llandudno junction car centre,”
“Please Avoid terrible company!
Complaints team never answer the phone,
My car was sold faulty and it took them 11months to reach a decision and didn’t ring me to notify but emailed instead”
“I would give a minus if it was possible. Can never get a straight answer and was provided with incorrect information. Will take my business elsewhere. Absolute shocking company.”
“Utter scum company. Took out an insurance policy with a big insurer, monthly payments. I had no idea that the monthly payments was washed through Close Brothers as a "loan" cancelled the policy 2 months later and was charged 70% of the entire policy as a "cancellation fee" so basically £700 for 2 months of policy. I have scoured my original paperwork and nowhere is it stated these fees apply. Parasite class company that deserves to rot in hell”
“This is insurance scam. They work with different names. Carole Nash took out loan from them authomatically without informing customer when insurance is taken out. Then the send email asking for signature afterward. They are currently being investigated by financial bodies.”
“Had a letter from police saying my car wasn't registered as having insurance. Contacted Close Brothers and it took forever to get through. Eventually I spoke to a guy who told me that my previous car was the one that was registered. Funny, as it was scrapped over 2 yrs ago. How does this happen?? Was told it sometimes does if you use comparison websites! Very strange as I definitely registered my current car. Said guy was supposed to call me back as my premiums were coming up a lot dearer for my current and correct car and he said he woukd sort things and phone me back. Still waiting. I cannot contact them either via e mail or any other form of communication. Keeps sending me back to original page. I've also tried to access my policy via online portal and there is notthing there except my finance agreement. Funny that isnt it. I'm currently cancelling my SO for payment and trying to contact to tell them why.
Do not use this company!”
