Out of the blue, on the 08 September, and again on 17 September 2025, I received unexpected calls from Johnsons Skoda Birmingham, the first whilst on holiday abroad. All this did was to remind me of the very worst experience that I have ever had in 60 years of car ownwnership. Let me please explain why: In May 2022, I bought a brand new Skoda Fabia from the Tyburn Road dealership. There was a heavy shower, as the car was driven out of the showroom for us, and as such it was impossible to see or inspect the car properly, until I cleaned the car a day or so later. I discovered the car had O/S rear sill damage, which I could clearly see by "blowing up" the 1st photo taken in the showroom.As Johnsons Skoda Birmingham would not agree to giving me my money back, and were only prepared to carry out what turned out to be a pathetic "bucketshop" repair, that didn't even cover the damage (see additional photos). Additionally, we could see the foam inside the front seat backs starting to show (also see photos).I then began my 7 month "battle" by contacting Skoda Customer Services, which was a complete waste of time, and led to one of most stressful & time wasting times of my life, but I certainly was not going to give up. It was now November 2022, and as a last ditch attempt, I made contact with Mike Berwick, Operations Director, based at Johnsons Head Office in Redditch, who at last, was apparently interested in what had happened to me, and the totally shabby way I had been treated by Skoda Birmingham. He immediately involved Ashley Gibson and the team at Johnsons VW Birmingham, who were brilliant. It had taken until 06 December 2022, but my car was efficiently collected and I was reimbursed every penny of my purchase price & even my service agreement fee (totalling almost £20,000), before it was even taken away. What an unbelievable relief that was, but that is exactly the reason why I did not answer my phone each time, as I have no faith what so ever, in the dealership, nor do I ever want to hear from Skoda Birmingham, again!! The moral of this story is: "If you have been treated unfairly, and you know that you are totally blameless, and in the right, and Johnsons Skoda Birmingham dealership senior management and staff were totally at fault. Don't give up, until you find someone in the higher organisation, like Mike and Ashley, with a similar mindset as yourself, who can also clearly see the total injustice, that has taken place."All I hope is that this review may assist anyone else, who finds themselves in a similar position to myself?
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