Crystal Motor Company

I would like to share my experience when buying a car from Crystal Motors Northampton, as I feel other people may benefit. I would like to emphasise at this point that I will not exaggerate or embellish in anyway, and I am not a rival garage trying to smear a competitor. Everything I will document here is absolutely accurate. Things started fairly well, I dealt with a chap named Paul who was very friendly and personable. One of his colleagues however was very very stressed that day and was shouting rather loudly at other employees. I am comfortable in this environment due to my work background, and I even sympathised with this fellow as I understand what it is like to be under high levels of stress. Either way it did not create the sort of professional impression I would expect at an established car sales garage. There were no real problems at this stage. I had a look round the car asked a few questions and asked for a test drive. The car was in reasonable nick, with a few minor bits and pieces out of place. I knew I could find a better condition car, however this was a rare find for me as I am a BMW and general driving/ car/ motorbike enthusiast, and a manual sport model with black leather with this engine was a rare find indeed. So I would have to accept the condition and sort it over a period of time. So the only major problem I could see with the car was a stack of warning lights on the dash which I was assured was due to a flat battery. I was reasonably pleased with the state of things, so a deal was done, a deposit put down, and I was due to pick up the car in a weeks time. No real problems so far. I am an experienced manager, and my instincts told me to give the garage a call a few days before I went up to ensure things were going as planned. It had been agreed that I would pay for the tax and that the garage would go to the post office and have the tax disc on the car when I got there. When I rang, the tax had been completely forgotten about. Not a good sign. What would have happened if I had not rung to remind them? 10 o clock was the agreed collection time. I deliberately arrived a little late in case they were a bit behind. I showed up at 10.30, and this is where some fun and games started. The tax had still not been done, and one of the employees sons was still on his way to the post office on his push bike or moped, I cant remember which, to get it. Upon enquiring further I found out that the lad had been instructed to buy a 6 month tax disc when I had expressly requested 12 months. So I was left waiting for about 30 minutes for a tax disc to arrive, despite showing up 30 minutes late, and despite ringing a few days earlier to remind them. Next thing was the interior. I was told the car would be fully and professionally valeted before collection. I had made a mental note of some specific, but very obvious stains on the front passenger seat and the passenger door handle. The stains were still there. There had been no obvious attempt in my view to clean the interior. Cue some shouting from the shouty guy I mentioned earlier to his son to get it sorted out. 30 minutes up the motor way all the previously mentioned warning lights came on and the radio stopped working. As soon as I got home I contacted my local and very much trusted car garage where I have been taking my cars for the last 10 years or so. I arranged for an inspection and there were some surprising insights. Before I list them all I should add that Crystal motors claim they have a 300 point check they conduct on every car before it leaves there premises. After you have read this I am sure you will agree that these checks are most definitely NOT conducted. When the bonnet was opened the first surprise was a cigarette lighter resting just inside one of the wings. I spotted it immediately. How does that even happen? The next thing was a series of foam and rubber strips clips from around the pollen filter, and the edge of the bonnet were strewn around the engine bay. I couldn't figure out what one of them was for so I ended up ringing BMW and reading them the part number so they could tell me where it went. I also clipped back on the rest of the foam strips in there proper places. How did a load of foam and rubber strips come unclipped and just left in mess around the engine bay? I only casually glanced under the engine bay to see this, I obviously wasn't expecting it. So at this stage I found it hard to believe at this point that any sort of check had been done on this car. The investigation into the warning lights revealed that the rear tyres were the wrong size. The ABS, traction control, stability system and cruise control are al linked together. The computer can cope with a 1% difference in circumference of tyre from front to rear. Any more than that and the computer gets confused, thinking that, in this case the rear wheels are rotating too slowly. My trusted car garage informed me that the circumference of the rear tyres is was 7% more than the front. I think it unlikely that the previous owner of the car would fit these tyres on his car, and even if he tried to I would imagine that tyre garage would have told him they are wrong size. Although not 100% conclusive, it is my educated guess based on the rest of my experience here, that the garage chucked on the cheapest set of tyres they could fit on the rim, and to hell with the consequences. Correct tyres are now fitted, and funnily enough, the warning lights have all gone off and have not been seen since. The next thing my trusted car garage told my was that the pollen filter was nearly blocked. I was told by Crystal Motors that the car had been serviced. I think you will find that a change of pollen filter is part of the standard service whenever it is required. The next surprise (not really surprising any more) the screen wash was completely empty. I'm sorry, but filling the bloody screen wash is basic basics when it comes to servicing, and they couldn't even be bothered to do that. So I believe that actually, nothing was done to this car before it was chucked out the door. I got my garage to service the car properly and put some new oil in it, because it is unlikely the oil was actually changed and I can't risk that. Crystal Motors put a stamp in the service book and the service lights were reset to show 5 green lights and that was it in my opinion. The tracking was out. They hadn't bothered to check that either. I believe this is also part of a service. One more little gem if you've managed to read this far. My trusted garage told me that all the bolts that connected the prop shaft to the differential were loose. WHAT THE F**K! These are major components on the drive-train and all the bolts are loose. How can this garage be taken seriously with blunders of this magnitude. I would like to reiterate that I am not a rival garage making this up to sully the name of a competitor. I have also not exaggerated or embellished any of the events in the above texts. I am just a normal bloke who enjoys cars and what I have said is 100% accurate. I will be sending this review to Crystal Motors before I post it. I don't expect any sort of redress of any kind, but it will be interesting to see if I get any response of any kind and discover whether they have a modicum of professionalism. I'm not holding my breath. If anybody has any issues with anything I've said in this review the my number is 07817 638339. I will happy to discuss this if anyone feels that this review is unfair or inaccurate. My local and trusted garage will verify every claim I have made in this article. So all in all a pretty poor show from this garage. Unprofessional and just generally shoddy work. I intend to post this on every review website I can find. Anyone who reads this, beware!