Combined Motor Holdings Group / CMH Group
reviews and complaints

CMH Hatfield repaired a burst water pipe of my Volvo S60. That cost about R2500. Within 10km after it was fixed, the problem returned. This time with additional problems ... another R8800 later. Within 5 km after it was fixed, more error messages occurred. I had to take my car to another dealer to get fixed.

I short - I experienced shabby and poor service. My advice to anyone is to stay as far as possible away from CMH VOLVO Hatfield.
I have learnt my lesson - CMH Volvo Hatfield typifies the stereotype that I have about second hand car dealers.

On the 21st of July 2016 my father and hi wife purchased a car from your premise. What has happened since that purchase has angered me to the core. My father is 65 years old and has very early stages of dementia. His speak is not perfect but he is still as sharp as nails. The salesman by the name of Lee Stolz must have seen this as an opportunity to make a quick buck. My father exchanged his Suzuki, in perfect condition, for a car that has caused them nothing but pain and troubles. As you read this keep in mind my parents are pensioners with a very basic "salary" coming in monthly and they live very frugally.
As previously stated my father is ill, so he and my stepmother are caravanning through South Africa to enjoy and treasure his good years he has left. They were not actively shopping for a vehicle but when popping into CMH Nissan Hillcrest Lee Stolz convinced them that this was a deal of a lifetime. Having a caravan in tow it seemed like a good idea. They move from place to place once every 4 months so the wear and tear on a vehicle is minimal. They made the exchange and were told that the full-service record and spare keys would be mailed to them and this never happened...
And so the nightmare begins:
700km in they found out that the car would not start due battery problems. They checked the battery and there was no faulty wiring etc. They were told that our alternator was faulty only pushed out 13v instead of 14v. On their way from Durban to the Wild Coast, they found that they were using a lot of water. When reaching Myers in Umtata they informed us that our water pump had packed up cost R9500 less R3000. After 700km this is disgusting. NO CAR SECOND HAND OR NOT SHOULD GIVE SUCH PROBLEMS AFTER LEAVING A SALES FLOOR WITH 700KM ON THE CLOCK.
This took two months to fix due to having to find the part. As my father had not seen my family, his daughter, from Switzerland in some time and had never seen his grandson, 5months old, he came down to Cape Town in December for a holiday. He left his caravan in PE. This is where the fun begins...
On arrival in Cape Town the clutch gave in, there was only 4000km on the clock since purchase date, putting the car at 154 000km. The car was also purchased with a G2, meaning ALL of this should have been in perfect working order. As I previously stated my father is not only a pensioner but also ill, the car was checked in at Kessel Motors Wynberg they showed us the clutch and it was worn away beyond repair. The cost R35000 less R3000. The cable to select gears frayed and bent cost R600.
Please explain to me how this car even got onto your showroom floor to be sold? We have called and Lee tells us it is not his problem, no help advice offered or given. You should be utterly ashamed of the way you have taken complete advantage of an elderly man! I am disappointed and disgusted in your service beyond belief.
I am now giving you the chance to contact myself or my step mother to rectify this problem or explain your actions to me before I take this matter further. Please be assured that I shall not rest until something is done. My father not only does not have the money to deal with this issue but the stress alone is not good for an elderly ill man.
I shall await your response.

After receiving my Opel Adam on the 31st of August 2016 I noticed that the tires were all different pressures, the seats were still dirty and the "change engine oil soon" light was on showing remaining oil life of 3%. I sent the sales person the details the following morning he said I could send it for a valet and send him the bill and that the oil light is just because it's close to service (13000kms, service intervals are 1 year or 15000kms). After reading up on it and questioning the age of the vehicle it turns out that it actually needed it's first service and they didn't do it even though I was charged for service and delivery (R4500 ). On the initial invoice they had also added R2199 for CMH Lifestyle policy which I never asked for. R1368 for Auto Armour which I didn't ask for, and don't have a slip for. The car was fetched and they apparently did the service. I received the car back without any notification that they were delivering it back the same afternoon, the tire pressures were still completely wrong (the service manager then tried to get the sales person to call me and tell me that the car's pressure sensors are so sensitive that it can read that incorrectly and that once they are warm it will show like this even though it was set correctly), the car was also still dirty (I specifically didn't have it cleaned as it was going back so I thought they would fix their mistakes) so I have to question if they actually did anything to the car. The brakes are also making a scraping noise which I'm sure is not right. It's now 2 1/2 weeks later and I still don't have my license and plates. I wish I had never bought this car and just stuck to BMW where I at least get after sales service.

The past week i have had the worst experience i could ever have. It has been a dreambof mine and my partner to own an mg for as long as i can remember so we decided to have a look around and found the perfect mg6 for us right in our price range. below is my first email to them.

I am not happy at all as to what has transpired during my purchase of an mg6 from cmh eastrand

On saturday the 30th i had made an enquire on cars.co.za about an enquire about a 2013 mg6 silver. I was then contacted by Sifiso Keshwa about the vechile and all was then disscussed in email there after. I was informed the vechile was a fastback in silver with 60000km on the clock it has leather seats, a sunroof, fully functional steering wheel and cruise control and that this vechile is the garage demo in perfect condition. So on thursday all the paperwork for finance was sent through and i was informed that we have been approved. On friday morning Sifiso contacted me to inform that all is in order and the vechile will be delivered on saturday at about lunchtime to me i must just get my insurance company to contact them so they can get the vechile insured, which they did within in 15min by 16:30 my insurance broker contacted me to inform me that the paperwork requested from the garage has still not been recieved. I then contacted Sifiso to find out what is going on to then be told that the final paperwork has not been recieved from finance department and that they are off on saturday so the delivery will have to be postponed untill monday. Which was a bit of a dissapointment but i accepted it as such. Then this morning at 8h00 i cintacted Sifiso who promised all is in order and that he will phone me back in five minutes so we can arrange delivery. At 8:30 i still did not hear a eord so i contacted him again, he then told me he is waiting for finance department again. I then decide to contact the dealer principal and was informed he is off and a gentleman by the name of conrad will help me. I spoke to conrad and he said he will investigate and get back to me asap. Another gentleman then phoned whose name slips me now as i am so upset. To inform that the vechile is not available as it has been given out as loan car on friday and is now in the cape. But he can give me a silver sedan with 60000km on it, but a comfort with none of the above mentioned specs at a higher price. To which i said i am not happy. I was then promised he will find me a vechile and get back to me within the hour. It is now 2hours later and no one has gotten back to me. Tomorrow is a holiday so i suppose nothing going to happen either and then by wednesday they would have forgotten about me and would have to nag them for an answer again. Was so looking forward to getting my mg as it has been a dream for a very long time and now it does not seem like it is not going to happen. I am very dissapointed with the service recieved and we have already gone through cost to get a vechile that was sold to us which is now not available.

I will forward the message with my request of the vechile i enquired about and purchased which is now not available and ia now sitting in the cape with even higher mileage on it.

The vechile has been purchased in my dads name HE Wallace

Kind regards
Neill Wallace

Her is the respone i got
From: Sharon Paul [mailto:[protected]@cmh.co.za]
Sent: 08 August 2016 11:07 AM
To: [protected]@cmh.co.za
Cc: 'Sean Singleton' ; [protected]@gmail.com; [protected]@cmh.co.za
Subject: FW: CMH MG Eastrand

Hi Steven,

The below has reference:

The customer is absolutely upset and wishes to take this matter up further. Please help to resolve urgently.

Regards

SHARON PAUL – PA TO CEO AND FINANCIAL DIRECTOR

This was followed by phone calls and then here is the next mail
From: neill hulley [mailto:[protected]@gmail.com]
Sent: 08 August 2016 19:33
To: Sharon Paul
Cc: [protected]@cmh.co.za
Subject: Re: CMH MG Eastrand

Good day

just to inform you as to what has transpired today on the complaint which i am still not happy about

I was contacted by steven after i had spoken to you and told a 3rd story as to why the vechilce could not be supplied to me

1st story - Sifiso told me that the finance side has not sent him all the paperwork and that is why i cant get the vechilce
2nd story - Theo contacted me to inform me that the vechilce was given out as a loan car to a customer and the vechile is now in the cape
3rd story - Steven informed me that the park assist and the passanger windows is not working and they are waiting for parts.

Steven did contact me and i have supplied him the whole story, he told me that he will do his best to find me a vechile by wednesday, what scares me about the whole situation as well is the fact if this is the kind of service recieved before purchase what would the after sales service be?

also we have supplied all our details and was contacted by the finanace department that the purchase has gone through, what is going to happen now? i am going to be paying for vechile i dont have.

also when steven was informed of my trade in that was discussed with sifiso he was shocked to hear about it i need to now know where they just going to take my current car and just add the vechile outstanding amount to the new finance deal, I am very worried as i requested figures multiple times as to what they can offer me for the trade in and what amounts and to date that has not been recieved, i have requested the finanace details to see the amount they put through to be finanaced as well as the payment and over how many months they have put it as i requested it over 72monhs, we were contacted earlier and by the finanace department and the figure she gave as the monthly installment does not sound correct at all if you look at the purchase price of R115900.00 and to still deduct the trade in from that how can it R2850.00 per month. i am very worried about this as none of this information was supplied to me as requested multiple times all i got each time was it is coming that is the only answer i recieved. I am in two minds about taking this matter up. I am in my
Full rights under the cpa act to request any details. Another worry for me is the insurance side of it all. I dont know what i am going to do about this situation. I would like to have this sorted asap.

I know this is a bit presumpitious but a really good deal will have to be put on the table for me to even consider going into a deal with such an unreliable dealership and group.

Please assist with this matter as you have been the only person that actually tried to assist me through thos whole thing.

I am just scared how i can form a trusting relationship with a dealer with what i have had to make through now as well.

Kind regards
Neill Wallace

And after a few conversations here is is how it stands at the moment.

Good day

Steven has been really trying to help me but is just yet the end of another day and we are no further than what we started. I am really dissapointed with this as tomorrow is a week already from when all this started and i should have had a new vehicle by now. There is no vehicle to be found as the one that i had requested and then to make it worse at the price. I will have to probably settle for a comfort with no extras at a higher price. It has been a very stressfull and dissapointing experience. That whole feeling of getting a new vehicle that you worked really hard for to achieve has been lost and i have reached the point now of what has to happen has to happen now. It is just really dissapointing.

The reason i also showed interest in the vehicle was that it was from a big group like cmh and thought it is going to be smooth process but it has been anything but.

Kind regards
Neill wallace

No further assistance has been recieved from higher up and i simply dont know what to do now

I bought a Harley Davidson from the above dealership. They arranged my financing through wesbank and I took delivery of the motorcycle yesterday afternoon. When viewing the motorcycle the first time I did all the inspections and asked if there was a spare key, service book and owners manaul. The DP who is also the owner informed he that they were all available. I collected the motorcycle afternoon and they informed me that he did not have it with him but he would send one of his drivers to bring me the spare key, service book and owners manual. I phoned this morning to enquire and much to my surprise his attitude changed completely. He simply said he had the spare key but not the books and I could do whatever I wanted - he will gladly give me the mail details so I can mail evereyone as nothing is going to happen. I informed wesbank now to cancell this transaction as I will be taking back the motorcycle. Unbelievable and unacceptable experience and service received from this DP and the dealership

Its sad to still notice that this day and age a big brand like CMH were client service is paramount, rotten apples are still surviving in such an environment. When last i wanted spares i got them through [protected]@cmh.co.za, today when i followed up using same address, it bounced backed meaning there was not continuity plan to cater for such clients like us. I then called [protected] to which a deserved front line people's person answered, her name being Natalie, she wasnt static, thought outside the box on how she could assist, she then transfered me to Bernie, thats when everything went South. I explained my dilemna on how all i had was e mail address and had to ask if she could help, all her responses where not intended on helping .I even asked her all I need in a part for my Land Cruiser, point me in the right, she started screaming in my ear and upon asking her to transfer me to someone who could help and wanted to help, she dropped the call on me. I then called again spoke to a wonderful Natalie again and I still wonder these 2 people work for the same company. She then transfered me to Glennis to whom I compained and her response sounded like egg on my face and lip service.