Formula One Autocentres - Crawley

I booked an MOT appointment with the garage. They ended up being closed on the day of the appointment because of a bank holiday. I didn't get notified that they would be closed so I turned up to the appointment and because they were closed the MOT never took place. I called them to resolve this the next day, they offered a new appointment which wasn't good for me as it was too far ahead and I needed an MOT earlier than that. I wanted to speak to the manager, I was promised a callback which never happened. I tried to call again later that day to ask for a refund but they didn't pick up the phone even after 3 tries.

This garage cancelled my MOT the day before because there mechanic who did the MOTs was sick.
As I booked and paid for the MOT online I was told I would be refunded.
At the time of posting this feedback, it has been 3 weeks and still no refund.
Be very careful of booking on line with these people.
I will not be using this place again.

Took my car in today as rear wheels were squeaking. I was worried as I needed to drive a fairly long way the folllowing day. I was told by another garage yesterday that they didn’t have the time to check it but it may be the brake calipers and to drive carefully. I phoned Formula One this morning and they said they would check it for me. After a few hours they called me and said everything was fine and I was safe to drive it the following day. I offered to pay for their time but was told I didn’t have to pay anything. What a refreshing honest company!! I will definitely be a regular customer from now on.

Beautiful experience this morning speaking to branch manager Saif, he was extremely courteous, welcoming and friendly with his approach. He went above and beyond to offer same day availability on a Saturday, thank you very much. Very pleasant customer experience from start to finish.

Never had any problems untill last booking. Booked a brake fluid Change and MOT. Was told they couldn't so the fluid change due to a lack off staff and to come back the following day. Came back the following day to drop the car off, was told to come back in 45 mins to an hour. Came back 1 and a half hours later and the work hadn't even started yet, was told to wait another 45 minutes. No concern show by staff at all, manger doesn't seem to care about anything. Evening ruined. Thanks. Won't be coming here again.

Very bad experience, do not think I will go back. I think the replaced parts were too expensive. The guy was also not explaining properly what he was doing ... I have paid also for an interim service, but I am really not sure the oil has been changed (it is at above max level, same as it was before ...). The pollen filter has been changed even if I have not asked for it (and charged additional price) ... I have currently huge problems with the coolant: I do not think they have checked it, they said it was normal. Have explained that the car was displaying an engine advisory before (knock sensor shown by the scanner) but they have not bothered to check that. A few days after the service, the light was back and still there.

This is the price of the replaced parts I had to pay (inc. VAT):

rear wheel coil spring: 100.14£/unit
rear top strut mount: 55.34£/unit
pollen filter: 27.71£/unit
spark plug: 21.48£/unit
shock absorber rear wheel: 109.27£/unit

All these parts are like twice the average price of parts that can be bought online.

Dreadful experience. Was asked to get there for the service and MOT by 8.30 am on the Monday and then had to wait 15 minutes before anyone turned up at 8.45. No apologies for being late and when I asked for one I was told that his son was unable to go to school that day because of the snow!! Then was told that we could not have the MOT done at the same time at the service as the person concerned was off sick until Thursday (how did they know he would be back Thursday?) so would have to come back again for the MOT. MOT expired the day after so had to drive for 2 days without an MOT. The car was not ready at 6.00 when I was told to come and collect it as it was still up on the ramp so had to wait another half an hour. Again no apologies. To add insult to injury we agreed to have a new tyre fitted and a Precision wheel balance and were charged for this as well as "tyre disposal" only found out when we took it back for the MOT on Thursday that although we had been charged for this IT HAD NOT BEEN DONE! We have still not received the refund a week later and have had to complain to Head Office. According to a conversation overheard whilst waiting in this office (presumably between the manager and someone at head office ) they make the most money out of brake pads and discs - funnily enough they tried to tell us that we needed them again even though we had only driven 3,000 miles since the last service when we had some fitted. There were also loads of "extras" added to the additional bill for this service as well as the previous one - even though we had already booked and paid for a full service. Avoid this rip off company!

I have always found Crawley Branch helpful. I failed my MOT on tyre, tried ordering but head office phoned to say not in stock so ordered with another company. They fitted me in for retest within minutes of arriving although busy as I live further away. Always try to use Crawley