What is the worst service you have had from a garage?
I bought a Vauhall Astra dual fuel (LPG) from the Vauxhall main dealer in Lewisham (Penfolds)
When it was delivered I though the ride was hard and checked the tyres, and found that they were still at pre delivery pressure 50 psi!
A short while later I had a puncture and discovered the wheel nuts were over tightened so that even the AA could not get the wheel off.
A year later a fault developed in the LPG part of the engine and their servioce department refused to investigate it. So I had to take it to another Vauxhall dealer who were terrific.
From the beginning the airconditioning and heating were very poor, so when I had it serviced last Oct, I asked them to check this.
They found that the pollen filter was still in its wraps so hardly any air was passing through the system. Now the a/c and heating are excellent.
I will never buy another car from that source ever again. They are completely useless![8o|]
I can't compete with "disco daz's" experiences, but I once made the mistake of taking my car to a different garage for MOT.
As I'd moved house, it seemed a pain to travel back to the mechanic I'd trusted for years, who only ever did what was required and at a reasonable rate, too...
When I went to collect my car from the "new" garage I was presented with a list of problems as long as your arm that needed fixing (including a new exhaust, which was strange as the exhaust was replaced less than a year prior). They would sort everything out, I was told, for the reasonable rate of £550.
Not being a complete idiot, I told them not to bother, payed the nominal MOT charge (£28 then, I think) and headed out to the garage I'd used for years. The car passed its MOT there at a cost of £75, had no subsequent problems, and I decided it was worth the trek in future.
The moral of the tale: if you can find a decent mechanic, stick with them. Like competent and honest tradespeople, they're a rarity...
Brought a brand new VW Golf a few years back. Took it to the local main VW service centre for its first three annual services. On the 4th service I took it somewhere else, and they pointed out to me that it had German headlights fitted for driving on the right hand side of the road. Local trading standards were very interested to know how I had three years worth of service records that specifically said the the headlights had been checked and correctly aligned when it was quite obvious that they couldn't have been.
Took my Citroen to the local main dealer to have some new rear brake pads and shoes fitted. As soon as I got the car back the rear end felt wobbly so I took it straight back to the garage. They checked it over and assured me that everything was fine and I just needed to get used to the new brake pads. A couple of months later I took it to another garage for its MOT where it failed because the rear wheels had not been put back on correctly. The same dealer actually ended up in court a while later after a woman who had paid a few hundered pounds to have new brakes fitted subsequently discovered that no work whatsoever had been done on her vehicle.
My girlfriend bought a 107 from one of the big garages on London Road, Glasgow. On the test drive she queried the stiff gearbox. 'Oh they're all like that'
A couple of months later it had to be adjusted, a couple after that replaced even though it had apparently been checked when she bought it and when adjusted.
Also when it went in for repair the car came out with a nice big dent which they tried claiming was already there and only half fixed.
They've also been unable to find a problem with the brakes which has been queried a number of times before it was out of warranty. Seems the ABS had gone, but the service plan she signed up to checks that....
On the plus side if she trades it in there they wont find any of the problems.
Kwik-Fit.
Made the mistake of getting a new exhaust and 2 new tyres fitted there.
The job was booked in for 2pm on Friday 11th June 2004 and we were promised it would be complete by 5pm. It was not yet started. They had all the parts but blamed 'staff shortage'. A staff shortage they were not aware of 3 hours earlier!
Saturday morning (12th June 2004) rang up at 10am. Car not ready yet.
Saturday afternoon went there and found 5 guys in chairs, feet up, watching build-up to first match (Greece v Portugal) in Euro 2004 tournament. No staff shortage at all it seemed!
Ask for telephone number for regional manger. Spoke to him and explained situation. He personally guaranteed the car would be ready by 12 Sunday midday. It ended up ready by 2pm Sunday.
Monday morning took car to garage to up the air pressures in the rear tyres for a trip with 4 people and luggage to Devon (Vauxhall advise a few extra lbs pressure for loads especially on estate cars.)
Pressure in new tyres (front) were 41 and 48. They should have been 32!
I set them to 34 each (for load).
Tuesday 7:30 am. Car loaded, everyone in and off we go. Everytime we brake there is a scrape under the car. Everytime we turn at a junction, scrape.
Park up. Everyone out. Look under car. Bracket that keeps cables and lines in place under car (near new exhaust) is bent down through 90 degrees and is scraping the road surface under the extra load. It is supposed to be fixed with two screws but the lazy Kwik Fit guy could only manage to take out one screw and bend the bracket down. Didn't bother to even bend it back afterwards. (Probably another Euro match to watch!)
So I bent it back in place (after photographing it) to stop the scraping and we drove to a different garage nearby - just as they were opening - and they quickly found a suitable screw to make sure the bracket was secure. Free of charge.
Later I wrote it all up and e-mailed Kwik-Fit with all the circumstances (and the photo) and phoned the regional manager I had originally spoken to as well.
We got a full refund of the entire job (new exhaust + two tyres) and a written apology.
Never been there ever again.
I am a Rac patrol and some of cars I go out to that have been into a garage recently are shocking. If you don't have a reliable garage best thing to do is stop one of our lads and ask them, we have a network of recommended garages and the only reason there on the list, is because we (the patrols) recommended them to be put on. There's nothing worse than a bad garage they will cost you money, stress you out and worse put yours and your families life at risk.
Dean
What was really annoying was Penfolds refused to investigate the fault, even though the car was still under warranty!
I was rear ended on Friday night, contacted my insurers on saturday morning and they said they no longer send their work to Penfolds because of the complaints about the workmanship. I was much relieved when they said they were sending it to a firm in Dartford.
Several years ago I was running a Ford Scorpio and suffered a tiny dent on the bonnet that was driving me crazy as the rest of the bodywork was immaculate.
Repair estimate came to a little over £100 in my local Ford dealership.
When I returned after the weekend to pick up the car, they told me it had been stolen from the paintshop and although it had been found nearby, the cost of repairs would now be £5500.
Turns out that the car was stolen by some joyriders, made easy due to the fact that the keys had been left in the ignition while it was parked at the paintshop.
Every panel was damaged, the Nakamichi stereo, built in phone and state of the art burgular alarm had also been removed.
Even the carpets had been taken.
Got my lawyer on it, who said that legally, it was my responsibility and that the law in Norway clearly stated that the keys had to be left in the car in case there was a fire in the premises!
So, I had to claim on my insurance and lost my 70% no claims bonus.
I made a lot of noise to the main importers, who eventually offered to pimp my Scorpio with a one-off bodykit that was made for some show a while back.
The work was done and before the paint was completely dry my wife backed it into a tree.
I seem to be unlucky with cars, my current one, an ageing Audi A4 is due for new brakes all around at a wallet-lightening £980.
Well, there goes the new projector fund . . . .
Audio/video engineer based in Norway 
Tonya:I made a lot of noise to the main importers, who eventually offered to pimp my Scorpio with a one-off bodykit that was made for some show a while back.
Boy, you must have really upset them...
Not as upset as I was with Ford.
A month earlier, I claimed for a new petrol tank under Ford's 10 year anti-rust guarantee and they actually had the audacity to argue that the petrol tank was not in fact an integral part of the car.
The body kit they fitted was actually made from fibreglass and rubber and looked fab when it was all painted, I'll try and dig out a photo.
Audio/video engineer based in Norway
I have had issues with every garage I have ever used, but most have redeemed themselves by sorting out the problem free of charge afterwards. The two exceptions were a Kwickfit garage who just could not get an exhaust to fit my old Fiat Tipo and a Fiat dealer who lied to me.
I walk away when a garage cannot sort or lies about problems, but if someone sorts a problem I stay as it is a very good sign of good customer service. So I am staying with my present garage, even though they forgot to put the sump guard back on after the last service.
I left my company car (VW Golf) into my local branch of Arnold Clarks here in Glasgow for a service. Got it back, everything seemed fine. A week or so later, driving up north, and in the middle of nowhere, the oil light came on. So I pulled over straight away, had a look under the car, and found a huge pool of oil sitting under it.
When the AA guy came out, he said that the sump plug had come loose, probably because it hadn't been reattached properly. He said that companies like AC often give company cars to trainee mechanics to practice on.
So I wrote to Arnold Clark a few days later explaining what had happened. A few weeks later, I got a cheque reimbursing me for the cost of a new can of oil. That was it. No apology or anything.
As soon as I complained to the woman in charge of the company car fleet however, I got a grovelling apology over the phone from the service manager and a promise of a full valet next time I brought the car in.
Strangely, I never gave them the opportunity to make good on their promise...
My last car was originally supplied by Arnold Clark and came missing a sump guard. They claimed it never came with one in the first place, but clean screw holes and dirty surround proved that one had been fitted and what they were saying was not true.
Ive had pretty bad service from a particular large BMW dealer network in Cardiff, on more than one occasion. I bought an approved used car from them with the so called peace of mind that its been through some one hundred and something point check prior to sale. It then had various things wrong with it which wouldve shown up if the so called point check had been done. The most appropriate one for this forum being I didnt use the CD player for the first few months (just radio). When I finally got round to using it, the CD wouldnt go in. Turned out there was a CD jammed in there and the CD player was useless. Didnt come up on the check to do with the stereo funnily enough. Or dare I say it, they didnt actually do the check...
It went back several times to the garage with things wrong with it, on more than one occasion I was told the problem was fixed only to find a couple of days later it was back again. This was all made slightly worse by the snooty disinterested service staff. Needless to say, I dont recommend this garage, the Newport branch of the same dealer are excellent however. Makes no odds to me now anyway, as I dont have a car at the moment!
The worst I personally know of was another ex workmate
He was helping his 17 yr old son buy a car locally. He went to look at a Peugeot 205 GTI (I think its a little crazy giving such a machine to a 17 year old mind)
Was very happy with it and decided to buy it. Garage said theyd keep it another couple of days to service it etc
Brian (My workmate) gets a phonecall at work from his son. 'It doesnt sound right' his son tells him (hed just picked it up)
Turns out theyd taken the engine out (And probably other GTI related parts) and put a diesel engine in its place!
Police got called etc, cant recall how it panned out as it was years ago. But I always wondered what they were thinking. ANYONE who thought it was a genuine GTI would have filled up with petrol and it wouldnt have been long before theyd have gotten found out anyways?? (Maybe it was a disgruntled employee who did a runner?)
An old workmate of mine we nicknamed 'disco daz' (Due to his terrible dancing in a pub whilst very drunk), used a place called 'ace motors' (The name alone puts me off). Also the unluckiest person I know, id swear he was cursed!
He bought motor after motor off them ~ really cheap ones I admit (£550 quid max say)
He had many many problems ~ radiator failed and boiled the engine on one. Oil leaks all over the place. One engine blew a hole out where one of the pistons was (That one was class). One car had 3 batteries, 2 extra because they kept failing at different rates! One of the cars which failed him and he sold back to them for another - id swear he bought back a few months later with a changed regplate (He completely denies it)
There were lots of other problems, but I forgets most of them now
Anyways..........ACE MOTORS..........beware
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