Friend of mine has a late '09 motor with 13k on the clock.
He doesn't know much about cars, which can sometimes be a disadvantage when dealing with some garages.
At the first service (12.5k), carried out at the main dealers, he received a phone call to say he needed two front tyres. He told them to replace them, which they did. Chinese ones at £55 a pop.
A couple of weeks later he was on the motorway and the car was shaking. He rang the dealership and they told him the wheels were out of balance so he booked the car in to get it sorted.
When he went to collect the car they charged him £25 and told him the front brake pads were very badly worn, "down to the metal" in fact. I can't imagine what he must have been doing in 600 miles as it was never mentioned at the first service.
They even made him sign a disclaimer to say the car was unsafe to drive before they let him take the car away.
His uncle examined the front pads and said they were like new.
You can just imagine what they must have thought when he initially took the car in
"Ooh look, a young boy. Let's rub our thumbs over his glasses and take his dinner money off him."
They didn't do too good of a job of the wheel balancing either. The car still shakes like a defecating dog.
How sad that there are people around that pull such stunts.
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Name names. To hell with them.
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I'd direct him to Trading Standards, complete with the disclaimer he signed telling him the brakes were worn to the metal and dangerous.
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...I'd direct him to Trading Standards...
Also complain to the manufacturer/importer.
Poor service is one thing and can be shrugged off, but this goes way beyond that.
Last edited by: Iffy on Wed 30 Mar 11 at 13:19
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>> Name names. To hell with them.
Before the OP does - www.car4play.com/terms/nameandshame.htm
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AFAIR Forum policy is that "naming and shaming" is allowed if facts and not opinions are posted. However, the "Naming and Shaming" policy link referred to on the "Policies/Terms" tab above is borken.
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I told him to go back and demand to see the dealer principal. Ask for the manufacturer's CEO name and address and explain exactly why you were contacting him.
Don't accept a complimentary next service either. Would you want them anywhere near your car after that?
Attempted fraud/attempting to obtain money by deception springs to mind.
Unfortunately my friend is too nice and too soft to take it further.
I don't think he'll be going back there though.
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A local big name tyre fast fit tried it on with my then younger and mechanically naive daughter. They wanted to replace all the discs, drums, pads, and shoes for almost £400 (£100 a corner for a six year old Fiesta). She phoned me and I told her to do nothing until I arrived. I played the concerned but mechanically ignorant father, um and ahhd, and tied up their ramp for a good couple of hours. I then started taking photos of the supposedly defective components and the threatened them with trading standards if the car was not reassembled and on the road pronto, and if they did not want to reassemble it, I would, but I would do it slowly and they would not use the ramp for the rest of the day. The car was ready in 10 minutes.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Wed 30 Mar 11 at 13:31
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>> A local big name tyre fast fit tried it on with my then younger and
>> mechanically naive daughter.
It annoys the heck out of me that I simply can't let either of my girls anywhere near a garage - tried it with the younger one and they wanted her to pay list for a car, then at first service they quite simply tried to steal £50 off her.
Even at the car's last last service (at a different dealership) they did the wrong service, so didn't do work that was due (and they'd included when they priced the service). I noticed, but the girls certainly wouldn't have.
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That said, cheapo Chinese tyres can be all but impossible to balance. Surprised a main dealer fitted them in the first place
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It is because of several experiences like this that my wife now refuses to have anything to do with the car repair trade. If it's not something our friend can sort out (who she's known since childhood and is excepted from this rule), I am solely responsible for taking the cars anywhere for repairs, or for parts.
The only exception was when she broke down (or rather got limp moded) in our old Scenic and she went to the main dealer. I couldn't get out of work and she was desperate. In fairness, she and my two young daughters, one of which was a baby at the time, were treated so well, and the technician so swift and honest in their actions, I personally went down the next day to thank the staff.
I can think of no other industry sector that frequently behaves so appallingly. It's a crying shame for the honest garages out there, of which there are many.
Last edited by: DP on Wed 30 Mar 11 at 21:13
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Appalling it gives anybody in the repair industry a bad name.
However as longs as there is targets for repairs this sort of thing will never stop.
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That's taking the Michael.
I can relate to it a bit, not long out of Uni, first big job, travelling ~80 miles a day in a wee Clio (which was a pretty good car for me, shudder to think back on the way i drove it though!). I made a poor decision on account of rising house prices and decided to use the deposit i'd been saving to buy a car. I'd have more than doubled my money if i'd just bought a house then!
A wee Corsa 1.3 diesel, naive and money burning a hole in my pocket. Learned several lessons in the ways of life though :-)
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Thread took me back to a recovery I did in the morning rush hour to a smallish indy not far away. I hadn't been there before but I recognised one of the mechanics in reception.
While I was waiting with my customer to book in, a man, about 60, obniously the owner came in and started shouting and swearing, with liberal use of the F word, at his staff.
The tirade went on until the postman came in with a parcel and mentioned there was a couple of quid to pay on it. The tirade turned on him as owner snatched the parcel and told postie to ' F off ' I waded in and got a mouthful but the postie seized his chance and snatched the parcel back, making good his escape.
I asked, loudly, to my customer, if she really wanted the car left with him. I hadn't unloaded so we soon found somewhere else to fix it for her.
I hope his other customers walked as well.
The place disappeared a couple of years later and an office block sprouted up.
Sadly, really, 'cos I suppose he made a wedge of money out of the sale....if he'd lived that long.......Coronary or murder ?? I never went in again.
Ted
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I've worked in garages where the atmosphere was robust and fearful telling-offs routine.
But as Ted says, not in front of the children.
Last edited by: Iffy on Thu 31 Mar 11 at 07:24
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>>I made a poor decision on account of rising house prices and decided to use the deposit i'd been saving to buy a car. I'd have more than doubled my money if i'd just bought a house then!<<
At the risk of diverting the thread - no you wouldn't. You might have doubled the paper value of your property, not your money. Ultimately today you probably wouldn't be in much of a different position - property values are meaningless unless you liquidate fully or partially, simply because you have to live somewhere. So enjoying the car while it lasted was a bonus.
There - I just had to get that off my chest (yet again)...
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>> So enjoying the car while it lasted was a bonus.
Damn. And to think i spent it on a Vauxhall :-P
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>> >>I made a poor decision on account of rising house prices and decided to use
>> the deposit i'd been saving to buy a car. I'd have more than doubled my
>> money if i'd just bought a house then!<<
>>
>> At the risk of diverting the thread - no you wouldn't.
My goodness!
Someone else with my viewpoint!
There is 3 ways to make money on property, living in one you own is NOT one.
1/ buy a cheap place and do it up. (depends on what happens to the market - many people recently got burnt fingers)
2/ buy and rent out. IF the rent is more than mortgage AND upkeep costs, a smallish profit to be made.
3/ move to a smaller/cheaper property. only really makes decent profit if the mortgage paid off on old house.
Easy maths - percentages... if house A goes from £100000 to £120000 (20%) then house also goes up 20% £200000 = £240000 LOSS of £20000
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Not quite correct Swiss Tony old chap.
Selling a house can give you pleasure lika making love to a beautiful woman.......
......when you have your own place already and inherit a house from parents or in laws which you sell for loads of dosh.....
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>> Not quite correct Swiss Tony old chap.
>>
>> Selling a house can give you pleasure lika making love to a beautiful woman.......
>>
>> ......when you have your own place already and inherit a house from parents or in
>> laws which you sell for loads of dosh.....
>>
DOH!
I forgot that one....
OK there is FOUR ways of making money.......
(any more someone knows of?!)
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...when you have your own place already and inherit a house from parents or in-laws which you sell for loads of dosh...
Or be like a cousin of mine who inherited houses from both his natural parents and the in-laws.
He already had a lovely Georgian terraced house in one of the best parts of Taunton, Somerset.
And a blue-chip pension from BP which even a copper wouldn't sniff at.
Just goes to prove the old saying - money always goes to money.
Last edited by: Iffy on Thu 31 Mar 11 at 11:39
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"any more someone knows of?"
Run a brothel from it.
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I've known several people in London who made their way up the property ladder by moving every 18 months or two years for about 15 or 20 years.
They did well in the sense they ended up living in a high value house with little or no mortgage.
Best example of that was a pal of mine's dad who had a large Victorian villa in Finchley.
All achieved on a bus driver's income - most of his neighbours were stockbrokers, solicitors, etc.
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>>They did well in the sense they ended up living in a high value house with little or no mortgage.<<
Yes, but you can't eat or spend bricks and tiles.
Sorry, I did indeed hi-jack the thread.
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...Yes, but you can't eat or spend bricks and tiles...
Agreed.
But what he could spend was a larger proportion of his wages because the money wasn't going out on a large mortgage.
Not my way of doing things.
Having been at the mercy of landlords in the past, I like the security of owning Iffy Towers.
It's value is of little importance to me, other than I want it to stay high enough to keep the riff-raff out of the neighbourhood.
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>>It's value is of little importance to me, other than I want it to stay high enough to keep the riff-raff out of the neighbourhood.
That doesn't necessarily work. A neighbour sold their house to a housing association that specialise in dealing with 'needy' cases. Noise and rubbish immediately resulted. One of the occupants climbed a six-foot fence into my garden. When I confronted him, he threatened to 'duff you up', adding 'I know where you live'.
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...That doesn't necessarily work...
True, but it's a better safeguard than none at all.
A friend's mother used her divorce settlement to buy a lovely new town house in Epsom, Surrey.
Trouble was the planning permission included a condition for a number of housing association homes.
She had similar problems to BT, plus the more unpleasant one of a Bangladeshi family who regularly urinated out of a bedroom window.
I can't recall the ins and outs, but their nationality or religion was given as an explanation for their behaviour.
Last edited by: Iffy on Thu 31 Mar 11 at 12:59
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Next door is rented but we have been lucky the area attracts young professional types rather than students or chavs. They are all may age (late 20's early 30's) and apart from a bit of music early evening they are silent.
I was working in an area called Gorse Hill just 1 mile from where I live and was shocked to see how the difference, lots of hoodies, kids on bikes etc. You get a bit of that here in the centre but nothing like what I saw there.
I doubt my parents will inherit anything because I bet my grandmpa will need to sell his house to fund his care (he is 91) and my grandma may have to sell hers, which she only halve owns anyway.
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>> I can't recall the ins and outs, but their nationality or religion was given as
>> an explanation for their behaviour.
In the same way that it's nationality that leads thousands of British men to urinate in public every Friday and Saturday night?
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...In the same way that it's nationality that leads thousands of British men to urinate in public every Friday and Saturday night?...
I knew you'd like that one, Alanovic, but I can only post what I remember, which is not a lot.
But for some reason, the family - or one or two members - were reluctant to urinate in the toilet.
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Yep. Sounds like a lot of native folk in Reading.
It is said that when the big council estates were built here after the war, many people who were moved there from the central slums (like the notorious Silver Street area) had never seen a bath before and didn't know what it was for. Many families employed them as storage rather than bathing devices.
This is only 50 years back, we're not that far ahead of Bangladesh so it ill behoves us to throw stones, really.
:-)
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My pal's mother complained, as you would.
The housing association told her something along the lines of: "It's a cultural thing, but we are working on it."
Could be she was fobbed off.
A simpler explanation would be the people involved - and it wasn't the whole family - were not used to having a flush toilet.
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>> It is said that when the big council estates were built here after the war,
>> many people had never seen a bath before and didn't know what it was for. Many
>> families employed them as storage rather than bathing devices.
>>
>> This is only 50 years back, >>
We still have tenants who do that today, in London, 2011!
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I can faintly remember we had an cwt of coal in the bath c1950's (late) in our 4th floor council flat.
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Talking of storing things in the bath...
When SWMBO ( a posh London lass ) and I were courting we visited my uncle up north ( a rough old countryman) who lived near a well known river noted for its great salmon fishing .
On visiting the bathroom she was surprised to find a full sized dead salmon in the bath.....and asked where it had come from only to be told ....
'Ask no questions , hear no lies'
We did enjoy the fresh salmon fillets for dinner though.....
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there were many families like that when i lived in the fens and still see a few like that out here in the sticks in sussex sometimes
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I've seen some thread drifts in my time, but this one 'takes the biscuit'. :)
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...I've seen some thread drifts in my time, but this one 'takes the biscuit'. :)...
True, true.
I hold my hands up for encouraging it, but I'll stop now.
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>>I hold my hands up for encouraging it, but I'll stop now.<<
Note the smiley Iffy.
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...Note the smiley Iffy...
Already noted - post taken in the spirit in which it was intended.
Now where were we?
That's right, Stu was having a go at some woman who had the temerity to ring him up and offer him some business.
Some people, I ask you.
I bet she's the type who goes into shops and offers to buy things.
Shocking behaviour.
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>> I've seen some thread drifts in my time, but this one 'takes the biscuit'. :)
>>
Anyone else notice how the quality of digestives has gone down in recent years? They seem less dense now as they break in half when you dunk them in your tea. And I am sure there are less Cheesy Thins in a pack than there used to be.
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What's that got to do with the price of fish?
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Written on the back doors of (my) a lorry
R Send
:)
Pat
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Back in the 70's, when I worked in Woolwich, the gaffer was called Dick Hares (honest to God!)
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Fewer cheesy thins !
Sometimes a rare treat is encountered when you open a packet of digestives to find them overcooked and a bit burnt....lovely. Try them buttered with a bit of strong cheese.
Ted
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Asda Smart Price digestives are relatively firm, as well as cheap.
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>> Asda Smart Price digestives are relatively firm, as well as cheap.
>>
Prefer them to McV's and the price is as lot more attractive...Now, what happened to Gypsy Creams ?
Ted
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>>Now, what happened to Gypsy Creams ?<<
I think she got locked up in the end Teddy.
:-D
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Taking of her, can you still get scampi fries?
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>> Taking of her, can you still get scampi fries?
They're with the Nik Naks.
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>>
I want it to stay
>> high enough to keep the riff-raff out of the neighbourhood.
I bet that's what the neighnours were hoping ! :-)
Ted
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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...I bet that's what the neighnours were hoping ! :-...
I wondered why they always make approving noises when I say I'm off to the caravan for a few days.
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I now feel really bad about this...
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An unpleasant way to conduct business - Alanovich
