Arnold expand again
Discussion
My Altea was bought brand new from AC. Serviced for 5 years by them including replacing clutch under warranty. No one else had been near the car.
Gearbox went bang, turned out it had been cowboyed, AC refused to have anything to do with it although Seat were very interested.
Seat were very good but at one point they said, that if it can be proved that it was due to bad workmanship by AC, then they had the "power" to make sure that AC fixed it.
So I guess manufacturers do have some say on the dealers!
Gearbox went bang, turned out it had been cowboyed, AC refused to have anything to do with it although Seat were very interested.
Seat were very good but at one point they said, that if it can be proved that it was due to bad workmanship by AC, then they had the "power" to make sure that AC fixed it.
So I guess manufacturers do have some say on the dealers!
KB_S1 said:
We drove to Bury to avoid them.
GF was trying to buy a Fiat 500. Trying to do so in Scotland was a nightmare, only Arnie had the franchise.
Service amongst several branches and head office was so poor we went to Richard Cort in Bury, who was excellent.
Must try harder - Parks in Motherwell do Fiat , their forecourt is littered with spanking new and second hand 500'sGF was trying to buy a Fiat 500. Trying to do so in Scotland was a nightmare, only Arnie had the franchise.
Service amongst several branches and head office was so poor we went to Richard Cort in Bury, who was excellent.
Do most people actually care what they buy and where they buy it from as long as the price is right?
General problem everywhere. As long as it is a £ cheaper than the next person people go there to buy it!
Some interesting comments. It is true, thee are people eveywhere who care what they do and how they deal with people.
however, if the public is 'always right' and always entitled to some compensation or to complain no matter i they are wrong then are we not getting what we deserve?
volume cars has always been 'pile them high and sell them cheap'. Thats why most of the small dealers have disapeared. Arnold can buy 1000 cars from Vauxhall at trade minus. No small dealer can.
M<ercedes killed most of the local people a few years ago when Merc UK imposed massive new conditions and wanted control for direct sales.
I dont think AC is any worse than any other volume seller. I hear horror stories about all dealers and service centres. Best idea, find someone you can turst and respect to do the best job for you and give them your work. EVERYONE makes mistakes and gets things wrong. We are human after all! Would I turst a bonus led mechanic to fix my car? No. His bonus is dependant on how quickly within the time he finishes the job and what extra work he can spot to get done and have the customer charged for. Get a dealer to agree that happens? no chance!
I was offered £2500 of work by Verve on an alleged Air con compressor fault. Went to an independant. Was a belt and cost £30. Spoke to Verve as were numerous faults with the work, possibly the worst service ever and they said ' of course we would have told you there was a mistake on our part'!
General problem everywhere. As long as it is a £ cheaper than the next person people go there to buy it!
Some interesting comments. It is true, thee are people eveywhere who care what they do and how they deal with people.
however, if the public is 'always right' and always entitled to some compensation or to complain no matter i they are wrong then are we not getting what we deserve?
volume cars has always been 'pile them high and sell them cheap'. Thats why most of the small dealers have disapeared. Arnold can buy 1000 cars from Vauxhall at trade minus. No small dealer can.
M<ercedes killed most of the local people a few years ago when Merc UK imposed massive new conditions and wanted control for direct sales.
I dont think AC is any worse than any other volume seller. I hear horror stories about all dealers and service centres. Best idea, find someone you can turst and respect to do the best job for you and give them your work. EVERYONE makes mistakes and gets things wrong. We are human after all! Would I turst a bonus led mechanic to fix my car? No. His bonus is dependant on how quickly within the time he finishes the job and what extra work he can spot to get done and have the customer charged for. Get a dealer to agree that happens? no chance!
I was offered £2500 of work by Verve on an alleged Air con compressor fault. Went to an independant. Was a belt and cost £30. Spoke to Verve as were numerous faults with the work, possibly the worst service ever and they said ' of course we would have told you there was a mistake on our part'!
P2 DJX said:
Must try harder - Parks in Motherwell do Fiat , their forecourt is littered with spanking new and second hand 500's
Forgot about them. Cant remember if they didn't have any at time or not but the GF certainly went to see them and called them a couple of times.This was about 3 years back.
750turbo said:
S2red said:
And they also recently acquired 2 GM sites and 2 VW sites.When will the stop?
They also bought the old Gala bingo premises at the Phoenix in Linwood and have built a mammoth Ford dealership on it, a new Volkswagen dealership on the ex Ford site and a Skoda dealership on the old Volkswagen site, and a HUGE parts warehouse at South street in Partick.
I just hope Dougie Park, Peter Vardy, the Verve, Phoenix or Evans Halshaw acquire some more sites to keep them out of Arnold's clutches, if they don't, with the exception of Halshaws Arnold may even end up completely taking them over too, for years he had no sites in Lanarkshire, then up until last year he didn't have any Lanarkshire franchises just Motorstores, now he's got 3 franchises that numbers only going to get bigger and I fear for the future of Parks as they've got most of the sites in the area and Arnie will be eyeing them up.
HendryG said:
750turbo said:
S2red said:
And they also recently acquired 2 GM sites and 2 VW sites.When will the stop?
They also bought the old Gala bingo premises at the Phoenix in Linwood and have built a mammoth Ford dealership on it, a new Volkswagen dealership on the ex Ford site and a Skoda dealership on the old Volkswagen site, and a HUGE parts warehouse at South street in Partick.
I just hope Dougie Park, Peter Vardy, the Verve, Phoenix or Evans Halshaw acquire some more sites to keep them out of Arnold's clutches, if they don't, with the exception of Halshaws Arnold may even end up completely taking them over too, for years he had no sites in Lanarkshire, then up until last year he didn't have any Lanarkshire franchises just Motorstores, now he's got 3 franchises that numbers only going to get bigger and I fear for the future of Parks as they've got most of the sites in the area and Arnie will be eyeing them up.
There does seem to be a lot of hate here for him (not that he has any direct input now)but people do not realize that having 150+?? dealerships, there will be good and bad.
People with good experiences do not tell anyone, those with bad tell everyone!
another wee arnie story to make your friday night even more boring, as most know arnie owns GTG training down in scotstown, it is where they train their technicians, lovely place btw. 2 years ago the Monte carlo historique rally used it for scrutineering so myself and a couple of the knockie lads were marshalling and providing support. a nice mk1 escort RS mexico came in and it was sounding rough so myself and a mate muckedin with the support mechanic, a few of the lads were looking at it and i said it is misfiring only running on 3 cylinders, boy just looked blank, clearly couldnt hear it. so gets stuck in removing strut brace to get rocker cover off, IIRC it was the crossflow engine not a pinto, spotted problem a rocker had snapped, so guy gets on blower to local classics geezer I stripped rocker shaft. meantime the amount of blank looks from the arnie mechanics, one asked where do you plug in the laptop for diagnostics, my reply was a bawhair sarcastic when i said my brain was the laptop... seriously changing a rocker is piss easy, cant these guys do that or would it be a new engine on a modern car if a camshaft went
Most people that work ind ealerships are little more than fitters. plug in laptop, press button. Code appears. look up code on laptop. Replace bit or bits advised. long gone are the days where a mechanic could almost clairvoyantly decide what was wrong with a 200 yard run up the road and a keen ear! price of progress and technology I guess!
Iv had my first dealing with these muppets, I bought my car through arnie in febuary, came with free mot and a couple of services.....this week, thought id see how they go and booked it in for the mot.
Phones rings, Arnie: Hello, im afraid the suzuki's failed it mot sir. Me: Oh really? what on? Arnie: Sidelights aren't working, right hand side headlight is out of alignment and the rear brakes are covered in brake dust, needs stripping and cleaned.
HA! I knew for a fact my sidelights were working, i replaced them a month ago but okay, headlight out of alignment? okay, i haven't touched them but fair enough......rear brakes are covered in disc brakes!? Your taking the f
king piss right?! That shouldnt be a fail! But fine, my first dealing with arnie, il let it settle and let them just do what they said needs doing. But itl be the last time i go there. So the suzuki needs to be left over night so they can fix the faults in the morning.
Next morning
Ring ring. Hello, Arnie the clown here, we've done the jobs that's need fixing, however we've fiddled with the headlight alignment, were a bit tired so your prob going to have to get a new headlight. That l be between £250-£300
Are...you ...taking...the....piss?!
Arnie: Excuse me sir, id rather you didn't speak to me in that manner, im a professional clown. I'm here to take your money, its my job.
Me:Right, just gimme a fail mot slip, im taking my service elsewhere.
Next morning at mot centre in Stirling,(and a wee £15 clip for the headlight later), Heres your Mot slip sir, have a nice day!
Lesson learnt, stay away from Arnie!! And when someones offers you a free mot, its not always free!
Name and shame the garage? Yup, Edinburgh Sighthill Fiat / Abarth service centre
Phones rings, Arnie: Hello, im afraid the suzuki's failed it mot sir. Me: Oh really? what on? Arnie: Sidelights aren't working, right hand side headlight is out of alignment and the rear brakes are covered in brake dust, needs stripping and cleaned.
HA! I knew for a fact my sidelights were working, i replaced them a month ago but okay, headlight out of alignment? okay, i haven't touched them but fair enough......rear brakes are covered in disc brakes!? Your taking the f
king piss right?! That shouldnt be a fail! But fine, my first dealing with arnie, il let it settle and let them just do what they said needs doing. But itl be the last time i go there. So the suzuki needs to be left over night so they can fix the faults in the morning.Next morning
Ring ring. Hello, Arnie the clown here, we've done the jobs that's need fixing, however we've fiddled with the headlight alignment, were a bit tired so your prob going to have to get a new headlight. That l be between £250-£300
Are...you ...taking...the....piss?!
Arnie: Excuse me sir, id rather you didn't speak to me in that manner, im a professional clown. I'm here to take your money, its my job.
Me:Right, just gimme a fail mot slip, im taking my service elsewhere.
Next morning at mot centre in Stirling,(and a wee £15 clip for the headlight later), Heres your Mot slip sir, have a nice day!
Lesson learnt, stay away from Arnie!! And when someones offers you a free mot, its not always free!
Name and shame the garage? Yup, Edinburgh Sighthill Fiat / Abarth service centre
I wanted a Skoda Yeti, it had to be the Elegance 4 wheel drive and petrol. Went to a dealer (not AC) and was told there was a 6 to 9 month waiting list, not wanting to wait I decided to go for a 1 year old, after almost 3 months of looking not one was on the market. Then one appeared on Autotrader at AC in Newcastle (I'm Edinburgh based) but 2 years old, the price was right and I did the deal over the phone, the car was delivered and it was great, everything we wanted except a bit older. Washing it the following weekend I noticed one of the door rubbing strips was loose, so I took it to AC Skoda dealer in Edinburgh, I was also aware of a Skoda recall on the rear badge so with their workshop manager looking at it we noticed that the loose trim on the rear door was affecting the trim on the front door, both would have to be replaced, this will be warranty work says I no no we will need to get AC in Newcastle to authorise the repair. They phoned me later saying that had been done and they would book it in as soon as the parts arrived. A week or so later it was booked in and on the due date I took it across town to them only for them to check and find that the parts had not arrived, I wasn't best pleased and arranged that the car would be collected by them when the parts were in and taken to have the work done. That was in May, in July I called them but was told the parts were not in, I've heard nothing from them since then.
In September we were looking for a small town car and had heard good things on the new Skoda Citigo so we went to West End Garages in Broxburn for a test drive, afterwards one of the directors asked how we were liking the Yeti? We said it was great except for this problem with the trim and AC, he said that our tale was 'bloody ridiculous' and got his workshop manager out to look at it, the workshop manager took photographs and said he would get onto Skoda to have it done under warranty. A couple of weeks later we had the call and the car was booked in, they said they wanted it for 4 days so they gave me a courtesy car, when I went back they had not only replaced the trim and both front and rear badges but they had re-sprayed the rear doors and fitted clear plastic film on the back edge of them since they were prone to stonechips and all done on warranty with a smile. WE didn't even buy a Citigo but settled for a Fiat 500 instead and it mattered not a jot to them and oh yes , they told me a light bulb was on its way out so they changed it FOC.
I have spoken to Skoda UK about AC and West End Garage, they followed up with a call back prior to having words with AC.
G
In September we were looking for a small town car and had heard good things on the new Skoda Citigo so we went to West End Garages in Broxburn for a test drive, afterwards one of the directors asked how we were liking the Yeti? We said it was great except for this problem with the trim and AC, he said that our tale was 'bloody ridiculous' and got his workshop manager out to look at it, the workshop manager took photographs and said he would get onto Skoda to have it done under warranty. A couple of weeks later we had the call and the car was booked in, they said they wanted it for 4 days so they gave me a courtesy car, when I went back they had not only replaced the trim and both front and rear badges but they had re-sprayed the rear doors and fitted clear plastic film on the back edge of them since they were prone to stonechips and all done on warranty with a smile. WE didn't even buy a Citigo but settled for a Fiat 500 instead and it mattered not a jot to them and oh yes , they told me a light bulb was on its way out so they changed it FOC.
I have spoken to Skoda UK about AC and West End Garage, they followed up with a call back prior to having words with AC.
G
Have forgotten about this story one of maybe 20 negative AC ones!!!
My Abarth went for a wheel bearing warranty repair and they scuffed all the perfect alloy and lost the lock key!
They admitted the fault but it took 7 months to rectify which only happened after I wrote to head office!
s!
My Abarth went for a wheel bearing warranty repair and they scuffed all the perfect alloy and lost the lock key!
They admitted the fault but it took 7 months to rectify which only happened after I wrote to head office!
s!IainW said:
VetteG said:
I have spoken to Skoda UK about AC and West End Garage, they followed up with a call back prior to having words with AC.
G
Always heard good things about West End. I was surprised to see they've expanded to Sighthill and Halbeath, taking over Chathams. G
G
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