Unhappy with Servicing
Discussion
I'm looking for help, guidance & reassurance with the subject of servicing, as at the moment I'm not a happy bunny.
I recently had a service carried out at a local Indi. in the area that I thought had a growing reputation, and reasonably priced but was left totally deflated and untrusting of servicing dealers.
I had the cars scheduled service (12,000) and had to pick the car up late so as it was dark I was unable to look over the car until it was tucked up in its garage later that night.
When getting back I noticed abit of steam coming from the front drivers side vents. In lifting the bonnet I notice that the expansion tank cap was only just screwed on. I'm looking inside and noticed that the coolant had boiled dry and the tank was empty, fine, these things sometimes happen, I'll top it up and think nothing more about it, 'apart from being alittle p*ssed off'.
Then I thought I'd check the oil level just in case. That barely reads on the dip stick. I'm starting to become warm now.
Top it up, think no more.
Then I notice the greasy fingerprints on the passenger door. Further investigation carried out, and there on the wheel covers and the drivers door. I'm Boiling now.
Opening of the drivers door it got worse. There, there was a smudge of gold brake pad grease on the transmition tunnel and drivers door.
Thats it,
I'm off to the net to print the schedule off to check what should have been done for my £ 440.00.
In checking of the list with the condition of the car I could see it had not been washed and the inside was more dirtier now than the hovered out state it went in, with the underside I also determined that the exhaust had not been removed and the prop had not been checked. In truth I did not check to see if the diff & gearbox oil had been topped up, I just hoped it had.
That's it, the next few days I was so P*SSED I vowed I would never speak to the place again never mind use them & wrote a strongly worded letter detailing what
had not been carried out and how I was deeply disappointed with their service.
I did considered posting something here, but never got around to it.
Weeks go by. Gorge Rumble comes & goes. So does the inside tread of my FR tyre. What the F***. I've only done 150 mile since the service.
I then booked it into Protyre (bristol), for a full geometery check and I'm told that every camber and front and rear toe are out. Now £90 lighter the car feels like a dream but I'm back being unhappy.
Once again I check the good old service list and find that that should have been carried out. Thats it, it gets a post.
So now I'm at the point of needing recommendations for trusted servicing locations or, should I say, I'm a diesel fitter anyway, sod it, sod the stamps, I'll keep all the repeipts, I'm planning on keeping the car forever, shall I just do the levels & filters myself (£100), yearly geometry check (£90, but well worth it
, a once over on the underside by a trusted local dealer (£50), and an annual tune by a respected person (Possibly M.A. but cost £ ???).
Please help as I loosing faith
I recently had a service carried out at a local Indi. in the area that I thought had a growing reputation, and reasonably priced but was left totally deflated and untrusting of servicing dealers.
I had the cars scheduled service (12,000) and had to pick the car up late so as it was dark I was unable to look over the car until it was tucked up in its garage later that night.
When getting back I noticed abit of steam coming from the front drivers side vents. In lifting the bonnet I notice that the expansion tank cap was only just screwed on. I'm looking inside and noticed that the coolant had boiled dry and the tank was empty, fine, these things sometimes happen, I'll top it up and think nothing more about it, 'apart from being alittle p*ssed off'.
Then I thought I'd check the oil level just in case. That barely reads on the dip stick. I'm starting to become warm now.
Top it up, think no more. Then I notice the greasy fingerprints on the passenger door. Further investigation carried out, and there on the wheel covers and the drivers door. I'm Boiling now.
Opening of the drivers door it got worse. There, there was a smudge of gold brake pad grease on the transmition tunnel and drivers door.
Thats it,
I'm off to the net to print the schedule off to check what should have been done for my £ 440.00. In checking of the list with the condition of the car I could see it had not been washed and the inside was more dirtier now than the hovered out state it went in, with the underside I also determined that the exhaust had not been removed and the prop had not been checked. In truth I did not check to see if the diff & gearbox oil had been topped up, I just hoped it had.
That's it, the next few days I was so P*SSED I vowed I would never speak to the place again never mind use them & wrote a strongly worded letter detailing what
had not been carried out and how I was deeply disappointed with their service.
I did considered posting something here, but never got around to it.
Weeks go by. Gorge Rumble comes & goes. So does the inside tread of my FR tyre. What the F***. I've only done 150 mile since the service.
I then booked it into Protyre (bristol), for a full geometery check and I'm told that every camber and front and rear toe are out. Now £90 lighter the car feels like a dream but I'm back being unhappy.
Once again I check the good old service list and find that that should have been carried out. Thats it, it gets a post.
So now I'm at the point of needing recommendations for trusted servicing locations or, should I say, I'm a diesel fitter anyway, sod it, sod the stamps, I'll keep all the repeipts, I'm planning on keeping the car forever, shall I just do the levels & filters myself (£100), yearly geometry check (£90, but well worth it
, a once over on the underside by a trusted local dealer (£50), and an annual tune by a respected person (Possibly M.A. but cost £ ???). Please help as I loosing faith
I think you can tell a lot about a company by the way they handle their mistakes. Tell them what you were unhappy with, ask them whether they consider this level of service to be acceptable and find out what they plan to do about it. If you aren't happy then vote with your feet. I do advise you to find a TVR specialist you can trust though, because these cars do need a lot more specialist knowledge than your average production car. Life will be a lot easier if you can find a friendly expert near you to advise and help source parts.
Joospeed is the only one I can recommend. He's honest and not there to rip your wallet dry. Also his knowledge and understanding of the griffs/chims/cerbs is one of the best in the country.... so when you add honesty, skillz and enthusiasm - you get Joospeed.
( To top it all off, he always goes that much further and you never see it itemised on the bill, whats that you say? yup, freebies too... still thinking if it was intended or he just forgot to bill for it...
)
( To top it all off, he always goes that much further and you never see it itemised on the bill, whats that you say? yup, freebies too... still thinking if it was intended or he just forgot to bill for it...
)Craig - that does not sound good.
I had the same kind of problem a while back - I just checked under the bonnet and found the oil filler car just resting on the threads - glad I did not drive the 60 miles home like that but I had to spend the next day checking everything to see that nothing else had been left loose .. paranoia - I sure had a dose.
I agree with Pete (GreenV8S) though - you should call the specialist who did the service (keep calm) and explain your problems - gotta say there is really no excuse for what happened to you but as Pete say - a measure of how good a company is how well they deal with this.
Most if not all know that 1 bad customer will destroy a reputation built over years.. perhaps they had a new employee who needs more supervision or what ever.
I had the same kind of problem a while back - I just checked under the bonnet and found the oil filler car just resting on the threads - glad I did not drive the 60 miles home like that but I had to spend the next day checking everything to see that nothing else had been left loose .. paranoia - I sure had a dose.
I agree with Pete (GreenV8S) though - you should call the specialist who did the service (keep calm) and explain your problems - gotta say there is really no excuse for what happened to you but as Pete say - a measure of how good a company is how well they deal with this.
Most if not all know that 1 bad customer will destroy a reputation built over years.. perhaps they had a new employee who needs more supervision or what ever.
rev-erend said:
Most if not all know that 1 bad customer will destroy a reputation built over years.. perhaps they had a new employee who needs more supervision or what ever.
Still no excuse to bugger up ones car, and the chances of long-term damage that could cost more to the owner in the long run is a scary thought indeed!
I'd turn up fuming, and ask for a full refund or they do the service again and properly this time... otherwise give BBC's Watchdog a call...
rev-erend said:
Craig - that does not sound good.
I agree with Pete (GreenV8S) though - you should call the specialist who did the service (keep calm) and explain your problems - gotta say there is really no excuse for what happened to you but as Pete say - a measure of how good a company is how well they deal with this.
As mentioned, I did write to the place detailing my disgust and compiled a list of what 'I' could see as not been carried out, unfortunately, I'm now in the downward spiral of rage
as having no reply has just made it more raw. I've made a dissission of not even wasting my free minutes on them them and I'm sticking to it. As some wise man said in an earlier post, 
vote with your feet. unrepentant said:
The only exception was when I owned v old Jags, and then I went to a classic specialist.
As originally mentioned I'm seriously considering looking at an alternative using individual specialist for each element of the car, I know it will be more time consuming and I know you won't get a recognised stamp accepted by the TVR world, but at least the work will be carried out correctly and to possibly a better standard.
Being honest, the full geometry check / adjustment took 1.5 hrs, are you telling me dealers who have this on the service list carry it out correctly in the 5-6 hrs service slot.
I think not. Cont. As with the old Jags / Jensons, how many of them have a book full of main dealer / indipendant stamps ? Or do they have work carried out by specialist who in an equal right are just a skilled & capable as their indipendant counterparts.
An ironic thing proving my point in being ripped off is that a close friend of mine also went to the same mentioned dealer for a mid service oil change. Having rang around serveral places (TVR indi's) he was quoted from £ 100.00 which I thought was very reasonable to the figure my fav's gave at £ 195.00 + Vat.
When question as to how he came by the figure the person was unable to answer. After much Umming & Arring he said he was unable to give the cost straight away and would have to call him back.
How hard is it to give a straigh honest answer.
Children pay attention - LABOUR + MATERIALS + VAT = COST OF OIL CHANGE. Class Dismissed
This once again has cemented my feeling for the place in question.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a tight A*SE, I don't mind paying, I just want a desent & honest service to keep my P & J in the condition it deserves.
As asked earlier, any recommendations would be greatly received.
An ironic thing proving my point in being ripped off is that a close friend of mine also went to the same mentioned dealer for a mid service oil change. Having rang around serveral places (TVR indi's) he was quoted from £ 100.00 which I thought was very reasonable to the figure my fav's gave at £ 195.00 + Vat.
When question as to how he came by the figure the person was unable to answer. After much Umming & Arring he said he was unable to give the cost straight away and would have to call him back.
How hard is it to give a straigh honest answer.
Children pay attention - LABOUR + MATERIALS + VAT = COST OF OIL CHANGE. Class Dismissed This once again has cemented my feeling for the place in question.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a tight A*SE, I don't mind paying, I just want a desent & honest service to keep my P & J in the condition it deserves.
As asked earlier, any recommendations would be greatly received.
Sounds like you've had a rough ride Craig. I can guess at which Indie down your way.... Not good at all.
I would however heartily recommend Horizon Motorsport up in Cradely Heath, Birmingham. About an hour from you, only 10 mins off the M5. I likewise took serious issue with both my local dealer, and a supposedly well respected independant, and asked around at my TVRCC group - many of us now use Mike at Horizon who seems to be (if there is such a thing) the Joo of the West!
I remember one of the early times I went there, the usual "can you just look at...." while it went in for new tyres. On the bill when I picked it up, he'd charged me for 15min labour - not the de rigeur rounding it up to an hour rubbish. I thought it was a fluke, but it's happened since too. Always friendly, and they take it personally if they didn't quite get it right, and will move heaven and earth to get the job done.
Fabulous service for my Chim, and now the same again for my Cerb. Cannot recommend them highly enough.
I would however heartily recommend Horizon Motorsport up in Cradely Heath, Birmingham. About an hour from you, only 10 mins off the M5. I likewise took serious issue with both my local dealer, and a supposedly well respected independant, and asked around at my TVRCC group - many of us now use Mike at Horizon who seems to be (if there is such a thing) the Joo of the West!
I remember one of the early times I went there, the usual "can you just look at...." while it went in for new tyres. On the bill when I picked it up, he'd charged me for 15min labour - not the de rigeur rounding it up to an hour rubbish. I thought it was a fluke, but it's happened since too. Always friendly, and they take it personally if they didn't quite get it right, and will move heaven and earth to get the job done.
Fabulous service for my Chim, and now the same again for my Cerb. Cannot recommend them highly enough.
I too have heard good stuff about Mike at Horizon .. if anyone would like to e-mail me comments about the service they've had there i will add him to my list of *respected specialists* for when people call up and i can't fit them in or they're just in the right place in the country for his services .. he sounds like a top bloke already. 
You can. You can recommend any company via the Oily Pages
Dealers
Specialists
Just click on the tick icon.
Dealers
Specialists
Just click on the tick icon.
PetrolTed said:
You can. You can recommend any company via the Oily Pages
Dealers
Specialists
Just click on the tick icon.
Oh yes, never ventured there! but I can't see any tick icons!
PetrolTed said:
Oh yes, never ventured there! but I can't see any tick icons!
You need to be logged in to PH.com rather than .co.uk to get your login transfered across so that you recommend sites.
TY
(Got my Tam back today, haven't had since mid Feb, now it's all working , but the battery was flat when Chan went to bring it home!! )crazycraig said:
Being honest, the full geometry check / adjustment took 1.5 hrs,
I suppose it depends on how much needs adjusting and how accurate they're being, but it took about 6 hours for Guglielmi to do mine. But, they did check and set tyre pressure first, and everythging needed adjusting, ride height, front and rear toe, and front and rear camber.
I only trust myself to do servicing but thats just a by product of 15 years in the garage trade and i have seen some right fools and got rid of a few!!.
I dont like garages that work to time "book fashion" this can lead to mistakes.
The larger the company the less i trust them.
I have visited some dealers and indies over the last few months to get a feel of the operation they run and the people they employ.
I have found one person i would trust with my car due to his honest nature and 'telling you like it is' instead of telling you what you want to hear.
Not gonna name him though
I dont like garages that work to time "book fashion" this can lead to mistakes.
The larger the company the less i trust them.
I have visited some dealers and indies over the last few months to get a feel of the operation they run and the people they employ.
I have found one person i would trust with my car due to his honest nature and 'telling you like it is' instead of telling you what you want to hear.
Not gonna name him though
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