Will your car get thrashed at the dealers?

[JonRB]

Absolute quality and class!

In Forum #1 we have the mechanic bragging about how he thrashed a customer's car to its red-line (click here).

In Forum #2 we have the customer, who has found out about it, plotting his downfall (click here).

Either its the Mother of All Trolls involving 2 forums (fora?) or its genuine.

Edit: Sorry - 2nd URL was there but hidden due to malformed HTML - my fault for using raw HTML rather than Ted's way of doing things!

>>> Edited by JonRB on Wednesday 2nd October 13:25

[nevpugh308]

... and this is why I do 95% of all my own servicing !

Once took my Nissan 200SX in to a Nissan dealer up in Hull to get the rear dampers replaced. Came back with 26 miles on the clock. When I complained they just looked at me sh*tty and said "well, we HAVE to test drive it" ...... 26 fricking miles ? Gimme a break ....

[Fer]

I know the feeling. When my wife's A-class got transportered off to Mercedes they brought it back with 154 miles on the clock. They refused to explain what they were doing for all that mileage, customer services could not get them to explain either. In the end we cancelled our order for a replacement car and went elsewhere.

[JonRB]

quote:Came back with 26 miles on the clock. When I complained they just looked at me sh*tty and said "well, we HAVE to test drive it"

Yes, I've had this too on the Corrado.

That's why I got Dave Batty to do the MOT on my TVR recently* as I know that it will be looked after with respect. It would have been far more convenient to take it down to my local greasy garage, and Cosmic even offered to sort it out for me, but I took the attitude that they would find the temptation to take a Chimaera 500 out for a spin just too great. Understandable, but not excusable.

(* Dave doesn't actually do the MOTs himself, he takes them down to a local garage who do all his MOTs for him, but I figured that if Dave trusts them then that's ok. Besides, if they see a lot of TVRs then they're less likely to want to joyride mine. )

[JonRB]

quote:they brought it back with 154 miles on the clock.

That's outrageous!

[pbrettle]

There was a final running report of a Mitsubishi Evo in either Evo or Autocar magazine in which the freaked out. They stick to the service intervals and running in period, only to take the car to a Mistu dealer for servicing - to see their car flying down a shopping centre with mechanics on board giving it "large".....

Bouncing of the red line and driving reclessly in areas where there are lots of pedestrians too. They reported it to the Mistu dealer manager who responded with the "they have to test it" response.... at which they panned the dealer and the service they got and refused to take it back to an official dealer again. Oh and reported it to Colt cars UK too.

Dont know what the follow up was, but dont do it ever, and certainly dont do it to a press car!!!! Morons. Makes you think if they will do that to an official press car, what the hell do they do to the likes of yours and mine....

Cheer,

Paul

[pdv6]

I think most motoring rags tend to get the cars serviced 'in mufti' so that they can report on the standard of service without queering the pitch by admitting to be journos.

[scottster]

I had a Sierra Cossy and had four new tyres fitted. I left it with them for half an hour and returned to find no car??

Two mins later it comes racing down the road screaching to a halt. When asked what the hell they were doing they claimed for 'my' safety they were checking it felt 'balanced'. Like that also took three of the f**kers. About the only 'balancing' they were doing was with all four wheels screaching round a corner I bet....

[Marcos Maniac]

Had a similar thing happen with my Chevvy Blazer.

Took it back to have some warranty work done, power steerig was making a groaning noise lock to lock (parking). went out to see a client and on the way back down the by-pass my Blazer rocketed past me at about 90-100mph. Obviously incensed I persued it as best as I could (driving a turbo deisel astra), continued at speeds in excess of 90 for about 3-4miles and the driver didnt take the slip road that would take him directly back to the dealers, i got caught up in traffic and lost it.

Proceeded straight to the dealers and went nuts, dealer claimed that the mechanic had taken it for a test drive - WHAT ! at 90 F-ing mile an hour when the fault was at low speeds???

20 mins later my car returns to the dealers with me waiting there to greet them - two w@*@kers in overalls (no seat covers) munching on bloody Mc d's.

I went nuts!!

The service manager was lost for words - end result full tank of petrol-gratis and a full valet, new Blazer off the forecourt as a courtesy car while the above was carried out.

coincidently they now phone me before they take the car on any Road Tests

edited for Shite spelling twice

>> Edited by Marcos Maniac on Wednesday 2nd October 14:32

>> Edited by Marcos Maniac on Wednesday 2nd October 14:34

[craigalsop]

My wife once saw my Sierra 4x4 Cosworth being driven past her at 100MPH+ by the scroat mechanics at the Edinburgh RS dealer. Needless to say I was completely livid - especially given that they still didn't manage to find out where I was losing massive amounts of oil from.

Ended up changing it for an Impreza - far better class of mechanic, at least at the dealers I've been to...

[plotloss]

Never ever ever buy an ex-demo fleet vehicle off a forecourt, never

Matt.

[anonymous-user]

the whole cobra thing is hilarious!
feel sorry for the owner but the mechanic deserves to have his balls roasted! this sort of thing happens far too often but it would be nice to see someone get punished!......

[Mad Dave]

i know someone who works at a Ford dealers - apparently someone brought their very unwell, tuned Escort Cossie in one day a few years back and the mechanics took it out for a blast - unfortunately they popped the engine. They told the customer that the engine was shagged, and charged them for a new one!

[alt]

I had 30 miles added to my Tamora at a main dealer!
They said they normally drive about 10-15 miles but couldn't explain the rest!

[plotloss]

I've gotta say that I dont see 30-50 miles being put on during a service any issue at all. They will need to bring the car up to temperature, check that any work they have done solved the original issue. Then they need to regression test to see if anything else has failed as an upshot of the work they have done and so on. I'd rather them do that than me have to go up there a week later because they had not tested it properly.

Matt.

[mel]

Four doors away from my factory is a small independant garage that specialises in "performance and prestige cars" While working late one night I could hear lots of reving and screeching from the front of the factory, upon looking out of the window I saw a Dodge Viper doing doenuts in the car park with the garage owner at the wheel giving it large !!!! Odd how he's never had the oppourtunity to service anything I own.

[Getrag]

You know what goes through their heads when they do it, but there is no excuse when it is someones property. A good bit of advice I heard was to take a verbal note of the mileage in front of the mechanic before you leave your car, or you could just be 6'4", built like a brick 'house and tell them not to joyride your ing car

[nevpugh308]

quote:
take a verbal note of the mileage

My wife writes the mileage on a bit of paper and sticks it in the glovebox (allows for memory lapses plus gives you a flimsy bit of evidence to wave at a service manager if needs be)

[nevpugh308]

quote:
I've gotta say that I dont see 30-50 miles being put on during a service any issue at all.

Plotloss, sorry but I've got to disagree with you there. Bringing a car up to temperature can, and probably will, be done at standstill.

Also, bearing in mind that most main dealers are somewhere in a built up and busy area (e.g. centre of a city) doing 30 to 50 miles is easily going to take someone 45 to 60 minutes to do ..... are you saying that you're happy to pay dealer rates for a mechanic to drive around in your car, using your petrol ? If so, I'll quite happily come and test drive your car for you - you just supply the petrol, and I only charge 25 quid an hour

[mondeoman]

I had 6000 miles taken OFF mine when they changed the engine - hows that for service???