main dealer woes
Discussion
Advice please on situation i have got myself into,I purchased a citroen c5 x7 exclusive 2008 4 weeks ago noticed that the front sat a bit high so booked it into my local independant garage who fitted 2 rear comfort spheres but was informed that it would need to go to the main dealer for them to plug in the LEXIA to calibrate the sensors ride height etc......The car has always risen and lowered and the hydraulic motor was working fine.
I booked the car in at the main dealer for 2 hrs diagnostics/setting up and calibration,The car was driven 8 miles to them and was a bit low but drove fine with no problems.
I was not present(was not asked to) when the car was checked/inspected prior to being worked on, there are a few small scratches on the rear bumper which were noted on the form which i signed(but they ticked the box that said shown to customer).
So fast forward 2 hrs and when i arrived was informed that the hydraulic pump was not working!!!!and would be 1,013,13GBP to replace,when i mentioned that i drove the car 8 miles to them as now the car was on its bump stops and i could'nt even get my foot to fit under the sill?They told me they had replaced the fuse that had blown and they found power going to the motor so advised a new pump!
I said that if i paid for them to supply and fit a new pump motor could they guarentee that that would work and they said no (bearing in mind the pump had worked for 66,0000 miles and was not a problem in the last 4 weeks.
So after paying £121.00 for them to release the car to me and driving very carefully back home was feeling a bit miffed that as soon as they drove the car in the garage they would have known straight away that the car was too low and i think that 2 hrs spent without being informed was a bit naughty.
The next day i rang bba reman for a price on an exchange unit so i needed the part number,I thought i would check the maxi fuse aswell and that had put an 80amp in instead of a 40amp!!!!!also when i moved the wires that went to the pump so i could get the part number i noticed that the wiring harness was not fully seated bearing in mind these a connectors "click" in place and are very secure,so when reconnected the pump kicked into life and all has been fine since.
I know its only £121.00 but i would have thought that they would checked the connections etc and as for the 80amp fuse surely that was a fire hazard and the qualified mechanics should have known what fuse was right?
Would i benefit from having a polite word with them about it (a refund would be nice as the wrong fuse they fitted was a spare that was in my fuse box)
Any advice greatly appreciated.
I booked the car in at the main dealer for 2 hrs diagnostics/setting up and calibration,The car was driven 8 miles to them and was a bit low but drove fine with no problems.
I was not present(was not asked to) when the car was checked/inspected prior to being worked on, there are a few small scratches on the rear bumper which were noted on the form which i signed(but they ticked the box that said shown to customer).
So fast forward 2 hrs and when i arrived was informed that the hydraulic pump was not working!!!!and would be 1,013,13GBP to replace,when i mentioned that i drove the car 8 miles to them as now the car was on its bump stops and i could'nt even get my foot to fit under the sill?They told me they had replaced the fuse that had blown and they found power going to the motor so advised a new pump!
I said that if i paid for them to supply and fit a new pump motor could they guarentee that that would work and they said no (bearing in mind the pump had worked for 66,0000 miles and was not a problem in the last 4 weeks.
So after paying £121.00 for them to release the car to me and driving very carefully back home was feeling a bit miffed that as soon as they drove the car in the garage they would have known straight away that the car was too low and i think that 2 hrs spent without being informed was a bit naughty.
The next day i rang bba reman for a price on an exchange unit so i needed the part number,I thought i would check the maxi fuse aswell and that had put an 80amp in instead of a 40amp!!!!!also when i moved the wires that went to the pump so i could get the part number i noticed that the wiring harness was not fully seated bearing in mind these a connectors "click" in place and are very secure,so when reconnected the pump kicked into life and all has been fine since.
I know its only £121.00 but i would have thought that they would checked the connections etc and as for the 80amp fuse surely that was a fire hazard and the qualified mechanics should have known what fuse was right?
Would i benefit from having a polite word with them about it (a refund would be nice as the wrong fuse they fitted was a spare that was in my fuse box)
Any advice greatly appreciated.
I would speak to the service manager and inform him/her what you found. However, you do need to have an idea of what you want in return (if anything) from your actions.
If it were me, I'd probably ask for the cost of the work back. It's clear that they have been shoddy with their practices.
Failing anything useful from the service manager, speak to the dealer manager (principle?). I would mention having a word with the manufacturer too and see what they have to say.
I have had issues with VW in the past which have meant escalation to VW UK. They were quite helpful and didn't like the idea of the brand being tarnished by bad franchises. This was a good eight years ago now though, and I don't know how they take things like this nowadays.
If it were me, I'd probably ask for the cost of the work back. It's clear that they have been shoddy with their practices.
Failing anything useful from the service manager, speak to the dealer manager (principle?). I would mention having a word with the manufacturer too and see what they have to say.
I have had issues with VW in the past which have meant escalation to VW UK. They were quite helpful and didn't like the idea of the brand being tarnished by bad franchises. This was a good eight years ago now though, and I don't know how they take things like this nowadays.
I would have thought the first thing a qualified mechanic would have checked is that data and power cables were secure and as for putting double the size fuse could have been a fire risk.
If I had paid £1013.13 for a pump that would have worked as all the cables would have to be connected?the more i think about the more fishy it seems.
If I had paid £1013.13 for a pump that would have worked as all the cables would have to be connected?the more i think about the more fishy it seems.
cindychops said:
I would have thought the first thing a qualified mechanic would have checked is that data and power cables were secure and as for putting double the size fuse could have been a fire risk.
If I had paid £1013.13 for a pump that would have worked as all the cables would have to be connected?the more i think about the more fishy it seems.
That's the issue, the main dealer has 'fitters', not qualified mechanics. It also seems to be staffed by lazy, idiotic imbeciles.If I had paid £1013.13 for a pump that would have worked as all the cables would have to be connected?the more i think about the more fishy it seems.
Just a thought but would the independent garage have disconnected the pump as part of the works they undertook and just forgot to reconnect it?
Thats not to excuse the complete lack of diagnostics checking but my recent experience has found that finding faults is secondary to replacing parts at most dealers these days.
Thats not to excuse the complete lack of diagnostics checking but my recent experience has found that finding faults is secondary to replacing parts at most dealers these days.
barryrs said:
Just a thought but would the independent garage have disconnected the pump as part of the works they undertook and just forgot to reconnect it?
Thats not to excuse the complete lack of diagnostics checking but my recent experience has found that finding faults is secondary to replacing parts at most dealers these days.
I have been driving the car for 2 weeks since the indie worked on it and have done 200 miles since and only needed the suspension calibrated by the main dealers equipment.Thats not to excuse the complete lack of diagnostics checking but my recent experience has found that finding faults is secondary to replacing parts at most dealers these days.
cindychops said:
funkyrobot said:
That's the issue, the main dealer has 'fitters', not qualified mechanics. It also seems to be staffed by lazy, idiotic imbeciles.
Would i seem unrealistic to expect a refund as i know its only £121 but its a lot to me.
I would certainly be demanding my money back. They left the vehicle in a horrendous state and tried to con you out of a thousand pounds.
Imagine if someone who wasn't as practical with cars as you took their vehicle in and a similar thing happened. They would have been out of pocket because of the dealership's incompetence.
Do it and see how you go. As I said, start with the service manager, then move on to the dealer principle and if you don't get any joy, go to the manufacturer direct.
One of the strangest main dealer experiences I have had was at a VW one in 2008. I took my car in for some service work, and when I picked it up my stereo (aftermarket Kenwood d-mask unit) was half pulled out, smashed and broken. I had taken the face unit off when I left the car, but the remains had been obliterated.
I went back into the showroom and complained. A few minutes later, one of the dealership owners appeared and tried to tell me it hadn't happened whilst they had the car. I pointed out the fact that the stereo worked fine when I left the car, and now it was smashed up. If it was smashed up when I dropped the car off, wouldn't they have noticed? They said it couldn't have been a member of their staff. I then questioned their duty of care and asked why they would leave my car insecure and allow someone access to try and steal my stereo.
Anyway, we had discussions that carried on for a few days and I was getting nowhere (they insisted it wasn't them that had done the damage). In the end, I said I would contact the police and report the crime as attempted theft and damage (because if it wasn't them, it was someone else in their secure car storage area), and I would speak to VW UK.
They finally folded after VW UK got in touch with them. They weren't happy, and getting them to replace it free of charge was a ballache. However, they did do it in the end and I never went back to that garage again.
Very odd situation.
I went back into the showroom and complained. A few minutes later, one of the dealership owners appeared and tried to tell me it hadn't happened whilst they had the car. I pointed out the fact that the stereo worked fine when I left the car, and now it was smashed up. If it was smashed up when I dropped the car off, wouldn't they have noticed? They said it couldn't have been a member of their staff. I then questioned their duty of care and asked why they would leave my car insecure and allow someone access to try and steal my stereo.
Anyway, we had discussions that carried on for a few days and I was getting nowhere (they insisted it wasn't them that had done the damage). In the end, I said I would contact the police and report the crime as attempted theft and damage (because if it wasn't them, it was someone else in their secure car storage area), and I would speak to VW UK.
They finally folded after VW UK got in touch with them. They weren't happy, and getting them to replace it free of charge was a ballache. However, they did do it in the end and I never went back to that garage again.
Very odd situation.
cindychops said:
The main reason i bought the car is that citroen guarentee the suspension for 200,000km....
I'd be amazed if that applies even when an indie has worked on the car, especially on the suspension itself. Does the car have full Citroen service history?I try not to be cynical about these things, but it's hard not to think that the dealership tried to steal a grand off you.
Sheepshanks said:
I'd be amazed if that applies even when an indie has worked on the car, especially on the suspension itself. Does the car have full Citroen service history?
I try not to be cynical about these things, but it's hard not to think that the dealership tried to steal a grand off you.
I have been chilled out about it but "even Dick Turpin wore a mask" and as for the 200,000km warrenty or 6yrs which ever come sooner just seemed to show how reliable they are,when i was looking for a C5 they had the on Ebay 260,000 miles on the clock and still going strong i really struggled to get a "low" mileage 1 owner with full main dealer service history and with 10 mths MOT and no advisories.I try not to be cynical about these things, but it's hard not to think that the dealership tried to steal a grand off you.
All dealers do it to some degree, years ago a Porsche dealer made up a lovely long list of things they wanted to replace on my car when I brought it in for a service,I thanked them and pointed out the extended warranty I had on the car, which covered quite a few of these items, they hadn't even checked if I had a warranty....
But it can and does work the other way. A local independent insisted my disks were in need of replacement, that they were warped and they should do that at the same time as replacing the pads.
Declined. Car went to main dealers who took a look, informed me there was indeed some wear on disks but as expected for age of car. Pads also had plenty of meat on - nothing needed replacing.
Declined. Car went to main dealers who took a look, informed me there was indeed some wear on disks but as expected for age of car. Pads also had plenty of meat on - nothing needed replacing.
Have just spoken to main dealer and they are insistant that the fuse they put in was 60amp even though i said it should be 40amp but they are basically calling me a liar and when i mentioned what i paid £121.00 for they said it was diagnosis that the pump needed replacing?
When i said i connected the pump and its fine they said it could fail at any time,i politely asked for a refund as they clearly misdiagnosed the problem.
When i said i connected the pump and its fine they said it could fail at any time,i politely asked for a refund as they clearly misdiagnosed the problem.
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