southampton indy....Brystone or Bartley?

[E38Ross]

Looks like i need a small amount of work on the E38. i'm stuck on whether to go for brystone or bartley to have the work done.....

so, any opinions from those who may have used either?

thanks

[rugbyfiend]

i've used Bartley and been very impressed, nice bunch, no bulls*** and stick to the agreed timescales which is more than can be said for the local main dealer...

Hope this helps

[M3Charlie]

Can highly recommend Bartley.

[E38Ross]

Bartley it is. Will phone them tomorrow morning to see if I can get it booked in next week if possible.

Cheers

[E38Ross]

Bartley aren't open next week so it's booked in with brystone.... No opinions on these guys? Chap seemed to know what he was on about.

Cheers

[Neil.D]

Richard at Brystones is a top guy. I have used him for the last 7 years for everything.

I used Bartleys once and never went back, Richard however is better by a country mile.

[E38Ross]

Neil.D said:

Richard at Brystones is a top guy. I have used him for the last 7 years for everything.

I used Bartleys once and never went back, Richard however is better by a country mile.

Thanks Neil, good to know.

guy on the phone seemed to know what he was on about, at least.

[miln0039]

I've heard nothing but good things about Sean at Iridium Engineering

http://www.iridiumengineering.co.uk/

[bmthnick1981]

Few guys at work use Bartley's with mixed reviews. Not got any experience of Brystone.

My E38 is at Stanfield in Bournemouth at the moment having the ignition barrel fixed - hopefully it will be done before Christmas!

[mrmr96]

miln0039 said:

I've heard nothing but good things about Sean at Iridium Engineering

http://www.iridiumengineering.co.uk/

He's in Hedge End. I've used him for a few things. One man band but incredibly knowlegeable. He doesn't employ staff as he can't necessarily trust their standard of work. I was taken aback by this, but is does demonstrate immense pride in his work. Also, at least you know exactly who's going to be working on your car. (i.e. there's none of this 'master tech farming out out to new boy' stuff.) So I'd recommend Sean at Iridium.

[Fox-]

Once got a quote for a service from Bartley.

Took it to Scothall Hampshire instead as they were cheaper. Seriously!

[Neil.D]

As I said, take it to Brystones. Their Insp 2 quote was nearly £200 cheaper that Bartleys, plus you won't get grunted at by Lurch who works there.

[E38Ross]

Thanks guys. Booked in for Wednesday 28th with brystone.

[E38Ross]

well, the car went in to brystones this morning at 8am. gotta say the premises are quite nice and had some lovely metal there (including an E46 M3csl, an E24 635csi, an 8 series (didn't get close enough to see what model) which is a little reassuring. greeted by a friendly chap, talked about the symptoms and confirmed my suspicions.

here's hoping i get a phone call at some point today

[E38Ross]

just in case anyone is reading....if the car needs something doing and i'm around southampton, i'll be taking it to brystone.

i like it down there

[Lukas28]

Hi I am a new member over here but want just to add sth to your posts about garages around southampton. Will tell you short scenario about bartley garage I did used them few times but that would be it. Few weeks behind got to them to do vehicle check. Things found inlet manifold gasket leak, cam cover gasket leak, possible glow plug control unit fault. Decide to book it for get things done. Start with inlet manifold gasket charged 250£ then go back to them again to do cam gasket and glow plug control unit. Was told it should take around an hour or two labour no more. Come around next day to pick up the car and simply get ripped off..... Checked bill and get piss... Off what they did they changed glow plug control unit and told me there is no leak from cam cover gasket but when you do that you have to change inlet manifold gasket again to get to cam gasket sorted. So basically paid 450£ for changing inlet manifold gasket again and glow control unit. 200£ labour charge which is 70£ an hour. Over 3 hours work for nothing. The only thing they can do is service general and that's it. Anyway thank you bartley xxx

[SE24]

My experiences at Bartley of late have not been good. I think they were good a few years ago, but things really seem to have slipped there since 2011.

I did enjoy the comment about being grunted at by one of the staff members there, same thing happened to me after spending 4 figures on a service and some other bits a few weeks earlier! Won't be going back there as I've lost trust in them.

As echoed above, Sean as Iridium does seem to take his work very seriously, very knowledgeable, and more than happy to spend time explaining to his customer. He also has an obvious passion for M cars, a real plus in my eyes - will be going there from now on!

[E65Ross]

I've found that I was a royal pain in the arse to get hold of iridium. He did some work for me once which I was pleased with, but on 3 other occasions I couldn't get hold of him. On 2 of those I left a message and never even heard back.

I'll continue to use brystone, I'm very happy with them and will always recommend them.

[Googie]

E65Ross said:

I've found that I was a royal pain in the arse to get hold of iridium. He did some work for me once which I was pleased with, but on 3 other occasions I couldn't get hold of him. On 2 of those I left a message and never even heard back.

I'll continue to use brystone, I'm very happy with them and will always recommend them.

Had the same issue last week and will now be going elsewhere...

[Dannbodge]

E65Ross said:

I've found that I was a royal pain in the arse to get hold of iridium. He did some work for me once which I was pleased with, but on 3 other occasions I couldn't get hold of him. On 2 of those I left a message and never even heard back.

I'll continue to use brystone, I'm very happy with them and will always recommend them.

Email or Facebook is the easiest way of catching him.

He generally replies to emails within 24hrs.

I will only go to iridium, he treats my car how I treat my car and being able to stand and chat to him whilst he does my servicing etc is a big bonus.