A story about Dick, Jay and a DB7
Discussion
After hinting at issues in another thread I thought I'd tell you a story and get it off my chest. Obviously as I'm not allowed to N&S even though they have gone out of business, this is about a pair of fictional characters - Dick & Jay and what they did (or didn't do) to my DB7.
I sent my DB7 in for its annual service to them in April last year, a fairly straightforward job you would think and he said it would be done in the same day, whilst it was there I asked him to look at what I thought was an exhaust knocking. He told me it was the front shocks and he would order new ones, rather than keep running backwards and forwards to Derby I suggested he keep it for the few days it would take to get the shocks. Dick told me they would need to be specially made by Aston Martin as it was a GTA model and it would be around a week. A week came and went no contact, I called and left messages and they never returned my calls. This turned in to three weeks. They offered to deliver the car back to me which saved me the hassle of getting a lift. On three separate days they failed to turn up, I even said I would come and collect but Jay informed me that her dad was bringing it and it was on its way - it wasn't.
Anyway £1100 lighter (service & front shocks, not a bad price I thought) I eventually got the car back with black greasy hand marks all over the headlining?? Jay's dad offered to take it back and clean it but I didn't want it gone again.
I was dying to take it for a spin so I reversed out of the parking space at work and the car revved itself up and shot backwards....the brakes having no effect on stopping... luckily I knocked it into neutral and I stopped. I thought at first that I had floored the accelerator instead of pressing the brake so I tried reversing again, same thing happened only this time the car stayed running at around 3000rpm. It's a good job we had plenty of space in the car park and this hadn't happened somewhere busy!!
I called them and they came back the following day to collect it. After a couple of weeks Dick thought he knew what it was and told me that I needed to have a new section of wiring loom fitted behind the engine, apparently a common fault on V12 DB7's and by the way it would £800 for him to get fixed and take another week or so. A couple more weeks came and went and still no contact, not answering calls, no call back, etc. so drove down to see them. Dick then informs me that he thinks it might be a software fault on the ECU's so he would need to send them off to be re-programmed and it would be another week. This nonsense went on and on getting nowhere until Dick informed me that I needed two new ECU's as the other were still showing a fault after being repaired. These were £600 each and had to be specially ordered as for the GT & GTA they were from some obscure American Ford. Another few weeks go by and still no further forward, still almost impossible to contact them. Then Dick tells me that it was a faulty gearbox sensor that was giving out a 12V signal instead of a 5V signal that was causing the fault, he also told me that this is what had damaged the ECU's. Anyway I took Dick at face value as he seemed genuine and I had no reason to doubt him.
Up to that point he'd had the car 21 weeks in total!
I went to collect one Friday, got a friend to drop me off as I was assured that everything was ready. When I got there the car was parked up outside with the nose pulled up to the wall outside, Dick and Jay weren’t there. I was assured that everything was ok and paid the guy who worked there, approx. £2400.
Both the front carpets and the dash under tray hadn't been fitted properly and one of the plastic under floor panels was on the back seat. There was also a dent in the driver's door speaker with a boot print in the middle of it. Tried to call Dick and Jay and complain but they weren't answering as usual. Then looking around the rest of the car there was a 3 inch crack on the front nosecone under the headlight. WTF!!
The poor lad they'd left there didn't know what to do with himself. I took photos of the car and decided to drive it home, firstly because it had been 21 weeks, secondly because it was 5.30 on a Friday night and I was 30 miles from home.
I got about 1/2 mile out, when smoke started billowing out of the engine bay. I pulled over straight away as was worried the engine bay may be on fire, especially after the electrical issues I'd supposedly had....it was just steam. I turned around and drove straight back with my eye on the temp gauge, both me and the car fuming.
The lad from before was just locking up. I have never seen anyone so embarrassed. He at least dropped me at the station and I got the train home.
I went back next day to confront them, they weren’t there when I arrived and didn't answer their phones when I called. The mechanic (same one from the day before) called them on his phone and they answered straight away. Dick came straight down. He was very apologetic, he said he'd seen the crack in the bumper and he wasn't sure if it had been there when I brought it in and he intended to mention it to me. He blamed his mechanics for the incomplete refitting and for the dent in the speaker and promised to put it right. I have staff and know that they don't all work to the same high standards you would yourself so I sort of sympathised. He tried to tell me that steam was just excess fluid finding its own level after being topped up on service, turned out they'd cracked the header tank where the pipe connects (he welded this up which worked for a couple of months or so but I ended up having to buy a new one at £404.72!)
He kept the car and promised to get everything sorted within a couple of days. Once again neither of them were there when I went back to pick up the car and everything looked ok, driving away (50yrds or so) there was a knocking sound a little like a loose wheel so I turned back around. Went for a test drive with the mechanic again and he said to leave it with them once more.
When I phoned them the next day Dick advised me that I need new rear lower arms at £230 each but as a goodwill gesture he would not charge any labour. Told him ok get on with it.
They either never test drove it on any occasion before I collected or they did and hoped I wouldn’t notice the faults were that obvious.
Went again to collect and paid the £460 and this time got all the way home with no issues. Parked at work the next day and spotted that there was a definite line across the bumper where they had blown in the paint from the repair, I hadn't seen this before as I was eager to be back in the car. I ended up sending it back three times before it was painted properly.
I'd asked Jay a couple of times to order me some new mats for the front as the driver's side was a little tatty showing signs of wear, they still hadn't come - some issue with back order. The last time I was there I asked again and she said if I paid for them whilst I was there (I think they were around £400) and she would get sent to me straight from AM. Fair enough. I went back down a few days later as there was still an issue with the floor on the passenger side and they had gone. The place was all shut up, no answer from phones or emails.
I decided that I would sort the passenger floor issue myself and it turned out the plastic cover for the ECUs which is under the carpet was the wrong way around. I took it off and lo and behold there was an old ECU sat there which was obviously not the new one I had been charged for, checked the other side and that too was obviously not new. These are the ones he was supposedly waiting all those weeks for to come from America!!
Some months later I had to have a set of tyres fitted and had a look under the car whilst it was jacked up to see what the underside was like, the new rear arms that he had purportedly changed had also mysteriously disappeared and been swapped back for some old ones. The front shocks didn't look new either.
I know looking back I should have noticed something sooner. I don't usually tolerate poor service but they always seemed such nice genuine people, if a little disorganised and unreliable. They struck me as many small trade business' do, better at actually doing the job rather than administration and business type stuff. Dick always seemed to be really making an effort to sort the issues and was always apologetic when they had to replace something else that was costing extra. If they did con me they were very good, adding costs little by little, all the time behaving like they were helping me out.
Many people who used them felt they were the best thing since sliced bread so maybe my situation is not typical. Perhaps they were having difficulties and weren't able to buy the parts they should have replaced or perhaps just desperate for money to keep the wolves from the door. Having vanished overnight I never had the chance to confront them.
Anyway you live and learn. The car got sorted out eventually and ran like a dream for the rest of the time I owned it, although never I felt quite the same way about it afterwards. It didn't put me off Aston though and I had no hesitation swapping it for a DB9.
I sent my DB7 in for its annual service to them in April last year, a fairly straightforward job you would think and he said it would be done in the same day, whilst it was there I asked him to look at what I thought was an exhaust knocking. He told me it was the front shocks and he would order new ones, rather than keep running backwards and forwards to Derby I suggested he keep it for the few days it would take to get the shocks. Dick told me they would need to be specially made by Aston Martin as it was a GTA model and it would be around a week. A week came and went no contact, I called and left messages and they never returned my calls. This turned in to three weeks. They offered to deliver the car back to me which saved me the hassle of getting a lift. On three separate days they failed to turn up, I even said I would come and collect but Jay informed me that her dad was bringing it and it was on its way - it wasn't.
Anyway £1100 lighter (service & front shocks, not a bad price I thought) I eventually got the car back with black greasy hand marks all over the headlining?? Jay's dad offered to take it back and clean it but I didn't want it gone again.
I was dying to take it for a spin so I reversed out of the parking space at work and the car revved itself up and shot backwards....the brakes having no effect on stopping... luckily I knocked it into neutral and I stopped. I thought at first that I had floored the accelerator instead of pressing the brake so I tried reversing again, same thing happened only this time the car stayed running at around 3000rpm. It's a good job we had plenty of space in the car park and this hadn't happened somewhere busy!!
I called them and they came back the following day to collect it. After a couple of weeks Dick thought he knew what it was and told me that I needed to have a new section of wiring loom fitted behind the engine, apparently a common fault on V12 DB7's and by the way it would £800 for him to get fixed and take another week or so. A couple more weeks came and went and still no contact, not answering calls, no call back, etc. so drove down to see them. Dick then informs me that he thinks it might be a software fault on the ECU's so he would need to send them off to be re-programmed and it would be another week. This nonsense went on and on getting nowhere until Dick informed me that I needed two new ECU's as the other were still showing a fault after being repaired. These were £600 each and had to be specially ordered as for the GT & GTA they were from some obscure American Ford. Another few weeks go by and still no further forward, still almost impossible to contact them. Then Dick tells me that it was a faulty gearbox sensor that was giving out a 12V signal instead of a 5V signal that was causing the fault, he also told me that this is what had damaged the ECU's. Anyway I took Dick at face value as he seemed genuine and I had no reason to doubt him.
Up to that point he'd had the car 21 weeks in total!
I went to collect one Friday, got a friend to drop me off as I was assured that everything was ready. When I got there the car was parked up outside with the nose pulled up to the wall outside, Dick and Jay weren’t there. I was assured that everything was ok and paid the guy who worked there, approx. £2400.
Both the front carpets and the dash under tray hadn't been fitted properly and one of the plastic under floor panels was on the back seat. There was also a dent in the driver's door speaker with a boot print in the middle of it. Tried to call Dick and Jay and complain but they weren't answering as usual. Then looking around the rest of the car there was a 3 inch crack on the front nosecone under the headlight. WTF!!
The poor lad they'd left there didn't know what to do with himself. I took photos of the car and decided to drive it home, firstly because it had been 21 weeks, secondly because it was 5.30 on a Friday night and I was 30 miles from home.
I got about 1/2 mile out, when smoke started billowing out of the engine bay. I pulled over straight away as was worried the engine bay may be on fire, especially after the electrical issues I'd supposedly had....it was just steam. I turned around and drove straight back with my eye on the temp gauge, both me and the car fuming.
The lad from before was just locking up. I have never seen anyone so embarrassed. He at least dropped me at the station and I got the train home.
I went back next day to confront them, they weren’t there when I arrived and didn't answer their phones when I called. The mechanic (same one from the day before) called them on his phone and they answered straight away. Dick came straight down. He was very apologetic, he said he'd seen the crack in the bumper and he wasn't sure if it had been there when I brought it in and he intended to mention it to me. He blamed his mechanics for the incomplete refitting and for the dent in the speaker and promised to put it right. I have staff and know that they don't all work to the same high standards you would yourself so I sort of sympathised. He tried to tell me that steam was just excess fluid finding its own level after being topped up on service, turned out they'd cracked the header tank where the pipe connects (he welded this up which worked for a couple of months or so but I ended up having to buy a new one at £404.72!)
He kept the car and promised to get everything sorted within a couple of days. Once again neither of them were there when I went back to pick up the car and everything looked ok, driving away (50yrds or so) there was a knocking sound a little like a loose wheel so I turned back around. Went for a test drive with the mechanic again and he said to leave it with them once more.
When I phoned them the next day Dick advised me that I need new rear lower arms at £230 each but as a goodwill gesture he would not charge any labour. Told him ok get on with it.
They either never test drove it on any occasion before I collected or they did and hoped I wouldn’t notice the faults were that obvious.
Went again to collect and paid the £460 and this time got all the way home with no issues. Parked at work the next day and spotted that there was a definite line across the bumper where they had blown in the paint from the repair, I hadn't seen this before as I was eager to be back in the car. I ended up sending it back three times before it was painted properly.
I'd asked Jay a couple of times to order me some new mats for the front as the driver's side was a little tatty showing signs of wear, they still hadn't come - some issue with back order. The last time I was there I asked again and she said if I paid for them whilst I was there (I think they were around £400) and she would get sent to me straight from AM. Fair enough. I went back down a few days later as there was still an issue with the floor on the passenger side and they had gone. The place was all shut up, no answer from phones or emails.
I decided that I would sort the passenger floor issue myself and it turned out the plastic cover for the ECUs which is under the carpet was the wrong way around. I took it off and lo and behold there was an old ECU sat there which was obviously not the new one I had been charged for, checked the other side and that too was obviously not new. These are the ones he was supposedly waiting all those weeks for to come from America!!
Some months later I had to have a set of tyres fitted and had a look under the car whilst it was jacked up to see what the underside was like, the new rear arms that he had purportedly changed had also mysteriously disappeared and been swapped back for some old ones. The front shocks didn't look new either.
I know looking back I should have noticed something sooner. I don't usually tolerate poor service but they always seemed such nice genuine people, if a little disorganised and unreliable. They struck me as many small trade business' do, better at actually doing the job rather than administration and business type stuff. Dick always seemed to be really making an effort to sort the issues and was always apologetic when they had to replace something else that was costing extra. If they did con me they were very good, adding costs little by little, all the time behaving like they were helping me out.
Many people who used them felt they were the best thing since sliced bread so maybe my situation is not typical. Perhaps they were having difficulties and weren't able to buy the parts they should have replaced or perhaps just desperate for money to keep the wolves from the door. Having vanished overnight I never had the chance to confront them.
Anyway you live and learn. The car got sorted out eventually and ran like a dream for the rest of the time I owned it, although never I felt quite the same way about it afterwards. It didn't put me off Aston though and I had no hesitation swapping it for a DB9.
Edited by 897sma on Wednesday 10th October 17:30
I've avoided posting before because I always felt any issues I had were between me and them and not really in the public interest, especially as they were no longer trading. I've seen many previous posts saying how wonderful they were and bit my lip (perhaps they were really wonderful?) somehow I got drawn into making comments yesterday which then prompted a pm asking for more details. I'm really not bitter or angry in any way, it just felt now was the time to say what I thought about them and let it go.
I know I've sort have done it here but I think on the whole we have to be very careful about N&S.
It could very easily turn normal supplier/customer dispute into something that could easily get out of hand. If Dick & Jay were still trading I would have resolved the issues I had with them.
I would not have subjected them to trial by PH amongst a group of people I interact in a way that some of them believe or trust what I say having never met me or knowing anything about me other than what I choose to post.
Dangerous ground indeed as this could put an otherwise honest trader out of business because of one disgruntled customer with an axe to grind especially with a community as small as Aston owners
I'm also not implying in way that similar things may have happened with their other customers. It's a year since they went and any problems with their work would've surfaced by now. Personally I would assume that you got what you paid for until you KNOW different.
It could very easily turn normal supplier/customer dispute into something that could easily get out of hand. If Dick & Jay were still trading I would have resolved the issues I had with them.
I would not have subjected them to trial by PH amongst a group of people I interact in a way that some of them believe or trust what I say having never met me or knowing anything about me other than what I choose to post.
Dangerous ground indeed as this could put an otherwise honest trader out of business because of one disgruntled customer with an axe to grind especially with a community as small as Aston owners
I'm also not implying in way that similar things may have happened with their other customers. It's a year since they went and any problems with their work would've surfaced by now. Personally I would assume that you got what you paid for until you KNOW different.
Edited by 897sma on Wednesday 10th October 20:26
Edited by 897sma on Wednesday 10th October 20:28
George H said:
I know they no longer exist, I was on about the thread that was deleted, regarding the subject of this thread now working elsewhere 
I don't think blackice was saying he was Rick (was he, did I miss a subtle hint?) in the thread that got pulled, just that he was like him. His other thread saying he was back has been pulled to. yeti said:
A brave post Steve as many, including me, could be quite forceful in my defence of them.
If they had still been trading, I would have them in court by now for the appalling work done to my car - their incompetence cost me no small amount of money; we're lucky to have BR and the like to sort their mistakes out.
And there have been a LOT of them, some of the stories emerging, which aren't usually told due to forum rules, would make you shudder.
I really don't know where it all went wrong for them.
Brave of you to Lewis, it takes a gentleman of character to admit that he was mistaken. If they had still been trading, I would have them in court by now for the appalling work done to my car - their incompetence cost me no small amount of money; we're lucky to have BR and the like to sort their mistakes out.
And there have been a LOT of them, some of the stories emerging, which aren't usually told due to forum rules, would make you shudder.
I really don't know where it all went wrong for them.
Edited by 897sma on Thursday 11th October 08:43
Slarti said:
Wait. What the heck happened? This forum would never let a bad thing be said about dick not so long ago! With respect, are the astoneers here a naive bunch? Fickle? Are we going to start hearing similar horror stories about bridge mill and bamford rose before long? Sorry, don't mean to sound offensive but opinion seems to violently swung from very positive to quite the opposite.
I can remember thinking jimmy saville was a bit like Santa claus when I was kid and along with many of my peers wrote letters to him. Well we're all finding out now that Jim didn't actually fix it in the way that we thought he was doing. Thank f
k it wasn't possible for him to send me into space. BTW. I and some of the others on here formed our opinions based on ACTUAL experience, good or bad. Sometimes time proves that we were mislead. At the time I still thought they were ok - they must be because they came recommend by Aston owners (on the AMOC forum, not here)
Edited by 897sma on Friday 12th October 07:23
I think this thread has probably run it's course and should probably be allowed to die a natural death as I don't think there is anything constructive to be gained going forwards. Name calling and accusing other forum members is wrong, no one recommended them KNOWING that there were issues. Hindsight really is a wonderful thing.
If no one posts again it will be relegated down the list and won't be looked at again.
If no one posts again it will be relegated down the list and won't be looked at again.
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