Do garages think we are daft
Discussion
Had my 7 series serviced picked it up on Saturday. On the way to work i checked the oil on screen. It showed as overfilled. I rang the garage and they said it could not possibly be overfilled and i need to book it in for a new sensor. They forget that people are not dumb and there is a dipstick under the bonnet. I've just checked it and it is way over the top mark. This is the second time this has happened at two different main dealers. Why can't they just admit their mistake! They have told me it is fine to drive the 300 or so miles i need to do before they can squeeze me in on wednesday. On top of this they told me i needed a new parking sensor. I then pointed out that they had replaced it 2 months ago and if there were to be any charge involved they would have to stand it. Que scratching heads and not knowing what to do. This was a family run main dealer up to a couple of months ago who i have been using for 15 years with brilliant service oh how things change. makes my piss boil!
S70JPS said:
Had my 7 series serviced picked it up on Saturday. On the way to work i checked the oil on screen. It showed as overfilled. I rang the garage and they said it could not possibly be overfilled and i need to book it in for a new sensor. They forget that people are not dumb and there is a dipstick under the bonnet. I've just checked it and it is way over the top mark. This is the second time this has happened at two different main dealers. Why can't they just admit their mistake! They have told me it is fine to drive the 300 or so miles i need to do before they can squeeze me in on wednesday. On top of this they told me i needed a new parking sensor. I then pointed out that they had replaced it 2 months ago and if there were to be any charge involved they would have to stand it. Que scratching heads and not knowing what to do. This was a family run main dealer up to a couple of months ago who i have been using for 15 years with brilliant service oh how things change. makes my piss boil!
Boils me up.I've had the same overfill issue 3 times.
It's economics at work - My local VW dealer told me that their best mechanics were those who could charge out 16 hours work in an 8 hour day - ie they're encouraged to rush around cutting corners in order to hit their 30 quid bonus each week.
Isn't it awful when the very people that we pay and trust to look after our cars end up being the ones that cause the problems.
Not just garages that think this. I've had 3 cases where Halfords (yes I know I should have bought somewhere else) refused to believe me when I said their silly little books were wrong.
1. Wiper set, it was a full set of front and rears but the rear was far too big and one of the fronts far too small. Went back in and said these are the wrong ones, we checked the numbers on their little flappy book thing.
Halfords: No mate the book is always correct.
Me: Lets see you fit them then.
Stroppy bloke snaps them out of my hand, stomps outside and spends 5 minutes looking confused before mumbling something about year changes (to which I pointed out it was the same shape for many years and the shape either side wouldn't fit that rear wiper either) we eventually agreed a refund was the best idea.
2. Light bulbs, not the correct fitting. 10 minute argument involving 3 members of staff where eventually I called their bluff and similar events to above happened.
3. Brake disks, opened the box before buying but one was twice the size of the other. It was for a Nissan Micra and the big disk was almost as big as the 13 inch wheel. After much debate they agreed there was something wrong and said I could buy the one that was correct. I left and bought elsewhere.
It's not so much that they think we are stupid it's that they blindly follow the writing in front of them even when all common sense says it can't be correct, even when they are physically proven to be wrong. To be fair I'm sure that in a lot of cases the customer is wrong because basic simple tasks like changing a battery would be beyond them so they just accept whatever the dealer says.
1. Wiper set, it was a full set of front and rears but the rear was far too big and one of the fronts far too small. Went back in and said these are the wrong ones, we checked the numbers on their little flappy book thing.
Halfords: No mate the book is always correct.
Me: Lets see you fit them then.
Stroppy bloke snaps them out of my hand, stomps outside and spends 5 minutes looking confused before mumbling something about year changes (to which I pointed out it was the same shape for many years and the shape either side wouldn't fit that rear wiper either) we eventually agreed a refund was the best idea.
2. Light bulbs, not the correct fitting. 10 minute argument involving 3 members of staff where eventually I called their bluff and similar events to above happened.
3. Brake disks, opened the box before buying but one was twice the size of the other. It was for a Nissan Micra and the big disk was almost as big as the 13 inch wheel. After much debate they agreed there was something wrong and said I could buy the one that was correct. I left and bought elsewhere.
It's not so much that they think we are stupid it's that they blindly follow the writing in front of them even when all common sense says it can't be correct, even when they are physically proven to be wrong. To be fair I'm sure that in a lot of cases the customer is wrong because basic simple tasks like changing a battery would be beyond them so they just accept whatever the dealer says.
Edited by poing on Monday 25th July 20:18
what really annoys me is that i place trust in a main dealer. I am quite capble of changing oil myself but don't have the electronics to re-set the computers. That said i was involved in a non fault fatal accident a couple of years ago and want my car maintained to the highest standards. That you would expect from a main dealer. I will do anything to try and avoid the anguish of trying to save a 21 year old from dying at the side of the road. Having the car in tip top condition is paramount to me especially after that experience.
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