Dealer servicing - should I be making a fuss?
Discussion
Just picked up Mrs. Panda’s R56 Mini Cooper S from a service at a main dealer and driving it home noticed quite a strong smell of oil. Popped the bonnet when I got home and the oil filler cap was not fitted, but placed (I would say carefully) in a little gap towards the rear of the engine bay. Obviously much of the engine bay and underside has a liberal coating of hot fresh oil.
I called the dealership to discuss this, and the feedback from the ‘techs’ was that there was no way they would have done that and left it there. Effectively they are saying it wasn’t them so (by implication) I assume they are saying it must have been me. The dealer offered for me to bring the car back and clean the engine bay and top up the missing oil, but it hardly seems worth the trip.
There was a noticeable lack of acceptance of blame “I can only relay what the techs told me” and truthfully I know there’s nothing more they can do, but it just seems a bit cr@p. It is however relatively consistent with some previous service issues, albeit a few years ago now and for the life of me I don’t know why Mrs. P booked it in there again, but what’s done is done and clearly I have no real recourse (although the ‘feedback questionnaire’ might be interesting…)
I am fed up with this lack of attention to detail though, so I just wondered whether anyone felt it was worth making a fuss about the general principle, or will the dealers simply not care anyway?
I called the dealership to discuss this, and the feedback from the ‘techs’ was that there was no way they would have done that and left it there. Effectively they are saying it wasn’t them so (by implication) I assume they are saying it must have been me. The dealer offered for me to bring the car back and clean the engine bay and top up the missing oil, but it hardly seems worth the trip.
There was a noticeable lack of acceptance of blame “I can only relay what the techs told me” and truthfully I know there’s nothing more they can do, but it just seems a bit cr@p. It is however relatively consistent with some previous service issues, albeit a few years ago now and for the life of me I don’t know why Mrs. P booked it in there again, but what’s done is done and clearly I have no real recourse (although the ‘feedback questionnaire’ might be interesting…)
I am fed up with this lack of attention to detail though, so I just wondered whether anyone felt it was worth making a fuss about the general principle, or will the dealers simply not care anyway?
When my R56 dropped off TLC XL I took it to my trusted indy. The list of sh#t f####ry was long and unamusing.
A few weeks later I asked the same indy to check my Audi as it had an oil drip and I was selling it... local Audi dealer had stripped the sump plugs... new sump... I'd already check the condition of the cabin air filters which were just mashed into the housing.
Nothing goes main dealer now.
My GF picked up an approved used Mini a few months ago. On handover the dealer was programming the Mini Assist button so it works out where the nearest dealer is... I told them to leave it blank...
A few weeks later I asked the same indy to check my Audi as it had an oil drip and I was selling it... local Audi dealer had stripped the sump plugs... new sump... I'd already check the condition of the cabin air filters which were just mashed into the housing.
Nothing goes main dealer now.
My GF picked up an approved used Mini a few months ago. On handover the dealer was programming the Mini Assist button so it works out where the nearest dealer is... I told them to leave it blank...
Oil changes seem difficult for garages these days. In recent years, with different cars, at different garages, I have had 2 cars overfilled enough for EML's to come on, 1 car underfilled so badly you could hear the engine rattle and 2 cars left with filters loose enough to leak oil. I assume the apprentices must get the job.
I would deffo not be happy and be taking it back and complaining bitterly, I assume you have paid for the service so it should be to a standard that you are happy with.
The Techs possibly just fobbed you off, i would be writing /e mailing the service manager and copy in the dealer principal so hopefully they get a rollocking.
The Techs possibly just fobbed you off, i would be writing /e mailing the service manager and copy in the dealer principal so hopefully they get a rollocking.
Same thing happened to my e34 M5...but I only noticed it at on the motorway on the way home, and by the time I'd stopped I don't know how much I'd lost. There was no sign of the filler cap though.
Called the dealer immediately from the motorway junction, and the service manager insisted there was absolutely no way it could have happened, as it was signed off by both the 'apprentice' and 'master technician', but they'd come out and top it back up (just over 3 litres lost in the end)...and steam clean the engine bay when it was in for its next service (every 3 months at the time).
Lucky I don't still have the car, as I'd still be waiting for the offered steam clean some 14 years later.
Called the dealer immediately from the motorway junction, and the service manager insisted there was absolutely no way it could have happened, as it was signed off by both the 'apprentice' and 'master technician', but they'd come out and top it back up (just over 3 litres lost in the end)...and steam clean the engine bay when it was in for its next service (every 3 months at the time).
Lucky I don't still have the car, as I'd still be waiting for the offered steam clean some 14 years later.
Raise the issue and get them to clean the mess and top up the oil.
I have had similar before. A BMW dealer handed me back my car when they left all the engine covers and parts removed for the service loose on top of the engine.
Someone must have dropped the bonnet during the service and they assumed it was finished.
I have had similar before. A BMW dealer handed me back my car when they left all the engine covers and parts removed for the service loose on top of the engine.
Someone must have dropped the bonnet during the service and they assumed it was finished.
Fiat spilled oil all over the belts etc on my six month old Panda. Offered a steam clean of engine!
Vauxhall serviced a CDTi Signum in half the recommended time and then 10 minutes later went into limp mode in the fast lane of the M5. They had carefully detached and tucked a pipe from the turbo behind some random cables so the engine wouldn’t boost.
Renault didn’t replace the wheel nuts properly after a service and a day later there was a vibration at 65-70 mph. When I stopped the holes in the alloy were oval and the wheel was coming off.
s the lot of them.
Vauxhall serviced a CDTi Signum in half the recommended time and then 10 minutes later went into limp mode in the fast lane of the M5. They had carefully detached and tucked a pipe from the turbo behind some random cables so the engine wouldn’t boost.
Renault didn’t replace the wheel nuts properly after a service and a day later there was a vibration at 65-70 mph. When I stopped the holes in the alloy were oval and the wheel was coming off.
s the lot of them.johnoz said:
Thought the Minis run lumpy when you take the oil filler cap off!
You're absolutely right - and therein lies a tale too. I started the car and it ran a bit lumpily, but me - being a know-it-all idiot - thought that was because it had just come out of the valeting bay and was dripping wet, so I assumed some water in the engine bay was causing it. A blast down the dual carriageway and the lumpiness seemed to have subsided, but there was this very strong smell of oil....The problem is, not replacing an oil cap is the same mistake, at its core, as a checkout assistant incorrectly putting through your broccoli as a parsnip. Or the person in charge of the cargo doors on a P&O vessel forgetting to press the button to close them. The mistake is in essence the same, but the consequences are very different. I can't get angry at someone making a genuine human mistake, but I do when they refuse to accept that mistake.
Deranged Rover said:
Go back and accept the top-up of oil and engine bay clean, leave them a st review on Google or wherever, then move on with your life and never darken their door again.
Sadly this, my car had the oil overfilled at service from a main dealer - they twisted themselves round and round denying it was them that did it... eventually trying to tell me that VW's use up to a litre of oil every 600 miles - so there was no way that it could have been overfilled as even if it was, all the extra oil would have been burned by the engine!t review on Google or wherever, then move on with your life and never darken their door again. Not realising that what they had said was that all VW's burn lots of oil - so much for promoting the brand. They seemingly just don't care about building up long term relationships.
Thankfully I've found a excellent alternative not too far away, they went above and beyond when there were issues with VW's server and system updates that delayed activating a reversing camera. Even going so far as to put me in an employee's ID3 for the day and when a part hard to be ordered overnight put me in a new demonstrator Taigo as well.
They will be getting all my servicing business, as well as future car purchases too.
There are good main dealers about, hopefully the bad ones will lose business and close.
Katzenjammer said:
Experience gives impression that if you’re a mechanic in a main dealer service department and are conscientious and capable your colleagues must beat the st out you daily until you conform 
Or you just head off and set up your own Indie Specialist garage, doing a proper job at a sensible cost, and taking responsibility for what leaves your workshop.t out you daily until you conform I guess there must be a reason why all the good Indies are “…ex-main dealer” and why they’re all so busy.
You’d think that the big franchises would want to try and fix that, but perhaps I’m just being old-fashioned.
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