My Vauxhall Service Experience.

[slippery]

As the Monaro is being marketed with 10000 mile intervals, but my SS is supposed to be every 6000 miles, I decided to compromise by servicing every 10000, with an oil and filter change at the half way point. Booked the car in at Vauxhall dealers for 25000 mile oil and filter change and told them that I also needed the brakes looked at as they were getting a bit noisy/juddery. Asked them twice, both prior to and at point of, booking it in, about whether of not they would have the brake pads on the shelf to offer up to my car to see if they fitted. I told them that I had done some homework and that they appeared to be the same and was told that as they were service parts, they would carry them in stock. They did the oil and filter change (£106 inc VAT) and informed me that my rear pads were very low and my front discs had started to crack. When I asked if they could replace as necessary, they told me that they weren't in stock and they weren't prepared to order them in, in case they did not fit and therefore sat on the shelf gathering dust. I pointed out that this was unlikely unless they had sold no Monaros, as they ate pads and discs, but a lot of shouting took place before they backed down and agreed to order the parts. They said they would ring me they following day to let me know when they would be in, but that was Wednesday and they still haven't. As a potential future Monaro customer, of which I made them aware when I made my initial enquiries, I am totally unimpressed. They said they rang their Head Office about it, who told them they needed to ring the Chevrolet Dealers in Manchester about the parts for my car. I know Bauer Millett know nothing about the Lumina because I called them when I bought it. Told them they would be wasting their time and that if they had stuck to what they said in the first place, it would have just been a simple case of seeing if they fitted or not. Prats. Still waiting. Will keep you posted. Hope someone from Vauxhall is reading this, I could just as easily have been a Monaro driver they told the bits were in stock and as a high mileage driver, every day my car has to go back to the garage to have the rest of what should be a simple job finished is a serious pain in the a**e!

>>> Edited by slippery on Friday 2nd July 23:09

[slippery]

Thanks for your suggestions guys, I will certainly be having a look into getting them elsewhere if I don't get a positive response by Monday afternoon. The car has done 500 miles since Wednesday so it's getting pretty urgent now. How long would it take to get the parts in,if I went through the people you mention above? Looks like Linden might come up trumps again!

[slippery]

Yes SJC, I will second that well done!!! You were having the argument before I even knew the site existed. Well anyway, I finally got my brakes sorted today. The Monaro front pads and discs and rear pads fitted straight on to the car without a problem. Total cost including VAT and fitting - £395. At least I can stop again! Asked the Vauxhall garage for a service schedule and information about service pricing. Guess what?!! They don't know yet. They really know how to make life easy for their sales force at Vauxhall don't they?!! Can you imagine a customer's response to a question like that, if it was a Vectra they were thinking about buying and they couldn't get answer? It just seems so disorganised and unprofessional. I bet the only people who are buying Monaros are people that know they want one. If people are weighing up several high quality alternatives, the lack of dealer knowledge would be enough to put any prospective purchaser off. Oh well, at least we will probably retain our rarity value!