Garages - are they all just a bit crap?
Discussion
I've found that you can't always rely on positive feedback from forums, either. I took my Merc to a place that everyone (and I mean literally everyone) on the Merc forum raved about. They charged me the wrong amount, cocked up the updating of the Merc database, and the new diff they fitted leaked oil despite being fine when it went in. Not quite the "this place is brilliant" experience I was hoping for.
There's actually only one place I've been that I thought was fantastic: Center Gravity in Atherstone. Genuinely nice people who know exactly what they are doing when it comes to setting up a suspension, especially on a Porsche. Not cheap, but they are the real deal.
There's actually only one place I've been that I thought was fantastic: Center Gravity in Atherstone. Genuinely nice people who know exactly what they are doing when it comes to setting up a suspension, especially on a Porsche. Not cheap, but they are the real deal.
The stories about brake pads allegedly needing replacement made me smile as I had exactly the opposite experience once.
My car was due for a big service and MOT but needed a tyre and I felt sure the brakes were past their best. As a result, i took it to my local tyre place for the new rubber and asked them to check out the pads and discs whilst it was up on the ramp. They did the tyre and assured me they'd checked the brakes and they were all fine.
A few days later, off goes the car to the garage for service and MOT and I get a call mid-morning explaining that, not only has it failed the MOT miserably for brake performance but that they would refuse to release the car as it was dangerous to drive due to there basically being very little left of the essential parts of the front brake pads or discs. I capitulated and got them to do the work but they showed me the old items when I collected the car and they were indeed a disturbing sight. I nearly smacked my face on the steering wheel when I first applied the brakes as I drove home, too...
My car was due for a big service and MOT but needed a tyre and I felt sure the brakes were past their best. As a result, i took it to my local tyre place for the new rubber and asked them to check out the pads and discs whilst it was up on the ramp. They did the tyre and assured me they'd checked the brakes and they were all fine.
A few days later, off goes the car to the garage for service and MOT and I get a call mid-morning explaining that, not only has it failed the MOT miserably for brake performance but that they would refuse to release the car as it was dangerous to drive due to there basically being very little left of the essential parts of the front brake pads or discs. I capitulated and got them to do the work but they showed me the old items when I collected the car and they were indeed a disturbing sight. I nearly smacked my face on the steering wheel when I first applied the brakes as I drove home, too...
Local BMW dealer has been good, albeit pricey (£300 for an oil change!). Did the job while I waited, plenty of "free" coffee and decent Wi-Fi, and the car came back clean, and with everything in good order.
When I ran older stuff, I used to DIY the basics, and have a mate (VW tech of 30 years, old British bike nut and proper old-school mechanic) look after the rest. He was an absolute god-send. Picked our old mk4 Golf PD130 up from the house on a Saturday morning, changed the clutch and DMF (which I sourced at his recommendation), delivered the car back to me and charged me £100 labour! When you looked under the bonnet, you'd never have known anyone had been in there, and the car drove perfectly.
I'm just waiting to see how the local MINI dealer does next week. Our Clubman has just put up the "you're going to die" red brake pad warning (no yellow advisory one, straight to the serious stuff with a - countdown on the miles from when they absolutely needed changing), but I've checked and there's loads of pad left. The friction material left is about the same width as the backing plate, so a good 8mm or so. Will they have me for an unnecessary set of pads, or will they be honest, reset the warning and tell me to bring it back in 6 months?
When I ran older stuff, I used to DIY the basics, and have a mate (VW tech of 30 years, old British bike nut and proper old-school mechanic) look after the rest. He was an absolute god-send. Picked our old mk4 Golf PD130 up from the house on a Saturday morning, changed the clutch and DMF (which I sourced at his recommendation), delivered the car back to me and charged me £100 labour! When you looked under the bonnet, you'd never have known anyone had been in there, and the car drove perfectly.
I'm just waiting to see how the local MINI dealer does next week. Our Clubman has just put up the "you're going to die" red brake pad warning (no yellow advisory one, straight to the serious stuff with a - countdown on the miles from when they absolutely needed changing), but I've checked and there's loads of pad left. The friction material left is about the same width as the backing plate, so a good 8mm or so. Will they have me for an unnecessary set of pads, or will they be honest, reset the warning and tell me to bring it back in 6 months?
I have experienced the same thing. What you realistically want is the work done, the car not damaged and the car back in the condition you received it.
We have a local garage who have a good reputation, they certainly don't rip you off but at the same time there's been niggles. Handy for servicing but anything that's slightly out of the norm will be deferred. Had an error showing on my E Class, booked it in to be fixed, they printed out the error but said it wasn't something they'd be able to fix. Google'd the error, ordered the part online, fitted myself and fixed.
Also had some work done on the front steering, not long after I'm driving down the motorway and can hear a repeated tapping noise. End up pulling over, look under the car to see the sump cover hanging off and having bounced off the road repeatedly was in a sorry state. Sadly no proof they didn't attach it properly but it's definitely a coincidence that it was after that work it happened.
If it's anything it's little irritations rather than huge problems. I tend to use a specialist for my CLS63 and have had a better experience with them but have heard of them being criticised so they're not perfect.
We have a local garage who have a good reputation, they certainly don't rip you off but at the same time there's been niggles. Handy for servicing but anything that's slightly out of the norm will be deferred. Had an error showing on my E Class, booked it in to be fixed, they printed out the error but said it wasn't something they'd be able to fix. Google'd the error, ordered the part online, fitted myself and fixed.
Also had some work done on the front steering, not long after I'm driving down the motorway and can hear a repeated tapping noise. End up pulling over, look under the car to see the sump cover hanging off and having bounced off the road repeatedly was in a sorry state. Sadly no proof they didn't attach it properly but it's definitely a coincidence that it was after that work it happened.
If it's anything it's little irritations rather than huge problems. I tend to use a specialist for my CLS63 and have had a better experience with them but have heard of them being criticised so they're not perfect.
joropug said:
To add to my previous comment. In for wheel alignment this morning. Car now veers left and steering points right.
Local business that seems to have been bought out by a larger brand recently. Could really tell and now I have a second visit to rectify.
I absolutely HATE having alignments done. Never happy with them. Only one place I trust to do it right which is a 50 mile drive each way, but I am happy to make the journey for it.Local business that seems to have been bought out by a larger brand recently. Could really tell and now I have a second visit to rectify.
My local main dealer for BMW (Harwoods Basingstoke) has actually been very good for servicing and other jobs for a previous car and 2 current daily drivers (mine and the other half's), including for hers arguing the toss for a warranty claim that wasn't a BMW warranty but came included with the car when we bought it from elsewhere (used). My one and only warranty experience as I don't warranty my cars but this ended up being very worthwhile. They also provided a loan car for free for 2 months when a recall part was out of stock at BMW as a potential exhaust gas intrusion into the cabin due to it could have had obvious bad consequences (and this was on a 4 year old car).
More recently with my new toy (an Alpina) I was very impressed with Kevin Bird and his team at Birds BMW in Iver near Slough who sorted a few bits for me and had looked after the car for the last c7 years under the previous owner. Very detailed paperwork and they clearly know their stuff. Many seem to know them just for their tuning and suspension work (Quaife LSD's for example) but they can actually do anything a normal BMW dealer does so my baby will be being serviced there from now on.
Just thought I would spread some positive cheer in amongst the in some cases shockingly bad experiences many seem to have had with other garages.
More recently with my new toy (an Alpina) I was very impressed with Kevin Bird and his team at Birds BMW in Iver near Slough who sorted a few bits for me and had looked after the car for the last c7 years under the previous owner. Very detailed paperwork and they clearly know their stuff. Many seem to know them just for their tuning and suspension work (Quaife LSD's for example) but they can actually do anything a normal BMW dealer does so my baby will be being serviced there from now on.
Just thought I would spread some positive cheer in amongst the in some cases shockingly bad experiences many seem to have had with other garages.
sheepman said:
I feel I'm quite lucky in that the place I use for my van are spot on for servicing/repairs and I can usually get an MOT the same day if I forget too.
The specialist I use for my car (honda HQ) are again spot on and genuine Honda enthusiasts so the work is always top quality.
Just used Honda Hq for some work and was also impressed lived up to what I'd heard about. The specialist I use for my car (honda HQ) are again spot on and genuine Honda enthusiasts so the work is always top quality.
bloomen said:
I use two local garages and have done for years now. One of them hates their boss so much they do their best not to charge me. When there's no financial incentive that seems to remove a lot of the issues.
Tremendous, they’ll not be there long if they have the same policy for all customers.I own an independent garage and employ 5 chaps + me. I'd be horrified if we had caused some of the issues being spoken about on here. We try and get it right first time and on time, and if I have to handle two complaints then it's a bad year. Perhaps I'm just lucky I have a really good team of experienced guys to work with, so please don't tar us all with the same brush!
Deranged Rover said:
The stories about brake pads allegedly needing replacement made me smile as I had exactly the opposite experience once.
My car was due for a big service and MOT but needed a tyre and I felt sure the brakes were past their best. As a result, i took it to my local tyre place for the new rubber and asked them to check out the pads and discs whilst it was up on the ramp. They did the tyre and assured me they'd checked the brakes and they were all fine.
A few days later, off goes the car to the garage for service and MOT and I get a call mid-morning explaining that, not only has it failed the MOT miserably for brake performance but that they would refuse to release the car as it was dangerous to drive due to there basically being very little left of the essential parts of the front brake pads or discs. I capitulated and got them to do the work but they showed me the old items when I collected the car and they were indeed a disturbing sight. I nearly smacked my face on the steering wheel when I first applied the brakes as I drove home, too...
Sorry for thread crash, but is it actually legal for a garage to refuse to release a car? You could be trailering it away for example.My car was due for a big service and MOT but needed a tyre and I felt sure the brakes were past their best. As a result, i took it to my local tyre place for the new rubber and asked them to check out the pads and discs whilst it was up on the ramp. They did the tyre and assured me they'd checked the brakes and they were all fine.
A few days later, off goes the car to the garage for service and MOT and I get a call mid-morning explaining that, not only has it failed the MOT miserably for brake performance but that they would refuse to release the car as it was dangerous to drive due to there basically being very little left of the essential parts of the front brake pads or discs. I capitulated and got them to do the work but they showed me the old items when I collected the car and they were indeed a disturbing sight. I nearly smacked my face on the steering wheel when I first applied the brakes as I drove home, too...
MrOrange said:
Wildcat45 said:
My franchised JLR dealer has been pretty good with our new cars. It surprises me because I've a few friends who have had less than great experience at the same branch.
- expectation*
Be lucky is my motto.
I was a bit silly with a new Discovery Sport once and managed to dislodge an under tray. I took it in, it was clearly self inflicted, and I was expecting to pay. Half an hour later the car was returned, cleaned at no charge.
Yet my neighbour and a colleague of my wife have had really bad experiences there.
Maybe it's an attitude thing. I'm pretty laid back with them and so long as I get a decent kosher, I'm happy for them to take their time. I'm polite, have a laugh with them where appropriate and approach them with an attitude that we are all professionals.
Back to Indy's. It's a shame when one goes bad. I used to use one local to me. They were great but steadily became less enthusiastic and helpful.
They used to beat online tyre prices. One day I needed a tyre urgently. A nearly new tyre damaged side wall and just a squirty can for punctures. The tyre was nothing rare, or odd, a Good Year Wrangler. They couldn't get one. Try again next week. I looked online, ordered it and looked at fitting options. Yep, the nearest fitter was this Indy. I opted for a man in a van at my house. It was suggested to me by a friend that they'd got a contract to service a big fleet of vans and that they were chasing easy money. All well and good but where is the goodwill when the van contract expires?
I generally avoid garages but its impossible for MOTs, my absolute favourite was the MOT centre in Knutsford if anyone knows it ?
Only ever had MOT's done but it was always a pleasure, the proprietor is a lovely chap, mad as a tupperware container full of genetically altered Stoats with a manic laugh, always pleasant and chatty, seems genuinely happy to help you out, lent me a car on one occasion as I was stuck.
The place was mad as well, leather sofas, a grand piano and a selection of easy listening playing from the extensive collection, papers, free drinks and toffees, just a very characterful experience, nip in have a chat, go and get a bacon butty from the van down the road, go back and have a brew and your car was ready.
The business moved to Holmes Chapel which is too far for an MOT, did see the owner and stopped to say hello in our local Sainsburys, I heard his laugh 2 aisles away and had to go and say hi.
Anyone been here ?
Only ever had MOT's done but it was always a pleasure, the proprietor is a lovely chap, mad as a tupperware container full of genetically altered Stoats with a manic laugh, always pleasant and chatty, seems genuinely happy to help you out, lent me a car on one occasion as I was stuck.
The place was mad as well, leather sofas, a grand piano and a selection of easy listening playing from the extensive collection, papers, free drinks and toffees, just a very characterful experience, nip in have a chat, go and get a bacon butty from the van down the road, go back and have a brew and your car was ready.
The business moved to Holmes Chapel which is too far for an MOT, did see the owner and stopped to say hello in our local Sainsburys, I heard his laugh 2 aisles away and had to go and say hi.
Anyone been here ?
Garage owner here well former!
It's a lose lose really anything to do with spannering. I have a moderately successful business established for 10 years doing sales/parts. 4 Years ago in my infinite wisdom I decided to open our doors to outside service work. I won't say I regret it as in a way it was valuable life experience but NEVER AGAIN!
We did 3.5 years at it. I think we did a good job (I think OP was one of our customer actually - we didnt have his seat out though!) but it was very hard. For a bit of context this is highly specialised (Lotus) not fast paced in and out type suff. We are/were honest worked hard to please people and were very (too)reasonable with our pricing. In the main it was OK but the difficulties just in organising everything. There's a lot to know and we only did single marque. The reasons I gave it up were primarily that the hassle to reward ratio was nowhere near where I needed to be. We didn't need the small additional income as such and it was so busy it had started to impact other (better) areas of what we do.
Unfortunately we did also have just a handful of shall I say difficult customers that really took the shine off what could often have been a good bit of toil on a car and bending over backwards/coming in Sundays etc. People really don't like spending on their cars even "pride and joy" cars. We would sometimes invest quite a bit of time in locating a fault or doing a service and finding some preventative maintenance doing but came to the conclusion that people in the main aren't really arsed and just wanted a stamp in the book.
The biggie was always those words I heard probably maybe only 2/3 times but buy oh boy did it absolutely boil my urine "That mark wasn't on it when I brought it in" Honestly if I had heard that once more I would have had a heart attack on the spot! In our unit all the cars are kept inside with full walk space around them and no chance of anything hitting an alloy or marking paint or anything. We did far more for people in that regard than any Franchise dealer could I think there's a scrutiny that goes on after your car has been in somewhere and you can pick up on odd marks that you simply didn't see before. 5% of supposed damage I reckon might be genuine. I think there's a problem that people think they have received a good service level if the bill was small. If they have had to spend all of a sudden there was a clip missing or some other small niggle point is latched upon.
There certainly are good garages out there. In 20 years of messing about with cars and 10 in the trade I can sniff a bulls
tter 100 yards away. We have a good little network built up to do most jobs now. It is tough as very often the latest "hot" specialist can get a bit of a good rep based from a single forum post but can actually be pretty poor. We found this a good few times.
Obviously bigger franchise places you'll be very hard pressed to find any that are run properly.
It's a tough job anyway. The guys on the spanners are lucky to earn 20-30k at a max doing a tough job. It's an awful existence in winter too! - service managers are stressed/overworked. You wouldn't want their job and bear in mind when you visit your friendly local garage that their job I can pretty much guarantee you is harder that what you do to make your money. If things are that bad....You do it!
It's a lose lose really anything to do with spannering. I have a moderately successful business established for 10 years doing sales/parts. 4 Years ago in my infinite wisdom I decided to open our doors to outside service work. I won't say I regret it as in a way it was valuable life experience but NEVER AGAIN!
We did 3.5 years at it. I think we did a good job (I think OP was one of our customer actually - we didnt have his seat out though!) but it was very hard. For a bit of context this is highly specialised (Lotus) not fast paced in and out type suff. We are/were honest worked hard to please people and were very (too)reasonable with our pricing. In the main it was OK but the difficulties just in organising everything. There's a lot to know and we only did single marque. The reasons I gave it up were primarily that the hassle to reward ratio was nowhere near where I needed to be. We didn't need the small additional income as such and it was so busy it had started to impact other (better) areas of what we do.
Unfortunately we did also have just a handful of shall I say difficult customers that really took the shine off what could often have been a good bit of toil on a car and bending over backwards/coming in Sundays etc. People really don't like spending on their cars even "pride and joy" cars. We would sometimes invest quite a bit of time in locating a fault or doing a service and finding some preventative maintenance doing but came to the conclusion that people in the main aren't really arsed and just wanted a stamp in the book.
The biggie was always those words I heard probably maybe only 2/3 times but buy oh boy did it absolutely boil my urine "That mark wasn't on it when I brought it in" Honestly if I had heard that once more I would have had a heart attack on the spot! In our unit all the cars are kept inside with full walk space around them and no chance of anything hitting an alloy or marking paint or anything. We did far more for people in that regard than any Franchise dealer could I think there's a scrutiny that goes on after your car has been in somewhere and you can pick up on odd marks that you simply didn't see before. 5% of supposed damage I reckon might be genuine. I think there's a problem that people think they have received a good service level if the bill was small. If they have had to spend all of a sudden there was a clip missing or some other small niggle point is latched upon.
There certainly are good garages out there. In 20 years of messing about with cars and 10 in the trade I can sniff a bulls
tter 100 yards away. We have a good little network built up to do most jobs now. It is tough as very often the latest "hot" specialist can get a bit of a good rep based from a single forum post but can actually be pretty poor. We found this a good few times. Obviously bigger franchise places you'll be very hard pressed to find any that are run properly.
It's a tough job anyway. The guys on the spanners are lucky to earn 20-30k at a max doing a tough job. It's an awful existence in winter too! - service managers are stressed/overworked. You wouldn't want their job and bear in mind when you visit your friendly local garage that their job I can pretty much guarantee you is harder that what you do to make your money. If things are that bad....You do it!
Edited by fridaypassion on Thursday 21st November 09:57
Edited by fridaypassion on Thursday 21st November 10:26
My advice - find a good mobile mechanic for servicing/ routine maintenance jobs.
Make him welcome, build a rapport, tell him from the outset that you expect things to be done properly/ you are fussy so everyone knows where they stand.
Make conversation while your car is being worked on - regular tea/ biscuits help.
Main dealers, IME, are frankly shocking for the most part.
Kwik Fit/ National Tyres, etc get a bad rep from some.
I've found them better than main dealers - maybe I'm just fortunate to have a couple of good branches locally.
Make him welcome, build a rapport, tell him from the outset that you expect things to be done properly/ you are fussy so everyone knows where they stand.
Make conversation while your car is being worked on - regular tea/ biscuits help.
Main dealers, IME, are frankly shocking for the most part.
Kwik Fit/ National Tyres, etc get a bad rep from some.
I've found them better than main dealers - maybe I'm just fortunate to have a couple of good branches locally.
Red 4 said:
Kwik Fit/ National Tyres, etc get a bad rep from some.
I've found them better than main dealers - maybe I'm just fortunate to have a couple of good branches locally.
I find it really strange how each individual outpost of a chain has a totally different character. My main place is a local chain. Their depot has had the same people for several years. I've found them better than main dealers - maybe I'm just fortunate to have a couple of good branches locally.
The flagship branch employs nothing but junkies and the clueless who wander in off the street and they're usually gone within a couple of months.
fridaypassion said:
Garage owner here well former!
It's a lose lose really anything to do with spannering. I have a moderately successful business established for 10 years doing sales/parts. 4 Years ago in my infinite wisdom I decided to open our doors to outside service work. I won't say I regret it as in a way it was valuable life experience but NEVER AGAIN!
We did 3.5 years at it. I think we did a good job (I think OP was one of our customer actually - we didnt have his seat out though!) but it was very hard. For a bit of context this is highly specialised (Lotus) not fast paced in and out type suff. We are/were honest worked hard to please people and were very (too)reasonable with our pricing. In the main it was OK but the difficulties just in organising everything. There's a lot to know and we only did single marque. The reasons I gave it up were primarily that the hassle to reward ratio was nowhere near where I needed to be. We didn't need the small additional income as such and it was so busy it had started to impact other (better) areas of what we do.
Unfortunately we did also have just a handful of shall I say difficult customers that really took the shine off what could often have been a good bit of toil on a car and bending over backwards/coming in Sundays etc. People really don't like spending on their cars even "pride and joy" cars. We would sometimes invest quite a bit of time in locating a fault or doing a service and finding some preventative maintenance doing but came to the conclusion that people in the main aren't really arsed and just wanted a stamp in the book.
The biggie was always those words I heard probably maybe only 2/3 times but buy oh boy did it absolutely boil my urine "That mark wasn't on it when I brought it in" Honestly if I had heard that once more I would have had a heart attack on the spot! In our unit all the cars are kept inside with full walk space around them and no chance of anything hitting an alloy or marking paint or anything. We did far more for people in that regard than any Franchise dealer could I think there's a scrutiny that goes on after your car has been in somewhere and you can pick up on odd marks that you simply didn't see before. 5% of supposed damage I reckon might be genuine. I think there's a problem that people think they have received a good service level if the bill was small. If they have had to spend all of a sudden there was a clip missing or some other small niggle point is latched upon.
There certainly are good garages out there. In 20 years of messing about with cars and 10 in the trade I can sniff a bullstter 100 yards away. We have a good little network built up to do most jobs now. It is tough as very often the latest "hot" specialist can get a bit of a good rep based from a single forum post but can actually be pretty poor. We found this a good few times.
Obviously bigger franchise places you'll be very hard pressed to find any that are run properly.
It's a tough job anyway. The guys on the spanners are lucky to earn 20-30k at a max doing a tough job. It's an awful existence in winter too! - service managers are stressed/overworked. You wouldn't want their job and bear in mind when you visit your friendly local garage that their job I can pretty much guarantee you is harder that what you do to make your money. If things are that bad....You do it!
Fair comments. I was indeed a customer and certainly no complaints - was gutted when you stopped doing outside service work! I think it's telling that the service side just wasn't worthwhile for someone in your position (i.e. sales side helping with overheads). Maybe this is the problem, the decent outfits realise there's no value in taking the time to do a good job and so disappear, then it's a race to the bottom on price for the rest.It's a lose lose really anything to do with spannering. I have a moderately successful business established for 10 years doing sales/parts. 4 Years ago in my infinite wisdom I decided to open our doors to outside service work. I won't say I regret it as in a way it was valuable life experience but NEVER AGAIN!
We did 3.5 years at it. I think we did a good job (I think OP was one of our customer actually - we didnt have his seat out though!) but it was very hard. For a bit of context this is highly specialised (Lotus) not fast paced in and out type suff. We are/were honest worked hard to please people and were very (too)reasonable with our pricing. In the main it was OK but the difficulties just in organising everything. There's a lot to know and we only did single marque. The reasons I gave it up were primarily that the hassle to reward ratio was nowhere near where I needed to be. We didn't need the small additional income as such and it was so busy it had started to impact other (better) areas of what we do.
Unfortunately we did also have just a handful of shall I say difficult customers that really took the shine off what could often have been a good bit of toil on a car and bending over backwards/coming in Sundays etc. People really don't like spending on their cars even "pride and joy" cars. We would sometimes invest quite a bit of time in locating a fault or doing a service and finding some preventative maintenance doing but came to the conclusion that people in the main aren't really arsed and just wanted a stamp in the book.
The biggie was always those words I heard probably maybe only 2/3 times but buy oh boy did it absolutely boil my urine "That mark wasn't on it when I brought it in" Honestly if I had heard that once more I would have had a heart attack on the spot! In our unit all the cars are kept inside with full walk space around them and no chance of anything hitting an alloy or marking paint or anything. We did far more for people in that regard than any Franchise dealer could I think there's a scrutiny that goes on after your car has been in somewhere and you can pick up on odd marks that you simply didn't see before. 5% of supposed damage I reckon might be genuine. I think there's a problem that people think they have received a good service level if the bill was small. If they have had to spend all of a sudden there was a clip missing or some other small niggle point is latched upon.
There certainly are good garages out there. In 20 years of messing about with cars and 10 in the trade I can sniff a bulls
tter 100 yards away. We have a good little network built up to do most jobs now. It is tough as very often the latest "hot" specialist can get a bit of a good rep based from a single forum post but can actually be pretty poor. We found this a good few times. Obviously bigger franchise places you'll be very hard pressed to find any that are run properly.
It's a tough job anyway. The guys on the spanners are lucky to earn 20-30k at a max doing a tough job. It's an awful existence in winter too! - service managers are stressed/overworked. You wouldn't want their job and bear in mind when you visit your friendly local garage that their job I can pretty much guarantee you is harder that what you do to make your money. If things are that bad....You do it!
My rant was mainly based on recent experiences with generic outfits that have ballsed up basic tasks - admittedly I've used them based on convenience and price - and tinged with historical bad experience with other specialists. My thread title in hindsight seems a bit inflammatory, so apologies for that.
My experiences with them has certailnly got worse over the years, but then customer service standards have largely declined in many customer facing sectors. I booked my BMW in for a few points to look at 2 weeks before I dropped it off at 8am. Heard nothing all day, called them at 4pm to ask what's going on, only to be told that they hadn't had the chance to look at it yet and can we 'keep it until tomorrow night'!! If you're going to schedule a vehicle in, knowing what to check for, you'd expect them to check it.
The other half and I also took her Merc in for a minor service and a recall just last weekend. Again, all booked well in advance. They initally said it would be an hour, so we decided to wait. 3 hours later still there, and eventually told that they didn't have the correct information to fix the recall, so it's back in this weekend.
Just frustrating - first world problems I know...
The other half and I also took her Merc in for a minor service and a recall just last weekend. Again, all booked well in advance. They initally said it would be an hour, so we decided to wait. 3 hours later still there, and eventually told that they didn't have the correct information to fix the recall, so it's back in this weekend.
Just frustrating - first world problems I know...
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