Main Dealers . . .
Discussion
So after years of running around in old but interesting cars, a few years back family pressure see's me buying a brand new Renault Grand Scenic, does what its meant to and is resonable fun in the twisty bits even if the turbo lag is dangerous when attempting a quick entrance onto a roundabout . . . .
It serves well for 18 months then after the inside starts to smell less than fresh I discover that both front underfloor storage bins are now mini 6" deep swimming pools, nil desperandom as I bail them out and dry them with the trusty hairdryer before clearing the cause (blocked scuttle drains) and booking it in under warranty to have the front seats removed so the carpet and underlay can be removed and dried out properly. My dealer (Renault Liverpool) kindly gives me a useless Nissan Note (useless to me as I need 7 seats) and despite my grumblings are unable to give me anything else.
Not to worry as just 3 days later I'm called to say my Scenic is now a dry zone and can be collected, now I'm a suspicious type and my natural curiosty makes me look under the dash, the carpet on a scenic stops just out of sight just behind the glove box while the sound deadening carries on up behind the dash, except now my sound deadening is cut at the same level where the carpet ends and the 2" of foam behind is bursting out,worse still putting a hand down behind the deadening I can wring water out and hear it running down the bulkhead into the footwell.
It would seem it was all my fault as after complaining to the receptionist on the service desk she now says they usually require at least 7 days to dry out a car, even pointing out that YOU CALLED ME TO SAY IT WAS DONE! falls on deaf ears. I'm now offered the Nissan Note back again as they dont provide a seven seat loan car, I decide instead to take my car and call Renault UK once home. Funny but within 20 mins of calling Renault UK the ever unfriendly Renault Liverpool suddenly finds a 7 seat loan car and if I'd like to drive the 10 miles back then my car would be sorted.
So now I have an even nicer Scenic with leather and all the toys to run round in, goody.
Fast forward 2 weeks and I'm back at Renault Liverpool as my car is now sorted, hmmm, sorted would mean a full in and out valet and a strip of 'sticky stuff' covering the bodged slash in my underlay/sound deadening, looks very neat, well it did before I ripped it off before leaving the dealer, to find . . . yep ,soaking wet 2" thick sound deadening. Now I'm in to see the service manager, he agrees its a lash up, poor workmanship and sucks air and tuts with utter conviction, 5 mins after and I'm off home in their nice Scenic (filled with diesel by a salesman in the time it took to sort everything out) again with a promise that it would be sorted, I informed Renault UK's arse kicking department again and waited the call.
4 weeks passed by and I come home to find a man dressed in a Renault jacket wandering on my path, seems he's arrived to collect their loan car as they have been calling me for 2 weeks (lies) e mailing me (more lies) and have put several notes through my front door (even more lies) saying my Scenic is sorted and dry. Hoorah its only taken nearly 6 weeks and a complete new sound deadening and underlay. So now I would'nt buy another Renault so I buy a new, brand new Ford Galaxy, big, spacy,well made its ideal, wonder what the dealers are like?
At 4000 miles I get to find out, my new Ford stops dead while in traffic and is towed into People's Ford after the RAC diagnose a fuel delivery problem. 7 days of replacing parts (fuel vapour unit, fuel filter and several more parts) but it still wont start, on the eigth day they sample the fuel, decide its contaminated with 'something' (even though i've done over 60 miles since fueling) and declare that its no longer a warranty job and I should make an insurance claim to cover what could be a very expensive bill. So I claim, its all in hand, People's tell me they have the go ahead from my insurance and its go go go . . . I call 2 or 3 times a week as I miss my Galaxy but they're waiting on parts, 4 weeks after claiming (5after car went in) I'm told they are just awaiting the return of the injectors and I'll have my Galaxy back.
The day comes and goes (last Tuesday 18/2) and my patience wears out and I call them on the Friday , now I'm told that the estimate for the repair was only done yesterday (mate) The same 'service supervisor' (though he calls me mate all the time) who told me the injectors were the last puzzle piece has now changed his story, he also keeps asking me to 'stop shouting'. Another promise of a call back slips by and eventually I am told that my car has slipped into a black hole ,there's a joke here somewhere with it being a Galaxy and I hope its as big when its returned . . .
So in a nutshell they've had my car 5 weeks, my insurance is paying for a hire car and they have done nothing except to find a black hole in the workshop, Stephen Hawking eat ya heart out.
Is it me or are all main dealers now really this bad?
It serves well for 18 months then after the inside starts to smell less than fresh I discover that both front underfloor storage bins are now mini 6" deep swimming pools, nil desperandom as I bail them out and dry them with the trusty hairdryer before clearing the cause (blocked scuttle drains) and booking it in under warranty to have the front seats removed so the carpet and underlay can be removed and dried out properly. My dealer (Renault Liverpool) kindly gives me a useless Nissan Note (useless to me as I need 7 seats) and despite my grumblings are unable to give me anything else.
Not to worry as just 3 days later I'm called to say my Scenic is now a dry zone and can be collected, now I'm a suspicious type and my natural curiosty makes me look under the dash, the carpet on a scenic stops just out of sight just behind the glove box while the sound deadening carries on up behind the dash, except now my sound deadening is cut at the same level where the carpet ends and the 2" of foam behind is bursting out,worse still putting a hand down behind the deadening I can wring water out and hear it running down the bulkhead into the footwell.
It would seem it was all my fault as after complaining to the receptionist on the service desk she now says they usually require at least 7 days to dry out a car, even pointing out that YOU CALLED ME TO SAY IT WAS DONE! falls on deaf ears. I'm now offered the Nissan Note back again as they dont provide a seven seat loan car, I decide instead to take my car and call Renault UK once home. Funny but within 20 mins of calling Renault UK the ever unfriendly Renault Liverpool suddenly finds a 7 seat loan car and if I'd like to drive the 10 miles back then my car would be sorted.
So now I have an even nicer Scenic with leather and all the toys to run round in, goody.
Fast forward 2 weeks and I'm back at Renault Liverpool as my car is now sorted, hmmm, sorted would mean a full in and out valet and a strip of 'sticky stuff' covering the bodged slash in my underlay/sound deadening, looks very neat, well it did before I ripped it off before leaving the dealer, to find . . . yep ,soaking wet 2" thick sound deadening. Now I'm in to see the service manager, he agrees its a lash up, poor workmanship and sucks air and tuts with utter conviction, 5 mins after and I'm off home in their nice Scenic (filled with diesel by a salesman in the time it took to sort everything out) again with a promise that it would be sorted, I informed Renault UK's arse kicking department again and waited the call.
4 weeks passed by and I come home to find a man dressed in a Renault jacket wandering on my path, seems he's arrived to collect their loan car as they have been calling me for 2 weeks (lies) e mailing me (more lies) and have put several notes through my front door (even more lies) saying my Scenic is sorted and dry. Hoorah its only taken nearly 6 weeks and a complete new sound deadening and underlay. So now I would'nt buy another Renault so I buy a new, brand new Ford Galaxy, big, spacy,well made its ideal, wonder what the dealers are like?
At 4000 miles I get to find out, my new Ford stops dead while in traffic and is towed into People's Ford after the RAC diagnose a fuel delivery problem. 7 days of replacing parts (fuel vapour unit, fuel filter and several more parts) but it still wont start, on the eigth day they sample the fuel, decide its contaminated with 'something' (even though i've done over 60 miles since fueling) and declare that its no longer a warranty job and I should make an insurance claim to cover what could be a very expensive bill. So I claim, its all in hand, People's tell me they have the go ahead from my insurance and its go go go . . . I call 2 or 3 times a week as I miss my Galaxy but they're waiting on parts, 4 weeks after claiming (5after car went in) I'm told they are just awaiting the return of the injectors and I'll have my Galaxy back.
The day comes and goes (last Tuesday 18/2) and my patience wears out and I call them on the Friday , now I'm told that the estimate for the repair was only done yesterday (mate) The same 'service supervisor' (though he calls me mate all the time) who told me the injectors were the last puzzle piece has now changed his story, he also keeps asking me to 'stop shouting'. Another promise of a call back slips by and eventually I am told that my car has slipped into a black hole ,there's a joke here somewhere with it being a Galaxy and I hope its as big when its returned . . .
So in a nutshell they've had my car 5 weeks, my insurance is paying for a hire car and they have done nothing except to find a black hole in the workshop, Stephen Hawking eat ya heart out.
Is it me or are all main dealers now really this bad?
Edited by andicog on Monday 24th February 21:44
Well, i took my car in for a new wheel bearing the week before last. Workshop chap come out with me and agrees that the OSF bearing is shot and needs replacing.
Picked up the car 5 days later, and within 30 seconds its pretty obvious they've not done anything - it's still making the same noise (test driven obviously...)
When i took it back the following day, job sheet says OSF, job card says NSF changed.
The quickest of test drives would have revealed something was very wrong!
Picked up the car 5 days later, and within 30 seconds its pretty obvious they've not done anything - it's still making the same noise (test driven obviously...)
When i took it back the following day, job sheet says OSF, job card says NSF changed.
The quickest of test drives would have revealed something was very wrong!
andicog said:
So after years of running around in old but interesting cars, a few years back family pressure see's me buying a brand new Renault Grand Scenic, does what its meant to and is resonable fun in the twisty bits even if the turbo lag is dangerous when attempting a quick entrance onto a roundabout . . . .
It serves well for 18 months then after the inside starts to smell less than fresh I discover that both front underfloor storage bins are now mini 6" deep swimming pools, nil desperandom as I bail them out and dry them with the trusty hairdryer before clearing the cause (blocked scuttle drains) and booking it in under warranty to have the front seats removed so the carpet and underlay can be removed and dried out properly. My dealer (Renault Liverpool) kindly gives me a useless Nissan Note (useless to me as I need 7 seats) and despite my grumblings are unable to give me anything else.
Not to worry as just 3 days later I'm called to say my Scenic is now a dry zone and can be collected, now I'm a suspicious type and my natural curiosty makes me look under the dash, the carpet on a scenic stops just out of sight just behind the glove box while the sound deadening carries on up behind the dash, except now my sound deadening is cut at the same level where the carpet ends and the 2" of foam behind is bursting out,worse still putting a hand down behind the deadening I can wring water out and hear it running down the bulkhead into the footwell.
It would seem it was all my fault as after complaining to the receptionist on the service desk she now says they usually require at least 7 days to dry out a car, even pointing out that YOU CALLED ME TO SAY IT WAS DONE! falls on deaf ears. I'm now offered the Nissan Note back again as they dont provide a seven seat loan car, I decide instead to take my car and call Renault UK once home. Funny but within 20 mins of calling Renault UK the ever unfriendly Renault Liverpool suddenly finds a 7 seat loan car and if I'd like to drive the 10 miles back then my car would be sorted.
So now I have an even nicer Scenic with leather and all the toys to run round in, goody.
Fast forward 2 weeks and I'm back at Renault Liverpool as my car is now sorted, hmmm, sorted would mean a full in and out valet and a strip of 'sticky stuff' covering the bodged slash in my underlay/sound deadening, looks very neat, well it did before I ripped it off before leaving the dealer, to find . . . yep ,soaking wet 2" thick sound deadening. Now I'm in to see the service manager, he agrees its a lash up, poor workmanship and sucks air and tuts with utter conviction, 5 mins after and I'm off home in their nice Scenic (filled with diesel by a salesman in the time it took to sort everything out) again with a promise that it would be sorted, I informed Renault UK's arse kicking department again and waited the call.
4 weeks passed by and I come home to find a man dressed in a Renault jacket wandering on my path, seems he's arrived to collect their loan car as they have been calling me for 2 weeks (lies) e mailing me (more lies) and have put several notes through my front door (even more lies) saying my Scenic is sorted and dry. Hoorah its only taken nearly 6 weeks and a complete new sound deadening and underlay. So now I would'nt buy another Renault so I buy a new, brand new Ford Galaxy, big, spacy,well made its ideal, wonder what the dealers are like?
At 4000 miles I get to find out, my new Ford stops dead while in traffic and is towed into People's Ford after the RAC diagnose a fuel delivery problem. 7 days of replacing parts (fuel vapour unit, fuel filter and several more parts) but it still wont start, on the eigth day they sample the fuel, decide its contaminated with 'something' (even though i've done over 60 miles since fueling) and declare that its no longer a warranty job and I should make an insurance claim to cover what could be a very expensive bill. So I claim, its all in hand, People's tell me they have the go ahead from my insurance and its go go go . . . I call 2 or 3 times a week as I miss my Galaxy but they're waiting on parts, 4 weeks after claiming (5after car went in) I'm told they are just awaiting the return of the injectors and I'll have my Galaxy back.
The day comes and goes (last Tuesday 18/2) and my patience wears out and I call them on the Friday , now I'm told that the estimate for the repair was only done yesterday (mate) The same 'service supervisor' (though he calls me mate all the time) who told me the injectors were the last puzzle piece has now changed his story, he also keeps asking me to 'stop shouting'. Another promise of a call back slips by and eventually I am told that my car has slipped into a black hole ,there's a joke here somewhere with it being a Galaxy and I hope its as big when its returned . . .
So in a nutshell they've had my car 5 weeks, my insurance is paying for a hire car and they have done nothing except to find a black hole in the workshop, Stephen Hawking eat ya heart out.
Is it me or are all main dealers now really this bad?
NoIt serves well for 18 months then after the inside starts to smell less than fresh I discover that both front underfloor storage bins are now mini 6" deep swimming pools, nil desperandom as I bail them out and dry them with the trusty hairdryer before clearing the cause (blocked scuttle drains) and booking it in under warranty to have the front seats removed so the carpet and underlay can be removed and dried out properly. My dealer (Renault Liverpool) kindly gives me a useless Nissan Note (useless to me as I need 7 seats) and despite my grumblings are unable to give me anything else.
Not to worry as just 3 days later I'm called to say my Scenic is now a dry zone and can be collected, now I'm a suspicious type and my natural curiosty makes me look under the dash, the carpet on a scenic stops just out of sight just behind the glove box while the sound deadening carries on up behind the dash, except now my sound deadening is cut at the same level where the carpet ends and the 2" of foam behind is bursting out,worse still putting a hand down behind the deadening I can wring water out and hear it running down the bulkhead into the footwell.
It would seem it was all my fault as after complaining to the receptionist on the service desk she now says they usually require at least 7 days to dry out a car, even pointing out that YOU CALLED ME TO SAY IT WAS DONE! falls on deaf ears. I'm now offered the Nissan Note back again as they dont provide a seven seat loan car, I decide instead to take my car and call Renault UK once home. Funny but within 20 mins of calling Renault UK the ever unfriendly Renault Liverpool suddenly finds a 7 seat loan car and if I'd like to drive the 10 miles back then my car would be sorted.
So now I have an even nicer Scenic with leather and all the toys to run round in, goody.
Fast forward 2 weeks and I'm back at Renault Liverpool as my car is now sorted, hmmm, sorted would mean a full in and out valet and a strip of 'sticky stuff' covering the bodged slash in my underlay/sound deadening, looks very neat, well it did before I ripped it off before leaving the dealer, to find . . . yep ,soaking wet 2" thick sound deadening. Now I'm in to see the service manager, he agrees its a lash up, poor workmanship and sucks air and tuts with utter conviction, 5 mins after and I'm off home in their nice Scenic (filled with diesel by a salesman in the time it took to sort everything out) again with a promise that it would be sorted, I informed Renault UK's arse kicking department again and waited the call.
4 weeks passed by and I come home to find a man dressed in a Renault jacket wandering on my path, seems he's arrived to collect their loan car as they have been calling me for 2 weeks (lies) e mailing me (more lies) and have put several notes through my front door (even more lies) saying my Scenic is sorted and dry. Hoorah its only taken nearly 6 weeks and a complete new sound deadening and underlay. So now I would'nt buy another Renault so I buy a new, brand new Ford Galaxy, big, spacy,well made its ideal, wonder what the dealers are like?
At 4000 miles I get to find out, my new Ford stops dead while in traffic and is towed into People's Ford after the RAC diagnose a fuel delivery problem. 7 days of replacing parts (fuel vapour unit, fuel filter and several more parts) but it still wont start, on the eigth day they sample the fuel, decide its contaminated with 'something' (even though i've done over 60 miles since fueling) and declare that its no longer a warranty job and I should make an insurance claim to cover what could be a very expensive bill. So I claim, its all in hand, People's tell me they have the go ahead from my insurance and its go go go . . . I call 2 or 3 times a week as I miss my Galaxy but they're waiting on parts, 4 weeks after claiming (5after car went in) I'm told they are just awaiting the return of the injectors and I'll have my Galaxy back.
The day comes and goes (last Tuesday 18/2) and my patience wears out and I call them on the Friday , now I'm told that the estimate for the repair was only done yesterday (mate) The same 'service supervisor' (though he calls me mate all the time) who told me the injectors were the last puzzle piece has now changed his story, he also keeps asking me to 'stop shouting'. Another promise of a call back slips by and eventually I am told that my car has slipped into a black hole ,there's a joke here somewhere with it being a Galaxy and I hope its as big when its returned . . .
So in a nutshell they've had my car 5 weeks, my insurance is paying for a hire car and they have done nothing except to find a black hole in the workshop, Stephen Hawking eat ya heart out.
Is it me or are all main dealers now really this bad?
Edited by andicog on Monday 24th February 21:44
Maybe I should point out that I have in the past worked at several main dealers inc VW/Audi and Peugeot as well as a Renault specialist repairer doing Espace's as a paint sprayer and bodyshop forman so I realise things can and do go wrong , thinking of it I even had grief with my Kawasaki dealer, I complained the front brakes faided from 100 mph on my new Zx10r, I nwas actually told that if I wanted to stop from those speeds I'd need braded hoses and HH pads, odd on a new 186mph bike I thought, then a mechanic went to some length to explain how normal it was that the oil light flashed on at tickover as it was a splash and not pressure switch . . . . totally wrong again .
Had a mitsubishi dealer recently tell me that I needed a new transfer box. £5000.00. Told them I wasn't willing to pay that much can't they fix it. They had the car for 8 months!!!!!
Sent the transfer box to a gearbox specialist who told them what parts were required. They ( a mitsubishi ralliart dealer) said they couldn't get the parts. Had to wait for them to go to an independent who could get the parts but mitsubishi were unable to fit them to the transfer box, so back to the indy it goes who fitted them no bother.
This was all after they had ordered some other parts which took 8 weeks to arrive, then they decided that they weren't the problem.
Communication was better from them after I phoned up and went a bit mad at them for not telling me what was going on. The car came back filthy, inside and out (boxes for oil filters left inside), a rear light which had been removed and then put back very poorly, one wheel nut not put back on the car and left in the glovebox and a piece of trim from the rear bumper also not replaced and left on the back seat.
Needless to say a complaint has been sent to Mitsubishi and the car will never go there again.
On the other hand Straford-upon-avon Audi have been absolute stars as have north oxford BMW. They're not all bad, just quite a lot of them. I've found too that they don't want to fix things, just replace the whole unit.
Sent the transfer box to a gearbox specialist who told them what parts were required. They ( a mitsubishi ralliart dealer) said they couldn't get the parts. Had to wait for them to go to an independent who could get the parts but mitsubishi were unable to fit them to the transfer box, so back to the indy it goes who fitted them no bother.
This was all after they had ordered some other parts which took 8 weeks to arrive, then they decided that they weren't the problem.
Communication was better from them after I phoned up and went a bit mad at them for not telling me what was going on. The car came back filthy, inside and out (boxes for oil filters left inside), a rear light which had been removed and then put back very poorly, one wheel nut not put back on the car and left in the glovebox and a piece of trim from the rear bumper also not replaced and left on the back seat.
Needless to say a complaint has been sent to Mitsubishi and the car will never go there again.
On the other hand Straford-upon-avon Audi have been absolute stars as have north oxford BMW. They're not all bad, just quite a lot of them. I've found too that they don't want to fix things, just replace the whole unit.
V8forweekends said:
They aren't al this bad. But by far the vast majority are, like the Jag dealer in a major city near me who told me they couldn't repair my corroded earth points as they didn't have the specialist skills and equipment to work on aluminium cars.
this might be abit silly but aren't alot of Jags now aluminium?!? TommoAE86 said:
this might be abit silly but aren't alot of Jags now aluminium?!?
Yes they are, as was mine (this was only about three years ago). The earth points had disintegrated and Jag wanted me to to take it, at my expense, to a dealer in the West Midlands to have the work done at an estimated cost of £600. The car had full Jag history and was (at the time) inside the 6 year corrosion warranty - but the corrosion warranty apparently doesn't apply to corroding earth points. Edited by V8forweekends on Tuesday 25th February 00:10
So here's my update,
I finally got my car back on Monday from People's Ford , the promised valet turned into 'throw a bucket of water over it' and it had enough diesel to get to the nearest Shell station, I did a good 40 miles and all was well, parked it on my path glad to have it back. Next morning however there is nothing when I turn the key, everything lights up but no starter, out comes the RAC who drops the undertray to check for voltage on the starter, what he finds is a 6mm bolt across the exciter wire to earth, he recons its been dropped during the repair and not retrieved ! (though we dont know if it was replaced or from where it came) He replaces the 40 amp fuse that this has blown and I head back to people's Ford Bootle , they of course are so sorry etc etc and give me half a tank of diesel as compensation .
So all is well . . . erm no . . . yesterday I head onto the motorway, first I hear a noise then in my mirror see something tumbling behind me, within 10 seconds there's a loud bang on the N/S passenger window as the windscreen trim has come away,bent back with the wind force and hit the window. Stopping on the hard shoulder to remove or re attach said trim I find that the drivers side trim has gone all together !
Back to peoples Ford Bootle I go, they cant explain it (though I recon the scuttle has been removed to access the rear of the engine during the original repair and this means removing the screen trims first . . .) They replace both trims with what I suspect are slightly used parts but at least its in one piece again, once home I realise that the bottom corner of both trims has not been clipped into the scuttle and requires a hefty shove to clip them in properly .
So all in all not the best experience of a Ford main dealers attempt at a near £3000 job costing £1100 in parts alone.
I finally got my car back on Monday from People's Ford , the promised valet turned into 'throw a bucket of water over it' and it had enough diesel to get to the nearest Shell station, I did a good 40 miles and all was well, parked it on my path glad to have it back. Next morning however there is nothing when I turn the key, everything lights up but no starter, out comes the RAC who drops the undertray to check for voltage on the starter, what he finds is a 6mm bolt across the exciter wire to earth, he recons its been dropped during the repair and not retrieved ! (though we dont know if it was replaced or from where it came) He replaces the 40 amp fuse that this has blown and I head back to people's Ford Bootle , they of course are so sorry etc etc and give me half a tank of diesel as compensation .
So all is well . . . erm no . . . yesterday I head onto the motorway, first I hear a noise then in my mirror see something tumbling behind me, within 10 seconds there's a loud bang on the N/S passenger window as the windscreen trim has come away,bent back with the wind force and hit the window. Stopping on the hard shoulder to remove or re attach said trim I find that the drivers side trim has gone all together !
Back to peoples Ford Bootle I go, they cant explain it (though I recon the scuttle has been removed to access the rear of the engine during the original repair and this means removing the screen trims first . . .) They replace both trims with what I suspect are slightly used parts but at least its in one piece again, once home I realise that the bottom corner of both trims has not been clipped into the scuttle and requires a hefty shove to clip them in properly .
So all in all not the best experience of a Ford main dealers attempt at a near £3000 job costing £1100 in parts alone.
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