£33.66 to change a fuse. Blanky Blank Garage, im annoyed!
Discussion
With thanks to the forums i diagnosed a recent electrical fault, it is being caused by a blown / damaged alternator fuse (100A) which is located under the car between the battery and the alternator. I phoned blankety blank TVR as they are only 15 mins away, and ask if they can change the fuse for me, to which they agreed. They put it on their ramp, removed the fuse housing, removed the fuse, see its damaged, replace and refit. Tadaa, problem solved. Bill for the 5 min privillage: £33.66.
Now, i dont mind spending money fixing the Chim, i know she throws these faults at me to challenge me, but over the last few hours its bugged me to think A certain garage charged me £33.66 to change the 65p fuse. This certain garage, youve made £1000's servicing and repairing my car over the past few years, this is one of those times you could of displayed a reasonable amount of customer care! My beloved Chim, will now be going to a different TVR garage from now on!
Thank you all for reading and letting me vent off some steam. I now feel much better! Im going to go fill her with Tesco 99, take the roof down and go get lost in the coutry side. TVR ownership, its a wonderful thing.
Now, i dont mind spending money fixing the Chim, i know she throws these faults at me to challenge me, but over the last few hours its bugged me to think A certain garage charged me £33.66 to change the 65p fuse. This certain garage, youve made £1000's servicing and repairing my car over the past few years, this is one of those times you could of displayed a reasonable amount of customer care! My beloved Chim, will now be going to a different TVR garage from now on!
Thank you all for reading and letting me vent off some steam. I now feel much better! Im going to go fill her with Tesco 99, take the roof down and go get lost in the coutry side. TVR ownership, its a wonderful thing.
Edited by jimstvr on Wednesday 28th March 12:04
Edited by on Wednesday 28th March 14:52
and then stuff HH I don't agree with what they charged, if I was HH then I'd prefer to take the goodwill and your future business over £30. Audi once charged me £17 to change a numberplate bulb!
However they could argue that if you wanted to do the work yourself you'd need to jack up the car, support it with stands, source and replace the fuse (assuming that you know how) and bring the car back down again. Perhaps 30 mins work.
For your £30 you're paying for their equipment (the lift etc), their engineer's time and knowledge, the cost of the part and some guarantee that if they did it wrong and broke something then they'd pay to put it right.
Whilst £30 seems a bit steep they're not a charity and presumably they outlined the costs in advance (thumbs down if they didn't)...
However they could argue that if you wanted to do the work yourself you'd need to jack up the car, support it with stands, source and replace the fuse (assuming that you know how) and bring the car back down again. Perhaps 30 mins work.
For your £30 you're paying for their equipment (the lift etc), their engineer's time and knowledge, the cost of the part and some guarantee that if they did it wrong and broke something then they'd pay to put it right.
Whilst £30 seems a bit steep they're not a charity and presumably they outlined the costs in advance (thumbs down if they didn't)...
jimstvr said:
With thanks to the forums i diagnosed a recent electrical fault, it is being caused by a blown / damaged alternator fuse (100A) which is located under the car between the battery and the alternator. I phoned Henley Heritage TVR as they are only 15 mins away, and ask if they can change the fuse for me, to which they agreed. They put it on their ramp, removed the fuse housing, removed the fuse, see its damaged, replace and refit. Tadaa, problem solved. Bill for the 5 min privillage: £33.66.
Now, i dont mind spending money fixing the Chim, i know she throws these faults at me to challenge me, but over the last few hours its bugged me to think Henley Heritage charged me £33.66 to change the 65p fuse. Henley Heritage, youve made £1000's servicing and repairing my car over the past few years, this is one of those times you could of displayed a reasonable amount of customer care! My beloved Chim, will now be going to a different TVR garage from now on!
Thank you all for reading and letting me vent off some steam. I now feel much better! Im going to go fill her with Tesco 99, take the roof down and go get lost in the coutry side. TVR ownership, its a wonderful thing.
Now, i dont mind spending money fixing the Chim, i know she throws these faults at me to challenge me, but over the last few hours its bugged me to think Henley Heritage charged me £33.66 to change the 65p fuse. Henley Heritage, youve made £1000's servicing and repairing my car over the past few years, this is one of those times you could of displayed a reasonable amount of customer care! My beloved Chim, will now be going to a different TVR garage from now on!
Thank you all for reading and letting me vent off some steam. I now feel much better! Im going to go fill her with Tesco 99, take the roof down and go get lost in the coutry side. TVR ownership, its a wonderful thing.
Edited by jimstvr on Wednesday 28th March 12:04
It does sound steep - but consider the rick that they take to work ona car, if something goes wrong you will naturaly expect it fixed for free etc.. and this fuse isn't like changing a blade fuse, it does not sound that harsh.
If the job was that trivial for you, you would of replaced it yourself?
zumbruk said:
To changing fuse; £3.36
To knowing how to change fuse, providing facilities, paying fitter & so forth; £30.00
To knowing how to change fuse, providing facilities, paying fitter & so forth; £30.00
Exactly right
Hitting it with a hammer; 50p. Knowing where to hit it; £50.
The cost itself is fair I think. As others have said, the time, knowledge, facilities etc. etc. are all incorporated into that as well as the insurances that you would expect to accompany your car in their workshop.
If it was that trivial, why did you not change it yourself? If they had to seek out the cause in the first place then that's a good price.
If every "half hour job" they did for free, they'd have a queue of people with blown fuses and wonky number plates queuing at their door. The opportunity of goodwill was, of course, entirely at their discretion and they chose in this instance not to.
Whilst I agree that to have diagnosed and done the work might have been much more hassle than £30's worth, I do wonder what they were thinking to treat a regular customer like that! I recently took my Chim to TVR Centre (Barnet) with a misfire, and the chap poked and prodded under the bonnet for a good 20 mins, tightening and cleaning stuff. The bill? - Nothing, and I haven't even used them for servicing yet! Top marks! Mind you, I would usually bung the mechanic a few quid, but didn't have cash on me that time!
Sorry Jimstvr, but I agree with "TheAxe". The dealership who chaged your fuse are not a charity,
they have overheads and cost of equipment. Over the period of a month,if all jobs under £40.00
were classed as goodwill and not charged for,it would be a huge amount of money off their bottom
line for that month.
This is a business and the service department make more money than the sales department and i would
bet money that service are carring the sales department. So, if service are not making money
or giving away too much goodwill this dealership will close...
they have overheads and cost of equipment. Over the period of a month,if all jobs under £40.00
were classed as goodwill and not charged for,it would be a huge amount of money off their bottom
line for that month.
This is a business and the service department make more money than the sales department and i would
bet money that service are carring the sales department. So, if service are not making money
or giving away too much goodwill this dealership will close...
Still no comment here on whether they warned of the cost in advance... if not I can see why you'd be surprised.
My local (non-TVR) garage changed the fuse for free the last time I had the car in, but they already had the car up in the air for another job, and I provided the fuse for them, so it was only a couple of minutes work.
My local (non-TVR) garage changed the fuse for free the last time I had the car in, but they already had the car up in the air for another job, and I provided the fuse for them, so it was only a couple of minutes work.
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