Garage service standards.

[pdsquire]

I rang Mercedes Benz Chelsea this morning to ask about a temperature sender. I described the fault and asked "Does that sound broadly right?".

Answer:

"As a technician, I couldn't tell you."

WHAAAT?! WELL WHAT THE HELL DOES A TECHNICIAN DO?!?!?

We are all going to Hell in a handcart...

[Lumiya]

You want me to move this to the jokes section?????

[largewayround]

Funny but worrying .. these chaps may be *fixing* your car / van


I was in Local dealer saturday (honda).. I was telling the salesman , I had just done my own 16,000 miles service , (as he was asking about getting it in).

Salesman said "How did you do that!"

Me " What"

Salesman " The service !!"

Me " Errrrrrrr ! " What "

Salesman " The service , how did you do it !! "

Me " I have a Service Book and Haynes & Borrowed a carb Balancer "

Salesman " Oh !! ......... YOU did the service yourself ?? "

Me " YES...... "


Salesman " Would you like to have a sit on this New Transalp 700 .. Grin"

Me " No thanks, I am trying to Save Money .. this month " BYE ....



WTF ... guess they have never heard of self servicing

[pdsquire]

Funny but worrying .. these chaps may be *fixing* your car / van

Not bl@@dy likely! Being able to avoid garages charging £60/hr and more is one of the many reasons why I have a 27 year-old car.

[Knobblywobbly]

Not bl@@dy likely! Being able to avoid garages charging £60/hr and more is one of the many reasons why I have a 27 year-old car.

Only £60/hr??? That's cheap - my local Landrover dealer is £100/hr!

I called in on Friday as my tappets are making a lot of noise but wanted to confirm that it was them causing the noise. Guy came out and had a listen - yep, it's the hydraulic tappets. So I went back in while they worked out a price for the work. Just as well I was sitting down - £1200! As my car is only worth about £1000 if I'm lucky, I won't be taking it in to them to have the work done.

What was particularly annoying was that they quoted to take the cylinder head off, which I thought was odd. Sure enough when I checked my Haynes manual you do not need to remove the head to change the tappets. So they were going to charge me for work that doesn't need doing. I won't be going back there again for anything!

[Windmill John]

When I first got my BMW 850GS with 42,000 miles on it, I got awful vibration above 50MPH. Took it to South London Motorcycles. They got their senior mechanic out, he took it for a ride, came back and said the big end's gone, stick some thick oil in it and get shot. 30,000 later, I was still commuting and touring Europe.
Turned out to be carb balance which is not always as easy if the TPS is set wrong. Now you know why I do most of my own servicing

[btbloke]

I've had a month from hell as far as cars go. I new I had to put some pads in the rear of the family bus because checked them a few weeks ago and they were low. Well no time and time flying and forgetting MOT due all happened and in it went for the MOT, FAILED, on brakes of course. So duly go out and get price from renault which knocked me for six so managed to wangle a set from euro parts at trade using a very dodgy method,front and rear pads and rear discs,then find one of the rear springs has snapped (not found by MOT guy!) so I have to replace pads,discs,springs and the brake fluid. Then descover cam belt should have been done last year,not a job I can do with no time available, £1000 from renault who would only do it as part of a service adding another £650 to the bill! Well sod the thieving gits got our fleet boys to do it £275!!
So when I'm off collecting parts etc in the wifes A class I can smell petrol so clamber under neath to find it's the car next door in the car park but happen to notice she's snapped BOTH the rear springs and they're hanging on by a thread so another job for the week she decides to bugger off to tenerife with her mates (well as she puts it,I'm off galavanting round ireland with the boys for a weekend. IT'S FOR CHARITY LOVE,CHARITY!!)
leaving me with the four kids.
So I did a mental calculation using renaults hourly rates etc and mercedes wanting £680+vat to fit the springs and I reckon I've done about 2500 grands worth of work to the family fleet and coughed up 400 quid in parts and for a £275 labour bill so one hell of a saving.
Can I get a bit of peace and quiet?,can I get time up the shed?,can I get to go out on the bike?,not a chance weekend of kids and school summer fetes! I am so glad it's off to ireland this weekend,peace and quiet locked in my own helmet with the ipod,hooo-bloody-ray.

[muddysuvner]

I've had a month from hell as far as cars go. I new I had to put some pads in the rear of the family bus because checked them a few weeks ago and they were low. Well no time and time flying and forgetting MOT due all happened and in it went for the MOT, FAILED, on brakes of course. So duly go out and get price from renault which knocked me for six so managed to wangle a set from euro parts at trade using a very dodgy method,front and rear pads and rear discs,then find one of the rear springs has snapped (not found by MOT guy!) so I have to replace pads,discs,springs and the brake fluid. Then descover cam belt should have been done last year,not a job I can do with no time available, £1000 from renault who would only do it as part of a service adding another £650 to the bill! Well sod the thieving gits got our fleet boys to do it £275!!
So when I'm off collecting parts etc in the wifes A class I can smell petrol so clamber under neath to find it's the car next door in the car park but happen to notice she's snapped BOTH the rear springs and they're hanging on by a thread so another job for the week she decides to bugger off to tenerife with her mates (well as she puts it,I'm off galavanting round ireland with the boys for a weekend. IT'S FOR CHARITY LOVE,CHARITY!!)
leaving me with the four kids.
So I did a mental calculation using renaults hourly rates etc and mercedes wanting £680+vat to fit the springs and I reckon I've done about 2500 grands worth of work to the family fleet and coughed up 400 quid in parts and for a £275 labour bill so one hell of a saving.
Can I get a bit of peace and quiet?,can I get time up the shed?,can I get to go out on the bike?,not a chance weekend of kids and school summer fetes! I am so glad it's off to ireland this weekend,peace and quiet locked in my own helmet with the ipod,hooo-bloody-ray.

Not a chance mate, you'll have your other 2 kids to look after

[btbloke]

OMG! when will the torture end?????????????

[muddysuvner]

OMG! when will the torture end?????????????

Don't worry mate, I'll be filling my exhaust full of wire wool, and I'll bring a pair of wire cutters for Ollie's horn