Insignia Brakes & Pentagon

colino

This seems an odd way of doing business, customer specifically asks for components to be checked (they should, by any decent tech been given the once over anyway) and they are clearly incapable of reaching the next service so should have been changed.
Certainly complain, but unless you are getting a cheque or cash from them it is a waste of time, as you certainly wont be using them again in the future and your friendly, local independent will keep you right.
(What else did they screw up servicing such a straightforward car?)

GolfBravo

colino wrote: »

Certainly complain, but unless you are getting a cheque or cash from them it is a waste of time, as you certainly wont be using them again in the future and your friendly, local independent will keep you right.
(What else did they screw up servicing such a straightforward car?)

And you need to complain to both the dealership (preferably write a letter to the dealer principal) and to Vauxhall UK - all VX dealerships are ranked by the head office based on customer satisfaction, and top performing dealerships get all sorts of incentives for performance.

Strider590

Wouldn't surprise me if the technician plugged it in to the diagnostics machine, read no fault codes and thought "eh brakes must be fine".

Alternatively they didn't touch your car due to lack of time or "CBA" and it actually hasn't been serviced.

The later being highly likely as they probably assume they don't need to do anything on the first service....... Assumption being the mother of all f**k ups.

Go take the air box off your car and see of the filter has any dirt in it, it'll be obvious if it's been changed or not. Then look at the oil filter, see if it's sparkly clean or not.
Then lift the oil dip stick, the oil shouldn't be black.

If you think they've not done anything, go kick some a55!

Alias_Omega

Hi Rick,

I always get my head into the wheel arch when the car is in for new tyres, i like to look at the brake pads, check the gaitor isnt split too. Its about the only time that you can get a good look around.

Pads should cost no more than £20-30 from Halfords, with the price increasing for stuff like EBC Green etc if you use them. You could probably find a guide on YouTube, but it probably wont cost more than £25 for an independant garage to carry out the work.

I would avoid main dealers, as the price of the pads alone will be more than EBC Green + Fitting..

philbostavros

Hi Rick

My son has an 09 plate Insignia Diesel, sourced from our local VX main dealer.

He's had loads of problems with it, mostly sorted out under waranty. This has included corrosion on a rear wheel arch, which was repaired but has since started coming back.

Recently, he asked them to check the brakes, as he kept getting intermitent squeeling noises. Twice they checked and said nothing wrong then at the third attempt, said the rear pads had worn down to metal and damaged the discs. They also said that they were "service" items and he would have to pay.

As he had got poor service in the past, he blew his top a bit and after some heated discussions, they agreed to reduce the price.
He has also written to VX and awaits a reply (nearly 3 weeks have passed).

This doesn't surprise me though, as my own experience with them shows that they really don't give a toss about customer service, loyalty etc. (Just my opinion - you can also get poor service from a range of auto manufacturers).

I believ that there may have been some service bulletins regarding break pad wear on Insignias so worth asking at the steallers or asking on one of the VX owner forums. Certainly complain to the service manager.

Good luck
Phil

Strider590

philbostavros wrote: »

This doesn't surprise me though, as my own experience with them shows that they really don't give a toss about customer service, loyalty etc.

Who don't? Vauxhall? or the dealership?

Don't confuse the two, VX have no say in how a franchised dealer runs their business. A lot of people walk into a dealership and assume they're dealing with the car manufacturer, when in fact they are most certainly not.

Let's take Evans Halshaw for example, extremely well known for poor customer service and they have dealerships up and down the country selling almost every single brand of car.

You can't blame the manufacturer for the poor dealership.

morrisoscar

I visited three Vauxhall dealers this week (Lookers and Two Arnold Clarke Garages) to try a book a test drive in an Insignia SE. All three told me NO as they don't have SE models as demo cars. Strange way to treat a potential customer but, if they treat me like this before they get any money I’m not surprised they don’t treat customers well once you’ve bought one.

Strider590

morrisoscar wrote: »

I visited three Vauxhall dealers this week (Lookers and Two Arnold Clarke Garages) to try a book a test drive in an Insignia SE. All three told me NO as they don't have SE models as demo cars. Strange way to treat a potential customer but, if they treat me like this before they get any money I’m not surprised they don’t treat customers well once you’ve bought one.

Why is this strange? Surely a dealership will only have the top end models as demo cars? That being the SRI, Elite and possibly the VXR. Can't exactly woo the customers with the lower spec versions.........

morrisoscar

Strider590 wrote: »

Why is this strange? Surely a dealership will only have the top end models as demo cars? That being the SRI, Elite and possibly the VXR. Can't exactly woo the customers with the lower spec versions.........

The SE model is not a lower spec version, it sits above the SRI in the range and is £625.00 more expensive. Apparently also very different in ride quality to the SRI so I’m afraid that argument doesn’t stand up.

My point is if they can’t be bothered to try and get what a potential customer wants what chance have you got once they’ve had your money.

RICK..._2

Lucky enough for me, while my Mondeo was in for repairs I had an Insignia SRi hire car for well over a week, so I was able to give it a thorough test drive.. which is what I went for in the end. The Evans Halshaw dealership I got the car from only had exclusiv's available, but they did offer to source an SRi from another dealership for me to test drive. Don't let that fool you though, as once I placed the order they were not interested at all and ignored all my emails/calls...

Thanks for all the replies. Glad to see I'm not over reacting.

I've drafted a LOC so will get that sent off today, I'm also going down to see the dealership in question after work to give them a piece of my mind. The car was booked in with them today to have some pieces of interior trim 'investigated' because they didn't believe me that they just 'fell off' when I shut the door. But I cancelled that first thing and will take it elsewhere.

Will let you all know what they say when I go later this afternoon.