Why i have such contempt for garages

LincolnshireYokel

pendulum wrote: »

There are good garages out there, but for every good garage I would guesstimate there is at least one bad one. Having said this, both good garages and bad garages can make mistakes (and so can people who self-service their cars). How do you know they realised they'd caused a pipe to leak? It might not have leaked with the engine off.

Plenty of times I've been working on a car or bike of mine, 'finished' then after a test drive realised I'd !!!!!!ed something up... it happens!

Whether they would've fixed it, or denied it, was the test of whether the garage was a good one or not, but you didn't give them the chance!

well.................

I sat in the waiting room while they did it, i could see them working on it. They put it up on the ramp and took the old piece off, which took about 5 minutes, then it sat there about 25 mins while the new part turned up At one point there was a huddle of five of them under the car at the front of the car, which went o n for about five minutes, about 45 minutes into the job. If i was to have a guess, i'd say the little huddle was them having a strategy meeting about the newly created and discovered oil leak, and whether to put there hands up to it or just say nothing.

Jamie1981

If you live in the Lincoln area I would 100% recommend A T Whites off Newark Road.

They are the only garage I use for work I dont want to do myself. They have always been good on prices and the standard of work has been superb.

colino

It's disappointing that most internet forums generally end up concluding all garages are bad. While it's an extended version of the mushroom of bad service, everyone likes to talk to all of their friends about bad experiences, and then they pass it on to everyone else, the fact is the OP was aware of a good, cheap, reliable alternative but didn't use them.
Frankly with such a simple repair needing a wait (specialist didn't have a range of flexi's in stock?) and then the job requiring an audience of bewildered fitters, you already knew something wasn't right.
You then compounded all of that by paying for the job twice and the original monkeys getting the profit and no complaint.
By all means complain when you don't get decent service, name and shame when you've given them the opportunity to resolve but fail, but it's hard to be sympathetic when customers become lifelong sufferers but don't take the simplist of actions to put things right.

hartcjhart

LincolnshireYokel wrote: »

I have a diesel 1999 Scenic, its a good round town runner, does 450 miles on a tankful. But ive long since stopped doing my own repairs, too old to roll about on the driveway under a car, these days!!

The exhaust system has a flexible pipe section, which started blowing. Took it to a local exhaust place, 1 hour and £90 later it was replaced.

Drove home, parked up, in under an hour later there was an oil puddle under the rear of the engine. Next day after a trip[ up town and back, the puddle was 10 inches across. Three days later its the size of a tiger skin rug. This car has never leaked oil, ibn fact in three years ive only had to top the oil up once.

Took it round to local friendly garage, the oil return pipe (next to the flexible exhaust pipe) was damaged and p1ssing oil out. He replaced the pipe, £60.

Theres no point in going back, they'll just deny all knowledge, and I cant prove a thing. What annoys me is that the exhaust place knew what they had done, and they cheerfully charged me full price and gave me the keys. I wouldnt have minded if they owned up and knocked £20 off the exhaust, that would have been honest.

This is why I like to stand under the car when fitters are fiddling with it, and why they dont like you to.

Robbing incompetent b@stards. Almost all garages are a bunch of crooks, its just some are more subtle about it than others.

Well just so long as you are happy

Lum

Flyboy152 wrote: »

Will never happen! No legitimate business would risk their insurance cover.

Had plenty of local independent places let me have a nose while they're working, so long as you don't come across as an idiot or start asking annoying questions the smaller shops are generally fine with it. Must be a Welsh thing.

Then again one of these garages also had a proper old-fashined apprentice work on my car, with the owner carefully scrutinising his work, checking and quietly correcting it where necessary and not charging me for the extra time that the job took as a result.

You just don't normally see things like that any more, it's all about doing a half day oil change course at head office and then allowing them to overfill someone's dry sump car.

cyclonebri1

Lum wrote: »

Had plenty of local independent places let me have a nose while they're working, so long as you don't come across as an idiot or start asking annoying questions the smaller shops are generally fine with it. Must be a Welsh thing.

Then again one of these garages also had a proper old-fashined apprentice work on my car, with the owner carefully scrutinising his work, checking and quietly correcting it where necessary and not charging me for the extra time that the job took as a result.

You just don't normally see things like that any more, it's all about doing a half day oil change course at head office and then allowing them to overfill someone's dry sump car.

Yep, and they do round here too, it's called honesty, rather than the fear of liability.:T:T:T

cyclonebri1

LincolnshireYokel wrote: »

This is why I like to stand under the car when fitters are fiddling with it, and why they dont like you to.

Robbing incompetent b@stards. Almost all garages are a bunch of crooks, its just some are more subtle about it than others.

Almost totally agree with you and I am someone who has NEVER taken a car to a garage apart from the MOT. Like you I am approaching the age when that will have to change.

My issue tho' is that I too have a friendly local garage that I trust. I wouldn't have gone anywhere else, there lies your mistake. They all have access to the local motor factors for exhausts.

And it's not quite all, but I'll give you that it's a high %, :T;)

Johnmcl7

colino wrote: »

It's disappointing that most internet forums generally end up concluding all garages are bad.

Agreed, I thought the same when reading the opening post. I have had bad experience with some garages but I have good experiences as well and there are several local garages I trust to work on my car and several I do not. One of them did make a mistake on my car at one point (problem with the brake pad warning system) which they put their hands up to when I collected the car, had ordered the replacement spare part and organised to get it fitted when it arrived which they did.

John

bettroy

I put a Xzara Picasso into a garage for a service and cambelt change. This led to losing my car for six weeks as it developed a fault on the camshaft whilst not moving or turning over which led to a bill in excess of £1500. After getting it back and driving it to Scotland it broke down on the way back with a blown exhaust gasket which took out the airbox and sensor and it was also diagnosed as having a defective turbo. 3 weeks later another £1000 lighter I get it back. 2 days later it is back in the garage now the EGR valve is diagnosed defective. Got it back 2 days ago and would you believe it, there is still a problem in the same area of the engine. How do you get it put right without paying out even more money? I will soon have paid enouth to have bought another car!!

jase1

Trebor16 wrote: »

Best to ignore Flyboy as he doesn't contribute much to these forums and gets pleasure out of provoking people and winding them up.

He's right in this instance though.

My mechanic rips himself off, and I sometimes have to insist he charges me for work I know he's spent time on but wants to do as a favour. Even then it tends to disappear when the bill comes in.

Yeah he's made the odd honest mistake (when he did the timing belt he left the fanbelt slipping on one occasion, for example), but he's always more than happy to put things right, and is very apologetic when things do go wrong.

So, there's one garage that doesn't fit the mould for a start.