Arnold Clark - Misleading Pricing?!?

cheekyweegit

Arnold Clark, Belfield Road, Dundee not only ballsed up the service and repair of my car when it went in for a service and MOT letting me drive it out with faulty breaks and over revving, but they over charged me for it too after saying my bill was discounted for the inconvenience of them having my car for 3 days instead of the afternoon! I told them there was no way I was paying what they asked and quoted what they had quoted me, and said I had only agreed to that price and no more. I got my discount in the end, but I'd never go back to a garage which lets a car be given back to the customer with faulty breaks. (I have air assisted breaks and they never reconnected the air hoses).

The labour costs a year past December (so they might have gone up by now) were an astronomical £60 per hour plus VAT so that may explain your costs.

I too was only using them due to warranty work, but have since learned you don't have to so I'm back to my local garage who I know won't rip me off like Arnold Clark did.

sohurt

I bought the car from this garage but not had much go wrong with it so no, not particularly a lot of business from me.. The cd player has been sent away to be fixed so I'm assuming some of this cost is to fix the radio.. not sure what the rest is.. Dreading tomorrow!

goldspanners

you could get a brand new after market stereo with better sound than most manufacturers ones for much cheaper than £295,even if it is an odd shape,you can get facia convertor plates from ebay,halfords or motorworld.

sohurt

I know, but I'm a complete girl and just want it all 'matching' and fitting in. It's a 6 disc changer too so I quite like the handiness of that instead of changing the discs etc.. I've got a discount card for Arnold Clark 10% too but not going to bring it down all that much...

goldspanners

sohurt wrote: »

I know, but I'm a complete girl and just want it all 'matching' and fitting in. It's a 6 disc changer too so I quite like the handiness of that instead of changing the discs etc.. I've got a discount card for Arnold Clark 10% too but not going to bring it down all that much...

i would not use arnold clark even if i had a 50% discount card,as you can see for yourself they can make up any price they like.
tell them to stick to the agreed price,if they wont then ask for your radio back in the condition you gave it to them and take it to an auto electrician,they will repair your ariel and advise you on the stereo if they cant repair it.

sohurt

I'm feeling a little delicate so not really up for an argument in Arnold Clark unfortunately But will try my best!

Thanks for the advice..

blue_haddock

I would suggest that as the radio had to go away to a 3rd party for repair that this is where the increase comes from. Without seeing the unit he can only give an estimate based on what he believes to be wrong with it. Also arnold clark may well have whacked their own bit on the top of the 3rd partys price to make themselves a bit more money.

anewman

goldspanners wrote: »

you could get a brand new after market stereo with better sound than most manufacturers ones for much cheaper than £295,even if it is an odd shape,you can get facia convertor plates from ebay,halfords or motorworld.

:T just what I was about to say after reading this thread. I'd have let them keep the radio for messing me about. Car stereos aren't that difficult to replace usually, just don't use the screwdriver method the thiefs use and you'll be alright. And anyway, mobile fitters usually charge about £40/50 tops?!

custardy

for future reference for anyone.
in my experience all dealerships send radio units away for repairs.so all you are doing is paying the dealership a premium for sending the radio away.

get a breakdown of the prices as to whats costing what

what exactly were the issues?

sohurt

Hi

I thought I did get a break down as I asked him 3 or 4 times what is the cost going to be, because I needed to give this price to ex.

The cd player had a cd stuck in it and wouldn't recognise any cd;s that were in there. Also, the radio wouldn't pick up a signal from anywhere.

My issue is that if it has been sent away and they have found something else wrong with it, surely they could have phoned me and said look it's going to be a bit more expensive, are you still wanting to go ahead with this?