Angry so very angry!

pazauk · Post by **pazauk** » 28 Aug 2004, 02:26

Just been thinking how hard is it to change the water pump they've got the cam belt off so its just a matter of takeing out the coolent and a few bolts am i right?. So why is the labour cost of just the water pump nearly £300 quid?

reblack68 · Post by **reblack68** » 28 Aug 2004, 15:02

I don't know if you're familiar with the SAAB clutch setup but it's a hydraulic clutch under a plastic cover at the front of the engine bay. The clutch change time is under an hour and changing the slave cylinder involves one hydraulic pipe once the clutch is out.
My mate has a garage in Fife and specialises in SAABs. It was cheaper for somebody to fly him down to Stanstead, pay him £100 (on top of parts and expenses) and feed him for a day than to get the local dealer to change the clutch and slave. Like the Peugeot garage they wanted to charge twice for duplicated work.

NiSk · Post by **NiSk** » 28 Aug 2004, 15:26

I changed the water pump on my '93 XM TD12 (same engine as above) at the same time as the cambelt change. The extra time required to change the pump was LESS THAN 30 MINUTES.
You have been had big time - I really wonder if the fair trading commission shouldn't give these fellas a right bollocking.
//NiSk

myheadhurts · Post by **myheadhurts** » 28 Aug 2004, 23:24

I was telling a mate of mine who has his own test / service centre of your plight with the xantia , he showed me a manual which apparently most garages have which tells them the chargeable hours for almost any job on any car you can think of.On a 2.1 xantia the book states 4.10 hours for cambelt change and 4.8 hours for the water pump.My mate said the times given are always longer than needed and you shouldn't be paying any more than 5 hours for the complete job.It seems as though they are trying to charge you the full labour cost for two individual jobs.As others have said argue the toss , ask for a full breakdown of charges and return of old parts and threaten them with all you can think of.Personaly I wouldn't give the courtesy car back untill the bill gets smaller.Robbing B*****ds make me sick[:(!]

Homer · Post by **Homer** » 29 Aug 2004, 14:38

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by pazauk</i>

Just been thinking how hard is it to change the water pump they've got the cam belt off so its just a matter of takeing out the coolent and a few bolts am i right?. So why is the labour cost of just the water pump nearly £300 quid?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Because they are charging him "by the book". Which means he is paying for the cambelt doing twice!
The original quote for the cambelt wasn't too bad. Now we know why...

pazauk · Post by **pazauk** » 01 Sep 2004, 01:39

Hi all feel a little better today. car still not ready so went around there with a mate, asked for the car back and i'll pay for what work they have done they all started ohing and aring running around like ants!!! got down to the nitty gritty and i asked about the price (Got them to double check this price twice before today) Oh i'm sorry sir thats £250 over

so now its only £475 which is still pricey but feel a little bit better.I was going to tow it to another garage, he was going to do the work for £120 but with that i had to pay pug for what work they had done it would have worked out more

thanks for all your coments.

Post by **martyhopkirk** » 02 Sep 2004, 00:48

If its naming and shaming time....
Citroen place in Preston, bought my Xant, steering wheel controls not working for radio on delivery and air con not cold... asked politely if they would sort....
Can you guess what their reply was?
NOOOOO sir, you will have to pay! - Bugger that, even threatening TS had no joy. Sent them a polite email, phoned them a LOT, and no replies.
Replaced stereo anyway with an MP3 DAB so steering controls not aplicable any more, also had air con regassed £35, sweet.
Had some new plates made up for my car, the logo at the bottom now reads... "**** Citroen = P*** Poor Service" and their phone number. Revenge (if a little childish) is sweet!

paranoid · Post by **paranoid** » 02 Sep 2004, 01:11

You have to be carefull about naming and shaming......But thats a damn good idea, Call me a nerd but I do look at number plates occasionally....

tomsheppard · Post by **tomsheppard** » 02 Sep 2004, 13:47

Certainly! When I had trouble with a Ford dealership who sold me a new car with brake pipes not screwed into the master cylinder and then spent weeks failing to rectify the problem before becoming abusive and violent, (Subsequently losing their franchise; don't get mad...) I placed a label on my plates saying "Avoid this dealership".