Expectations of Garages; Am I being Unreasonable?

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Expectations of Garages; Am I being Unreasonable?

Post by OwenP »

Not been around the forum for a while as I'm not driving anything French, but I'm after some opinions please.....

After finding yet another garage who appear to have f****d up (Newish car taken in for oil/filter change along with pollen filter and aircon re-gas, which the day after collection has developed a significant rattle, and which I can't take back to the garage until a week Monday as the garage are closed for a holiday, leaving the day after doing my car) I find myself wondering if expecting good work from mechanics is being unreasonable?

I have a very simple ethos when it comes to garages, any sloppy or poorly done work and I don't go back; my thinking being that if they are willing to do sloppy work on a simple part then they will do sloppy work on safety critical parts, and that is not a risk I am prepared to take. Should I be more flexible or is this a reasonable position to take?
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Re: Expectations of Garages; Am I being Unreasonable?

Post by white exec »

Take it back, get it fixed FOC, try for a partial refund, and then don't go back.
If really serious, report to local Trading Standards.
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Re: Expectations of Garages; Am I being Unreasonable?

Post by Gibbo2286 »

Best find out what the rattle is before condemning the garage, coincidences happen and it's also possible that work done such as the air-con re-gas could show up stuff that's been there for a while but hidden.
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Re: Expectations of Garages; Am I being Unreasonable?

Post by OwenP »

I will be going back to find out what it is, unfortunately the garage is shut until 10th June as they've all gone on holiday and the other garages (that haven't already screwed up) round here are busy until then themselves so I'm a bit stuck, thankfully I car share and its the other guys turn next week.

I'm willing to entertain the idea of it being something else, hence saying "appear" in the first post, but I'm also very wary of co-incidences.... especially on a 5 year old car which has only done 27000 miles.

What it is will determine my next step, be that refund or trading standards, or a new fix needed for something else.

I'm probably pre-disposed to assume the worst as I've had so many bad garages over the last 15 years (leaving cables outside the centre console, forgetting to screw the belly plate back on so it dropped off on the road, changing the wrong sensor and not even checking to see if it cleared the fault, accepting a booking for a saturday job then a week later on me turning up and them saying "We don't work saturday's any more, as of last week", attempting to change a cam belt instead of a fan belt, the list goes on.....)
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Re: Expectations of Garages; Am I being Unreasonable?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Stick around with the FCF Owen, never mind trading standards, you can dump the garage and anything else that gets on your wick into our Room 101 :-D My last deposit was the "main dealer experience"!

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=57396&start=180#p601987

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Re: Expectations of Garages; Am I being Unreasonable?

Post by GiveMeABreak »

It happens - even with the dealers and their premium rates - which you don;t expect shoddy work from.

The usual suspects are guaranteed to be trim clips, screws, cable ties, brackets, jubilee clips and wheel nut covers. The problem is they don't have or choose not to follow a checklist at the end of a job - which if they did, would make sure they had replaced everything they took off. I've seen some good mechanics put all screws and parts in a box or bin as they take them off.

Mind you, there's no accounting for 'Bill Binswinger' who ends up with a leftover part and can't remember where it goes, so flings it in the trash anyway!
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Re: Expectations of Garages; Am I being Unreasonable?

Post by OwenP »

NewcastleFalcon wrote: 31 May 2019, 21:17 Stick around with the FCF Owen, never mind trading standards, you can dump the garage and anything else that gets on your wick into our Room 101 :-D My last deposit was the "main dealer experience"!

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=57396&start=180#p601987

Regards Neil


I'll stick around, although I may not have all that much to add most of the time. Don't get me started on Main Dealers! I phoned the local toyota one round here to ask about the 100k service on my MR2 not long after I moved, it took me 10-15 minutes to get out of the guy what was included in the service he was trying to sell me (I think a Class C service he called it) for something silly like £400, in the end it was oil/filter and level checks. Every time I asked though he dodged the question until I managed to pin him down to it, when he admitted it was just those three things I just put the phone down!
GiveMeABreak wrote: 31 May 2019, 22:05 It happens - even with the dealers and their premium rates - which you don;t expect shoddy work from.

The usual suspects are guaranteed to be trim clips, screws, cable ties, brackets, jubilee clips and wheel nut covers. The problem is they don't have or choose not to follow a checklist at the end of a job - which if they did, would make sure they had replaced everything they took off. I've seen some good mechanics put all screws and parts in a box or bin as they take them off.

Mind you, there's no accounting for 'Bill Binswinger' who ends up with a leftover part and can't remember where it goes, so flings it in the trash anyway!


No you don't expect it from Main Dealers and to be fair most of the ones I've used have been reasonable (not all by any means, there was one who told us the work nissan navarra had nothing wrong with it even though in 4WD mode you couldn't use anything beyond about 1/3rd lock or the entire drive train would freeze up), just incredibly expensive, I think Seat wanted something like £200 for the oil/filter change.

I actually work with research engines in my current job (single cylinder, 4-stroke) which includes routine (and often non-rountine) maintenance, anything that comes off an engine gets laid out (in a fashion which makes sense to me, even if no one else understands it), the only time I have things left over is when they've been replaced by new components and nothing is thrown away until I've proved the engine is working correctly again.
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Re: Expectations of Garages; Am I being Unreasonable?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

For entertainment purposes reminds me of the Spitfire engine strip down and rebuild video nicely put to the Hall of the Mountain King by Grieg......very appropriate punchline at the end of the 2 minutes!



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Re: Expectations of Garages; Am I being Unreasonable?

Post by white exec »

Lovely. It always happens, even to professionals! #-o
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Re: Expectations of Garages; Am I being Unreasonable?

Post by wheeler »

white exec wrote: 31 May 2019, 19:18 Take it back, get it fixed FOC, try for a partial refund, and then don't go back.
If really serious, report to local Trading Standards.

Unless you have a really good crystal ball how can you blame the garage when the rattle has yet to even be identified?
We dont even know what kind of rattle it is, is it coming from the suspension, the engine, the dashboard?
Im not saying the garage haven’t done anything wrong but its a bit early to be demanding a refund.
Probably best to check the oil level is correct & the wheel bolts are tight before driving it any further just in case.
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Re: Expectations of Garages; Am I being Unreasonable?

Post by Michel »

If you rebuild research engines for a living why on earth don't you do your own servicing? You'd save a bomb and you'd know it was done right!
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Re: Expectations of Garages; Am I being Unreasonable?

Post by OwenP »

wheeler wrote: 01 Jun 2019, 11:06
white exec wrote: 31 May 2019, 19:18 Take it back, get it fixed FOC, try for a partial refund, and then don't go back.
If really serious, report to local Trading Standards.

Unless you have a really good crystal ball how can you blame the garage when the rattle has yet to even be identified?
We dont even know what kind of rattle it is, is it coming from the suspension, the engine, the dashboard?
Im not saying the garage haven’t done anything wrong but its a bit early to be demanding a refund.
Probably best to check the oil level is correct & the wheel bolts are tight before driving it any further just in case.


I will be taking it back to the garage as soon as I can (which due to them being closed for 10 days won't be until 10th June after I finish work.) My intention is to just ask them if they've forgotten to tighten something as there is a new rattle which started the morning after I picked it up and go from there. To my ear it doesn't sound like engine or suspension related as it appears to be independant of speed or engine loading, the only thing which seems to increase the noise is turning left, but there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the steering that I can detect. Is is something quite noticable however as one of my colleagues commented on it when I drove into work on Friday morning; I have managed to record the noise on my phone:
it isn't the best recording, but with enough volume you should be able to hear it around the 1 minute mark and then again a bit more distinct at around 1:58.
I checked the oil level as one of the first things on hearing the noise, looks fine to me, and there's no oil dripping under the car which should rule out not tightening the oil filter properly. I hadn't thought to check the wheel bolts as I didn't expect them to have touched them, but I will check this afternoon, just in case.
Michel wrote: 01 Jun 2019, 11:22 If you rebuild research engines for a living why on earth don't you do your own servicing? You'd save a bomb and you'd know it was done right!
Mostly due to a lack of tools, and space to work in. Also although I'm reasonably happing stripping and rebuilding bits of my work engines they are relatively simple 1960's/1970's built engines, using a design which is basically unchanged since the 30's (everything is exposed and reasonably easy to access), I'm not as confident doing it on a modern car engine.
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Re: Expectations of Garages; Am I being Unreasonable?

Post by Gibbo2286 »

Michel wrote: 01 Jun 2019, 11:22 If you rebuild research engines for a living why on earth don't you do your own servicing? You'd save a bomb and you'd know it was done right!



That's what the DIY gas fitter thought before his house exploded. :-D
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Re: Expectations of Garages; Am I being Unreasonable?

Post by Paul-R »

Gibbo2286 wrote: 01 Jun 2019, 14:19That's what the DIY gas fitter thought before his house exploded.
Oi! I fitted our central heating and hot water system all by myself and we haven't blown up once. Not even a little bit. This was some 30 odd years ago, of course, when you were allowed to do such things.

I also rewired our house (although I had to have it certified by an approved electrician afterwards)
and replumbed it. Those were the days!
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Re: Expectations of Garages; Am I being Unreasonable?

Post by JohnD »

Paul-R wrote: 01 Jun 2019, 15:37
Gibbo2286 wrote: 01 Jun 2019, 14:19That's what the DIY gas fitter thought before his house exploded.
Oi! I fitted our central heating and hot water system all by myself and we haven't blown up once.


Me too! I fitted central heating in my present house back in 1970. Since then I've had three gas boilers, all of which I've fitted myself. Only recently have I had a new Worcester Bosch fitted by a company - simply because I don't bend quite as easily as I once did. Incidentally, my loft conversion with two dormers, in the late 70's/early 80's was planned and carried out by me, single-handedly.

And it hasn't fallen down yet............. Neither have I had an explosion. :shock:
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