O My god!!!

[denviks]

im sorry but to be honest i wont be talking my truck to another garage....not unless its for its yearly mot.



a strange thing to say you may think.

i have had my fill of garages. Yes they had all the qualification on the walls.... all very professional. right??

nope.


here is just one of the stories.....


2 years ago i came off a pay and play site after being stuck for most of the day. i had 3 tyres pop off the rims....it was a bad day. anyway on the way home my n/s/f wheel came off at 70 mph  :shock: ...i managed to get  the spare on thanks to a mud club member ( remember that night mate??)


anyway i was due to go on the mac4x4 ( my first one) in 4 days and i didnt have a lot of spare time...... so i put it into the local garage....( not a small company either ).... i asked them to put new discs on as one was now sort of square....new pads. while they were there could they re grease the bearings as they were only a couple of months old but might aswell do it as it was coming apart.

so picked it up and went on the mac.... i got 40 miles away and felt something that wasnt right.........front left wheel bearings felt loose..... so  i nipped em up again just thinking that they had bedded again ...

60 miles later i was doing it again.

i did strip it all down but couldnt find out why it was doing it...  :?

a couple of months later and many re tightens later my brake discs warped. the garage didnt want anything to do with them.....even though i had only covered 4000 miles since they were fitted.... i could of argued and gone to trading standards etc but that would mean i could drive my truck and it would no longer be road legal as it needed an mot.


so i stripped it all again to put new discs on....this is when i had discovered what they had done...

 they had missed the spacer out  :shock:  :shock:  yup they didnt put it back in. i ordered a new one and put it in along with the new discs and it cured the problem.... :D


i did contact the garage again and they just didnt want to know.

i am lucky i think in the fact that i KNOW my truck. god can you imagine if i didnt know there was something wrong....i doesnt bear thinking about.

so i dont think it would make any difference,,,,,it all comes down to educating people that have cars to leave alone if they dont know what they are doing. taking it to a garage doesnt always mean they know what they are doing either  :?

[fasthands]

Fair comment mate! but if there were a governing body you could have contacted them and they would have investigated the incident/garage, like if I had a problem with my boiler installation I can get CORGI to check and investigate the plumber that installed it and have the power to revoke his certificate. if the garage is so bad you should have informed trading standards, I know it is easier to say I can't be bothered but we should be bothered. that is what they are their for. And this is what will sort out these Bad garages. but non registered trades are too aware the I can't be bothered to report it to trading standards attitude, and keep getting away with it!!!
It's like moaning about the Labour government but not ever voting!!

[lambert]

My old dear has just been round, she was on about getting thier 2 motors a new mot. Turns out the dates on the old ones do not match up right. We always use same station so said oi whats going on they said go away. Now they are under vosa's very sharp eyes.
 
 
Point of ramble.
The mechanisms are already in place to deal with suspect garages we don't need more percernious law making. :arrow:

[fasthands]

For mot yes not general work carried out, I am going to bow out gracefully from this before it gets needlessly out of hand, we could go on for ever with horror stories, this is my trade and my opinion based on my observations through been in the trade. :)  :)

[denviks]

if you complain you have to stop using the vehicle... so you as the customer suffer on top of the bad work again.    

i know i cant do without my vehicle....so have no choice but to work on it myself now ....

a mate had an mot done on a rangie a few years back....it failed on side light bulb out and a hole in the exhaust ....funny that as that part of the exhaust was only a few month old when it went in.... on getting underneath there were clear screw driver puncture marks....and to top it off the side lights were all working... :?  :?  

i went back with my mate and was told to get lost in no uncertain terms...

on contacting authorities he was told...dont use your vehicle until we have had the time to inspect it..... then the killer..... should be about 3 weeks  :shock:  :shock:


in the end it was easier to drop it and get on with it......he couldnt face the time without the vehicle.

its a nice idea but it woud end in 1 of 2 ways i think,

1: the motorist ends up paying higher costs on top of what we already pay

or

2: you would end up without a vehicle for long period if you did have any problems with a garages work.


just my own thought prosses  :lol:

[webby]

why is it that nobody ever rembers the times the garage has gone out of there way to help and provided a sterling service, very rare we get any praise these days. just a thought.

[denviks]

why is it that nobody ever rembers the times the garage has gone out of there way to help and provided a sterling service, very rare we get any praise these days. just a thought.

  :D god mate im not saying all garages are the same......god no. that would be a rash and very unfair statement. :?

on a whole most garages are brilliant i expect. its just the whole idea that you could regulate them more. alot of buisness are struggling to keep costs down now so dont need more to deal with. the bad ones would just find a way around it anyway. :?

long live the mechanics out there.... :D  :D  :D

[fasthands]

Well if it was so obvious that a screwdriver was forced into the exhaust, personally it would have took more than a GET LOST to get rid of me. like I said Horror stories till the cows come home. :lol: But if there were a more comprehensive governing body it may not take that long to sort things out. Plus you can still make a complaint against a garage to the trading standards, fair enough you may not gain directly/instantly from the complaint but if enough people complain about a company/garage the trading standards will carry out a investigation themselves. And I know this as I know of a Garage in Crediton/Exeter that was investigated by such a method and was heavily fined, as they checked all his books against the letters of complaints, and there were a lot of similar letters from different customers, One been from me, regarding my inlaws car. the issue I had was exessive labour costs and grossly inflated parts prices. I know this doesn't touch on standard of work but it got a result! 8)  8) The garage owner is now charging very good rates! :D

[lambert]

The other alternative is to rely on market forces. If a garage is so bad they will get no repeat business and in time a bad reputation too and so will go out of business anyway. Capitalism in action as it were. :D