|
|
|
I got ripped off by a gearbox place in Bristol about 10 years ago. My gearbox failed when I was down there and as I had no relay cover, the car had to go in somewhere down there. Since it was going to cost a lot anyway I asked them to fully recondition the gearbox while they had it out, not just fix it, so I had future peace of mind with the box. A couple of weeks later it failed again and on closer inspection they'd taken a second hand box, painted it the same colour as mine and palmed it off onto me. I've never entrusted work with anyone since and I treat all garages with utmost distrust Was just wondering how many of you have had bad experiences since there are a LOT of cowboys out there.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Not so much as "getting what you pay for". You know you ask for your gearbox linkages honing, shimming, adjusting, etc. and you are surprised when you only pay a fiver for this service (it was a long time ago) only to discover what they actually did was bung a couple of larger cotter pins to take up the worst of the slack. And that the linkage still balks on "power shifts"
Thats the biggest example I can think of but I have often found I'm prepared to pay for the right job doing and doing right but the car-place seems to know better, charges you a cheap price and does a cheap job.
|
|
1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
|
|
|
|
|
I had a fairly mediocre job done on the bodywork of the Merc some years ago. I couldn't weld at the time so asked a garage to sort the sills, rear arches and other bits of welding out, plus some paint on the new wings.
The paint was incredibly thin, with no primer used just top coat on the black stuff they put on new panels. There were plates over the grot and some holes in the floor just covered with a bit of steel masticked into place. I only discovered all the bodywork bodgery recently, now I'm doing it properly.
Not really a rip-off, just a crappy job really.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Went to college with a guy who worked in a place that reconditioned engines, gearboxes, alternators and stuff. One of his jobs was to 'recon' steering racks. This involved removing the steering rack gaitors and hammering the ball end of the tie rods to tighten up the play in them! Quick blast of black paint and Tadaa! reconditioned steering rack!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The guy who used to work on my cars when I stayed back home was a lovely chap and because he only charged £8 an hour he got a lot of me and my mates work. He did a couple of crackers like fit my steering wheel on upside down, not tightening wheel bolts, got a metal punch stuck changing a door pin and just sawed the punch off and used it as the pin. He did have a couple of moments of genius though fixing my problematic old Bluebird that had been conking out constantly for a month in less than 5 minutes. Did I mention he was cheap?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
only recently i lifted the carpet in my saff to see what grot lied under there and get it seen to! So i booked it in at a garage, to have it cut away (4 bits) and new metal welded in. Didnt need to be neat, it was under the carpet! but DID need to be a good job. 3 day's worth of work became 2 weeks, they missed a bit (which they did a few days later) but over all i suspect the job is shonk and is bits of thin, poor quality metal welded over the grot The worse one that angers me to this day was when i had the front of my fiesta re-built. To make it worse i'd saved for AGES (as a student) to get it done! Really looked fwd to getting it back, on collection day the work was seriously sub standard! Pannel gaps u can walk though, reacted paint when they'd tried to blend etc etc, I also asked for genuine ford pannels, i didnt get those. He then tells me on collection "I don't normally do fords, they weld together, i like vauxhalls, they bolt". If only he'd had said before he wasnt confident enough to do it, i'd have gone else where! I just paid, and left. Some months later he went out of business, no wonder there. Another was the AA service center in cannock didnt seem able to set the ignition timing on a 1988 Fiesta, 5 times it went back, it kept slipping out, they wanted to fit a new dizzy unit. Local garage laughed at their work, said they needed to learn how to tighten bolts up with muscles and spanners and sometimes forget what the manual says about "recomdeded torque" never shifted again after that!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
My dad had a dodgy Escort engine fitted by one of those exchange/recon units places. Quick degrease and slap of paint then back into someone else's car.
Got a full refund after trading standards investigated them.
Had the rear wheel bearings done on a Corrado but pretty sure they either tightened them up or oiled them or some bodge as ended up replacing them again months later.
I hate dealing with anything or anyone that comes prefaced by "Trade" as in my experience it's an excuse to get ripped off or receive shoddy customer service by jaded staff. :-(
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
bought a "freshly restored" vw bug,my dad ran a car bodyshop but was away on holiday and couldnt see it with me paid extra to have it lowered too saw the lovely metallic paint and bought it,even though my dad said not to as it was freshly undersealed picked it up,it drove like dog,been lowered but tracking was miles out,they also managed to split the ball joint rubbers after 3 months bubbles started appearing,found a hole inside the headlight bowl the size of a apple,thought then..hmmm bolt on wing shouldnt that have been replaced puncture on the M1 going to santa pod,found the jacking point moved away from the floor but the car didnt move,had to get 3 of us to lift the back end yikes spoke to the garage apparently they were selling on behalf of a customer and washed their hands of it sold it pronto! well I was only 18 so you live and learn
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
yeah, had a gearbox swapped out and new one put in, then put the engine back, making sure not to tighten the fuel pump so petrol went into the oil, and put the carb on backwards, and didn't know how to adjust kingpins, and other similar hilarities whilst a £400 quote turned into £700 before vat and half the labour... and they refused my keys till i stumped up.
CAB couldnt do anything - no written quote.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Saved for a pretty long time to get some bodywork done on my cortina. She came back with massive panel gaps, nothing aligned at all shonky quality welding including self tappers welded onto the wings where they hadn't been removed after the wings being lined up (if you could call it that) areas of work simply not done that I'd paid to be cut out and fresh metal welded in. Thats what I get for using a mates garage I suppose.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
'brand new' 2L auto starter motor for a kombi, paid around $350 for it, then noticed the fresh gloss black paint all over it. needed new parts within a week.
|
|
Remade In Australia thereimaginarium.com.au
|
|
|
|
|
I haven't really been ripped off, but only because my family know about cars and refuse to get unnecessary items replaced when the workshop quotes for them. We have a 1990 Nissan Pintara TR.X which we've owned since new. When we moved to Adelaide, we took it to the same major dealer for about 10 years, who were always really good, but then the workshop changed ownership.
The work done from then on wasn't as good, and they started to make outrageous advisories, like quoting $1250 for a new power steering rack because the old one was "weeping" fluid. Must be a pretty slow leak, as we checked the fluid regularly for the next year with almost no change in fluid level, and no need to top it up. I think they might have mis-interpreted some road grime on the underside of a near 20-year-old car. Other items quoted which were fine include rear wheel bearings (sealed items at $400 a side) and various things. The workshop it goes to now does good enough work, but they're a bit slack at leaving things like old hose clamps and even sockets in the cowl panel under the wipers.
On my Beetle, I tried to get a wheel alignment done (no other purchase) from a major tyre shop. I told them what car it was when I booked it in, and they said they could handle it. When I got there, they tried their best, but clearly didn't know one end of the car from the other. Couldn't find the steering box to adjust it as I requested, and the only thing they fixed was toe in/out, all other settings were left as is. They tried really hard though, worked on it for 2 hours and only charged me $30, so I can't complain.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Short of time, I took my e34 to an independent "specialist" to have the centre drag link replaced. dropped the car off, complete with replacement part, and returned about lunch time to be presented with a £600 bill. They started on the justifications and excuses so I left the car in the middle of the workshop, took the keys and told them it was staying there 'til the bill was readjusted. We had a standoff for about an hour, they called the cops (who didn't turn up) , I called trading standards who called them back. Don't know what was said but the "specialist" told me to "leave and never darken these doors again" using different words. Didn't pay a penny, so I guess I ripped them off
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
in 2004 the ignition light came on in the panda, so rather than drive home in 'limp' mode i stopped the car and called out the AA, they towed me to a local renowned garage, they said they would have a quick look at the wiring and call me later in the day, sadly all they did was check the connections and charge me £264 . The light on the panda came on again a couple of weeks later, and i found out it had been the lambda sensor, so £35 and a 2 minute job to fit.
|
|
1993 Fiat Panda Selecta 2003 Vauxhall Combo 1.7DI van 2006 Mercedes Kompressor Evolution-S AMG SportCoupé
"You think you hate it now, wait til you drive it"
|
|
berendd
Europe
why do I need 3 keys for one car?
Posts: 1,449
|
|
|
Only my first car has been in a workshop to get some work done.. they did a setup on the carb and changed fluids and filters and charged E100,- . So not bad at all..
that's the last time I had some work done on my own cars..since then I've done everything myself..
|
|
|
|
LowStandards
Club Retro Rides Member
Bigging Up The Sum Sum Man Since '99
Posts: 2,665
|
|
|
I never entrust a Garage to do any of my work, I hate to say this as its kinda tar'ing people with the same brush, but just think about 90% of the people who did motor vehicle studies when you were at school... thats why!
*edit* i really do hate saying that, i'm aware there are a few gems out there
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The last time I went anywhere for tracking in a 106, the bloke poked his head under the wing holding a pair of adjustable spanners, came back out and said "No mate, can't do it, its all seized up"
This was the new steering rack, inner and outer rod ends and new track rods that I had just fitted (with copped grease on the threads) no more than 25 minutes beforehand!
I explained I'd only just put it on, so he poked his head under for another 5 minutes, told me he'd done it and charged me £30. I drove home and things felt a bit "weird", slightly loose, but I put it down to this being the readjusted tracking, but it seemed to get worse all the way home, and I noticed it squealing round bends :S
Turns out they had left all the locknuts loose, so by the time I got home, this "seized" rack had managed to unwind the drivers side track arm so only a couple of MM were still inside the track rod end!
|
|
|
|
DutyFreeSaviour
Europe
Back For More heartbreak and disappointment.....
Posts: 2,944
|
|
|
First time was a fiasco - bought a BGT, the garage that had sold it had left it standing too long so the rope seal disintegrated gradually as I drove. Eventually it was complete clutch slip as the oil got through. By then I was 270+miles away visiting parents. While arguing the point with the garage - I left it with a recommended place nearby. I came back to a large bill (original seller agreed to pay most of it) and drove off - back south. Engine detonated 2weeks later. On stripping I found the tensioner was mullered, the head hadn't been torqued down (why had he removed it?) and various leaks etc... the clutch had been doused in fuel and burned - to remove most of the oil, not new as paid for. On my return to Sunderland I found he was out of business, turns out I'd walked in just as he was facing he bailiffs - luckily got my car out before everything was impounded. Second - 'rebuilt' Triumph - it had been done for some old guy a couple of years before I got it - you can see the fibreglass construction and 2inch thick filler doorstops in the build thread. Lastly was the GF - Suzuki heap o cr*p needed TuV. She left it with them and was told they'd take a look. Family friends (yeah right) - car came back TuV'd - with a €1400 bill! Car was worth less than half that. I went mental - then both the Suzuki and her pops Vitara broke down (hers terminal) within a week/10 days - both due to their inept workmanship. I went in there that weekend and am now banned from the premises.......
|
|
Back from the dead..... kind of
|
|
Davenger
Club Retro Rides Member
It's only metal
Posts: 7,272
Club RR Member Number: 140
|
|
|
I got caught out by the oldest trick in the book with her mini. Brand new shiny paintjob. Which hid the fact that the edges of the roof were full of filler. Nice! There I was checking the sills A panels etc, the usual places, didn't expect the roof to be coming off
|
|
|
|
93fxdl
Posted a lot
Enter your message here...
Posts: 2,013
|
|
|
a couple of tales several years ago a chap i knew went to collect a reconditioned engine but when he got there he was met with "hold on we havent cut it out yet" also i used to be involved in a vw club in somerset and one evening we were invited to the local specialist to look at a car that had been brought in for mot, and so the competition began to find all the faults on a "proffesional" restoration clapped engine (1/8 inch end float on crank) hole in the floor you could put your hand through (repaired? with duct tape) no wipers or even mechanisim wiring was a fire waiting to happen filler starting to fall out of most panels very iffy brakes and a LOT of other problems, learnt later there was a crew operating who would take any old dub, lower it, paint it pastel and flog it to anyone who was mug enough to buy it but i wont even mention the kia dealer who bodged the steering on our sedona then when it caused problems tried to charge us for putting it right (mentioning trading standards in a loud voice while walking round the showroom had them quickly change there attitude) one piece of advice is if you have any parts fitted tell them before work starts you want the old parts back or mark the old parts so you can check the work has been done ttfn glenn
|
|
|
|
|