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My 1st service cost me £85
and I've jus had my 2nd done for £136.

I will find out, re: dads business, but its not car related - would this matter?

Not sure you'll have to ask chick

Will do

hmmm, assuming all dealers are the same (not had terrible trouble with the VW ones apart from little annoyances when trying to sort out parts etc, such as even they getting the wrong size leads) ... the vaux ones are a bit funny....

mainly its a case of brainless actions (or laziness/stupidity..) and miscommunication within the company between people who may only be separated by a simple door. not to mention what seemed like a purposeful misquoting of costs for the servicing, aiming to catch me out, no less than three times... when it's already bloody expensive enough after talking them down!
if it wasnt that i was aiming for that all important sixth stamp in the log book (which i've now learnt could have been garnered from other good quality servicing outlets anyway - bugger!) I wouldn't have gone.

"Lost" my radio manual that I ordered (disappeared into the post room, never to return) and nearly tricked me into paying for the second one. Took ages to get hold of what should be relatively common manuals still (VW had no trouble getting hold of a positively ancient one), etc.
Quoted me silly prices on getting a 60k service and cambelt done, then brought it down when I queried it over the phone later, only to jack it back up on trying to book it in. Apparently its because they put me in for the 16v cambelt change and service, which are for some reason trickier and more expensive (it's only looping it over one extra sprocket and a tensioner FFS - but the service is +£80 from £140, the belt +£110 from £90!!). Nobs. Especially considering they have more information on my car on their screen than I could ever know, after typing in the registration. It's officially listed as an "Arctic II 1.6 8v" after all...

Then seems despite it being booked in for a 60k service, they quoted me the 50k price... +£40 for doing the air filter and sparks (though, now i remember what a bugger THEY were, i should have coughed up) and little else.
Then the "going round and trying to find something wrong with it" game. The cracked mirror glass, which is enough years of bad luck already without them wanting to charge twenty quid (that a £2.49 stick-on from halfords will fix). Imaginary problems with the door - I can't see how they diagnosed 'em without dismantling it - that come to the best part of £100. Some guff about the rear cylinders leaking into the brake drums - so they took the drums off (involving removing bearings etc) on what was otherwise described as an "oil, filter, and quick check-up service"? Right... Plus they wanted lots extra for the brake fluid, which surely would have been a 60k service item anyway?
And the icing, wanting almost £40 to tighten the screws on the rear wiper motor, and a tenner or more for aiming the front washers. Well thanks for telling me of the loose screws, i'll give them a couple seconds attention with a driver later (jeez, would have took less time to fix than to report), but I can't see what's wrong with the washers.

I'm not even sure that they actually did anything, other than a quick oil drain, filter change and refill, followed by a crafty smearing of oily dirt in suitable places on the alloys and bodywork (never heard of detergent wet-wipes, guys?) and wierd white stuff on a couple of random joints. Not even convinced of the cambelt. After all, there's a ticked box for replacing the pollen filter, and from the way my nose welled up even with Recirculate on driving past fields, that sure aint happened.

All such imaginary faults and sly underhand price-jacking from what I was told was the right price for that fully correct service not two hours earlier, took it from a painful but tolerable £225 up to a wholly laughable £500. On yer bike. Oh, nice of them to tell me that the front splitter was indeed a bodyshop job (no sh*t sherlock) after calling the bodyshop itself to check, but not bothering to ask for a quick quote to pass along to me. Not going back to that bloody dealer again!

is everyone's experience as mind boggling as this?
thing is, my mum scoffed at them when i explained it all, but i know that if they pulled the same trick she'd fall for it completely, as would far too many folk. part of the whole "new car buyer" economy i guess?

/ventage

Thing that annoys me most is the disappointed sigh as I tell them what my car is, you can just watch them completely lose interest. Really gets on my nerves.

"Sorry, so and so isn't at his desk at the moment, can I take a message or get him to call you back?..."


EVERYTIME.

"Yeah mate, we have had a good look at your GTi and diagnosed the problem. It seems to be a faulty ECU, ill go and see how much it will be. Your going to be looking at £895 + VAT + fitting, shall we go ahead and install the part?"

"Erm, no offence but i think ill go and get a second opinion."

"Well, our Master Technician has been trying to fix the ECU for an hour and a half with no sucess... OK SON, give us a ring if you want it to be fitted."

Well to start with, i was there the whole time and i saw the mechanic drive my car into the work shop 10 mins ago so no he hasnt been on over an hour. Secondly when i went and got a second opinion it turns out the ECU is FINE and its actually a faulty cooling fan.

YOU f*****g USELESS MOTHER FUCKERS, ALMOST COST ME £1000 FOR f**k ALL.

i think polosilver (once again) summed up my entire post in three lines..!

their business lies in conning easily led little old ladies out of their cash, so you have to be on your toes at all times.

thirty eight quid just to tighten some bolts, come off it now... even at 65 quid an hour! You cant justify taking more than thirty minutes on a job like that.

groovy - haha that's just the best ... when they realise that unless there's something badly wrong they won't be getting much cash out of you (as it's a rock solid, but frankly pretty worthless old car) - and if there IS something wrong, the limit where you decide to scrap it instead of fixing is going to be something less than the £500 Lookers Vauxhall TRIED to screw me out of for a regular bloody service.

I think the VW next to mine is a f*****g joke. The first time i went they said we can squeeze you in if you wait 45mins, after an hour he comes over and says sorry sir we cant do your car today...

WHATS THE DEAL GIMPS? 2 COOL 4 SCHOOL?

It annoys me when you take your car to the dealership after being forced off the road by an idiot and you hit a rock. Only to be told that it shouldn't be driven because its too dangerous and they then tell you that it will be 2 weeks before they can fix it! Thank you to Harper & Hebson in Carlisle!!

tom_mk5 wrote:"Sorry, so and so isn't at his desk at the moment, can I take a message or get him to call you back?..."


EVERYTIME.

Ditto!

Absolute classic from Lookers Teesside today.

Dropped my car off at 9 this morning for a service, and for them to sort a couple of things like the passenger window and the rattling dash. When I rang at 4 to ask whether it was finished, the woman on the phone couldn't say as she didn't know where the car was. Fair enough.

Went down anyway just before 5 see if it was done. Service woman launched into this speech that because I'd just bought the car from them, the extended warranty wasn't active yet.
Considering I bought the car from a non-VW dealer in Huddersfield, I was mildly perplexed. As was the woman when I explained the car had nothing to do with their dealership. So it turned out that due to it's "supposed extended warranty" the additional work I asked for hasn't been done.

I hate that dealership, if it wasn't for the fact that the other VW garages in the area are just as crap, I wouldn't go there.