It only takes one...

[Yorkshire_Jon]

First off I won't mention any names...

I took my 110 into my usual garage yesterday to diagnose a couple of issues that I had with the car.

Now I had a good idea about what was wrong but as I only have minimal tools at home I couldn't confirm.

I spoke to service desk and told them my thoughts and asked them to have a look.

Later that day they rang me to say my rear trailing arm bushes were shagged and that my wheels needed balancing; and I had an oil leak on my turbo oil return pipe and that they recommended I not drive the car until they fixed it.

I told them I didn't agree and I was on my way to discuss with the guy that looked at the car.


When I got there I asked to speak to a bloke who know knows his stuff.

Half an hour later he's confirmed my previous thoughts and said the earlier diagnosis was rubbish. Not one thing on his list was an issue!


The point here is that I know the garage has some good people and I've always been treated well and fairly. But... If this was my first experience at said garage I would not be going back and I could have have been ripped off.

Always get a second opinion if you think your been spun a yarn!

Jon

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[Sue]

That's a little scary; if it had happened to me I would not have known any better and would have had everything repaired - no doubt at great expense to me.. :(

[tomalophicon]

So why would they give you a dud diagnosis? What's the point?

[UncleHo]

Money in the till;)

[whisky_mac]

I reckon they had two 110s in and somebody got them mixed up.

[Yorkshire_Jon]

I don't think for one minute they tried to rip me off, they never have before.

I think it's more a case of in-experienced staff working alone.

If this is common across garages you can see why some get a bad name quickly.

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[Xtreme]

That's a little scary; if it had happened to me I would not have known any better and would have had everything repaired - no doubt at great expense to me.. :(

And probably little or no outlay/work by them. :o

Jon, if you ever need a bit of room to work on the Defender, you are welcome to park at Normanhurst for a day or so. Just give me a call anytime.

[Tikirocker]

I would have told them to stick their diagnosis and take my biz elsewhere - why would you bother to give them business after that deception? I highly doubt that those things could be mistaken ... even by an apprentice.

Tiki.

[tomalophicon]

Money in the till;)

OK so a quick fix of some unrelated items to shut the customer up for a couple of weeks and hope they don't come back?
Use the parts they have and spend no time replacing them and charge a premium.
I'd not use them either if I suspected that was the case.
I guess you'll never find out what happened.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

sometimes-
its worth the trouble,,
sometimes-
there are not so many options,,
but only sometimes;)

[Landy110]

I've seen it where I used to work, one of the service guys who is as useless as a screen door on a submarine diagnosed a front load washing machine as needing a new motor but it was decided to try the brushes first, the new brushes come in an assembly and you have to break little plastic retaining clips away so the brush can be pushed forward by the spring, simple enough, but passion fingers didn't think of that so the machine didn't work. Long story short, the customer was quoted enough that they said ditch it and we will buy a new one!

We tested it later with clips broken away and it worked beautifully.

Now the bit that cheeses me off, I got laid off and passion fingers still works there !!!

Steve

[Ratel10mm]

Tell me about it. Used to work with a tech that the office thought was great. Did a lot of work, very fast, paperwork always in on time. Except I caught him out on dodgy diagnoses on a number of occasions. This guy was a senior tech 2-3 grades above me! Another used to blame one of the control boards if he couldn't work out the correct diagnosis. On one occasion I attended a warranty call where he'd claimed a comm's card was faulty. There's one per circuit on that machine and they have programmable relays. I guess he didn't know he had to program both cards, 'cos one was fine & I programmed the 'faulty' one correctly so that it worked. Again, a senior tech!!
You get them at all levels, in all walks of life. Just too lazy, embarrased or scared to admit they don't know & ask those who do.

[bobslandies]

Some years ago on Sydney's Northern Beaches there was a person who had a carburettor repair business. I am unsure but he may have bought it as a going concern.

He had a great system going - every car that came in got a brand new carburettor fitted and his customers were happy - albeit they had been grossly overcharged. That was the era of "pollution controls" and "reducing pollution" - the environment was being saved. He was doing well so he was happy. Other repairers and a couple of wreckers would buy the heaps of used and probably quite easily refurbishable carburettors from him - they were happy. Win, win, win.

Apparently then a customer was unhappy and Consumer Affairs got involved. End of business!

Electronic ignition and fuel injection with less mechanical parts to wear out, along with improved metallurgy, lubrication and diagnostics, make modern vehicles more reliable and economic - provided that repairers are ethical.

And Jon, I think we were talking about this recently;)

Bob

[George130]

Had a few places try to do this to me over the years. It is why I tell them what they are to do and if they claim anything else they must show me exactly why. Also why I have no faith or trust anymore.
Hope it was an honest mistake.
I now use a guy I have known for years as he has bet up his own workshop.