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Customers taken for a FREE ride? #

Posted by John White on November 25, 2009, 8:11 pm
Message modified by board administrator November 26, 2009, 2:07 pm

Hi all,wondered what your thoughts are on this.

CUSTOMER 1.
Car brought from one of these car warehouses,where they offer FREE MOT's for life,i've serviced/repaired it for last 3 years or so,this year they failed it on n.s.f rear suspension bush,quoted, £14.00 for bush, 2.8 hrs
labour @ £65.00ph to do plus vat.
Customer brought car to me for a quote,as we only serviced it a few weeks ago,and didn't advise on anything, I offered to check them first,could not see anything wrong with the bushes, so we mot'd for him & passed!

CUSTOMER 2.
Took his car to kwitfit who were offering a FREE BRAKE CHECK,they advised him that the rear brake shoes & drums were excessively worn,and o.s.f outer cv gaiter split,quoted him £200 to do repairs,brought car to me,had car in today for repairs,removed rear wheels,eventually (had to use 3ft bar to undo wheel nuts) hey presto,nothing wrong with brakes,also the cv gaiter was insecure on the joint,clip was broken,repacked joint,fitted new clip,job done and wheel nuts torqued to correct torque!!

It really annoys me that they can get away with these scams through sexy advertising & I expect they will be members of one of these bloody codes or whatever they want to call themselves! How many customers just let them do the work?

John

Re: Customers taken for a FREE ride?????

Posted by John Ritchie on November 25, 2009, 8:20 pm, in reply to "Customers taken for a FREE ride?????"
John Ritchie

Bang on , had a customer in today who had work done with a well known chain , they replaced front discs & pads at the time which was fine until a month later the main dealer reported the discs & pads req replaced , turns out they secured the cv joint gator & charged him for the brakes .... like the advert says "you'll be amazed at what we do !!" ....nice lol

Regards
John

Re: Customers taken for a FREE ride?????

Posted by Pete Mutlow on November 25, 2009, 9:30 pm, in reply to "Re: Customers taken for a FREE ride?????"
Peter Mutlow

Evening all,

This reminds of a local garage that utilises my services when they get stuck on something. They had a Fiat Seicento in that had failed its MOT on exhaust emissions. Turned out to be a straight forward pre-cat Lambda sensor that did the trick and I measured the emissions as an easy pass. Supervisor was surprised that it did not need a new cat and I showed him the new figures to prove the point. His response was that they will stick one on anyway - just in case. That just in case cost the customer an extra £225 + vat

(from memory).

It boils down to the need to meet targets and in these recessionary times to help boost profits from hard pressed custmers.

Problem is that big brush that splashes the tar about claims the innocents of the trade - like you and me.

Regards

Pete M

Re: Customers taken for a FREE ride?????

Posted by Sean Connelly on November 25, 2009, 9:42 pm, in reply to "Re: Customers taken for a FREE ride?????"

Long standing customer with an Audi A4 estate bought second hand from the local Audi dealer with free MOTs, came to us with a quote for about £600 worth of work following his free MOT. He wanted us to quote. Checked the car over and said we would have advised on everything they failed, but would have failed it on the front number plate which they had missed!

One failure point was for the rear anti-roll bar to be weakened by corrosion! Yes the paint had flaked off and it was rusty, but its going to take 20 years to be weakened by corrosion!

So £60 later he had his MOT and number plate and will look at some of the advisory points only when they actually become an issue.

We may never make loads of money, but we can sleep peacefully at night.

Sean

Link: Macclesfield MOT & Service Centre

Re: Customers taken for a FREE ride?????

Posted by Steve Nicholas on November 25, 2009, 9:59 pm, in reply to "Re: Customers taken for a FREE ride?????"
Stephen Nicholas

It annoys the hell out of me when I see THOSE ads on tele and I know from guys who worked for them (and finally couldn't stand to be that dishonest any more) that they were encouraged to cheat customers out of their hard-earned cash in order to earn commission/meet targets.

But let's get a grip on reality Lads, the world runs on corruption and crime. Sometimes it's called government or some other grand title.

I too am determined not to join in the game and will always look after my customers' interests.

Awaiting my wings,

Steve

Re: Customers taken for a FREE ride?????

Posted by john white on November 26, 2009, 1:58 pm, in reply to "Re: Customers taken for a FREE ride?????"
Tony White

hi all,
just had a phone call from my CUSTOMER 1,he has phoned v.o.s.a about this issue & v.o.s.a are apparntly going up to check on the garage.
let you know if i hear anything.
john

Re: Customers taken for a FREE ride?????

Posted by Mark Molesworth on November 26, 2009, 5:57 pm, in reply to "Re: Customers taken for a FREE ride?????"
Mark Molesworth

Customer took his car into one of these national places because Mot was half price. Failed Mot on front spring broken,antiroll bar link broken and one tyre. He showed me the quote all nicely printed out. To replace both front springs £470.00. To replace both front anti roll bar links £267.00. Although one tyre is worn sir the spare and o/s/r tyres are low so you will need three tyres costing £240.00. I think in the eyes of the law this is called entrapment. Lure them in with cheap Mot and then Zap'em.
Mark M

Re: Customers taken for a FREE ride?????

Posted by Steve Nicholas on November 26, 2009, 11:05 pm, in reply to "Re: Customers taken for a FREE ride?????"
Stephen Nicholas

£470 for front springs and £267 for stabiliser links!

What car was this?

Sounds more like unarmed robbery to me!

Regards,

Steve

Re: Customers taken for a FREE ride?????

Posted by Mark Molesworth on November 27, 2009, 9:02 am, in reply to "Re: Customers taken for a FREE ride?????"
Mark Molesworth

Sorry I forgot to put the vehicle details. This makes it more scandalous as it was a 2002 Renault Clio 1.2 not some notoriously expensive luxury car.
Mark M

Re: Customers taken for a FREE ride?????

Posted by Tom Williams on November 27, 2009, 9:35 am, in reply to "Re: Customers taken for a FREE ride?????"
Tom Williams

Hi all,

I always dislike seeing posts which demonstrate that parts of the vehicle repair industry are less honest than they should be.

Sometimes the boot is on the other foot.
How many of us have been taken advantage of by dishonest customers ? I'd imagine most of us at some time or another.

Either in a small way, car booked in, parts bought, but no show,right the way through to downright theft ie. bounced cheque with no hope of payment.

I suppose that at least in most of the examples quoted the customer actually got something for his cash,albeit too expensive. Many of us have been taken for the ultimate 'free ride' ie, the customer has got away with paying nothing at all.

Re: Customers taken for a FREE ride? #

Posted by Peter Warman on November 27, 2009, 4:41 pm, in reply to "Customers taken for a FREE ride? #"
Peter Warman - Administrator

Hi John

Most of the fast fits have always up sold parts to customers for as long as I can remember (last 20 years +) and as we know this has become a standing joke with in the motor trade. In some cases they have had to change their trading name (apples something was one I think) as their reputation took a dive

But for £75:00 they can sign up to a Motor Code, which in the eyes of the public gives them a big tick for honesty. When they have the inspection by the RAC this will just cover the business premises and working practices (paper work)

If they legally had to comply to the letter, then I am sure their profit line would tumble, so they are never going to change their methods

All we can do is hope that the customers are savvy enough to seek a second opinion from a UKAT Independent

Peter

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