rip off mechanic

sma2008

Would like to get other views on this..
Have been having trouble with my car for a number of weeks,stalling at traffic lights and junctions when i come to a stop. My dad is a mechanic in Limerick and as i live in Cork i was waiting for my next trip home for him to have a look at it. He suspected it was a problem quite common in Fords and assured me it was straight forward to fix. It got to the stage though that i was worried about making the journey with a faulty car so brought it to a Ford dealer in Cork to have it fixed. On booking in the car i mentioned what my Dad suspected it was. I had to leave the car with them and called about 2 hours later for an update. The mechanic i spoke to said they could not find out what the problem was, that they had connected it to a diagnostics machine and done some more work but couldnt sort it out. He asked me at this stage about a modification made to the car(it is converted to run on bio ethanol fuel) and said they were reluctant to work on modified cars. I asked him had he checked out the part my Dad mentioned and he said they really didnt want to mess around with a modified car and blamed the modification for the problem. When i went to collect the car I was told the labour charge was €158!!!!! I was shocked to say the least because the car WAS NOT FIXED! The receptionist brought the bill down to €135, which i handed over very reluctantly.
I drove home the following day stressd to the max as the car kept stalling on me, brought the car to my Dad's garage and .... this is the best bit.... he fixed it in about 3 minutes!!! All that needed to be done was a part taken out and cleaned. He was shocked that the Ford garage could not identify the problem and he was horrified that they charged me so much for nothing.
On calling the garage to complain, we basically got nowhere. Their main arguments are that work was carried out on the car and people needed to be paid, it is procedure to connect cars to this diagnostic machine and they do not like working on modified cars. My issue with them is that the problem was identified over the phone by my Dad(not a dedicated Ford mechanic),why did they need to use this machine, my Dad was able to fix the car in under 5 minutes and when they identified the car was "modified" why did they then not cease working on it?
I have asked for a refund of the money I paid less the cost of oil they put in the car but they refuse point blank. Today I have put my complaint in writing to the manager of the garage and if I dont get satisfaction will complain to SIMI and Ford Ireland.
I just wanted to get some feedback from ye on what ye think my chances are on this one!

Rowley Birkin QC

Not good. They provided a service in hooking your car up to a diagnostic machine.

Also your car is no longer to the specification they are trained to work on, it did not leave the Ford production line as a bio ethanol car.

It may be sickening to have to hand over the money but they did provide a service, however unsatisfactory it was.

Cabaal

I can understand why they didn't want to touch a modified car and I'm kinda curious why you didn't just get your dad to fix the issue in the first place?

They still carried out diagnostic checks on your car regardless so they deserve to be paid for this imho, perhaps it may have been worth advising them of any such modifications before you had them look at the car?

sma2008

Cabaal wrote: »

I can understand why they didn't want to touch a modified car and I'm kinda curious why you didn't just get your dad to fix the issue in the first place?

They still carried out diagnostic checks on your car regardless so they deserve to be paid for this imho, perhaps it may have been worth advising them of any such modifications before you had them look at the car?

The reason I didn't get my dad to do it in the first place was because I didn't want to have to drive from Cork to Limerick with a dodgy car, trust me I have learnt my lesson now!
What annoyed me about the modification thing is that they noticed the modification straight away but it was only when I phoned 2 hours later that he asked me what it was for exactly. They had my number, a simple phone call could have sorted this one. It was only when they couldnt diagnose the problem with their machine that they blamed the modification. Don't think I made it clear from the post that this was totally unrelated to the problem.
I dont think it was neccesary to use the diagnostic machine but as this is "procedure" it seems that common sense and good old fashioned mechanics are disregarded.

Gone Drinking

Those diagnostic "machines" are usually just a hand held device. Just lists the engine errors. Lets you reset stuff etc. Takes about five minutes.

Main dealer garages are arseholes.. everyone knows this. Unfortunately, you don't really have a foot to stand on.

Rowley Birkin QC

Gone Drinking wrote: »

Main dealer garages are arseholes.. everyone knows this.

Not all of them are as bad as that in fairness.

What was actually wrong OP?

You say a part needed to be cleaned, air/fuel filter? If your Dad is a mechanic would you not have picked up the basics from him and had a go yourself?

sma2008

bigkev49 wrote: »

Not all of them are as bad as that in fairness.

What was actually wrong OP?

You say a part needed to be cleaned, air/fuel filter? If your Dad is a mechanic would you not have picked up the basics from him and had a go yourself?

It was the "idling stepper motor" if that means anything to you... wouldnt be too confident about fiddling around under the bonnet of a car thought i'd leave it to the experts!ha!
Also forgot to mention that when my dad asked my 15 year old brother what he thought might have been wrong (he helps my dad out saturday mornings) he was able to tell us straight away!!Apparently it is so common that my brother has seen it a number of times...
Grrr. just getting crosser.

gerryo

sma2008 wrote: »

It was the "idling stepper motor" if that means anything to you... wouldnt be too confident about fiddling around under the bonnet of a car thought i'd leave it to the experts!ha!
Also forgot to mention that when my dad asked my 15 year old brother what he thought might have been wrong (he helps my dad out saturday mornings) he was able to tell us straight away!!Apparently it is so common that my brother has seen it a number of times...
Grrr. just getting crosser.

Yeah, your' right to be angry, any reasonably competent mechanic* could have fixed that problem in 30 minutes (I could have fixed it- and I'm not anywhere near being a mechanic). There's too much reliance on diagnostic tools these days, I find the older mechanics rely on their experience & are better for it. Having a "modded" car might throw an inexperienced mechanic a bit, but if he's any good at all, he'll figure out what the mod is for in a few minutes.

I've also been a victim of the diagnostic computer finding nothing wrong scenario, luckily they took it for a drive & sussed it out. I paid something like €190 for the repair job, €70 for the part & €120 for the labour. I was pi$$ed off at the labour charge, as I had diagnosed the problem down to 2 components (thanks to google + usenet groups), so it's not like they had a really hard time. I should have bought the parts myself & fitted them, would have worked out cheaper even if one bit was not really broken.

This is how main dealers make their money - just don't go anywhere near them anymore.
Find a local guy (ask around) or next time go home, they'll look after you better than anyone else would.

* = someone whose served their apprenticeship at a main dealer or someone whose got sufficient years running their own shop.

foggy_lad

they say they dont work on modified cars so what kind of expertise have they got if they did not recognize the modifications to your car? make your complaint to ford ireland and simi as the people working in the garage appear incompetant

gerrycollins

there are no real mechanics IMO anymore. you put a car in for a service the main points are straight forward(a dummy can do it wonder why people dont do it themselves) but then the computer does the rest.

Granted its great that a problem can be detected so easily so long as its a basic problem. anything more complicated and it takes them ages. Had similar situation with a main Peugeot dealer a few years back.

On the modified part they are within their rights sickening and all as it is just proves my point that there are v little real mechanics left.

My fathers mate, a mechanic obviously, can sort a problem by either listening to the car or giving it a quick spin hes fooking brill to watch working. eg my father had major trouble with an opel and brought it to an opel dealer and they couldnt find what was wrong but fixed loads that wasnt wrong 7 times, it went legal at one point. so dad brought it to his mate and he had it fixed over a weekend,(went to the opel dealer first because it was under warranty)

Darragh29

bigkev49 wrote: »

Not all of them are as bad as that in fairness.

What was actually wrong OP?

You say a part needed to be cleaned, air/fuel filter? If your Dad is a mechanic would you not have picked up the basics from him and had a go yourself?

To be honest OP, you went to a main dealer, you ought to have known better, considering your Dad is in the trade. You don't get out of a main dealer for less than 100 Euro, no matter what the problem is. They charge for their time, they don't give a sh*t about you or your car. If you went to a decent indy, you'd have had that sorted in 5 minutes.

The way dealerships operate is they get an apprentice to connect the car to a diagnostics system, if the answer comes up, you get a result, if it doesn't, you have seen what happens, you get fobbed off about a bio-ethenol modification and you get a bill for always over 100 Euro.

Darragh29

gerrycollins wrote: »

there are no real mechanics IMO anymore. you put a car in for a service the main points are straight forward(a dummy can do it wonder why people dont do it themselves) but then the computer does the rest.

Granted its great that a problem can be detected so easily so long as its a basic problem. anything more complicated and it takes them ages. Had similar situation with a main Peugeot dealer a few years back.

On the modified part they are within their rights sickening and all as it is just proves my point that there are v little real mechanics left.

My fathers mate, a mechanic obviously, can sort a problem by either listening to the car or giving it a quick spin hes fooking brill to watch working. eg my father had major trouble with an opel and brought it to an opel dealer and they couldnt find what was wrong but fixed loads that wasnt wrong 7 times, it went legal at one point. so dad brought it to his mate and he had it fixed over a weekend,(went to the opel dealer first because it was under warranty)

There are plenty of good mechananics but you rarely find them in a main dealer because they are too mean to pay proper wages.

gerrycollins

Darragh29 wrote: »

There are plenty of good mechananics but you rarely find them in a main dealer because they are too mean to pay proper wages.

exactly thats why I avoid main dealers anymore, cheaper faster and more reliable.

sma2008

Darragh29 wrote: »

To be honest OP, you went to a main dealer, you ought to have known better, considering your Dad is in the trade. You don't get out of a main dealer for less than 100 Euro, no matter what the problem is. They charge for their time, they don't give a sh*t about you or your car. If you went to a decent indy, you'd have had that sorted in 5 minutes.

The way dealerships operate is they get an apprentice to connect the car to a diagnostics system, if the answer comes up, you get a result, if it doesn't, you have seen what happens, you get fobbed off about a bio-ethenol modification and you get a bill for always over 100 Euro.

Lesson has been learnt dudes! I suppose the reason i went to the dealers is coz if i needed a replacement part i figured they would have it and i needed the car to travel the next day. i'm still going to get on to SIMI and Ford even though i dont expect to get my money back, just hope the garage will get a bit of grief or something. Hate just writing it off to experience, feel better doing something about it!

josh59

sma2008 wrote: »

It was the "idling stepper motor" if that means anything to you... wouldnt be too confident about fiddling around under the bonnet of a car thought i'd leave it to the experts!ha!
Also forgot to mention that when my dad asked my 15 year old brother what he thought might have been wrong (he helps my dad out saturday mornings) he was able to tell us straight away!!Apparently it is so common that my brother has seen it a number of times...
Grrr. just getting crosser.

I remember bringing a car into a VW dealer a few years ago - apparently they don't employ mechanics anymore I was told that a technician would be looking at my car. Anyway I love the way they sit you down and produce reams of print outs and bits of paper before they sc&*w you with the bill.

Any one who listens to the Last Word on Today FM will be familiar with the ongoing debate where there have been claims that main dealers are allegedly trying to compensate for lack of revenue from sales by charging more for servicing. Don't think this is true - it's just buyer beware to have plenty of cash ready when you drop a car into any main dealer to have work done.:(

Darragh29

josh59 wrote: »

Any one who listens to the Last Word on Today FM will be familiar with the ongoing debate where there have been claims that main dealers are allegedly trying to compensate for lack of revenue from sales by charging more for servicing. Don't think this is true - it's just buyer beware to have plenty of cash ready when you drop a car into any main dealer to have work done.:(

Funny you have said this, I was only talking to someone today who works in a main dealer who said that this is happening...

run_Forrest_run

the rip-off culture is not isolated to main dealers I'm afraid! The lad who did my car the last time was taking the pi*s when he gave me the bill, and he's an independent and I even recommended him on boards before

I change my own oil and oil filter, but I must get the necessary tools to remove the spark plugs, I have the feckin Heynes manual in my nicely polished bookshelf ffs!

Dabko

C**ts, thats what main dealers are - someones gotta pay for their expensive homes and wives!

Bought a ford transit 8 months ago from main ford dealer in galway city for 12k. Went out of warranty 12k miles ago. Brought it back last week beacause the power was dramaticaly reduced. They replaced the intercooler, total cost = 500.00.

We collected van and drove 200 yards, only to discover the same problem again. They took it back and had the f**king balls to call me and say the turbo was spent and total charge to fix was 2500.00.:eek: Kindly told them to f**k off.

Ordered a brand new turbo unit from UK , cost delivered - 649.00
Have a mechanic lined up to install - 300.00


Then, this main ford dealer in galway city called me today to say:

"we wont be charging you the full 80.00 per hour to tell you your turbo was busted, we'll only charge you 40.00 per hour. Oh, and it took 5 hours"

Where the f**k is the law to deal with sh1t like this. Poor car dealers my hole

sma2008

Just to update this with the final result, semi happy ending. After getting letters from Ford Ireland and SIMI acknowledging my complaint and saying they would contact the garage but basically saying there probably wasn't a lot they could do, got a letter from the garage yesterday. They went through the process of how the car was checked, how long it took etc and said this was normal procedure. In the end he said they were sorry i wasn't happy with the service received and as a gexture of goodwill they would go halves on the bill. Cheque was attached for half the amount i paid. Was not expecting to see anything so pretty happy with this.

Rowley Birkin QC

Happy ending so.

The big question, will you go there again?

sma2008

bigkev49 wrote: »

Happy ending so.

The big question, will you go there again?

Are you joking? No way!!! Never deal with a dealer again....

KindOfIrish

sma2008 wrote: »

brought it to a Ford dealer in Cork to have it fixed.

That was the main problem! Who on earth repair cars at official dealers???:eek: independent mechanics only, unless you are a millionaire:)

RoboRat

In fairness if they don't work on modded motors then why didn't they say so in the beginning? This is just an excuse and to be honest they should tell you this from the get go and let you make an informed decision.

dudara

Zombie thread - closed

dudara