ACE Tyre & Exhausts, Sandyford - Expensive Service Mistake

ravydavygravy

Heyho,

Venting more than anything else - don't really expect anything to come from this other than to warn others. This garage had my 01 Renault Laguna in for service ~2 months ago. I asked them to have a good luck at my rear brake pads because I figured they were very well worn (gone from screetching to grinding...)

The day went by, picked up the car and they told me the rear pads were fine (they replaced the front ones alright, but the rear ones would be good to next service). Drove away, noise free, all happy.

About a week ago, the grinding noise started again - figured it must be more serious than my brakes, since they were ok. Booked it into a renault garage - they had a quick look and it was obvious to them the rear brake pads are down to the metal, and the the discs have been damaged as a result. It's now getting brake pads AND discs replaced... GRRR.

I'm most annoyed by the fact that I asked them specifically to check this out, and yet they didn't notice the issue - but yet, the noise was gone, so they did something to them?
I rang Ace to vent, but didn't really expect any results (they apologised) - even if they offered to fix it, I wouldn't have brought it back. Nor will I ever again, and I've been a customer of theirs for several years, with two cars.

Time for imagination Christmas....

Dave

dudara

Moved to Motors at OPs request

dudara

ravydavygravy

Just to finalise the story, the renault garage fixed the stuff that was damaged, total cost ~€400. I'm just glad my car isn't a death trap any more - my wife is due to go into labour any day now, and the last thing i need is a hospital dash in a deathtrap....

BlackWizard

Bring your receipt into the original garage and say what you just said here, to them.

Make sure you are talking to the manager and not some shop supervisor or mechanic.

Man 400 euro this mistake cost you :mad: I'd be fuming

-Chris-

Wow, that's a fairly scary story OP.

I've used Ace quite a bit and have never had an issue, but I guess everyone makes a F'up every so often - to me how you fix the issue is more important that whether an issue happens.

kid_lee

Some time ago, I was there on a Sat. It looks they are short of staff, only 2 guys are around the garage.

I needed them to adjust my hand break. so I join in another 2 group of people looks they are waiting in a queue.

2 guys working in the garage walked pass us several times without even eye contact. I tried talk to one and the other, seems they are deaf and walk direct under one of the cars and carry on whatever they are doing.

after showing a middle finger, i left..............

Unless ur car is on fire,, or engine is felling out of chassis, try somewhere else....:mad::mad::mad:

Seth Brundle

My wife had her Peugeot serviced in a main dealer near there. They wanted to replace her front brake pads as they were IIRC "Dangerously worn". I decided to DIY and as it turned out they were fine.
Moral: just because one dealer says they are damaged doesn't necessarily mean that they are!

Ace obviously did something to rectify the issue (as the noise was gone for almost two months). I find it strange that they looked at the brakes, decided they were fine, if they weren't. Could ther have been some other minor issue causing the noise but Renault decided to make a few quid?

kazul

Maybe the pads were ok but perhaps your handbrake is faulty causing them to wear quickly?

Big Nasty

Have heard a few bad stories about them the last few years. I think the key indicator would be that their front of house advertisement for what they do is still based on an Alfasud, fine in the 80's, bad in the 90's, worse in the 00's but now they look like classic car specialists while clearly they're not!

Wow.

I used these for the first time today :eek:

Got 3 new tyres - cheapest I've found.

Hope they don't fall off!

daRobot

Went up there before to get some tyres priced up.

I asked the chap for a recommendation.

His exact words:

"I'd stick Hankook on 'em mate, they're actually decent tyres, not like the usual sh*te i'd normally tell people are decent haha"

Camskill got my business.

Esel

Bad, that. I avoid (like the plague) any company, in any line of business, with names like AAA, AARDVARK, A1, ACME, ACE, or any other name they have chosen just to get to the front of the Golden Pages or any other listing. Same for the sneaky Z-named guys as well....

Terra

At the same time, I find that renault dealer in sandyford very expensive for anything.

They overcharge a lot.

ravydavygravy

Terra wrote: »

At the same time, I find that renault dealer in sandyford very expensive for anything.

They overcharge a lot.

Agreed - in the future I'll be using the renault garage at the edge of Enniskillen (I'm up there quite a bit). I had to get a renault keycard replaced a few years ago - renault sandyford wanted ~€350, renault enniskillen charged me ~€150.

Back on topic, I'm just glad the car is working again. When I rang ACE yesterday, the manager really didn't want to offer me any course of action other than "oh well, if you'd brought the car back to us, I could have done something about it...."

Anyway, all done. Never again.

Dave

JoeyJJ

A fellow I work with went in there after NCT to have brake fluid valve replaced. He went back to NCT centre to have it rechecked. The bloke in NCT centre called him in to show him his brake fluid pissing all over the floor. They didn't tighten the bolt correctly. If he left it a couple of days he would have probably tried to brake on the M7 and got nothing. He had to get a tow from the NCT centre and they but a stiker on saying they car was not road worthy.

trad

I think Ace were trying not to rip off the OP by looking at the pads and saying they OK until the next service, whereas main dealers will almost always replace as much as they can "in the interest of safety".

I think it's a no win situation. If you replace parts that are not fully worn out you are deemed to be ripping people off. If you don't replace the parts you are deemed to be negligant.