I was driving home the other day in my 06 Octy VRS when it started making a screechng noise , so I stopped and popped the bonnet and had a look, all I could see looked normal altho the noise seemed to be coming from the alternator or the pulley.

I drove carefully home and popped it into the skoda dealer the next day, when I dropped it off I was offered a car for the day, I didnt need it so they offered me a lift to work instead which was most welcome.

I got a call a few hours later telling me that there was bad news, i'd had the cambelt and waterpump done at the recommended interval a few months before christmas ( Car has FSH and 40k miles ) and the dealer told me there was a trapped pipe and the top engine mount was not sitting right, did I know why?!!!! I immediately told them i'd had the cambelt done and they said it must have been put back on poorly.

I rang the garage who did it ( ive used them for 15 years and he is usually a great guy ), I told him what had happened and where the car was, his response was " Just get the work done and i'll settle the bill", so he knew he'd fucked up and kept quiet!!

I was told the car was dangerous to drive and i was lucky the bottom lug hand snapped off the block!!! ( meaning i'd have needed a new short block )

Anyway, Skoda had to lift the engine out to extract the bolt snapped off in the block, the pipes were freed, the thread re-cut in the other bolthole and the cracked engine mount replaced.

This was over the next 48 hours and I was given a car FOC to use in the meantime.

The day I picked my car up, it was cleaned inside and out and Skoda were happy to invoice my previous garage ( who settled the bill over the phone there and then )

The bill was £728, which for a total engine extraction, new engine mount and all the other buggering about wasnt too bad I think.


What I learned was a few things;

1) I should have used the dealer for the cambelt to begin with
2) I was so dissappointed (as mechanics) with the previous garage having left me with a dangerous car and not holding their hands up to an error when fitting the mount back on. HOWEVER, I was impressed ( as men ) that they just paid up and took it like a man when I spoke to them about their error
3) Skoda has FANTASTIC customer service. I went to them with a 5 year old car that had been bodged elsewhere and they treated me as well as I could possibly be treated, I cant say enough how different an experience it is to other brands of dealers I've used. I cant imagine the Ford dealer offering me a lift to work or a free car for the day!

SKODA, recommended very highly

 

Bloody hell!

If only service was like this across the board!

And a good thing that the guy that cocked up didn't argue the toss and paid up. Lucky mate.

Very few and far between are these tales.

 

Its true, i went to Fords the other day looking to purchase a boot lock seal, now the guy on the phone told me it was available in stock at just over £9, a bit pricey but nevermind but when i arrived to collect i was told they couldnt sell me it seperately and i have to buy the complete boot lock assembly as it comes with that, at a total of £129 !

When i declined and told id spoken to someone over the phone and to be told it was available, the parts guys next comment was ' why was i bothering anyway with a 10 year old Focus ' and that i shouldnt worry about it !! After that i left !

 

Someone in your local dealer cocked up, ordered a complete lock by mistake and tried to sell it to you.

plenty here;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_fr...All-Categories

 

Not all garages will fuck you over. I have a small repair workshop with many regular and satisfied customers I even get called in from other garages to cover if needs be for holidays, sickdays etc. I personally wouldn't give a car back unless it was rite. As for the stealers I mean dealers they are overpriced and will tell you what you want to hear and basically lick your arse crack dry so you think there the bees knees. I might be wrong but I wouldnt be surprised if half the stuff they said didnt need done especially not the engine out. I know from previous experience that the mountings on skodas and vws are bad for coming loose as I've had one or two from other places that I've repaired. The bolts come loose and vibrate then snap the bolts in the block but because they were loose when the snapped they come out, without removing the engine.
So basically don't tar everyone with the same brush

QUOTE=It's Czech Mate;5779054]I was driving home the other day in my 06 Octy VRS when it started making a screechng noise , so I stopped and popped the bonnet and had a look, all I could see looked normal altho the noise seemed to be coming from the alternator or the pulley.

I drove carefully home and popped it into the skoda dealer the next day, when I dropped it off I was offered a car for the day, I didnt need it so they offered me a lift to work instead which was most welcome.

I got a call a few hours later telling me that there was bad news, i'd had the cambelt and waterpump done at the recommended interval a few months before christmas ( Car has FSH and 40k miles ) and the dealer told me there was a trapped pipe and the top engine mount was not sitting right, did I know why?!!!! I immediately told them i'd had the cambelt done and they said it must have been put back on poorly.

I rang the garage who did it ( ive used them for 15 years and he is usually a great guy ), I told him what had happened and where the car was, his response was " Just get the work done and i'll settle the bill", so he knew he'd fucked up and kept quiet!!

I was told the car was dangerous to drive and i was lucky the bottom lug hand snapped off the block!!! ( meaning i'd have needed a new short block )

Anyway, Skoda had to lift the engine out to extract the bolt snapped off in the block, the pipes were freed, the thread re-cut in the other bolthole and the cracked engine mount replaced.

This was over the next 48 hours and I was given a car FOC to use in the meantime.

The day I picked my car up, it was cleaned inside and out and Skoda were happy to invoice my previous garage ( who settled the bill over the phone there and then )

The bill was £728, which for a total engine extraction, new engine mount and all the other buggering about wasnt too bad I think.


What I learned was a few things;

1) I should have used the dealer for the cambelt to begin with
2) I was so dissappointed (as mechanics) with the previous garage having left me with a dangerous car and not holding their hands up to an error when fitting the mount back on. HOWEVER, I was impressed ( as men ) that they just paid up and took it like a man when I spoke to them about their error
3) Skoda has FANTASTIC customer service. I went to them with a 5 year old car that had been bodged elsewhere and they treated me as well as I could possibly be treated, I cant say enough how different an experience it is to other brands of dealers I've used. I cant imagine the Ford dealer offering me a lift to work or a free car for the day!

SKODA, recommended very highly[/QUOTE]

 

[/quote]

What a cock

Where have I slagged anybody off?

I saw photo's before work commenced and the broken parts.

Dealer is £70ph labour

I have no alleigence to anyone, as said I used the indy for 15 years

Go back and re read what I wrote thanks

ps. Fair play if you give your cutomers a free car to use or run them to work and back and give them their car back valeted. I'll bet everything I own you dont.

 

Why do you assume he knew he'd fucked up and kept quiet? I dare say if he was so keen to pay out there's no way he'd knowingly let a car go out like that. It sounds more to me like a mistake and he wanted to sort it without too much fuss.

 

Well when tightening up three bolts, if you thread one, snap another and trap a pipe between what youre tightening and the engine i'd say it was fairly hard to not know what you were doing unless you were retarded in some way

Also he apologised to me, which says it all really. He did the decent thing in sorting it out as I said.

 

human's can make mistakes
edited due to posting after extra replys to thread

 

I seriously hope your not referring to me as a cock as iam just giving my oppion. As for your commen of me needing to give someone a free car to use to get to work etc I don't need to as when I repair something it's done rite and when it's supposed to as it should be!
Get the pictures what you have up of the damage and I imagine more coments will be said about it etc.


What a cock

Where have I slagged anybody off?

I saw photo's before work commenced and the broken parts.

Dealer is £70ph labour

I have no alleigence to anyone, as said I used the indy for 15 years

Go back and re read what I wrote thanks

ps. Fair play if you give your cutomers a free car to use or run them to work and back and give them their car back valeted. I'll bet everything I own you dont.[/QUOTE]

 

Are you drunk? You accuse me of tarring people with a brush when I havent

And how does the fact you do your repairs (allegedly) correctly mean that customers wouldnt benefit from a free courtesy car whilst you do them?

I hope you apply a higher level of inteligence to your work than your internet posts

i dont need to post the photos, i just posted what happend and what a great service I had. The guy who made the error didnt argue with it so there IS no argument

I never disputed anybody cant make a mistake, all i'm disappointed with is he didnt hold his hand up straight away rather than me having to drive round with it till the consequenses of his error came to light. I'll say again i'm impressed he sorted it out the correct way in the end.

 

Correct, its how you deal with them that counts

 

We all make mistakes. At least the garage who did the work to it in the first place. When i go to look at buying cars i always look to see if i can repair the car myself without someone else doing the work.

 

Thats what I was getting around to saying but I had, lets just say more than enough polish lager

Will you still use the independant in the future?

 

thats great!

 

Why is some people here slagging the OP off, he just said he had a great service from a main dealer and the original garage paid for it to be done. Nothing more nothing less.

 

You deserve good service from them after they sold cars like that.



lucky result in the end could have ended up nasty

 

Can't be bothered to read the crap. Sounds like main stealer done a good job, probably in the hope you'll bring the car nack to them again.

We're all squidgy and organic so do make mistakes, it's how they are dealt with that makes the difference. Sounds like both the original garage and the dealer did their parts for the better which is a rarely heard story these days

 

Mazda just offer you a bus pass....

 

LMAO at "Free car" to drive while yours is fixed! Nothing to do with the fact that main stealer prices are twice that of any decent indie?

Fair play to the first garage paying up, Shows they care about their reputation. There are plenty of great independents around, and plenty of terrible dealers.

 

£70 ph is pretty good for a main dealer by me ( in fact they are the cheapest main dealer of all brands in our area), especially when they have the advantage of seeing the same cars day in day out so know the common things to look out for.

Not knocking indy's at all but most decent ones are £50-60 by me so not much cheaper really and as stated I have always used an Indy.

This highlights to me that for an extra £10 per hour I got a free car, valet, lifts to work and better custmer service than any indy i've ever been in.

Skoda came top of the JD Power for dealers and I can see why

It was Trust Skoda in Stourbridge by the way if anyone cares

 

 

Roll on devolution..........

 

+1

 

Amen to that brotha!!

 

you can tell chops back lol

 

haha

 

good to have you back onboard

 

Surprised you have used him for that long, sounds like shoddy workmanship and incompetence, anyone in there right mind's would have done the decent thing! For sure his only human but theres a mistake and theres that!

Tbh is a courtesy car not standard of most dealers? (I woulden't know as never used them) where as obviously a one man band sort of business you woulden't expect to provide such a service!

Martin

 

Its' good to be back. Someone has to give skoda owners a wee shake from time to time

 

Most Indy garages round her have a loan car and give your veihcle a valet So nothing new there maybe you just been using the wrong garage all those years?

 

I'd say if you've been using the independent for 15 years you've obviously been happy with his work up until now so he can't have been that bad.

 

Correct and he's a thoroughly nice bloke too, I haven't done anything other than repeat my story. It's interesting to hear all the views

 

Is it possible that it was all just an innocent mistake by the independent garage? The fact he paid for the repairs might not have been an admission of his guilt it may just be the fact that he accepts he made a balls up and paid up as a goodwill gesture so that he doesn't loose your future business.

 

Well from what the dealer said and the photo's I saw, plus his reaction when I broached the subject with him it was fairly clear he knew he'd left it in a state unfortunately. I was just lucky allround that he coughed up and no real damage occured!.