best garage stories

[GCA3N]

Right as Mini owners I am sure we all have a plethora (lots off, I looked it up) of stories about garages and in specifically I am on about horror stories. Even more if they have a funny twist so, rack your brains and see who's is the best.

I'll start

About 4 years ago I had a company car that I had routinely serviced. As it did not cost me anything I dropped off at the vauxhall garage stating please service and replace anything as required, pads tyres etc.

I had done this about 3 times in the pass, and on completion just gone in signed on the dotted line. For some reason this time I decided to ask the girl behind the desk for a list of the work that had been carried out.

Ok Mr Allan no probs I'll just get that for you.

After 5 mins of closely examining the invoice I queried one of the jobs done.

Step 5: full service of Air-con system and top up of air con fluids. £75

I asked the girl about it and she said yes sir the mechanic thought it wasn't working very well and we did it for you, is that ok?

I said "yes no probs can I speak to the mechanic as I must be really thick I don't know how it works".

At this the service manager steps in and says "I'll show you sir", I thought Brilliant.

Out to the car we trot....

Now if you have not already guessed my car did not have air-con, a luxury I had never had and not specified on the car when originally purchased.

His face was a picture, as with a smug, can't believe you don't know how to do this look, he attempted to operate the missing air-con.

I guess for about 2-3 minutes he fumbled about (which is a long time looking for something he probably had worked out wasn't there after about 10 secs)

Needless to say I went through them like a dose of the salts. In the end the company that supplied the car looked through 3 years of servicing from this dealership and took them to court over it.

Me, I got £300 from the lease company as a thanks for my diligence.


So when ever you get anything done double, in fact treble check their work.

[cooperchris]

Nothing like that has ever happened to me but i do here of things like that now and again.
Now we know exactly how they make there money :hand: :frown:

[The Dogfather]

I looked through the detail of a John Clark's (Aberdeen) TLC servicing list and decided it was a bit odd that all my tyres had the same amount of tread on them especially as two were borderline and two were brand new.

I said as much to the service manager, who said well 'what do you expect on inclusive servicing' and pretty much gave me the impression that servicing MINIs was beneath his technicians. I repeated the same comment in an email to the Dealer Principal. I got a call from him later that day apologising and asked me to take the car back in. I declined and said I'd never go back. Not sure about what happened to the service manager though.....

[GCA3N]

Nothing like that has ever happened to me but i do here of things like that now and again.
Now we know exactly how they make there money :hand: :frown:

I've a few like this but this is the best.

[Mon the fish]

According to a service manager friend, environmental charges = the air in your tyres.

Elvet in Durham put standard Cooper S plugs in my JCW, I've only just found out after 10k miles - not happy to say the least, although not a lot I can do about it now

[Gismo]

When i was serving my time but in my last year of a 4 year apprenticeship i was given the thankless task of servicing a problematic customer's car, a Peugeot 504, who supplied all his own oils, filters, spark plugs etc and always insisted that he watched whoever was doing the job on his pride and joy advising if we were doing it wrong or not that way.
Always with this type of customer while they are peering into the engine bay during the testing of the electrics, lights etc a swift sound of the horn often results in them banging their head with the shock of the horn, but.............

As always he went to the toilet and being a typical male he always pee'd right into the bowl of water, what he didn't know was I had run a wire all the way from the spark plug tester to the cistern and sent 9,000 volts down the line (very low amps) during his visit.
You could actually hear his screams from around 50 yards away, that was my first ever written warning from the garage but all the other mechanics thanked me

[GCA3N]

When i was serving my time but in my last year of a 4 year apprenticeship i was given the thankless task of servicing a problematic customer's car, a Peugeot 504, who supplied all his own oils, filters, spark plugs etc and always insisted that he watched whoever was doing the job on his pride and joy advising if we were doing it wrong or not that way.
Always with this type of customer while they are peering into the engine bay during the testing of the electrics, lights etc a swift sound of the horn often results in them banging their head with the shock of the horn, but.............

As always he went to the toilet and being a typical male he always pee'd right into the bowl of water, what he didn't know was I had run a wire all the way from the spark plug tester to the cistern and sent 9,000 volts down the line (very low amps) during his visit.
You could actually hear his screams from around 50 yards away, that was my first ever written warning from the garage but all the other mechanics thanked me


That is brilliant, remind me never to pi$$ you off.

[GCA3N]

Another one same car same garage.

This was about a year before the air-con story.

I booked the car in for a fault, and later that week took the car in. On arriving I explained the fault saying the car stereo would not work.

After explaining this to the girl she told me to have a seat as they would not be long, I thought great.

Again 1/2 an hour passes, 1 hour, then after about an hour and a half the girl calls me over and this is a beauty.

"Yes sir we can confirm the stereo is not working we'll have to order a new one in"


WTF, I was raging,

"I told you that was the problem, and why the hell has it taken an hour and a half to tell me that"

"calm down sir" was her retort.

Anyway the said garage sent me away ensuring they would have the part in within a day or two.

Please bare in mind as a service engineer (at that time) I spent 5-6 hours a day on the road, no car stereo is pure torture.

So 3 days later I get the call "you new stereo is in"

So again I book it in and turn up on the day.

"please have a seat sir this shouldn't take long"

So off I trot with my coffee and paper.

1 hour passes and no sign yet. I pops over to the desk and asked the girl how long the car would be, so she says,

"one moment sir , i'll call through to the work shop and talk to the technicians"

"ok......I understand" was her next comment said very sheepishly on the phone.

"eh sir it would appear that they have ordered the wrong colour, would you believe there are 4 different colours for your model of car"

Now due to the swear filter the next line of text might not appear....

"YOU *&ti*(&((*)£)**)iud(*_*_))_ ASTERD*((^*((&*^&&*&*( AR$e "

Was my reply.....

the rest of the story is me taking the car to another dealership. I did get a call about 4 days later saying your car stereo is now in stock. Needless to say she was not happy when I told her where she could stick it.

[Gismo]

Here's another for you.

First week of my apprenticeship at the technical college, bear in mind that not only mechanics but auto electricians are trained the same way, so, we are being tuaght how to jack up a car and put axle stands in, one guy on the jack and another placing the stands.

Cue the auto electrician, ok down down down, whoa UP UP UP, this guy had put one finger from each hand into the V of the axle stand :lol:

[stoney]

Here's another for you.

First week of my apprenticeship at the technical college, bear in mind that not only mechanics but auto electricians are trained the same way, so, we are being tuaght how to jack up a car and put axle stands in, one guy on the jack and another placing the stands.

Cue the auto electrician, ok down down down, whoa UP UP UP, this guy had put one finger from each hand into the V of the axle stand :lol:


:lol: dafty and ouch iand the one before with the bog :lol:

[Bazthemod]

Currently having an issue with Nissan involving the Qashqai.

In April this year the engine management light appeared and the car died. Managed to limp it home and got it booked into Arnold Shark Nissan. Ok Mr McGinlay the car has been cleared of faults and is running fine come and collect.

Suddenly the coolant is disappearing every week and we get told by the dealer to monitor the loss. Loosing 1Ltr of coolant a week.

Finally they agreed to look at it again as there must be an issue, few days later we get a call yes Mr McGinlay it appears the head gasket has blown we will need the car all week. Fine get it sorted although shocked that this can happen to a car of 2 years old.

Suddenly the next day we get a call, Head office have told us under no circumstances should we strip the engine down! Head office being Arnold Clarks. They now say there is no fault come collect.

We collect the car and same thing happens only this time the coolant disappears after trip to Glasgow and back.

Once again we go back and get told to leave it with them a Mechanic will run it for a few days personally - gets dropped of with 72miles range and gets collected with 72miles range.... hmmm!

Again we are told it is fine. By this point we are so pissed off we ask for Nissan customer services who got involved and gave us the service managers full name and told us to contact him direct after they have been in touch.

The car is now booked in for a new head gasket on Monday - BEWARE ARNOLD CLARK lol

[Fartin Martin]

Arnold Clark are not worth a F**k TBH..uncle got his A4 from Nissan Royston last year as his mate is the GM and he used to work there also.

I drove the car to Newcastle for a night out with a few mates as..well..I've got a mini..thats as much use as a chocolate kettle really with 5 people..and all the bags etc..and the diesel was alot cheaper! lol so drivin back left the flat and after 10 mins driving the car dies..phones the AA as luckily I have breakdown with me bank comes out..cant find a fault! So he tows us back to the flat and luckily theres a garage across the street. They have a look..can't find whats wrong. His mate from Audi was comin to have a look..long story short-he says that its the injectors..2 have went so all four need replaced at £500 a pop..A guy from Audi in Glasgow says..nah just replace the 2 that need replacing!! RAAAAGH!!

So I had to end up staying in Newcastle for 4 days!! hoping to drive the car back up..but in the end it was taken home on a truck! I bussed it!! AC couldn't fix it..cos basically..they can't fix anything other than Nissans, cos thats ALOT of good!! They paid for half the work to be done at Audi costing my uncle just short of £1000..think they paid a fair chunk TBH cos it was estimated at £2.5k...so all is well....


...till yesterday..when the whole thing happens again!! so safe to say..hes on the end of his tether!!

also when he first got it last December..one of his xenons was flickering as the car was being driven..said to them about it, booked it in-they couldn't find a fault! takes it home..still doing it..phones again..books it in..mechanic takes it out DURING THE DAY to see if it does it..WTF??? has to be done at night..but as they're finished by the time its dark they can't be @rsed! Eventually we take it to a very good auto electrician..he spots it flickering within about a minute of fiddling about with it during broad day light might I add..and diagnoses the problem..AC also paid for this!

So all in all..Arnold Clark are Pi$h tbh!! completely Incompetent at doing anything other than actually selling the cars!

Rant over :lol:

[Stewart]

I had a brand new Honda Accord, lovely big car, but it had one strange problem when you jumped in with the car facing up the street the seat belt would not work, it locked up and sometimes took ten minutes before I could pull it on. :ragin:

So after getting sick of sitting at the door and other places and I emit a few times I took off without it on a few times as I knew given five minutes on the move it would work. :argh:


So I went in to Honda I think four times and nothing and got told various things, so the Service manager after I told him how to replicate it told me that’s impossible having the car at an angle would do nothing. So your standing feeling like a prat when the mechanic comes in and say he’s tried it five times and its working fine on the flat right in front of the window.

Again talking over that on a hill would do nothing between him and the Manager.

So I’m thinking “Right I’ve told you how it does it why the hell can’t you just fecking try it on the hill leading down to the service bay” :ragin:

So I asked the mechanic I know you think it make no difference but can you just park it facing up the hill at the side and lock it and then give it five minutes then go back in.

So he looks at me like “waste of time” service Manager just looks at more or less waves that it’s fine and walks away.


Its rather sad but it felt great when he jumped into the car and you could see him tugging the seat belt and getting bugger all joy from it, he looked up to the window and knew I was thinking “got you!” :thumbs up:

Not as good as the rest, but you do wish they would listen to the customer.

[satans little helper]

good storys there folks! i never use garages they cant be trusted imo. last time a garage serviced my car,the oil level was at minimum after they changed it,they stamped service history book in wrong place and tried to streal my typer r seat cover!! a** holes!

[Stewart]

Not myself but a friends father took his car into a well known Tyre place to get his car serviced and this is a while back with his Sierra. He had just fitted new bake pads and had knew discs done a month back.

Got the car back and changed a Tyre I’m sure it was before going off on hols and to find that his new discs had vanished and been replaced with old ones and the pads were different too.

He stormed back to the garage for them to give it “ Your word against ours that there was new discs on it” Not what you do to the Area commander of the police at the time. When the said who he was and what he would do magically the discs and pads were found and replaced back on the car.

I don’t think anyone lost there jobs or anything as he left it at that. But in my book its theft apart from being total scumbags.

[Burple]

Not a spectacular one.. but a quickie from today..

Phoned a tyre place in Dundee to ask about getting two nice new non RFs fitted, and the wheels rotated so I can destroy the remaining runflats on the front of the car. Was told "Sure, no bother..." by the guy on the phone.

So.. took the car up this afternoon, spoke to the same guy sorted out everything I wanted, and was told I could pick up the car in half an hour. Not 5 mins later, while walking back to the office (it's really close this place! :D) I get a phone call from the guy saying his boss - the owner - won't let him put non RFs on RF rims.. and muttered something about insurance... Sigh. so.. Off I trot, back to pick up the car.. tyres still in the boot. ARG!!

Time to start phoning around again....


Actually.. got a cracker of a story revolving around a couple of Mini dealers.... If I get a spare half hour I may edit it and post it up... ;)

[Stewart]

put non RFs on RF rims..?

is there such a thing? I know you can get my alloys on non RF on the later cars and right now my sisters is non RF on standard wheels.

[Craig]

No Stewart, this is misinformation by the garage. There us nothing different about the wheels. I have had proper tyres on several sets if mini wheels that previously had run flats fitted and never had an issue.. My current tyres are winters on my s spokes.

[GCA3N]

put non RFs on RF rims..?

is there such a thing? I know you can get my alloys on non RF on the later cars and right now my sisters is non RF on standard wheels.

I'm with you stewart never heard of RF alloys. The only issue I had once was a garge point blank refused to do a repair on a nail right trought the centre of a brand new tyre. They said no no you can't do that, I said yes you can. Anyway took it to a place down the road and they had no problems. from what I believe most of the big tyre manufactures of RF's allow puncture repairs.

[The Dogfather]

Tell the f..kwits at the tyre garage that MINI fit non runflats to the very same rims from the factory.

Someone tried to tell me the same, I couldn't help laughing in his face saying I'll take it to a tyre place that actually knows something about tyres then.

[satans little helper]

Not a spectacular one.. but a quickie from today..

Phoned a tyre place in Dundee to ask about getting two nice new non RFs fitted, and the wheels rotated so I can destroy the remaining runflats on the front of the car. Was told "Sure, no bother..." by the guy on the phone.

So.. took the car up this afternoon, spoke to the same guy sorted out everything I wanted, and was told I could pick up the car in half an hour. Not 5 mins later, while walking back to the office (it's really close this place! :D) I get a phone call from the guy saying his boss - the owner - won't let him put non RFs on RF rims.. and muttered something about insurance... Sigh. so.. Off I trot, back to pick up the car.. tyres still in the boot. ARG!!

Time to start phoning around again....


Actually.. got a cracker of a story revolving around a couple of Mini dealers.... If I get a spare half hour I may edit it and post it up... ;)


I had something similar from my local tyre garage. I wanted 2 non rfs on back while leaving rfs on front, they said no as it would be dangerous....:confused:
Anyways if your looking for cheap rfs try camskill. they were doin khumo 16" 195/5516 rfs for i think£68....:thumbs up: