Submitted by Ron Hogg on Fri, 16/07/2010 - 20:39
This made me chuckle..... i found it on a forum, so i thought i'd share it with you...!!!
On the 7th June I used the disco to travel to London. Unfortunately it didn’t make it!
A strange bang followed by a lot of noise from the engine made me pull over , rather sharpish on the M11 just inside the M25 boundary. The rear bearing on the alternator had failed. At the time I didn’t know this and thought it was much more serious.
Not knowing the area well I made the mistake of asking Britannia Rescue to take me to the nearest Land Rover dealer. Although I knew this would cost a bit I thought that, at least, they would have the parts for any repair. If only I’d known…….
On the Tuesday morning they rang to inform me of their diagnosis:
- The alternator had failed (phew I thought as this would be an easy and cheap repair, how wrong I was)
- The cooling fan cowling was broken (funny, because it wasn’t when it broke down) and this was critical, apparently.
- The front brake pads needed changing as they were unsafe (surprising, I knew they were low, but not that low)
The total cost £860!!!!!
I was staggered and asked for a breakdown. The front brake pads would be £225, the alternator was £205 + fitting and the cowling was £120 + fitting (not forgetting +VAT).
I told them to get stuffed with the cowling which is held on with a few spring clips (labour to fit this was in excess of £150) as there was nothing wrong with it.
I enquired further about the brake pads which apparently had 2mm of wear left. Although this is not brilliant it is hardly unsafe. Especially as I only had a return journey of 120 miles to do, on motorway, before I could replace them myself. (a job which I later timed as taking 35 minutes. This equates to nearly £400 per hour labour charge!!). So again I said that they can leave this job.
That left the alternator at £205 + fitting + VAT. I enquired if they would fit it if I sourced a replacement myself. They agreed. I eventually ordered a DENSO (OEM) uprated 100 Amp model from Island 4X4 which was delivered to the dealer for them to fit. Cost of this part was £110 including deleivery.
Throughout this week I was in constant touch with the garage regarding the progress.
On the Thursday at 14:00 they rang to tell me that the alternator had arrived and that they would get on with fitting it.
At 16:30 I called them to check on progress the conversation went like this:
Me: hello will I be able to pick my car up tonight
Them: I’m afraid we’re struggling with your job at the moment and it’s taking some time
Me: You are a Land Rover main dealer and you’re struggling with fitting an alternator onto a discovery?
Them: Ah, erm, no….. what I mean is we’re struggling to fit you job in.
Me: Where is the car at the moment
Them: it’s in the workshop being worked on
Me: No it’s not it’s still parked in your car park
Them: I don’t think it is, I’ve been told it’s in the workshop.
Me: The car hasn’t moved since Tuesday at 10:20 am
Them: I can assure you that the car has moved several times.
Me: I can assure you that it is fitted with a GPS tracking device and I am looking at its position live on Google earth as we speak and it hasn’t moved since Tuesday morning. I can even tell you what parking space its in.
Them: Ah, erm… I can only act on the information I am given I'm very sorry.
Me: Will it be fixed in the morning?
Them: Yes
The morning came I was due to pick the car up at 11. I rang them at 09:30 (it would take an hour for me to get there).
Me: Is my car ready
Them: We’re working on it now
Me: No you’re not
Them: Ah, erm, yes, the tracker… It will go into the workshop this afternoon
Me: No it won’t, You will have that car ready y 11 o’clock as promised or I will ensure that everyone will know how bad the service has been at this garage.
Them: Silence............sigh...........The car will be ready at 11
At 10 I set off from the office
Sure enough the car was ready.
Them: I have reduced the bill because of the misunderstandings, that will be £250 please
Me: No it won’t. I am not paying £250 for less than half an hours work
Them: I think you’ll find it was slightly longer than half an hour.
I them pulled out my mobile phone with the SMS messages on it from the tracker unit.
Me: The battery was disconnected at 9:43 and the car was restarted at 10:11. I think you’ll find that that is less than half an hour.
Them: Ah, erm, yes…the tracker. How does £199 sound?
Me: Still too much. Especially based upon the level of dishonesty and poor service I received.
Them: I don’t think we’ve been dishonest
Me: You tried to charge me over £800 for a cowling that wasn’t broken and brakes that didn’t need doing. You have also continuously lied about where the car is
Them: Ah, erm, yes….the tracker. How about £140
By this time I needed to leave to get to an important meeting so I buckled and paid the bill.
I have just received an invitation from Land Rover to provide feedback on this dealer. It will be interesting to see what comes of it.
On the up side I did end up with an uprated alternator and the old one in the boot (I shall get this refurbished and carry it as a spare).
This just shows that the tracker unit has almost paid for itself with this period alone. Definately a worthwhile investment.
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