My bad service experience !!!

I just wanted to get this off my chest. Together with some advice for whenever you have any work performed to your Subi (or any other vehicle for that matter)

ALWAYS CHECK the work thats been done.

Anyway, lets just say that I'm far from impressed with what was, correction, what should've been done with the major service (inc timing belt) that was performed (by the dealer) on my Forry a few days ago

They may only be small things (except *4 which was just down right dangerous) but thats not the point.

1: The fuel release button went missing when they vacuumed the inside. It was later found (by myself) in the rear foot well

2: The windscreen reservoir bottle was full when I dropped it (Forry) off, but empty when I picked it up. Even though they checked it & cleaner fluid was added. And better still, I was also billed for it

3: The tyres were rotated & pressure was checked, including the spare. However, upon inspection (by myself) the spare only had 3psi in it & was completely flat

4: And the best of them all, "A full suspension check" Yeah right, what a load of B.S.
It was said to be in A1 condition & given the all clear.
This is despite it missing a sway bar link on the front drivers side.
couldn't they see it was missing, especially as it was staring at them in the face when they took the wheels off & did the rotation

When I confronted them, they didn't know what to do or say. They just just themselves.

I told them that I'd been coming to them for 8yrs & asked them what else they'd "forgotten" to do in that time? They couldn't answer

I asked if I could further trust them. They couldn't answer

I also asked them, after what had happened, should I come back ? And would they go back if was their Subi ? Again no answer

So lets fast forward 3 days........

Their way of saying sorry was to send me a double pass to the movies ??? What a joke !!!!!!

I'll be sending that back to them, together with a letter, to say that "their gift" is an insult to my integrity !
I'll also ask them as to why I shouldn't take the matter further, by writing a letter of complaint to Subaru Australia

It'll be very interesting to hear what response I get after thats been done.

And yes, I'll be sure to report back here as to what they say.

Regards
Mr Turbo

Geez, that's rubbish "service", Mr T ...

Name & Shame ...

If you are going to write to "Subaru Australia" [actually, Inchcape Ltd ... ], make certain first that they don't own the stealership you went to ...

One of my reasons for taking RonnyRoo to Mentone Subaru in my brawl with Brighton Holden is that MS is NOT a dealership (franchise), but directly owned by Inchcape Ltd.

Good luck with Inchcape Ltd. I used to have a name there, but it was a long time ago now.

Yes Ratbag it was rotten service alright.
And as I said, with *4, it is bordering on potentially dangerous.

Thanks for the heads up re the ownership/franchise etc. I'll be sure to check that out first.

As for name & shame, yes I'd really like to do that, however, I'm not prepared to take the risk (legal inforcations) that may occur/result/hurt ORS.

Regards
Mr Turbo

Mate, in order to mount an adequate defence against an action for defamation or libel, it must be shown to have been in the public interest (legally) for it to be published, AND it must also be shown to be true.
It is NOT sufficient merely for it to be true ...

IOW, for the plaintiff (the stealership) to be successful, they must prove that it was not in the public interest for the information to be published, or prove that the allegation/information was untrue. If either situation obtains, the plaintiff has a valid cause of action at law.

However, it is not sufficient reason for publication that the facts are merely true; their release must also serve some public good.

IMNSHO, exposing such shoddy and potentially dangerous work is in the public interest. Therefore if the facts are true, there can be no action against either you or the site for libel or defamation.

Of course, my thoughts cannot replace proper legal advice; and I am forbidden by law and professional ethics from giving legal advice ... So this ain't legal advice - :lol: :rotfl: .

You will have noticed that I have not the slightest hesitation in naming the lousy and incompetent advice given to me by Brighton Holden recently.
In fact, I was speaking to my solicitor today, and we both had a good laugh about their chances of success were they to contemplate an action against me for libel or defamation ... .

What a world.

That's BS Turbo, and exactly the type of situation that's tempered my opinion of mankind. The same guy that neglected to do his job was probably pissin' and moaning at lunch because he doesn't make enough $$.
EDIT #4: Ok, so I've deleted about 3 ideals of ways to handle this type of situation, none of them are acceptable in the namby pamby world we now live in.
Just don't ever give them any more work and tell 'em why every chance you get. Repeatedly schedule service appointments, your name or not, and never show up.:rotfl:

Not good Mr T! "That" dealership is family owned I believe.

That is absolutely crap! Work was probably done by a work experience kid and wasn't supervised and the work wasn't checked. My mate had a service done by ultra tune one time but as he drove away the oil light was on. Long story short after draining the oil they never refilled the motor with oil! I do hope you get justice for the mistreatment turbo...

Thats pretty bad but I must say not unexpected. So many people think that to get a proper, COMPLETE job done you must go to a dealer. Unfortunately, as you've discovered its not always the case. In fact, the opposite can OFTEN be the case. As they are a huge business, with many employees, there is a sense of security that even if an employee stuffs up, they prob wont even get a warning. Even if they do, they need written warnings before action is taken. So this sense of security turns into arrogance... Get the job done, go to lunch & get the next done. Who cares if items are done poorly or not at all, there's plenty more & little accountability!

Compare that to a GOOD independent mechanic. Its not just his business & his reputation, personal & professional, but its also his source of income. The pressure is on him & his few employees to perform well to get return customers. His accountability is total...there is no-one else to blame. A customer lost hurts his pride & his wallet. I've known many independent mechanics who go out of their way to do a good solid job at a reasonable price.

The trick is to find a GOOD one. One who always does the work charged for...competently. Does only whats needed, ie wont recommend unnecessary work. They are out there & not as rare as some think...

A little trick my Dad taught me...If you are getting work done, use a correcting fluid pen to mark the position of the bolt so you can tell if its been rotated. If the mark hasnt moved, the work hasnt been done.

Quite true, NL.

Our usual mechanic, Ross Hallett at the Bosch Service Centre in Kingston Rd, Heatherton, knows that.

He knows that I want jobs done properly for a fair price. He has always done that, for about 15 years we have been going to him. No "short cuts".

I am sure that others make it clear that they want a patch up job done, not the full monty. I am equally certain that he accommodates them too, just so long as it does not put them (or him) at risk. I cannot ever see him doing a dodgy job, nor tolerating it in any of his employees.

Like all tradies (and professional people as well ... ), finding a good one is like digging up gold nuggets in your back yard. They are about, and not uncommon, but can sometimes be hard to find ...

Well, I've found one, and mentioned him on this site many times. Might be a bit further away for some, but he works some weekends- not all- and it if it's 45 minutes down the freeway, well, at least you know you are getting what you pay for. If you live in or near Sydney, call Dave on 0418 648 105

The exact same reason I drive 1 hour to go to Boxer Service in Brendale Qld.
Work is done to order or Service Schedule and anything they find outside of that, Andrew or Belinda will ring to tell you and get your confirmation before going ahead.

I couldn't be happier with their work.

Thanks for the feedback everyone, it's all very much appreciated :biggrin:

I've done a bit of asking around & it looks like I've found my new mechanic He's close to home (walking distance & 1.5km's away) & comes with a fantastic reputation.
I also understand he is very reasonable price wise too

It's funny you know, I've driven past him a million times & never gave him a 2nd thought Funnier still, I just happened to get my pink slip off him last time round & was actually impressed with the amount of cars he had in & was working on

I'll give him a go the next time I need anything done & report back then.

Regards
Mr Turbo

Good stuff, Mr T.

I know what you mean.

There's a guy around the corner from us here who has a very good reputation and seemed a very nice bloke when I called in there after I saw him rescuing a baby bird on the road (!) and had a chat for a while.

If Ross ever stops being in business for any reason, I would have no qualms going to him, or Mentone Subaru, for that matter.

mr turbo said:

I'll give him a go the next time I need anything done & report back then.

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear this, what a bunch of ups!!!

Mr. T., might it be worth your while to bring your car to this new guy with the work order from the previous (lack of) work and have him double check everything on it??? Especially the timing belt, water pump, and cam seals.

You must be pretty fed up with that Mr T, especially when you have trusted then with some major jobs!!

I had a similar thing with my Foz a couple of years ago when I had the clutch replaced. Got the car home and had a little look around , only to find;
- gearbox oil was below minimum
- O2 sensor plug not plugged in and dangling down real close to the driveshaft
- exhaust manifold stud missing and thread all chewed up in the hole.

I rang and wrote to them, but with no real apology. They did offer to check it over, but I didn't trust then to even do that after what I had found.

Same as others have said, I now use a local guy for any jobs I can't or don't want to tackle.

Hope you have better luck from now on!!

subyroo said:

The exact same reason I drive 1 hour to go to Boxer Service in Brendale Qld.
Work is done to order or Service Schedule and anything they find outside of that, Andrew or Belinda will ring to tell you and get your confirmation before going ahead.

I couldn't be happier with their work.

Click to expand...

Same here Subyroo. They're fantastic - helpful, honest and knowledgeable and they seem to know their subarus like no-one else. I've nearly always had mine serviced at Wippels in Toowoomba and been reasonably happy but a few little incidents lately have left me wondering amd the top experience I had with Boxer Service when deleting the secondary air-pump and the fact my brother takes his Forester there and has nothing but praise for them (and you could get no-one who could be more cynical about service people than him) means that I'm going well out of my way to use them for the next 2 services at least. They're the big ones with the replacement spark plugs and then the 250k with timing belt, water pump and pulleys etc. I don't want any work experience monkey touching it for them.

Mr T, I had always experienced good service from Subaru in Canberra, so when I moved to Brisbane & was in need of a major service... including timing belt, I knew I needed to take my car to a specialist, asked the only person in Brisbane that had a Subaru so took it to the Subaru dealer he used.

The bill was close to $1,800 (4 years ago) which they had quoted and I expected. Imagine my horror when they then quoted a further $4,000 in repairs and told me I basically owned an oil slick on wheels!

Yes, I concede... my power steering pump was leaking, but I explained to them it never leaked enough to warrant topping up between services (not what I consider a major leak). Yes, I also concede there were other minor leaks where the gearbox joins the motor... BUT.. Subaru in Canberra had never cleaned down the motor, and... come to think of it... neither had I... so the oil slick on wheels that I had been driving for six years had NEVER had her engine bay cleaned. I declined their offer to "do a direct debit once a week and pay the repairs off", and went to pick my poor old sad sack of a Subaru up. I looked around the lot when I did. It was like my Scooby was the oldest relic in a car hospital's newborn unit. No wonder they condemned her! I don't think they liked getting dirty hands :-(

My reaction was... and I did........ my feet walked. It took some time... 3 years 3 mechanics later... to find someone that I am really happy to have service all of our cars. It took 3 years for my condemned power steering pump to start losing fluid at a rate that I considered worth paying to have fixed (the engine bay was also clean enough to see that none of my oil leaks were major).. all prepared was I to have my power steering pump reconditioned... to have Russell from Subi Evolution at Brendale tell me it was just an O ring, and that really the old girl is in pretty good shape for a girl her age . He also did the major service on Scooby2 just recently timing belt AND waterpump for less than what Subaru charged me 4 years earlier.

Hope your new mechanic treats you right Mr T

a bit of luck mr turbo the new mechanic is good and trust worthy.
im lucky my mechanic is my uncle, who recently started his own busines in town.

its great for me i get cost price parts and i know the work is getting done right!
The only bad thing is that because of his skills and trustworthiness there is usually a two week waiting list to get my car in there! :rotfl:

Some real horror stories here, not just MrT's. Hope it works out for you...

Unfortunately there are also mechanics that some trust and others have bad experiences with.
For example i had my car serviced at a local mechanic my parents have gone to and trusted for years. However on his service list he had fuel filter ticked as OK. A small while after that my car was running worse and worse, eventually being less torqey than Taza's 2.0L and thats when I knew something was seriously wrong.

I decided to check the fuel filter, and to my surprise when i took it out it was blacker than night and thick with sludge. It looked like it had never been changed. I replaced it and instant inprovement.

Not only had the mechanic said the fuel filter was OK, he never even looked at it in the first place (the plate to access the fuel pump was covered in dirt that would have been marked/removed had it been opened).