[Terriea]

Long time no visit...
Finally got the diff issue sorted out on my car. I had an independent get his stethoscope on it, and he deduced that it was the input bearing. I took it to a different garage to be fixed on a friend's recommendation as the first place couldn't do it.
I paid £500 for all new seals and bearings, and he started the job. After at least two weeks he told me it was worse than he suspected, as bits came out with the oil. Apparently the crownwheel had teeth off, which explains the horrible noise like hitting a saucepan with a hammer. He says he had to source a new crownwheel from a supplier in Germany, and that alone cost £790. After a total of six weeks without the car, they finally brought it back to me (unannounced, in the dark when it was pouring with rain). The first thing I noticed was the filler flap had been forced, with paint damage on the edge of the recess into which the flap fits. Consequently it was jammed shut, with the hinge side pushed in about a centimetre from being flush with the wing. The fuel gauge was well below empty. Either they'd been ragging it around, used my £50 of fuel and didn't know how to open it or they left it outside and someone prised it open and syphoned all the fuel out. A few days before they brought it back he graciously declared that he wouldn't charge me the additional £200 outstanding labour charge..
I smell a rat, and have told him as much. He says they hadn't been driving it and he knows nothing about the fuel flap, but will get back to me when he's looked at CCTV and spoken to staff.
Luckily I eventually got the flap open and manipulated the hinge so it sort of shuts flush, and have ordered a touch-up to sort the paint damage, and will have to massage out a small dent they've left in the flap, but I'm b****y fuming that it's come back with three more problems to fix, and yet again things have gone wrong when having to get a car sorted out. I could write a book about the negative experiences I've had over the years from various car dealers and mechanics!
Why is it so hard to get good service these days?
Rant over. Thanks for reading!

 

[Kev5]

I'm so sorry to read this tale of woe, Terriea.

It's hard to comprehend how a professional garage could be so clumsy and destructive regarding the fuel filler. Surely if they needed to replace the fuel and couldn't find the release cable pull (say, after extensive road testing) all they needed to do is make a simple enquiry, or give you a call?

The least they could do now is offer to make a full repair of the damage at no cost to you.

 

[Garffey]

Sorry to read this T....it's not funny when your pride and joy is abused!! ...
I'm sure there would be plenty good used diffs around that wouldn't have cost anything like as much!
I have only one mechanic I trust on my cars and have used his garage over 40 years, and only ever come away impressed with anything I ever ask him to do.
Hope you get things sorted to your satisfaction....But suggest they probably brought it back at such a time as you might not look so closely.
Sadly I smell a rat!!

 

[Terriea]

Sorry to read this T....it's not funny when your pride and joy is abused!! ...
I'm sure there would be plenty good used diffs around that wouldn't have cost anything like as much!
I have only one mechanic I trust on my cars and have used his garage over 40 years, and only ever come away impressed with anything I ever ask him to do.
Hope you get things sorted to your satisfaction....But suggest they probably brought it back at such a time as you might not look so closely.
Sadly I smell a rat!!

That's true re. a used diff, but when the original diagnosis was just a bearing I thought for roughly the same cost, I'd pay upfront for the seals and bearings assuming that the rest of the mechanicals were known to be good. Also most used diffs likely to have far more than my 53k miles on, and are an unknown quantity. When he found the crown wheel issue I was tied in really, as the car was in bits and I'd already paid him for the new seals and bearings. Oh well..

 

[Steveti]

Truly disgusting. We hand our P&J over in goid faith to have work carried out and we get this in return?
I really don't get the attitude of many traders out there, do they just not care that many of us do take care and pride of our vehicles?
You pay them 100% of their required price, you don't pay in broken or forged cash and you get this in return.
It's getting thst there is a case for taking multiple images of the car once it's in their care to provide irrefutable evidence if the car's condition before work commences.
Good luck with getting it all sorted.