davegtt

Cheek beggers, had the car in today for a service, dispite having to be seen in the most tackiest car ever as a curtosy car (it was a 2ltr but not a sport) never seen such a plasticy cr@ppy cheap feel to a car before and I own a 20 yr old reno 5 anyhow, bit the bullet and take off to work, nip back over at 5pm to collect the car, alls well its done, was quoted on the fone £104 for the service, whats this a bill for £126? (I know its not much extra but its not the point) so had a nosey to see what they have charged me for.... extra charges for coolant £0.56 lmao 2 number plate light bulbs, and a side light bulb. WTF!!!!! did I ask for these to be done? they aint part of a service so surely they cant just change them without my permission and charge me for them? I knew I had the num plate lights out but again its not the point, can they do that?

Happy to say though got rid of the plastic cr@p and got a proper scoob back all nice and clean for me which made up for it a little

Barmyclown

what can we say I thought it was just our branch that was pants, Do they do a good job otherwise.

shiggy

i think you,ll find it is part of most services to check coolant levels and anti-freeze strenths also i would.nt be very happy for my car to go in to a garage for a service and not get a full light check but i suppose it would have been nice to get a call for the additional work needed. Its usually down to the garage and customer relationship

RJMS

iTrader: (2)

Think you're being a bit unfair here - what's £22 - 75-100 miles driving - and with fully functioning lights no excuse for PC Plod to stop you and as for the antifreeze - aren't we expecting some pretty cold weather soon not sure about the effects of frozen coolant onan impreza but I bet it would cost more than £22 to sort.

Scratch

iTrader: (1)

Regularly get the odd bulb changed at a service. If you knew it was out get it changed ****. It's only illegal afterall to drive round with non working lights.

What a complete tw@t you clearly are. Please sell your car now so that the rest of us don't get a bad name on your whinging behalf.

davegtt

Firstly RJMS. its the point, OK coolant/antifreeze what ever yeah its not a problem, its the bulb thing thats a little issue. the point is if I had a cracked window screen would I find it replaced after a service?

Scratch, I know Im being a little on the petty side but the fact is they changed 3 bulbs and charged me £5 for each 1, I dont think there was a side light bulb out to be honest as I checked the lights yesterday as when I left work driving up the drive way a collegue followed me and told me my number plate lights was not working which I checked yesterday hence not having much chance to replace them and didnt see that much of a sence of urgency either because its not like a head light bulb or brake light.... So Id prefer it if you left out the personal digs, no need to call me a tw@t Im not even going to rise to it. Oh and whilst Im at it I think you'll find alot of subaru owners give themselves a bad name, they dont need me to contribute with having a bulb out. It was a simple little whine about how I get the impression its another little way of a dealer screwing you for what they can get. Only took it to them cause i couldnt get time off to get it up to scoobyclinic.

Scratch

iTrader: (1)

Fair enough £5 per bulb is a little steep, my local dealer normally charge me pennies plus no labour when they have changed bulbs for me, but they have been mostly interior bulbs not exterior. Think they've done 1 number plate light last service in about August or something.

OK, sorry for the personal insults (I've had a bad day too), but I'm sure they (Scooby dealer) were after all only trying to help and keep your car legal. I think you may find that having carried out the work they probably have some sort of duty of care to ensure your car is good to go without any known defects (maybe someone else can answer this?).

If you had a problem with the invoice then you could/should have taken it up with them on the spot and argued your case for non payment on the basis that the work was carried out without your permission. You may however have found them not quite so helpful in the future ?

Alos if you knew the bulbs were out (as you indicate), I'm sure you could have instructed them not to do it and done it yourself shortly after.

I can't praise my local dealer enough Welch's in Cambridge. Excellent service every time and I didn't even buy the car from them. If they find any problems they call to let me know othewise they collect the car from my home, leave me a courtesy car and drop it back about 6pm at no extra cost (but one of the service guys does live in my village). If there is a bulb out they just go ahead and do it for a fair price (usually just the cost of the parts).

davegtt

If I was annoyed I would have stomped my feet there and then and made them refit my old bulbs, as I orginally said I thought it was cheeky to do something on a car that wasnt part of the service that it was booked in for. maybe upon calling me to tell me the car was ready for collection they could have pointed out that the car needed these parts and would be happy to fit them if need be? Im not a tight ar$e, again if I was I would have threw a wobbler at them and I do appriciate the fact that they must have checked the car fairly well to notice bulbs out etc so I'm half happy witht he job, plus the fact that they have cleaned it (and done a quality job on the wheels) made up for the extra cost. still think I'll be using scoobyclinic next time (since its a bigger service too this is where my tight ar$e mode really comes in )

Dave

Scratch

iTrader: (1)

Cor' cleaned eh. That is the one thing my local dealer doesn't do, not even a quick rinse down. but every other aspect of their performance is superb so I can't complain really.

As for service costs my next one is 90k at ~£700 so I will probably be shopping around as well. May well use the 'clinic as regularly up Sheffield way anyway.

davegtt

morning, well I knew chandlers had cleaned the motor but you couldnt really tell how well (considering how dark it was) so this morning I saw the car and WOW, it honestly looks like theyve took all the wheels of and cleaned the inners, polished the car, opened the doors and cleaned all the sills, cleaned all the seats and carpets hovered it out and cleaned the matts, the car honestly looks like its had a good £30 valet so I must say the price of them bulbs has paid off and will give them a thumbs up for looking after my car thanks.

Soobmeister

Dave - i am the after sales manager at chandlers and have just seen your comments and thought i would respond. Firstly i will apologise that you were not contacted regarding the bulbs, it is a policy that any extra work be authorised by a customer before commencement although we try to use our discretion with minor legal items. You should have been contacted nevertheless. You were charged 24pence each + vat for the 3 bulbs which after speaking to my technician am told were definately required. The extra labour charged was for the fitting of the bulbs, which i know from experience can be a pig to do as the no plate bulb screws are usually rusty and have to be drilled out, and also the adjustment of the handbrake. The coolant charged is in fact screenwash at 59 pence which was quoted for in the original price, we always put screenwash in at every service if required unless told NOT to do so. The antifreeze strength was checked and found to be ok.
With regard to the daihatsu loan car, i know they aren't the most popular car on the market and no comparison to your own vehicle, but it is meant purely as a courtesy car for the day which i must add is not charged any extra for. I do have 2 impreza's available which i am more than happy to lend you if you choose to use us again. Please request this at time of booking.
Many thanks for the kind comments regarding the valet, i have passed them on to our valeter and he was quite chuffed! We do appreciate any customer feedback but it's always nice when it's positive.

Again my apologies for not contacting u regarding the extra work, I can assure u it will not happen again. If u want to discuss anything at any time, give me a call and i'll be more than pleased to assist.

cheers, Jason.

willy

Thats great feedback from a dealer....
You really cant moan at having bulbs changed and being charged... its a business after all. I think the comment about being contacted prior to having them done was a fair one though.
Hopefully more Subaru dealers will look on here too.
Luckily I use Prosport and they are now Subaru approved.
They are very customer focused... I dont know anyone who doesnt rate them...


*****

davegtt

Jason, thanks for your polite response again it was just a little minor niggle, found it strange that you was able to do work without the customers permission. obviously like you say though for something as small as bulbs you'd expect to get the nod anyhow, it wasnt anything major. To be honest, overall I'm actually very impressed with your service yesterday. all seemed to be in check. apart from the steep bulb pricing I was happy, the curtosy car was a nice touch, enabled to me to get to work and back without having to arrange akward arrangements, the car was a subaru though, not a diahatsu???? it was nice to get it and I dont want to risk the sound of ungratefulness but unless its a turbo I didnt have much to say about the standard cars I think I'll be popping in on saturday with the misses anyhow as my eye was caught by that lovely silver bug eye on the forecourt definately interested in a step up if we dont decide to move house

Soobmeister

sorry i thought you'd had a daihatsu, the impreza is not too bad imo but as i say they are only a courtesy car and cannot be compared with your own car. By all means pop in on saturday the silver turbo is a good car, 1 owner plus it was our demo beforehand, fsh etc etc. If you see Rob or Simon they'll tell u more about it and let u have a test drive etc.
I'm glad your impressed overall, we do all make mistakes at times and i do appreciate any feedback so i can try and improve the service we provide as you guys are what matters at the end of the day!!

anyway may see you saturday!!
cheers, Jason.

Barmyclown

mmmm might go down to grantham for next service then. how far down the 607 is it.

Soobmeister

we're about 15 miles from u, should only take u about 20 mins or so.