Disappointed with Powerstation
17 January 2007, 12:44 PM
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Disappointed with Powerstation
I understand that Powerstation has an exceptional reputation on this site and that is why I chose them to carry out work on my car. On this occasion however, I think I’m entitled to complain.
To keep it simple, I asked Powerstation to fit an aftermarket exhaust to my Impreza. I clearly asked that after fitting, I should be given the OE exhaust to keep, in order to put back on the car when I sold it.
Powerstation gave me back completely the wrong exhaust. My car was a turbo, I believe the exhaust I was given was for a 2.0 N/A Sport. I discovered this the day before I actually sold the car. With no spare exhaust, the car had to be sold with the aftermarket exhaust still in place.
On the day I went to Powerstation, I paid £1455.05. £987 of that was for labour. Fitting the exhaust was £176.25.
I have lost an estimated (2nd hand value) £400 from loss of the exhaust. I also wasted £120 at the garage who tried to rectify Powerstations basic error. I also wasted a days holiday trying to resolve the problem. Powerstation did later send the correct exhaust but this was too late to help - the problem was caused the day I visited.
I have tried to ask for recompense for this, but it’s been met only with disinterest. In my view I’ve conducted myself correctly, sending 8 letters of correspondence, but only received one dismissive response. The response I received actually insulted the garage who tried to help rectify Powerstations error.
On Powerstations website, the excellent customer service is referred to, but this was a glaring error, I’ve not received as much as a decent apology & this time, Powerstation have slipped up I’m afraid.
I’ve posted this as a last resort & although I realise that this complaint will not achieve a great deal, I wanted to publicise & make people aware of this error, which in my opinion has not been properly resolved. I simply do not have the time or resolve to take this to a small claims court and it’s probably unlikely I would receive anything back.
Powerstation have not apologised, nor taken any responsibility for their negligence. Since they charge £176.25 for fitting an exhaust, this strikes me as pretty disappointing behaviour.
I’d expected better than this.
Luke.
To keep it simple, I asked Powerstation to fit an aftermarket exhaust to my Impreza. I clearly asked that after fitting, I should be given the OE exhaust to keep, in order to put back on the car when I sold it.
Powerstation gave me back completely the wrong exhaust. My car was a turbo, I believe the exhaust I was given was for a 2.0 N/A Sport. I discovered this the day before I actually sold the car. With no spare exhaust, the car had to be sold with the aftermarket exhaust still in place.
On the day I went to Powerstation, I paid £1455.05. £987 of that was for labour. Fitting the exhaust was £176.25.
I have lost an estimated (2nd hand value) £400 from loss of the exhaust. I also wasted £120 at the garage who tried to rectify Powerstations basic error. I also wasted a days holiday trying to resolve the problem. Powerstation did later send the correct exhaust but this was too late to help - the problem was caused the day I visited.
I have tried to ask for recompense for this, but it’s been met only with disinterest. In my view I’ve conducted myself correctly, sending 8 letters of correspondence, but only received one dismissive response. The response I received actually insulted the garage who tried to help rectify Powerstations error.
On Powerstations website, the excellent customer service is referred to, but this was a glaring error, I’ve not received as much as a decent apology & this time, Powerstation have slipped up I’m afraid.
I’ve posted this as a last resort & although I realise that this complaint will not achieve a great deal, I wanted to publicise & make people aware of this error, which in my opinion has not been properly resolved. I simply do not have the time or resolve to take this to a small claims court and it’s probably unlikely I would receive anything back.
Powerstation have not apologised, nor taken any responsibility for their negligence. Since they charge £176.25 for fitting an exhaust, this strikes me as pretty disappointing behaviour.
I’d expected better than this.
Luke.
17 January 2007, 01:01 PM
#3
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What exactly did you have done for your £1455.
£400 quite alot for 2nd nad exhaust - although I see where your coming from.
What error had to be corrected by another garage?
Being given the wrong exhaust is quite a shock from PS.
Hope you get it sorted though.
£400 quite alot for 2nd nad exhaust - although I see where your coming from.
What error had to be corrected by another garage?
Being given the wrong exhaust is quite a shock from PS.
Hope you get it sorted though.
17 January 2007, 01:32 PM
#6
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But he says a garage charged him £120 to rectify the basic error?
What does this mean? The garage tried to fit the NA exhaust. Realised it was the wrong one then charged him £120 for it?
How different are NA and turbo exhausts? Surely as soon as you offered the NA exhaust up you'd realise it was wrong?
What does this mean? The garage tried to fit the NA exhaust. Realised it was the wrong one then charged him £120 for it?
How different are NA and turbo exhausts? Surely as soon as you offered the NA exhaust up you'd realise it was wrong?
17 January 2007, 01:42 PM
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sounds like they made a mistake, by the sounds of it your exhaust must have been a full system, not just a back box.
They could have given you some form of credit or similar as a good will gesture if you lost out due to their error.
but we only know your side of the story so its hard to comment fully!
They could have given you some form of credit or similar as a good will gesture if you lost out due to their error.
but we only know your side of the story so its hard to comment fully!
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17 January 2007, 01:46 PM
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sorry to hear about your troubles Luke
At the end of the day even the best companies make mistakes sometimes, it's how they follow up their errors that makes the difference
from the way you have described the situation, I think customer service has been lacking here
hope it works out ok for you in the end
At the end of the day even the best companies make mistakes sometimes, it's how they follow up their errors that makes the difference
from the way you have described the situation, I think customer service has been lacking here
hope it works out ok for you in the end
17 January 2007, 02:51 PM
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Luke:
I have attached the letter dated (8th November 2006) we sent you regarding this matter. I think this gives a slightly different take on the whole affair!
Dear Luke,
We are very sorry that you feel disappointed with the quality of service you recently received here at Powerstation as this is something we take very seriously.
It does seem apparent from your letter though that the service you received was without fault and that the only issue was regarding the old exhaust system you went away with.
As discussed on the phone with yourself we can only assume that your exhaust downpipe must have got mixed up with an exhaust removed from a Subaru Impreza on the ramp next to the one your car was being worked on. We also informed you over the phone that all that was required was to fit a lambda boss to the downpipe you had, which any half decent exhaust fitting centre should be able to do and is something we have to do on a weekly basis. This would have taken about 20 minutes and the boss is available for about £8.
In a final effort to rectify the situation you had at the time I removed the exhaust downpipe with catalytic converter from our own car and sent it to you free of charge including the cost of next day delivery.
We feel therefore that under the circumstances we have done everything reasonably possible to rectify the situation and that your request for further compensation is unreasonable and unrealistic.
I hereby present my evidence to the court of scoobynet
Rich
Powerstation
I have attached the letter dated (8th November 2006) we sent you regarding this matter. I think this gives a slightly different take on the whole affair!
Dear Luke,
We are very sorry that you feel disappointed with the quality of service you recently received here at Powerstation as this is something we take very seriously.
It does seem apparent from your letter though that the service you received was without fault and that the only issue was regarding the old exhaust system you went away with.
As discussed on the phone with yourself we can only assume that your exhaust downpipe must have got mixed up with an exhaust removed from a Subaru Impreza on the ramp next to the one your car was being worked on. We also informed you over the phone that all that was required was to fit a lambda boss to the downpipe you had, which any half decent exhaust fitting centre should be able to do and is something we have to do on a weekly basis. This would have taken about 20 minutes and the boss is available for about £8.
In a final effort to rectify the situation you had at the time I removed the exhaust downpipe with catalytic converter from our own car and sent it to you free of charge including the cost of next day delivery.
We feel therefore that under the circumstances we have done everything reasonably possible to rectify the situation and that your request for further compensation is unreasonable and unrealistic.
I hereby present my evidence to the court of scoobynet
Rich
Powerstation
17 January 2007, 02:51 PM
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why didnt you check the exhaust when PS gave it back to you??? at the end of the day, yes a mistake was made but you accepted the wrong exhaust so really its your own fault imo.
17 January 2007, 04:37 PM
#12
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If you don't know what your looking at you have to trust the people you give the car to and pay money too.
Granted the mistake didn't sound that hard to rectify but bit of a ballsache to have to get it sorted when it wasn't his fault.
At least they did their best with the provision of a replacement.
I still don't get this £120 though. Even at £40 per hour thats 3 hours to discover its the wrong one?
17 January 2007, 07:14 PM
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Some people wouldn't know. Only reason why I know what the original exhaust looks like for mine is that I still have it.
If you don't know what your looking at you have to trust the people you give the car to and pay money too.
Granted the mistake didn't sound that hard to rectify but bit of a ballsache to have to get it sorted when it wasn't his fault.
At least they did their best with the provision of a replacement.
I still don't get this £120 though. Even at £40 per hour thats 3 hours to discover its the wrong one?
If you don't know what your looking at you have to trust the people you give the car to and pay money too.
Granted the mistake didn't sound that hard to rectify but bit of a ballsache to have to get it sorted when it wasn't his fault.
At least they did their best with the provision of a replacement.
I still don't get this £120 though. Even at £40 per hour thats 3 hours to discover its the wrong one?
17 January 2007, 08:18 PM
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Rich,
I'm sorry, but your response frustrates me, because it only serves to highlight that you have not read my letters, although you have managed to respond rather more quickly to this! You can see that the majority here are surprised that you have made this obvious error.
"As discussed on the phone with yourself we can only assume that your exhaust downpipe must have got mixed up with an exhaust removed from a Subaru Impreza on the ramp next to the one your car was being worked on."
OK.
"We also informed you over the phone that all that was required was to fit a lambda boss to the downpipe you had"
Impossible, you supplied me with a 2.0 N/A exhaust.
"which any half decent exhaust fitting centre should be able to do and is something we have to do on a weekly basis. This would have taken about 20 minutes and the boss is available for about £8."
The garage is very competent, but this task was impossible.
"In a final effort to rectify the situation you had at the time I removed the exhaust downpipe with catalytic converter from our own car and sent it to you free of charge including the cost of next day delivery."
Fair enough, you did.
A few other issues raised here:-
a) I have no idea of the difference between a turbo exhaust and a non-turbo exhaust. That's something experts should know.
b) I too thought that some goodwill would be appropriate, apparently not.
c) Yes, £176 is an amazing amount to fit an exhaust - I'd expect fault free service for this amount. Wouldn't you?
d) The garage charged £120 because they removed my aftermarket exhaust, tried to fit the OE one but ended up having to replace the aftermarket exhaust. They ordered 3 different lambda sensors from dealers and waited for those to arrive. They had the car up on ramps while I travelled from home to garage. They continued trying as they were told by me, via Powerstation, that the exhaust would fit. They waited while I rang round Scoobyworld, Scoobyclinic & Powerstation for well over an hour trying to get help.
Regards
I'm sorry, but your response frustrates me, because it only serves to highlight that you have not read my letters, although you have managed to respond rather more quickly to this! You can see that the majority here are surprised that you have made this obvious error.
"As discussed on the phone with yourself we can only assume that your exhaust downpipe must have got mixed up with an exhaust removed from a Subaru Impreza on the ramp next to the one your car was being worked on."
OK.
"We also informed you over the phone that all that was required was to fit a lambda boss to the downpipe you had"
Impossible, you supplied me with a 2.0 N/A exhaust.
"which any half decent exhaust fitting centre should be able to do and is something we have to do on a weekly basis. This would have taken about 20 minutes and the boss is available for about £8."
The garage is very competent, but this task was impossible.
"In a final effort to rectify the situation you had at the time I removed the exhaust downpipe with catalytic converter from our own car and sent it to you free of charge including the cost of next day delivery."
Fair enough, you did.
A few other issues raised here:-
a) I have no idea of the difference between a turbo exhaust and a non-turbo exhaust. That's something experts should know.
b) I too thought that some goodwill would be appropriate, apparently not.
c) Yes, £176 is an amazing amount to fit an exhaust - I'd expect fault free service for this amount. Wouldn't you?
d) The garage charged £120 because they removed my aftermarket exhaust, tried to fit the OE one but ended up having to replace the aftermarket exhaust. They ordered 3 different lambda sensors from dealers and waited for those to arrive. They had the car up on ramps while I travelled from home to garage. They continued trying as they were told by me, via Powerstation, that the exhaust would fit. They waited while I rang round Scoobyworld, Scoobyclinic & Powerstation for well over an hour trying to get help.
Regards
17 January 2007, 08:28 PM
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What I can't understand is, if Powerstation accepted it was their mistake, why did they not offer to rectify the situation themselves by asking you to return to them with the exhausts and then they could have done the fitting free of charge if it was so easy.
19 January 2007, 12:39 PM
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I've not been offered anything. Poor show Powerstation.
19 January 2007, 01:44 PM
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When you sold it i'd have told the buyer that he needed to bring the car back and you'd sort petrol the exhaust was not included in the sale. Once you had the right one from powerstation (which you got) swap em over.
My wrx arrived with a private plate that wasn't included in the sale. i've driven around with it for a few weeks until the dvla got round to re-registering the car and now i have to post back the tax disc to the garage. No biggie they are providing me with a new one.
m.
My wrx arrived with a private plate that wasn't included in the sale. i've driven around with it for a few weeks until the dvla got round to re-registering the car and now i have to post back the tax disc to the garage. No biggie they are providing me with a new one.
m.
19 January 2007, 06:43 PM
#20
You will not get an apology from powerstation and not every one thinks they are great as they cost me 10 times what they cost you.
Next time go to Zenperformance for a top quality job.
Next time go to Zenperformance for a top quality job.
19 January 2007, 10:44 PM
#22
There is no after care service at all.I know of other people who have suffered more than me.
suspention work yes i think the AST,S is great,but mapping and engine work definatly no way.
suspention work yes i think the AST,S is great,but mapping and engine work definatly no way.
19 January 2007, 11:18 PM
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£176 to fit an exhaust, take it thats turbo back...I was charged £75 for decatting turbo back and that was a subaru main dealer...Did you have headers and up pipe also?
20 January 2007, 09:34 AM
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21 January 2007, 05:04 PM
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That's how about how it feels!
Rich, the 'court of scoobynet' seems to have come to a fairly unanimous verdict. Guilty. Any comments?
I remember you telling me when I was there how the internet could make or break a companys reputation. Please don't continue to take your customers for granted.
Regards
Rich, the 'court of scoobynet' seems to have come to a fairly unanimous verdict. Guilty. Any comments?
I remember you telling me when I was there how the internet could make or break a companys reputation. Please don't continue to take your customers for granted.
Regards
