Kristian Fairholm

Ok maybe just blowing off steam, and looking for advise, here is the story

The starter motor went on my Scooby last September 2019, took it into a my local regular service station, never used them before, in the past my Nephew was my mechanic but me moved to Denmark so had to find a new place, so took my car to my local for the first time new starter motor, problem solved all was looking good.

Soon after Clutch starts slipping, ok I think one of those things figured local did a decent job with starter motor so will let them do the Clutch, I figured I would upgrade so when out and purchased the Exedy Pink Box Stage 1 Organic Clutch Kit along with the Exedy Lightweight Flywheel (EXDFF502), went to the service station, gave then the parts and paid them to fit, total cost of job as follows

Clutch Kit = £350 ish
Flywheel = £250 ish
Fitting Cost = £300

Any am looking forward to the upgrade, only to be a little disappointed, when I get the car back problem is fixed as in the clutch is no longer slipping but I dont really feel much of a performance upgrade, but still am ok at this point I feel maybe my expectation where mayeb a little high what to expect from the upgrade but am thinking least problem of the clutch slipping is solved. All this happened late October last year car been running fine since then had no issues.

But then earlier this year I got in the upgrade mood got the cash in and was debating New Car or Upgrade this one, decided to upgrade and shoot for around 400BPH, first step Engine forging, car is in right now getting Forged Pistons and Rods, Nitrated Crank and racing baring, Rebuild is running a cost of between £4500 to £5000 including full cambelt kit, oil pump, head gasket, Head Bolts the lot. Next step once this done will be getting better pads and discs then finally injectors, new turbo and inter cooler, even running with the idea of changing the intake manifold but still need to discuss that one with the place doing the work.

Anyway back to the clutch, I gets report back from the place doing the Engine rebuild that my Clutch has seen better days and near renewing, they saying if I want the power I may need an upgrade maybe worth doing now to save on the labour. So I'm like WTF only had it done last Oct, dont even use the car much its less than 2000 miles old, so I goes down to see what the problem is to check it out see if I agree. then BOOM MOTHER ******, the clutch and flywheel is NOT THE ONE I GAVE AND PAID MY LOCAL GARAGE TO FIT. to be totally honest I cant tell 100% with the clutch, it is am Exedy clutch whats on there if its the same one I gave them impossible to tell but its looking a hell of a lot more worn that i would expect, as for the Flywheel, NO F'ING WAY, its not the flywheel I gave them 100% FACT.

So am seriously thinking to myself when it went in for the Starter Motor they did something to my clutch to make it slip so I would come back, when I took it in for the clutch they fixed what they did and billed me for fitting the new clutch and Flywheel, and kept the £600 worth of kit i gave them for themselves, ether that or they stripped it down fitted the clutch badly and just kept the flywheel and just used old flywheel with my new clutch without even skimming the only one which is F'ing up my new clutch quickly.

Now am stuck with what to do about this entire scam I have all the receipts for the kit that I purchased I have all the receipts from them stating that they fitted the clutch and flywheel I provided, I can prove what flywheel I purchased I can prove I paid them to fit it, so where does anyone know where I can take this evidence to get back what should be mine and see this garage get what they deserve.

Kristian Fairholm

Am actually lying when I say it was ok after I took it in for the clutch, I had to take it back about 4 weeks later to have the driveshaft seals replaced on the rear diff cos they started to leak oil, that billed me another 200 Quid, am sersioluy thinking everytime I took it to them they did something to F up y car so I would bring it back.

RockyRoad

I would probably be getting in contact with Citizens Advice.

jameswrx

iTrader: (4)

Playing devils advocate her but how do you know the current garage haven’t swapped your clutch & flywheel?

I’m not suggesting they would but why trust this place if you don’t trust the other place?

JDM_Stig

iTrader: (3)

besides the tale, what did you expect a performance clutch kit to feel like?
You dont get extra BHP, and you havent said it was a nice lightened flywheel so it wouldnt rev any quicker,
You may ride the clutch so 2k is enough if abused and not driven correctly,
The fact you expected performance from an up rated clutch makes me wonder.
besides that fly your nephew over in the future to be sure.

Kristian Fairholm

expected better throttle response from the lighter flywheel, but fact is the flywheel i gave them is not the one currently on my car, means even if they did change the clutch they 100% did not change the flywheel, unless its was switched by the garage doing the Engine Rebuild, but I doubt that, the Place doing the rebuild is Area 52 in Kirby, there are probably members on here who have used them or least head of them, they dont strike me as the kinda place to take a car in for a £4500 to £5000 rebuild and play switch with the clutch for a cheap quid.

1509joe

iTrader: (2)

No performance gains from a clutch point of view as for the flywheel it will rev more freely but the revs also fall away quicker you should of noticed it out of gear.

NOSSY_89

Where did you get your clutch kit from seems a bit on the cheaper side. There are bargains to be had but also people selling fake stuff.

the shreksta

iTrader: (20)

Whats the name of this garage that ripped you off?

lockheed

iTrader: (1)

You should have noticed less engine braking as well in regards to the lightened fly wheel ,

Kristian Fairholm

Have recovered all invoices, facts of purchase as follows

Part Number: FK04H911 - Exedy Stage 1 Organic Clutch Kit - Purchased from carparts4less.co.uk on 11/10/2019 - cost £324 inc VAT

Par Number: EXDFF502 - Exedy Lightweight Flywheel - Purchased from Demon Tweeks (demon-tweeks.com) on 18/10/2019 - cost £254.97 inc VAT

This is all recorded on back records, PayPal records, and invoices received with the items.

Additional I have a receipt from the Service Station stating quote "Fitted new clutch and flywheel and 2 drive shaft seals - supplied by customer" end quote, cost of invoice is total £303.60 including £25 paid for Gear Oil, £228 Labour and VAT. Dated 23/10/2019

Thats all the documented facts I have about this transaction.

Now that I have all the documents together, I am going to take them all down t0 the people doing the rebuild (Area 52) so they can assess the part numbers used.

Then once it is 100% confirmed that the parts numbers of the parts I purchased and supplied to the garage dont match the part numbers current on the car, once verified by the Area 52 that these parts don't match, who will then be effectively accusing the service station of not fitting the parts I provided them with, then when I am 100% certain I will confront the garage with the facts before I involve trading standards, but am not going to name them before I know for sure.

Tidgy

this is where i noticed the biggest change when i had one for sure

lockheed

iTrader: (1)

Its funny it doesnt come up more, when people ask about the pros and cons of a light weight flywheel.

Tidgy

i didnt even twigg what it was till about 6 months after i switch to my hawk witha normal one, i was trying toi think why it was running on so much when i came off the throttle, then hit ma haha

1509joe

iTrader: (2)

The revs drop alot quicker with a lightweight flywheel due to less inertia.

NOSSY_89

Sorry was looking at the wrong clutch kit. With the part numbers you should be able to check if what you have in there is correct

jaygsi

iTrader: (46)

Yea you basically want a full refund and the price of a new clutch and fly wheel. I hate taking me car to a garage unless I really trust them, as always worry about things like this.

When I bought my Impreza I found a big rag in the air box. Can only imagine a garage with a chip on there shoulder had put it there. Can't see why an owner would.

WRXrowdy

iTrader: (2)

There are some dodgy outfits out there but they usually get found out in the end. Remember taking our Subaru to a jap 'specialist' many years ago, upon arrival to collect it a young lad was topping the coolant up with blue coolant, coolant in the rest of the system was red but paid for full service with all fluids, cambelt replacement etc. Don't trust they touched the coolant other than a quick top up, Christ knows what else they neglected to change. Upon returning home noticed the clip that holds the bonnet stay in place had vanished, along with the air con valve caps. Don't think they are trading any more.

Son had a wheel bearing needed replacing on his mini, paid for it to be changed for him, and was informed it was stuck on the driveshaft and that needed replacing. Looked at car and driveshafts didn't look new at all so can only think he meant the cv joint (needed a rubber boot anyway) so can't tell if this was changed or not. He did however put a new abs sensor on, and now the car vibrates when pulling away and above 16mph the abs, traction control and tyre pressure light all come on. After contacting the garage my son was told that it was strange, don't know what would cause that, you will just have to drive carefully!
Looks like I will be changing the abs sensor myself!

RobsyUK

iTrader: (2)

did you pay with credit card?
if not please do in the future.
if you did call them they may help