pippyrips

I'll keep the name of the garage in question out of this for now as I believe everyone should have a chance before being bad mouthed on SN - here is how the story goes...

About 5 months ago I started to loose my Speedo reading on my JDM STI when I hit bumps in the road - this in turn put the CEL warning light on and put me into safe mode. About the same time my car was due for a service so I drove the 100 mile round trip to the garage (where the warranty is) who said as it had only happened once or twice to leave it and see how it went.

The problem got worse and worse until I lost the readout completely. At this point I connected some ECU explorer software to the car and drove around to see if there was anything else causing the problem - everything on the car was reading fine apart from the mph column which read 0 so I was 100% sure the km/h converter was either broken or had a loose connection.

I called said garage and told them what was happening and that I was sure the Speedo converter had gone. I was told that they would need to have the car for 2 days to diagnose and fix the problem.

This was a pain in the ar*e for me as it would have involved 2 x 100 mile trips , 2 separate severn bridge toils and £10 a day for a car off them! Espically as I was so sure what the problem was.

In the end I had to wait 3 weeks to get a 2 day space in their diary - I dropped the car off on my way to London with the plan being to pick it up on the way home the day after. I got a call within 3 hours of leaving the car there saying that the Speedo converter had gone and that the car was ready and waiting to be picked up - so much for 2 days.

6 weeks down the line I’ve just been out for a drive and the same thing has happened again, I’ve lost the mph reading though it comes back momentarily when I go over big bumps etc and the car is back in safe mode.

I’m going to call them tomorrow but I don't see why I should have to drive there again at my expense when this is clearly the same problem they should have fixed permanently.

Do you think it is fair enough to ask them to come to the car to fix it instead of me driving there – again

Rant over and advice welcomed!

(p.s. anyone know where the Speedo converter is located – it’s an 04 jdm sti)

ARM-Scooby

i would be asking them to pay my travel expenses for this, or offer something as a good will gesture.

It sounds as if there is something else causing this to happen, rather than fixing the actual problem they have fixed the damage it has caused. From what you say it suggests they have not fully investigated the problem.

stockcar

on that age of car its an electronic convertor..............don't generally have issues with them, maybe a loose/dry joint??

juggers

iTrader: (1)

They should have the courtesy to collect the car especially after they "fixed it"

I think it's only rite that they collect the car from your door step and drop it off.

Maz

iTrader: (34)

Would you trust them to drive your car?

pippyrips

they said they replaced the converter - as before it seems to be a loose connection/solder as it comes in and out. As for driving it there i would rather they put a toolbox in car and came down here as it will still be me paying in in petrol and extra miles on the car

sammyh

iTrader: (1)

I would expect them to come and collect it on a trailer and return it to you repaired.

Tell them that you do not want to risk driving it when it has an electrical fault.

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

Get on to X-Ray, Watchdog or the Ferret. Even if they aren't interested you have a lever.

This is ****e Rob and you really are being far to nice. Black suit anyone?

big daz2

its hard dealing with these people they tie you in knotts on the phone and try and get out of it by saying you need to buy a new part when you clearly dont it was working fine before so they obviosly didnt fix it.i think everything you buy should have a warranty then when this problem comes up you can get it fixed or your money back.get the part from them rob and well fix it im going to start my own garage and focus on customer service as they all need this.

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

Daz actually they do. When a friend of mine had a new engine in his VW the engine was still under warranty after the main car warranty had run out.
PPP is guaranteed for 3 years from fitting. Many people have had them fitted years after the main warranty.

big daz2

they dont make this fact widely known though do they which is why we all get ripped off.

Gazz300

Daz it sounds like you have had a problem in the past as well.

Rob, Ask them to come down to fix it but I am sure you will have to take it there. Most warrantees are RTB (return to base) as this is what they are priced on. Only someone like Subaru assistance turn up at your door. Did to mine yesterday when the tracker did its usual holiday trick of flattening the battery.

Tell them what it is. get them to order the part and take it up asking them to help you with the costs. Sob story of baby coming in days and need to have the car ready to go to hospital etc.

scuba_doo

I work in a garage ( not subaru ) if a car comes in with a fault , as long as it's there to diagnose and not intermittant , it can be found , if it's intermittant and not there we can only go on faults held in the ecu's memory and previous knowledge .
As you took the car there with the fault present they should have been able to diagnose / repair and test the car to confirm repair . In the advent of the same fault occuring then workmanship normally carries a warranty of some kind i.e 3 months on labour and 12 months on parts .
If you ring to complain to the service manager that the same fault has occurred again on the car and it is causing serious problems and cost to you , would feel that they should collect the car and drop off a loan car at no expense to you or if not you may take your car to another subaru dealer to get repaired and send the repair bill to them . Dont somehow think they will like another garage finding the fault that they did'nt !! as word of mouth spreads like fire !!

Trap2Terrorist

iTrader: (3)

I'd try and strike a deal over the cost of my next service, ie. give me the labour free on my next service to cover the expense of having to trek back and forth. That way it isn't really costing them anything, except some man hours, but it'll save you £100-£200 in cash. They should be reasonable enough to at least negotiate some form of compensation.

As a counter arguement though, (from my I.T. experience), finding intermittent electrical/computer faults is almost impossible. However unlike a computer/server you can't really 'soak test' it by running looped software or diagnostics for days/weeks. If they start the car and drive it around a bit and it's ok and there doesn't appear to be any mechanical faults or any stored errors, they're a bit fooked.

Karl sti

I know call me if you stuck

scoobyboy

it's in the small print normally on the back of the invoice

danwrx1980

I know its a totally different thing but had the same problem on my 2000 Focus, and eventually it was diagnosed as the speed sensor. Sounds like they have fixed the damage but left the sensor shagged, as mentioned above.
Again echoing what has been said, i think you should get some recompense or failing that take it to another garage, and hand the service manager of the crap garage a link to this thread. Once he knows its on here but you haven't mentioned the name of his garage you may get a phone call, if not you name and shame, and be done with it.