Correcting crappy service

I got new tyres at a well known orange themed service centre chain last night, and I asked if they could do the tracking. I can do it at home myself with some mild faff, because I bought a widget for it, but I thought it was worth it for a proper job.  I was the last booking of the day and they rushed through the job and didn’t do it right. There was no display in the waiting room like there is in Kwik Fit, nor did they give me a before and after printout.  I went to watch them do it and I saw it was only just in spec, but when I drove off they clearly hadn’t bothered centring the steering wheel so it’s off, which I really hate.  Cost me £45.

If I went back this evening (when my wife gets back with the car) I’m sure they would re-do it, but honestly I don’t the confrontation and the possible attitude from the staff.  It’s also 20-25 mins each way to get there.  I could try talking to head office and get them to fix it at the closer branch but I am sceptical that it would work. Or I could just fix it myself.  This takes more than an hour* but it only involves me and no hassle.

Does anyone else hate having to complain and just put up with it instead?

Moral of the story – if you can do it yourself, then do.

*the gadget I have only measures the toe-in/out of one wheel relative to the other, so you can’t tell if your steering wheel is out of centre. The only way to do it is set up the correct toe then go for a drive and see if the wheel is off centre. Then come back home, move one side in and one side out the same amount and check again. It works but it is time consuming!

Take it back – the steering wheel thing would drive me nuts

I have never had tracking checked on my last 3 cars when getting new tyres. Why? If the steering isn’t pulling. If the wheel is centred. If the tyres have worn evenly.   Is getting a “free” check not just an excuse for them to find it out, play about, and possibly bugger up something that was fine before.

In fairness none of the garages – McConnechys, two local, and Costco have suggested checking tracking.

Take it back, they won’t learn if they don’t get told.

Take it back, they won’t learn if they don’t get told.

This. At work I would rather know so that I can fix it for the customer and make amends, and work with my team to ensure it does not happen again…

Take it back, but last thing on a Friday afternoon do you really expect better service?

I accidentally found the passwords for getting something out of a bad service situation, although I suspect it depends on the company and the individual.  Anyway….. recently new to BT TV I realised that some of the sport was SD and not HD as I assumed and got onto customer services and was talking about getting it upgraded for a few £ per month, for which I had no issue, and without thinking about it uttered the words “the thing is I feel like I have been mis-sold around this aspect” and without a hesitation I was being offered compensation by way of reduced monthly fees.  Having never qualified for PPI or any other claims, that line will become my new best friend if needed again

If you’re going back on a Friday afternoon call ahead to avoid a potential wasted trip.  You also then don’t have to do the “I have a problem” face to face if you prefer.

I had the exact same issue with F1 Auto centres. Just phoned them up said that it was wrong and I wasn’t happy and arranged to drop it in for them to rectify. No confrontation required.

But mine was only a 10 minute drive away so not a major hassle. But would have been better if they did a proper job the first time.

Now I take my car for any tyre related work to a local independent tyre place. They actually seem to care, which is nice.

My experience from getting shock absorbers replaced in Halfords Autocentre on Cardiff when they packed up on holiday was that when they came loose a couple of days later due to not replacing the single use bolt (AA man used a very long wrench to tighten at a services on the M5) was that the Halfords Autocente in Middlesbrough were really good about sorting it out after I went in with the receipt and explanation.

I think that it is probably a franchise so they can claim the cost from some central pot.

Long story short: ring or take it to the same coloured outlet near your house and ask nicely if they could sort their associates mistake.

I just complained to the company that we bought our EV off about some of their actions and they have bent over backwards to rectify the situation. Always worth an ask, helps if you are confident and good at being forceful, which I am.

My old Superb had front brakes done at a well know blue branded establishment. Not my choice but the lease company insisted as they were the ‘approved agent’ for such work.

The tracking was off as soon as I drove out the garage so drove around the block took it back and politely mentioned that if didn’t seem right. They put it back on the machine and said all good. Still wasn’t so took it straight back again. They argued and gave me the print out that said it was perfect. I told them it wasn’t. The manager got huffy so I suggested he took it for a spin. He didn’t even get off the driveway before he conceded it wasn’t right. They tried again and it was still off. Not just a little bit, waaay off.

I complained to the lease co who authorised the work to be done at another garage. They sorted it first time and also sorted out the brake caliper which had been fitted upside down.

Never again

My brother took a Land Rover Defender into the orange fellas. It came back with the steering wheel 90deg out of line, and when he went back they claimed that they couldn’t fix it. He did get a full refund.

I’ll go back tomorrow AM.

The blue place I usually go to is great. They show you the numbers on a monitor and give you a print out.

They did cock up the Merc though. A young lad did it and I could see he hadn’t fitted the laser thingies properly, and it was obviously all to cock as soon as I drove off so I went straight back. Another chap did it and was a lot more careful, but it still wasn’t right after a while.  Turns out the adjustment bolts had corroded into the bushings, so they were just twisting the bushes and they un-twisted themselves after a time. Took it to an actual mechanic who explained this and sorted it.  That has complex suspension though – yesterday was the Hyundai that only has toe to adjust.

I once had a young lad struggling to get a MK2 Berlingo right. He didn’t spot the difference between 5.0 and 0.5 when doing the adjustments. He was certain it was right, despite fully feeling wrong. As soon as he showed me the spec, and the actual settings, we were able to spot the issue.

I had a similar issue, but with balancing. Had 4 new tyres having booked online at short notice, took over 2 hours to fit, which didn’t fill me with confidence. Big vibrations over 60mph. Bit the bullet and booked into my usual ramshackle looking joint for balancing and alignment. One wheel was apparently 80 grams out. I didn’t have the energy or time to fight with no guarantee of success given the original poor performance.

Dunno where in Cardiff you are but for future reference Heath tyres do the four wheel laser tracking for Mercs, I had mine done recently as I had some uneven wear, can’t remember how much it was, about £45 I think.

@Bens…

No way should tracking alter with brakes.  Tracking is alignment. And I’d be impressed if you could fit a caliper upside down.

You’d have to unbolt it and swap it with the other side…

They should centre the wheel and then fit the gauges.  I had a set of expensive gauges at nissan that where crap….  always had the wheel LH down god knows why