Can we get a Name and shame section for good and bad experiences of garages? I see this rule applies for pepole who sell items like here http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=64841 but not garages

Edited September 17, 200817 yr by 8ace

he knows how to deal with it. I have had many solicitiors letters sent to him and phone calls and an eventual court threat with a reply after 2 months . He knows what it will cost me to take him to court and that it outweighs the outcome. The letter he sent back was a complete contradtion of what actually happened funnilly enough

Have you contacted them though and told them of your situation? What has been done that's faulty? Not trying to defend, them, it sounds like you're going down the right pathway, so you probably have contacted them etc.

he changed the viscous fan as was flopping around which is attatched to the waterpump. He did not advise changing the pump under the circumstances as he sadi it was ok. I have a step son who works for porsche and said the pump would have automatically been changed given the wobbly viscous as it would throw the bearings. As did the AA report say the exact same thing it is routine to do this.

I found this all out later something which a "specialist" would have know

Did you ask him to replace the pump or did he just advise that it didn't need doing?

I asked if it was all ok now, he said yes 100% spot on. I know nothing about cars I found all this out after the pump went

it got towed back to him at my expense I even paid to have it replaced to get it back on the road. he sublte said it was smoking a bit but gave me the impression it would burn off and was probably crap somewhere from what had happened. It got much worse very shortly he then tried to turn it around saying I should have had the pump changed!!!!! I happilly paid what was 1.5K went to nearly 5K on the rebuild and he tried to blame me for cutting corners after I even paid for a cam belt agian becasue I was worried towards the end of the build

You can take your car for a service somewhere and they can report it as all fine as it may well be at the time, 10 miles down the road the engine could go bang due to something unrelated.

 

There are alot of grey areas on car related problems v's garages, its difficult for a garage to know where to draw the line they could recommend a new water pump, but as they are that far in the cam belt might be and idea, then may as well do a thermostat too before you know its a 60k service and your paying hundreds of pounds to fix a viscous coupling.

 

Im not defending z tech, i had a very unsatisfactory plenum bypass done there many years ago, paid about £300 for it to include gaskets etc and ill eat my shoes if they took the plenum off at all, i just chose not to go back again.

considering the highlighting fact of a wobbly viscous and finding out it is attatched to a water pump the given diameter of the fan /weight rotation speed etc put into a nr£5k build by a "specialist" I now believe to my findings and good mechanical practice would have advised this??? if fact I would go as far as to say in my job if something that relavent and cheap to change to a possible failure/damge ratio would be a crtitcal item

considering the highlighting fact of a wobbly viscous and finding out it is attatched to a water pump the given diameter of the fan /weight rotation speed etc put into a nr£5k build by a "specialist" I now believe to my findings and good mechanical practice would have advised this??? if fact I would go as far as to say in my job if something that relavent and cheap to change to a possible failure/damge ratio would be a crtitcal item

 

I agree fully with you, but its a very difficult thing to prove, just dont want it to all go pear shaped and cost you more in the end which if you lose a legal battle you will.

 

Have they made no goodwill offer at all?

I agree fully with you, but its a very difficult thing to prove, just dont want it to all go pear shaped and cost you more in the end which if you lose a legal battle you will.

 

Have they made no goodwill offer at all?

 

he did offer at first to foot it then though about it then offered half the repair(at his place at his findings and prices) then when I called him nearer the time he wanted to have it back to go halves to tell him i had taken legal advice he had no idea who I was despite the fact everytime he wanted money from me he knew my number and called me out of the blue for the intitial work after I just phoned to see what work they carried out. As for the legal battle like I said It's outweighed. Make your own choices who you have repair your car These are my dealings with him and I have put them in my honest actual terms. If I was advised and a signed disclaimer was there it would be different. This is a specialist who deals with this EXACT problem day in day out should he not have a better structure/ advisory policy in place??

considering the highlighting fact of a wobbly viscous and finding out it is attatched to a water pump the given diameter of the fan /weight rotation speed etc put into a nr£5k build by a "specialist" I now believe to my findings and good mechanical practice would have advised this??? if fact I would go as far as to say in my job if something that relavent and cheap to change to a possible failure/damge ratio would be a crtitcal item

 

Your exactly right and based on my experience i wouldn't trust anyone at this place to change a wheel or fill a washer bottle on my Z now, never mind work on an engine! Granted that was when the elusive Ryan Southall was owner and manager...A complete idiot, whom i'm still waiting to catch up with to retrieve his broken financial promises used to appease me with the issues i had with my supposed re-build! ...Chris sorted some issues when he took over but it's never been done properly or with any finesse you expect of a mechanic never mind a specialist! I'll be popping in on Ryan when i have time to visit where he now lives...) However, employees were retained, and employees changed, and those with experience and a bit of finesse to do a job, let go or sacked....Seems to me they're still chancing their arms and not doing proper re-builds despite attempting to charge for them and following the previous owners pattern (unless he's still involved???)!

 

Their website also needs updating and a legal letter from the club then, This always used to make me chuckle!

 

Anyone who wants to know about my '6k down the drain' experience please PM me for details.

sorry to hear about your misfortunes tubs seems a leopard can't change his spots or a fuc#in turbo for that matter after some friendly advice tonight from a kind fellow member looks like I'll be filing for claims after all

Edited September 17, 200817 yr by 8ace

The customer comments on his website look like they have been pulled from the forum with members names.

 

One of those comments came from me, the day I picked up my first TT. in hindsight I should have stepped back and assessed the situation better - I had also been ripped off. I paid thousands of pounds for shoddy work work including an engine rebuild, and that blew up within 1000k miles - only to be advised it wasn't covered by any warranty.

 

I would never reccomend them now - and have asked for my comments to be pulled - but they haven't. :slap:

Sod that, claimonline which is just as good and costs a fraction of that mate.

Have a word with UNO on here, he's the man to help with it :)

smithy

 

drag me into it why dont you Paul :p:D

 

that said... small claims is useful for keeping costs low esp if the claim is under £5k e.g. In most cases, the court will not order solicitors’ costs to be paid by the losing party in a small claims case, and if you instruct a solicitor you will have to pay the costs yourself. For this reason most claimants deal with a small claim without the help of a solicitor. It is possible to have the help of a McKenzie Friend or ‘lay representative’ etc. It may be possible to get legal advice (not representation) from a solicitor under the legal help scheme.

 

chris

Would That be the "old" ztech as in Ryan ?

smithy

 

sorry missed your post yesterday. New ztech as in chris

 

Also Uno can I ask if I sell the car for parts can I still go ahead with court proceedings?. I have legal documents from the AA for car check and report of symptoms/poss damage or do I need the car as evidence. I also have the waterpump that came off the car

Edited September 18, 200817 yr by 8ace

I think that any garage that has to be taken to court for bad workmanship or overchges anyone should be named. Likewise good garages should be mentioned as I did with SPC of Horsham, new owner Phil has a good name and is resonably priced with good work as well.

I got my Zed from Ryan at Ztec..........it was so bad I had to go back a number of times, in the end I gave up. It has taken two years to put things right, He put 555 injectors in my car telling me it would be ok, no upgrade or replacement ECU. I knew no better then. I bloody do now.

Got the papers today just got to read through them and file the claim thanks all for you help and situations fingers crossed. I will have to keep the zed for a little longer by the looks till all this is over. On the bright side a new toy may be on the horizon.

another zed?

another zed?

 

indeedy just could be ;) :hyper:

Edited September 19, 200817 yr by 8ace

good lad, hope it all goes easy for you