Looks like this virus is bringing out the worst in many. Some may know the Golden Girl has been gone since the 18th of August. Partly because she was due to go in and get a standing fault, from before lockdown, sorted, and partly because she threw up a couple of new faults.
I had spoken to the mechanics 3 or 4 times, about the new issues, and the part they knew she needed , before surrendering and getting her recovered. So the original issue was not a surprise.
Due to being busy, busy, busy, the guys at the garage couldn't fit her in until 27th August.
At the start of this week she went into the 9th week of being gone. Yesterday, she hit 8 weeks since they started work on her. There is nothing, they did not know at day one, that needs doing now. I have contacted them by email at the start , confirming what I would like looking at,if they could, and re-confirming the main parts that needed doing. Including the part that has been under discussion since the end of February. A part that I was assured is now available as reconditioned straight off the shelf, at their supplier. I was even told it wasn't cheap , around £600 , or so.
I think I have been quite fair , at leaving them to get on with the job, calling a couple of times , in two months.At the beginning of this week I made a call to see how they were getting on. Only to be told the satnav display they had sent off to be repaired, the company they sent it to doesn't repair them. Which was contrary to what they told me two weeks previous. I wasn't happy but sucked it up , and ordered a second hand unit to be delivered to them. I then phoned yesterday to check they'd received it and it worked ok. Seems reasonable to me.
During that call they decided to tell me the main part I needed was going to cost £5k! Needless to say I wasn't happy. I explained to them, I had been told that it could be sourced , as refurbished, off the shelf. To which the reaponse was 'oh I don't know anything about that. I'll have to ask the other guy , but he's self isolating, after going on holiday'.
Ok thinks me. I'll try to take the pressure off them, and see if I can source a refurbed unit. I go online and find loads. So I email the links, thinking I've done a nice thing.
Cut to today. I phone to ask if any of them are any good. Only to get a stinking attitude, and to be told it's the wrong part. I apologise and ask can they check, and if it is I'll try to find the right bit. I am then told , in a manner full of bad attitude, 'I don't know which bit it is, I've not been dealing with you. You'll need to wait until he comes back atbthe end of next week'.
So I ask, could 'he' call me, rather than yet another week. Oh my lord, you'd think I'd asked for the guy's first born. So I become p'd off. Trying to make it clear that this part was known to be needed, even before the vehicle landed on their pan, and it should have been sourced weeks ago.
Matey was having none of it. It would appear that all customer service has left the building. If any customer dare to complain, instead of taking it on the chin, or even discussing it with me, his response was "don't get angry with me, or you can just get your car uplifted and taken somewhere else."
So there we go years of custom, and thousands, and thousands of pounds paid to them, and that's his attitude. When the Golden Girl comes back, I will indeed start the hunt for another specialist indy. Even if I have to take her to the other side of the country.
