fishsponge's ongoing thread of problems!

[The Mad Hat Man]

I would get a list of all the work they say they have done, go back, ask to speak to the manager. Ask him to show you all the work they have done, because if he cant, you will be contacting trading standards.
It looks like they took yu for a mug.

We know different.

 

[Mr Noisy]

quite obvioius theyve not been opened.

the swivels have fill plugs at the top (the big ones) they have level plugs half way up, theyre teeny tiny and near the lock stops, and they have drain plugs at the bottom, medium sized.

normally you only boither with the top ones cos the others are too small/rusty to remove, so i'd guess no-one has looked in there.

the only option is that they poured grease in down the stub axle whilst the hub was off, but they would defo have to remove the other side to check the level. does appear ok at least cos you can see oil on the ball. one shot grease is black by the way...

the diffs can be checked with guards on by using a ratchet fitted with an extension, that is skinny enough to undo the filler plug and remove it.

cheers

 

[davek0974]

I would get a list of all the work they say they have done, go back, ask to speak to the manager. Ask him to show you all the work they have done, because if he cant, you will be contacting trading standards.
It looks like they took yu for a mug.

We know different.

It's very disappointing but I reckon that's good advice there.

 

[The Mad Hat Man]

the diffs can be checked with guards on by using a ratchet fitted with an extension, that is skinny enough to undo the filler plug and remove it.

but there is normally a trail of oil down from the filler plug as it is filled till it weeps out. It should be clean, as well.

 

[The Mad Hat Man]

mite be worth, if they cant show you all they have done, say yu want compo unless yu go to TS - maybe a new swivel ball fitted?

 

[Mr Noisy]

i agree.

to be honest, when you ask him to show you where the hubs were checked and he proceeds to point to you a blatently untouched plug, once you show him that you are aware theyre virgins, i should expect him to take a gulp, and then things might get interesting.

i wouldnt bother with trading standards route, that makes you sound like a bit of a wazzock, i'd offer to bury the hatchet if they do what they were supposed to do in the first place - perhaps suggest they rebuild both front swivels for free or something, as an offer of good faith for blatently trying to have you over first time round.

im heavily trying not to be keyboard warrior here, i dont like people getting all daft about garages and stuff, but when you ask for simple work and offer to pay and they simply dont bother to do it, its just takes the mickey.

the thing to remember is there could be an explanation for all of this, but i suspect that theyre in the wrong here, hopegully you can come to an arrangement where they can regain your trust as opposed to ending up with a dead end legal issue etc etc.

cheers

 

[The Mad Hat Man]

i wouldnt bother with trading standards route, that makes you sound like a bit of a wazzock, i'd offer to bury the hatchet if they do what they were supposed to do in the first place - perhaps suggest they rebuild both front swivels for free or something, as an offer of good faith for blatently trying to have you over first time round.

but yu DO need to have a viable threat - just to stop him saying "wot yu gonna do about it - fook orf!"

 

[njh2]

As mr Noisey say's.....see if being nice works....i.e i know you haven't done it!, you know i know, lets get it sorted..........if they don't then i'll phone them as well..!!!!

Mr Noisey is right, it's simply not fair, but sort it nicely if you can........

....and fair play for getting under there tonight!!

Nick.

 

[The Mad Hat Man]

I think wot we is saying is...........

"Speak softly but carry a big stick"

 

[puppysandwich]

but yu DO need to have a viable threat - just to stop him saying "wot yu gonna do about it - fook orf!"

I always find that a "Reputation" is a valuable levering point. Sometimes just the mention of an Internet forum such LZ and the potential damage to their business could be huge. Just drop it into the conversation that a number of people of this forum have commented...blah blah blah. and you hope that you can report back that it was all a terrible misunderstanding.

 

[Mr Noisy]

yeah guess so.

we have a garage and, not that we rip peop,e off, but we do sometimes have disagreements with warranty problems etc.

all i know is that i feel MUCH more willing to help the customer/sort things out if the customer is reasonable and tbh not a knob with us. its different cos we're not in the wrong as such, but if a customer comes in and starts shouting the law, your first thought is fook off do your worst as opposed to someone who is pleasant about it and suggests that theres a problem we need to sort out, is there anything we can do about it etc etc. generally speaking that gets a better repsonse as you feel like helping the perosn out, sometimes over and above whats actually necessary anyway.

either way round, my advice would be to keep cool, explain your concern that some of the jobs might have been missed, and woulkd they please explian/look at it again.

see what happens and then suggest if they might fancy compensating you...

if that doesnt happen though and theyre just ****ers about it then id say sod it and call up the MAN and see whats what.

mnake sure you leave contact details in case they change their minds!

 

[Mr Noisy]

wheres me bloody video?!

 

[fishsponge]

all good advice. here is everything as per the work sheet...

REQUIRED:
- replace front wheel bearings I asked for was one wheel, but they knew that despite what it says here
- replace swivel if required
- check levels underneath
- MOT check over

WORK CARRIED OUT:
- replaced front wheel bearing
- checked levels and topped up transfer box
- greased underneath and checked over.

So, they told me they'd checked the levels underneath, and the swivel balls were fine. They also said the swivel ball oil seals were fine, and they still had grease in them.

This cost £214 inc. VAT (178.34 exc. VAT).

This breaks down as:

571752 - GASKET, AXLE DRIVE SHAFT MEMBER - 1x £0.25
FTC3179 - LOCK WASHER - 1x £0.55
STC4382 - BEARING - 2x £33.44 - does this sound right??
FTC4785 - OIL SEAL - 1x £3.46
GEAR - GEAR OIL 80/90 (for transfer box) - 2x 3.65
Labour - 2 hours.

 

[puppysandwich]

all good advice. here is everything as per the work sheet...



So, they told me they'd checked the levels underneath, and the swivel balls were fine. They also said the swivel ball oil seals were fine, and they still had grease in them.

This cost £214 inc. VAT (178.34 exc. VAT).

This breaks down as:

571752 - GASKET, AXLE DRIVE SHAFT MEMBER - 1x £0.25
FTC3179 - LOCK WASHER - 1x £0.55
STC4382 - BEARING - 2x £33.44 - does this sound right??
FTC4785 - OIL SEAL - 1x £3.46
GEAR - GEAR OIL 80/90 (for transfer box) - 2x 3.65
Labour - 2 hours.

Thats £50.00 an hour labour! Not bad is it.

 

[lerk]

571752 - GASKET, AXLE DRIVE SHAFT MEMBER - 1x £0.25
FTC3179 - LOCK WASHER - 1x £0.55
STC4382 - BEARING - 2x £33.44 - does this sound right??
FTC4785 - OIL SEAL - 1x £3.46
GEAR - GEAR OIL 80/90 (for transfer box) - 2x 3.65
Labour - 2 hours.

£66.88 for wheel bearings????

and the t-box only holds 2.4L - surely you'd have noticed if there was only 400ml of oil in there... In fact I'd think you'd be moving nowhere cos it'd be siezed solid...

 

[lerk]

Thats £50.00 an hour labour! Not bad is it.

£60... !

 

[Mr Noisy]

i dont know 300s too well, but

i assume they have charged 33.44 per bearing, thats two per hub. only one oil seal though, i assume inner, does a 300 have an outer hub oil seal?

the rest seems fine, two hours is a bit top end but not far off i guess, IF they have done ALL the levels and checked things. price for bearings was top end btw, but hey ho.

basically id say they havent checked the swivels and they wer wrong to say the drivers ball was ok.

not a lot else you can say.

maybe theyll give you a new/good second hand swivel for free - i dunno...

need an explanation before anything else as to why the swivel plugs are untouched.

 

[lerk]

STC4382G Hub bearing - front axle non ABS from JA032850 - Timken (OE)

A fair chunk cheaper!

 

[Mr Noisy]

and yes generally speaking not a cheap garage, i wouldnt expect mistakes and would expect a nice ten ninute explanation before and after at those prices.

labour price is not cheap but not dear for a proper job. we charge 50 or 55 per hour for difficult/involved stuff, but you get a proper job and a perrsonal service. theyre dear on parts though mate - you'll end up skint if you keep going there!

would be cheaper to move up north, you get that job done for 70 quid

 

[fishsponge]

ok... so £50/hour labour isn't bad - i'll give you that. and they do appear to have done everything apart from the swivel balls, so 2 hours probably isn't far off.

they also said they had a bit of trouble getting the old bearing off/out because it had basically disintegrated, so 2 hours isn't too bad.

it has worked out quite expensive, but would you say £214 inc. VAT isn't a bad price for replacing wheel bearings on the front driver's side wheel?

basically, i'm trying to work out whether they've simply not done what I asked (but also not charged me for it), or whether they've charged me for doing it when they actually haven't.

admittedly they've clearly not checked the swivel ball levels, but doesn't that mean the front diff oil should start pouring out the swivel ball now?

Oh, and the video is being exported now. 11 mins left, and then I have to upload it!