C43 AMG Only running 235 HP

[star]

I’d like to reply to some of the points you mention, even though nothing was mentioned at the time of collection or at any other time in the previous week, we are always here to discuss any concerns customers have.



"but was still left wondering how 16 spark plugs, a belt and an oil and filter change would take 5 hours. So i headed back off to reading for a pint."

When a customer arrives after 9am in the morning, the workshop is already loaded with some of the days work (we open at 8.15) and only when the next slot/space becomes available are we able to start on another car. If there is a time constaint, then we tell customers to get to us by 8.30 and their car would be the 1st cars in the workshop if not there can be a couple of hours wait, depending on cars already started on.


"It was after about 30 minutes my phone pinged and i saw my car was on the Move. Now for me the only time a car should be road tested is when the customer has a specific issue at a certain speed or road condition."

All cars are road tested after work has been carried out in your instance, possible misfire after disturbing the plug leads during plug change, the knock you have, even though there isn’t any substantial wear in the arb bushes. It would be a different story if we hadn’t road tested your car and it had a misfire or the knock you are seeking was something else, how can we locate a noise if we can not hear it?






"I walked the little way back to star to be told that my car was ready, But they could not do the drive belt and the Anti Roll bar bushes did not require replacing.

The drive belt was not replaced as the fan coupling is seized to the waster pump, hence the slight marking on the nut (at no time would we ever use a chisel? to release a coupling)

So now i am thinking you have had my car since 9 am and its now 1 pm and all you have done is change the oil and the plugs."

As above



"Now my tracker had a speed alert which was not breached thankfully, but that does not mean some little OIK did not spend a few minutes having some fun in a customers car.
As you can imagine at the point of paying i was to say the least a little mad, so rather than ending up in a police cell that evening i just wanted to get away."



I resent the fact that you insinuate “some little oik” has had some fun in your car, surely if an employee was going to have some fun in a customers car, the 1st thing they would do would be to excessively exceed to the speed limit, We road test far more powerful and capable cars every week and they are all treated with respect.




"I have noticed now on my car. first is there is an alarming grinding noise when on full right lock from the off side front, (never there before) also now on cold start there is a very Noticeable knocking sound for a while like you would get from a tappet or lifter."

We have only replaced the items that you supplied to us and didn’t carry out any repairs to the suspension, 202’s are known for wheel hop on full lock, could it be this?
A lifter noise can appear after an oil change as the oil is thinner, it will disappear as the oil ages and thickens up (you supplied the oil and filter)



"Also i was informed by star that my rear tires would be due for change in a couple of thousand miles, Which leads me to think some one had a bit of fun, as i had the fronts replaced 2 weeks ago and was told that there was 6mm left on the rear so they would be good for at least 6 months or so."


Tyre wear rates are only a matter of opinion, we would rather err on the side of caution then you drive with bald ones.
Again if someone is “have some fun” surely the 30mph speed limit would have been exceeded and the tyres would have signs of abnormal wear and molten rubber on the inside of the wheel arches?


"Why are customers cars taken to a dead end road, ( i will attach a screen shot showing the location for anyone else who might be thinking of taking their car there."

I would think that your gps/screenshot can not be too accurate, it shows your car in a private boat yard on the bank of a river where there isn’t a road? Although its only 70yrds away, I doubt its accessible by car.

As to the valeters, they are only 50yrds away, we have used them for over a year now and have never experienced any issues with them, we pass their premises over 50+ times a day and have never seen a car of ours away from there.



"I am now thinking if it is possible to get the ecu interrogated to see if the ESP system was turned off last friday at any point."


At no point would we want to or need to switch off your esp.
As you say in one of your previous posts, “I don't trust anyone with my car” and I think we are a victim of your paranoia.


If you like to any of the above with myself, please call anytime.

Regards Ian

 

[L John]

Looks like you spent some time writing that up Star, just a shame you had to.

As you say in one of your previous posts, “I don't trust anyone with my car” and I think we are a victim of your paranoia.

I think that's very fair and written as nicely as you could.
Clearly no offence is intended by that remark, simply an explanation of why your integrity is under attack.

Well done for keeping it calm and composed.

 

[star]

Looks like you spent some time writing that up Star, just a shame you had to.



I think that's very fair and written as nicely as you could.
Clearly no offence is intended by that remark, simply an explanation of why your integrity is under attack.

Well done for keeping it calm and composed.

Thankyou, I did wonder if it was a bit strong.

 

[porterada]

there is no agenda here at all... you are very correct in saying i don't trust anyone with any of my cars, hence the tracker and that is just on past experience. All i wanted was to find a good company that could service and fix my car in the absence of any decent Main Dealer....

I booked my car in 2 weeks prior to the day of the work, One would hope that it would be started as soon as it arrived in that case.... Also No mention about the way the car was started at the valeters.. Also Can you confirm or deny that the cars are driven at all by the valeters? People can make up there own mind with regards to this issue if they think i am expecting too much and that road tests are part of the course then i have no issues with that at all. like i say the car is going in to be inspected this weekend so if anything is found that i feel is untoward you will of course be hearing from me.

 

[L John]

Thankyou, I did wonder if it was a bit strong.

With what has been said I think it's very retrained sand fair.

Also I believe anyone with issues should be careful of making allegations and they should be talking directly to you.

If they post allegations, the posts can be taken as libellous and they could be in hot water.

I don't know you or your business but I think this thread should be closed as the allegations seem to be ridiculous and without any facts.

 

[drmw]

there is no agenda here at all... you are very correct in saying i don't trust anyone with any of my cars, hence the tracker and that is just on past experience. All i wanted was to find a good company that could service and fix my car in the absence of any decent Main Dealer....

I booked my car in 2 weeks prior to the day of the work, One would hope that it would be started as soon as it arrived in that case.... Also No mention about the way the car was started at the valeters.. Also Can you confirm or deny that the cars are driven at all by the valeters? People can make up there own mind with regards to this issue if they think i am expecting too much and that road tests are part of the course then i have no issues with that at all. like i say the car is going in to be inspected this weekend so if anything is found that i feel is untoward you will of course be hearing from me.

It doesn't matter if you booked the car in 2 weeks prior or 2 months prior - unless you turn up as the garage is opening there's no rationale in assuming that the job would be started as soon as you arrived. They have better things to do with their time than hang around waiting for a customer to turn up when he can be bothered just because to job was booked in 2 weeks prior.

 

[V6Matty]

all garages i know work the same as Ian's as in the first car in the door gets worked on first and as they turn up throughout the morning the jobs stack up, only time I’ve had my car looked at while i was there was when i had a vibration that they couldn't replicate the previous time so went out on a drive with me so i could replicate and then they drove and replicated the noise so they could understand exactly what it is i was hearing. You have to remember they see your car for only a short time you live with it constantly so if something is even a tiny bit different you pick up on it straight away.

as for test drives after a service, well as far as I’m aware that’s par for the course, any good garage should test to make sure they haven't messed something else up while doing their work.

Valeter driving the car, not actually that unusual most have insurance to cover them driving all cars i know when mine is washed by the garage its actually by a self-employed car valeter that happens to work with the garage, so yes it only goes from the garage out the back and them to the car park but he still has to be covered just in case. Him reving the engine well that could be for any reason but he should be defending himself why he did that.

 

[christer]

Personally, I think if I was Star I would be having a word with the valeting sub-contractor just to make sure that you stress that you expect total respect for the cars that you bring them. I know many a solid business that has been undermined by the businesses that are contracted to them who care nothing for your business. If it is true that a valeter revved the bollocks off a client's car - that would be very bad for your business in the longer term.

Everything else seems a bit paranoid or pedantic, Star seems to work like most other garages. If I mean to wait for a car, I always make this clear when booking so that we agree a time to start and an approximation for work to finish.

imho

 

[SL63 Mark]

If I was Star I would let this particular customer work on his own car in future.

 

[star]

Although its impossible to over that engine (rev limiter cuts in just over 3,000rpm) we will keep a close eye on the valeters.

 

[JBell]

you are very correct in saying i don't trust anyone with any of my cars, hence the tracker and that is just on past experience. All i wanted was to find a good company that could service and fix my car in the absence of any decent Main Dealer

You need to start trusting people, you are creating problems (IMO of course), I doubt a MB Specialist that is a forum supporter on here would deliberately sabotage a car, that is just ridiculous as is you posting it all on here rather than going to Star and having a conversation about your concerns

So did you fit the tracker in the hope of catching someone out??

I booked my car in 2 weeks prior to the day of the work, One would hope that it would be started as soon as it arrived in that case.... Also No mention about the way the car was started at the valeters.. Also Can you confirm or deny that the cars are driven at all by the valeters? People can make up there own mind with regards to this issue if they think i am expecting too much and that road tests are part of the course then i have no issues with that at all. like i say the car is going in to be inspected this weekend so if anything is found that i feel is untoward you will of course be hearing from me.

As for starting work on your car, there is an order to this, and it usually goes "First Come, First Served", this is how my local Indy operates (morning or afternoon), I drop it off and they call me when it is done, not difficult BUT I trust them with the car and have no issues. Saying "I expected them to start when I dropped it off" is just arrogant.

Instead of saying it took 5 hours, look at the invoice and see what was billed, this will give you the exact figure!

A road test is normal procedure, they can't hand over a car that hasn't been tested, that would be just plain silly and irresponsible if anything were to go wrong.

The valeters: My thoughts are they didn't have it in Park (or something like that) so revved it to start having moved the gear lever, I doubt it was intentional, maybe they wanted so see how good it sounded.

Posting this on here was plain silly, if you can't have a direct conversation with someone regarding your issues don't expect everyone else to answer your questions on here as we don't have all the info, I know it's your experience but going into Star first would have been a much better way of clearing it all up

 

[Rotorhead500]

I don't know Star, nor do I know you, and as I wasn't present and don't know the facts, I can't comment reasonably about any of the issues... Except, tyres.

I don't do any of the maintenance on my cars these days, beyond checking & topping up fluids, change windscreen wipers... That sort of thing.

I do check tyre condition fairly regularly though, so if somebody had removed a few thousand miles of life from them in a couple of hours, I hope I'd notice. Have you checked for wear?

 

[michiganstar]

I feel I should stick up for Ian at Star as all my dealings with his company over the years have been good, also my friends have used him in the past without complaint. I've had one issue which was dealt with quickly and with minimal fuss so I can't say a bad word. Also knowing that area well - to wear the rear tyres down without breaking the speed limit would mean you'd have to break traction fairly deliberately. Star are based in a residential area and all the nearby roads are 30mph zones and I just don't see the room or the ability to get away with doing such things on any of the local roads. I'm not saying it couldn't happen but I think it unlikely. My 2p

 

[JBell]

I am perplexed by the tyre thing, with your ATD I take it you measured the tread depth in 3 places across each tyre before dropping it off and then did the same after picking it up as this is the only way to tell if someone had been driving it like they stole it which would have also been picked up by your app

 

[L John]

I am perplexed by the tyre thing, with your ATD I take it you measured the tread depth in 3 places across each tyre before dropping it off and then did the same after picking it up as this is the only way to tell if someone had been driving it like they stole it which would have also been picked up by your app

As Star said earlier, spinning tyres up to wear the amount claimed would leave a sticky rubber mess everywhere around the wheel arches and it would have blobs on the tyre with tread gunge in parts of the thread that would take ages to remove by hand (with little success of complete removal) or a LOT of miles driving normally. It would also leave scoring marks on the tyre.

It can be done easily without breaking the speed limit though, just do doughnuts in a car park.

I'm not perplexed as the obvious answer is, it didn't happen.
Maybe someone needs a new tread depth gauge or training in how to use one.

 

[JBell]

As Star said earlier, spinning tyres up to wear the amount claimed would leave a sticky rubber mess everywhere around the wheel arches and it would have blobs on the tyre with tread gunge in parts of the thread that would take ages to remove by hand (with little success of complete removal) or a LOT of miles driving normally. It would also leave scoring marks on the tyre.

It can be done easily without breaking the speed limit though, just do doughnuts in a car park.

I'm not perplexed as the obvious answer is, it didn't happen.
Maybe someone needs a new tread depth gauge or training in how to use one.

I may have been a little sarcastic in my above post