Not happy with Indep

[bigtwin]

There is an indep - no names for now, but they are listed on the finder on this site, that advised (when in for something else) that there was no more adjustment on the handbrake of my missus' car, that the rear discs were badly worn and would be a fail, and the shoes and pads were "on the limit". They wanted me to get them done there and then, but I declined on the basis that at 45k this all sounded unlikely. I was told the the previous owner had clearly been in the habit of running without fully releasing the handbrake.

Thus, I got the parts and dropped it off to my local chap to do the business as I had other things to do this morning.

Went to pick it up. He'd changed them as he'd taken them apart to check anyway, and I had the bits. But.

The pads were barely worn, the discs were a million miles from on the limit, barely lipped at all, and the shoes were barely worn - he showed me all the parts. There was apparently a stack of adjustment left.

Clearly a blatant attempt to scam money.

 

[BAZZER1]

There is an indep - no names for now, but they are listed on the finder on this site, that advised (when in for something else) that there was no more adjustment on the handbrake of my missus' car, that the rear discs were badly worn and would be a fail, and the shoes and pads were "on the limit". They wanted me to get them done there and then, but I declined on the basis that at 45k this all sounded unlikely. I was told the the previous owner had clearly been in the habit of running without fully releasing the handbrake.

Thus, I got the parts and dropped it off to my local chap to do the business as I had other things to do this morning.

Went to pick it up. He'd changed them as he'd taken them apart to check anyway, and I had the bits. But.

The pads were barely worn, the discs were a million miles from on the limit, barely lipped at all, and the shoes were barely worn - he showed me all the parts. There was apparently a stack of adjustment left.

Clearly a blatant attempt to scam money.

Very unusual for a good indie
BAZZER1

 

[WG M-B]

If what you are saying is true then you should take the parts to them and question what you were told

 

[television]

And we should be told who it was

 

[bigtwin]

If what you are saying is true then you should take the parts to them and question what you were told

Life too short, they will just deny ever saying it. Just won't ever go there again - there are plenty of other choices.

Very happy to name if people want to PM me if they are thinking of getting work done in the Guildford area.

 

[whitenemesis]

Life too short, they will just deny ever saying it. Just won't ever go there again - there are plenty of other choices.

Very happy to name if people want to PM me if they are thinking of getting work done in the Guildford area.

I hope you have rated this company via the specialistfinder website?

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showpost.php?p=859183&postcount=28

 

[AlastairD]

I've took my business away from 2 indies after only 2 1/2 years of ownership.

One for lying to me and the other for not looking after the car properly.

I've come the conclusion that I know what the car needs so I'll make sure it gets done, and if I can do it myself I will.

I've lost faith I'm afraid.

 

[Frontstep]

I don't like the idea of this, put some pictures up of the removed parts and let the indie give their side.
As it stands anyone in the Guildford area is tainted.

 

[paul hayward]

only ONE Place i ever gonna take my 430 too...im very lucky!!

 

[bigtwin]

I don't like the idea of this, put some pictures up of the removed parts and let the indie give their side.
As it stands anyone in the Guildford area is tainted.

They are in a skip now.

Nonsense - use the PM button and all is revealed.

 

[bigtwin]

Mind you, bear with me - it's a slow process replying to PMs when you are only allowed to do one a minute....

 

[television]

They certainly are not anyone much if ever recommended on here but thanks and i will remember

 

[dml]

If you aren't happy with them simply state the facts while naming the indie. You would name them if it was a main dealer and just because they are an Indie doesn't mean they have any right to better treatment.

Indies live and die by reputation and rightfully so!

 

[Some guy on the internet]

The pads were barely worn, the discs were a million miles from on the limit, barely lipped at all, and the shoes were barely worn - he showed me all the parts. There was apparently a stack of adjustment left.

They are in a skip now.

Why did your other indy replace the parts with new if the old ones were pretty much like new? Why did you bin them if they were pretty much like new?

Something not adding up here.

 

[television]

Why did your other indy replace the parts with new if the old ones were pretty much like new? Why did you bin them if they were pretty much like new?

Something not adding up here.

I was expecting to read something like this or the new ones were not fitted until the original were past their sell by date, I did wonder why they got changed, its good stock and the do not go off if not used

 

[bigtwin]

Because they had done 48K so they weren't new, and I left the car with him and asked him to do it. I'd already got the bits from 3 different places, and wasn't going to phaff around trying to get refunds etc. This is a chap in our village who is a one man band working in his garage. He doesn't do stock on the shelf save for lubes, so it's always a question of "do you want to get the bits, or shall I".

He didn't try taking up the slack first, as I'd told him what I'd been told. So he just got on with diss assembly. Not a lot of point in paying for the labour of taking them apart, then putting them back together again without the new bits on. These will now more than likely outlast the life of the car.

And I didn't keep the bits as I don't have the space or inclination to keep dirty and part-worn brake parts. But he made a careful point of keeping them to one side to show me when I picked it up, in case I wanted to have a barney with the indep.

 

[television]

I agree there is no point in keeping used parts that you have taken off

 

[bigtwin]

They are still outside in his bin no doubt.

I'll start the bidding at £50 for the lot, plus P+P...

 

[Some guy on the internet]

So, you took it to indy #1 who said you need all this stuff done.

You didn't believe him so you bought all the parts you believed you didn't need, took everything to indy #2 whom you then paid to do the work that didn't need doing with the parts you didn't need to buy.

Is that about it?

 

[bigtwin]

You're not getting this. I took it to No 1 (for some warranty work soon after purchase), who told me it was shagged. I believed him (no reason not to, as the h/brake wasn't holding, which I'd asked them to take up while they had the wheels off), but wasn't up for paying the thick end of £200 quid extra they wanted to do the work. So I got the bits, and was intending to do it myself. However, No 2 was servicing my merc and doing the ATF change for me, and when I mentioned that I was going to do it, he offered to do it for me when I picked up the other car, for 30 mins lab charge. Which left me free to do the thermostat on mine, so I took him up on it.

To clarify, it didn't seem likely to me that the discs could be that worn at that mileage, but the fact remained that the h/b was useless, so something was clearly not right, and I'd already checked the cable adjustment. Therefore, didn't seem unlikely that the shoes and pads were worn, and I generally take the approach that I believe people unless I have reason not to in cases like this. In the end I got some discs as they were only £25 the pair, and in the meantime someone suggested that with the "handbrake on" angle, perhaps they meant that the insides of the drums were badly worn, so it was case of just do the whole thing and be done with it, rather than not having the discs to hand when I did the job, then needing them. It's the missus' car, and just needed to be sorted out without phaffing about.