I take it you dont have to put up with behavoir like that nearly everyday because unfortunally I do.....& i'm not refereing to the original poster here infact sometimes the garage trade can do with a 'kick up the backside' but I think its fair to say not every garage can 'keep on top' of all the latest information infact I only found out about the DPF software update a few weeks ago while trying to cure a similar problem.
Its quite possible that the garage didn't have time to rectify the fault (whatever it was/is) so possibly 'buying time' or whatever due to a constant heany workload that is placed on a garage everyday.
I'm certainly all for more 'customer satisfaction' than profit but corperate managers might not see it that way?
Not sure what you mean; are you saying that nearly every day you get customers threatening violence
? Hmmmmm. Cause or cure. Which can do I reach for, underarm deodorant or Mace......
Fair point about software upgrades; anyone who uses a home computer (by definition, this means everyone on this forum) knows software upgrades can sometimes be more pain than pleasure. The problem is that a lot of car owners now regard a car simply as "a thing that does something". Your washing machine washes your clothes, your microwave cooks your food, your tv entertains you and your car gets you from A to B. With a lot of modern cars, the most information you get from the owners manual is how to check fluid levels and tire pressures. People turn on the ignition, watch the dashboard as various things light up then go off and thats it. No knowledge of what's going on in the engine bay; not interested............ So when something lights up in red saying STOP, they expect the garage to fix it.
I think maybe a bit of techno fear/incomprehension plays its part. Everyone `knows' that error messages on computer screens don't always mean what they say, but when "Oil level low, stop engine NOW" keeps flashing on their cars dashboard, it kind of bothers them. They don't even know what a dipstick is, let alone how to use one
. They take the car to the garage, the garage does a diagnostic check, everything comes up ok but they change the oil, filter and just to be on the safe side, they fit a new level sensor. Then they lighten the customers wallet by a couple of hundred quid (fair enough, nobody works for free); job done. Except that due to an intermittent fault somewhere, next week the lights back on again.:bang: Who'se to blame? Probably the manufacturer.........
Short story. Citroen lost a fortune with the XM; their flagship model of the 1980's. Why? Because they subcontracted the wiring loom to an outside contractor who, without telling anyone, decided to save a few £ by using a lighter wire guage. Series 1 cars were plagued by electronic glitches. With brakes, steering and suspension all dependent on the same high pressure hydraulic system, when the big red light yelling STOP came on, people did. It was no good telling someone who'd paid up-wards of £15k that it was just an earth fault somewhere in the wiring loom, Mr. Company Director wanted the warning light on his shinny new status symbol V6 3 litre 24 valve supercar to go off and stay off. Warranty recalls cost the company millions and they damn near folded. You can go into a Citroen dealer now and see dozens of matchbox size toys covering everything from the Traction Avant to the C5. But they don't have a model of the XM. It was a beautiful design ruined in production............ As a former XM owner, I've often thought their `Alive With Technology' advertisement for the latest Citroen's is perhaps ill chosen for the U.K. market
