If vosa had been notified of this at the time the tester who failed then passed the vehicle after no work done would have been in DEEP trouble with VOSA .
General Issue with a garage.
- Thread starter RobL
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General Issue with a garage.
If vosa had been notified of this at the time the tester who failed then passed the vehicle after no work done would have been in DEEP trouble with VOSA .
I reported a garage to VOSA. They had passed a car I was buying. The handbrake didn't work because the cables hadn't been tightened. I took the car to the garage to complain and just got a load of abuse. I got a fob off from VOSA they didn't really want to know. You are right it should have been reported and would have been if I had known at the time for all the good it would do.
UPDATE
The garage basically carried out the same repair they did in March except replace the slaves.
The job sheet reads " cleaned and adjusted rear brakes,shoes slightly crumbling" they've now issued a pass certificate.
I've decided to report the matter to the DVSA. I'm just not confident the brakes are safe and will deteriorate the same as the last time.
The garage basically carried out the same repair they did in March except replace the slaves.
The job sheet reads " cleaned and adjusted rear brakes,shoes slightly crumbling" they've now issued a pass certificate.
I've decided to report the matter to the DVSA. I'm just not confident the brakes are safe and will deteriorate the same as the last time.
On this theme of garage rip offs. An elderly female neighbour was at my door yesterday with a flat tyre on the front of her Astra. Could I possibly fit her spare for her? Of course I can, I really like being able to help with small tasks like this.
First thing to check was whether it actually has a spare, and, hallelujah, it does - and a full size one at that, albeit on a steelie not an alloy. She was interested to watch so she hung about and chatted away as I worked. Turns out the car had just been serviced by one of the fairly local small garages and it turns out to be one I know who does not have a particularly good reputation, so I was interested to hear what she had to say. As regards the wheel change, it all went well, although her spare only had about 10psi in it so I had to cart it over the road to my garage to inflate it before fitting (my compressor had been used that morning so still had a good head of pressure in it. - goes to show they hadn't checked the spare pressure at the service though (I suspect many don't?) Also noticed the hub flange had a coating of white ceramic grease on it to stop the alloy binding to it (which is good practice) and I could see some white grease on the caliper too, again, all to the good. However she was not at all happy with the garage, telling me they'd charged her quite a lot for wheel nuts. She seemed to have no idea why and couldn't understand why she needed wheel nuts.
When I'd checked in the boot for a spare I noticed there was an empty slot in the tool/jack holder where I would have expected to find the locking wheel nut key and it wasn't in the glove box either but then I noticed there were no locking nuts and, even stranger, one wheel nut on each wheel looked shiny and new. Must admit I was surprised to find no locking nuts (bolts actually) but, hey ho, that just made my life easier. Then I got the story about the wheel nuts and, putting two and two together I recon either they couldn't find the locking key or the locking wheel nuts were damaged so they had to "jimmy" them off and replaced them with standard items. My bet's on the key being "lost". My neighbour seems to know nothing of this though.
The strange thing is that the customer (my neighbour) seems to have received no explanation or justification for any of this and it's left her very unhappy with the garage. I encouraged her to ring them up for an explanation - even offered to ring on her behalf - but she's a "wee old soul" and doesn't want to "cause a fuss" She tells me she won't be going back to them again and wanted me to suggest where she should take the car in future. I know she'll get good service and a friendly reception at Kenny's so suggested she just stick her head in their door and say hello. He's a bit nearer to us too. What a shame though for the other business, They've just lost a customer due to this poor customer relations.
First thing to check was whether it actually has a spare, and, hallelujah, it does - and a full size one at that, albeit on a steelie not an alloy. She was interested to watch so she hung about and chatted away as I worked. Turns out the car had just been serviced by one of the fairly local small garages and it turns out to be one I know who does not have a particularly good reputation, so I was interested to hear what she had to say. As regards the wheel change, it all went well, although her spare only had about 10psi in it so I had to cart it over the road to my garage to inflate it before fitting (my compressor had been used that morning so still had a good head of pressure in it. - goes to show they hadn't checked the spare pressure at the service though (I suspect many don't?) Also noticed the hub flange had a coating of white ceramic grease on it to stop the alloy binding to it (which is good practice) and I could see some white grease on the caliper too, again, all to the good. However she was not at all happy with the garage, telling me they'd charged her quite a lot for wheel nuts. She seemed to have no idea why and couldn't understand why she needed wheel nuts.
When I'd checked in the boot for a spare I noticed there was an empty slot in the tool/jack holder where I would have expected to find the locking wheel nut key and it wasn't in the glove box either but then I noticed there were no locking nuts and, even stranger, one wheel nut on each wheel looked shiny and new. Must admit I was surprised to find no locking nuts (bolts actually) but, hey ho, that just made my life easier. Then I got the story about the wheel nuts and, putting two and two together I recon either they couldn't find the locking key or the locking wheel nuts were damaged so they had to "jimmy" them off and replaced them with standard items. My bet's on the key being "lost". My neighbour seems to know nothing of this though.
The strange thing is that the customer (my neighbour) seems to have received no explanation or justification for any of this and it's left her very unhappy with the garage. I encouraged her to ring them up for an explanation - even offered to ring on her behalf - but she's a "wee old soul" and doesn't want to "cause a fuss" She tells me she won't be going back to them again and wanted me to suggest where she should take the car in future. I know she'll get good service and a friendly reception at Kenny's so suggested she just stick her head in their door and say hello. He's a bit nearer to us too. What a shame though for the other business, They've just lost a customer due to this poor customer relations.
I have received a reply from DVSA.
They will take no action against the garage. The garage passed the vehicles brakes so there is nothing more to say regardless if they refitted defective parts.
They aren't interested in a garage carrying out substandard repairs, nothing to do with them apparently.
The DVSA operates in support of garages not the customer.
The garage is ARC MOT Quedgeley Gloucester.
They will take no action against the garage. The garage passed the vehicles brakes so there is nothing more to say regardless if they refitted defective parts.
They aren't interested in a garage carrying out substandard repairs, nothing to do with them apparently.
The DVSA operates in support of garages not the customer.
The garage is ARC MOT Quedgeley Gloucester.
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ARC MOT Quedgeley Gloucester.
Things have changed DVSA used to be interested in vehicles that passed but should not have....but we don't know what the garage did.....fail it when it should have passed to get work? Then passed it?
If you are concerned about rear brake efficiency ring round commercial vehicle garages and ask them if they would put it their brake tester rollers ask nicely if they can do this for free or for a small cash donation . Do not tell them the back story they may not want to do it if they know you unhappy with different garage.
Thanks for letting us know story so far.
Jack
If you are concerned about rear brake efficiency ring round commercial vehicle garages and ask them if they would put it their brake tester rollers ask nicely if they can do this for free or for a small cash donation . Do not tell them the back story they may not want to do it if they know you unhappy with different garage.
Thanks for letting us know story so far.
Jack
Hi. I think maybe you misheard shimming for skimming as I said we used to wash the shoes with paraffin dry them with a blow torch then skim them with a rasp of coarse sandpaper to de-glaze the surface.
This did sometimes have the effect of a slight crumbling at the edges of the shoes, maybe not acceptable these day’s but I never heard of any problems after this treatment and I personally did a lot of these, as an apprentice you get all the best jobs.
This did sometimes have the effect of a slight crumbling at the edges of the shoes, maybe not acceptable these day’s but I never heard of any problems after this treatment and I personally did a lot of these, as an apprentice you get all the best jobs.
