Cowboy Mechanics

[Phaeton]

The car was bought from a very nice young primary school teacher, pretty clear she knew nothing about cars so she must be paying somebody to do the repairs/service. One of the fails on the MOT was N/S handbrake inoperative, so expected broken cable, seized calliper standard stuff. But when I this morning, it was because the cowboys who had put a brand new calliper, cable & pads on the O/S had not touched the N/S & left the old pads in there. One pad was broken in 2 & the other almost to the metal.

http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2014/09/121.jpg (http://s78.photobucket.com/user/gsx550es/media/BlackMK3/IMAG0534.jpg.html)

I know it's nothing to do with me but I'll be ringing her Monday to let her know she ought to find another garage.

Alan...

[cdwood2010]

Good shout. I think we have a responsibility for people's well being when it comes to.them getting fleeced.

Let us know what the reaction is, and if it's a garage that's done this, I would also suggest flagging it with Auntie dot before someone comes a cropper.

C.

[adamh]

'flagging it with auntie dot before something comes a cropper'.

someone foreign with little grasp of the english language reading into this may be scratching their heads at this point, i like that!.


good find on the brakes.

[cdwood2010]

English is my 2nd language. I dont have a 1st... :)

[Phaeton]

Her reaction

"Thank you for your email!!! I read the message last night
and was mortified!!! I am genuinely so sorry that my garage who I always
thought were professional made such a mess of the mechanics! I had no idea
of the botch job they did and have been blindly driving around thinking all
was well. I'm really angry with them and I hope you sense my sincere
apology!!! Therefore I thank you for your concern. Secondly please, please
don't think I knew any of these problems before the sale. I would never
have sold the car without noting 'ALL' mechanical faults. "

Alan..

[snowtigger]

I see it to often at my mates garage, women being there cars in that they have had work done and my mate George has to fix the bodged repairs that they've been ripped of by another garage.
He gets rather annoyed as it is normally simple things that are so easy to do.

[AlunJ]

my mate George has to fix the bodged repairs that they've been ripped of by another garage.
He gets rather annoyed as it is normally simple things that are so easy to do.

The most extreme example that comes to mind for me recently would be a mk2 that'd blown it's head gasket (due to a leaky rad). That was misdignosed as a timing belt failure (somehow). They then mis-fitted the timing belt and then handed back to the owner a month later as a non-runner - accompanied by a £700+ bill and the comment "Your timing belt went and the pistons took out all of your valves. There's no compression in any cylinder. You'll have to replace the engine."

Got it trucked down to mine from Cambridge. Cam timing was out by 100 degrees. Sorted that, found the HG and rad issue and sorted them. Car is right as rain.

The one I keep seeing with brakes is new pads put on disks that're so thin they're practically transparent. That and some really dodgy quality aftermarket disks.

[snowtigger]

How about a perfectly good light bulb hacked about with tin snips because it wouldn't go in the headlight, so it failed due to vibration and not being held secure in the headlight.
Then he showed me the worst one which was brake pads made to look thick but were hollow and packed with cardboard inside, so the outer 6mm wore of the pad then it was just braking on the outer circumference of the pad wall while the card board caught on fire from the friction, the woman luckily didn't have an accident but all her brake system was knackered he had to get dvla and trading standards involved on that one, beware some so called cheap eBay brands that are from abroad there's a reason there really cheap.

[AlunJ]

:icon_eek:

Please tell me someone's in jail for that one.

[Tommytank]

That actually needs more ingenuity than just spending 15 quid and fitting new pads....

Unless the caliper was siezed and wouldnt go beyond retracting past the old bad width, but even then its a case for nothing other htan a new caliper...

I'm going to have bad dreams tonight reading this...

[cdwood2010]

I think the answer is simple.

Never let anyone touch your car.

:)