Dealer servicing rip off?!

[Cabernet02]

Hi all

Well having owned my S Type 2.7D Sport for nearly a year now I thought I would check both the air filters which were supposed to have been changed in June last year at the Dealers!

You will see from the attached images the old ones are NOT less than a year old!!!

We drive 20 miles a day to and from work mostly at around 50mph and a maximum of 7000 a year.

The receipt is also attached showing it was a B service @£400 not the 'A' service being the cheaper one.

Service was done at Dealer in Warrington, not saying who but I CAN tell you all it won't be going back there as long as I have a breath in my body.

I am not sure if I should take this further or just moved on.

The other issue now being raised is what other work have they not done, fuel filter, Oil filter being the important ones!

I have found a Jag guy in Wigan on the internet and he gets good reviews out doors anyone know better?

The car is fantastic and a perfect follow on from my Rover 75 Conny with one exception being the parking sensors, and it's the center ones. 12 years I had the Rover and never any issue in that area. Ah well.

That's all for now.

Signing off

Mr Angry :-\

[Old Peter]

Hi Peter, from another Peter from Lancashire [Widnes].

 

I avoid main dealers.  They are very good at preparing and selling cars, but when it comes to servicing them they just want to charge you the earth for very little work.

 

Coincidentally I had a Rover 825 Sterling from March 2000 until November 2011.

 

Stick with the Wigan guy   ---  and they sell good pies in Wigan too!

 

Regards,

 

Peter.

[KEN33Y]

I also avoid main dealers preferring instead to use a garage that I trust. There are no Indy's in my area unfortunately however, I have used a garage and trust them so continue to use them.

[Raistlin]

I too shun dealers unless I absolutely have no choice, for example requiring their diagnostics facilities.

 

I have a small garage, a one man operation, where I have had my cars maintained for many years and I have total trust in the guy. For basic maintenance and repairs I just wouldn't go elsewhere.

[Lord H]

Same here afraid had my car serviced at Listers in Droitwhich I have no problem naming lol 4000 miles later it's telling me it needs servicing again I'm guessing they only changed a percentage of the Oil....

Won't be going to another dealer again

Their only mission is to either empty your bank account by ripping us off or selling you a new car

[mk1escortmad]

Ive posted this image before but this was the airfilter on mine when I got it. The previous owner always had it serviced and maintained at main dealer, and had a full service 6months or so before I bought it and this is what the air filter looked like.. (the pollen filter wasnt much better)

[KEN33Y]

When I did used to take my cars (usually company cars) to the main dealer for servicing I had very little or indeed no trust in their honesty and marked components, air filters, plugs, etc with a marker pen, that way I was in the position of approaching the service manager with evidence stating what is this bull$hiI

[Old Peter]

Hi All, 

 

I had company cars for 29 years, changing usually every year early on when my mileage was high, and every two years when I was on the road less.

 

I often had issues with main dealers, and was inclined to check small details after a service.  I have had a car with loose wheel nuts, several with rocker box gasket not fitting correctly, and once with an anti roll bar fault which the Garage said did not exist, and only changed their mind when I blocked the only entrance to the garage, causing a jam in the centre of Lichfield as cars could not get into the garage.

 

The issue was rectified when the Police talked to the dealer!

 

The worst was when one of my staff took his car into a dealer a week before the warranty expired for a full health check which is passed with flying colours.  Two weeks later he took it in for a service and found that the bill was just over £2000  --  and this was in 1995!  I only found this out when my Head Office rang me.  I immediately went to the dealer and asked them for the parts they had allegedly replaced, why they had not found  any faults three weeks before, and why it had only taken three hours to do the service but had charged for 7 hours.

 

They reduced the charge to a "token" £100!

 

Regards,

 

Peter.

[mk1escortmad]

I plan on doing my fuel filter in the next couple of weeks on my 3.0. Luckily its behind the n/s/f wheel arch liner which I planned to take off anyway to repair a small split. Got a k&n replacement for half the price of a jaguar one.

[KEN33Y]

K&N usually gives that little extra sound also

[Cabernet02]

Hi All

Thanks for the replies, it has come as no surprise to hear all your dealer stories, Old Peter made me smile as I would of I could block the garage from traffic, it would be satisfying.

JimC64 also suffered and noted they don't always change the filter but when they clearly have charged me for them that is a different matter, I think they call it theft!?

I have decided I am going to to dealer's on Friday and give them a grilling before I post their response on the social network and local press and Jaguar themselves. It's not big and it's not clever.

I serviced my 75 my self 90% of the time which is why she is still running and my daughter loves her to bits.

I just thought that when you move into the classy world of Jaguar I thought it would be different but it seems all are the same.

We will see what happens and I will post to keep you all informed for what it's worth.

Cheers

[Cabernet02]

Hi All

 

Well i went to the dealers and the following statements were made during the discussions with management and service engineers (technicians);

 

Q: Asked what the itemized ‘Filters’ were on the Service statement?

 

A: Fuel, Pollen, Engine, Oil, Fuel. Some obvious as were written Oil etc.

 

Q: So can you explain these images of engine filter taken
during the filter change in January 2015 approx. 8 months after servicing, and
this second image of filter taken during filter change mid-April?

 

A: OH, I will get your service record…….. Disappears for
10minutes and returns with a manager who asks where the filters are now? I
replied I had disposed of the engine filter in January as I just thought that was
how it was but when I removed the pollen filter in April to do an Air Con Clean
I discovered the filter was in an extremely poor condition as you can see,
pointing to the image.

He kept pressing the point “where are the filters as your evidence”?

 

I went on to explain that the filters were not really why I came
it was more about what else possibly had NOT been done and could the other
items be checked?

 

He took the keys to check the car over out of my sight but
then returned after 5 minutes with a technician holding 2 similar filters being
Pollen & Engine, the engine filter was so oily the likes I have NEVER for
the 39 years of working on cars seen the like of before. It was Black and
covered in Oil and the pollen filter was as black as the one I have changed.   He said “These had just been removed from a
car in for a service” and “Diesel engines are very dirty”.

 

In my mind I said to myself if I had breathed the same air
as the car from which that filter came from even 1 month I would be dead!!! 

 

He then went into a very aggressive stance saying various
things about ‘Trust’ and ‘Years of service’ and ‘He would put his wife and
children in the cars serviced here’ and ‘I would sack anyone I thought was not
following procedure’.

 

It pretty much fell apart after that and he sent one of his
staff to the Parts Dept to fetch replacement filters and then went on to say
that ‘We can no longer service or work on your car with you coming here accusing
us of not carrying out the work’ and ‘I cannot have one of my technicians work
on your vehicle knowing that you don’t trust us’.

 

I said “Cars breathe from the front of the engine not the
rear and I had a rover 75 diesel for 12 years and none of the air filters I changed
ever looked like the one in the picture and that I was willing to bring back
the engine filter after 8 months to compare with the one in the photo and if I was
wrong I would apologise.

 

I then left feeling not very good and needing a stiff drink to calm my nerves.

 

So in August I will again post images of the filters and we will then see what is what once and for all.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

NOTE! The above is without prejudice as that would be silly of me.