When It Rains, It Pours

[Tosh]

I'm gonna see if i can negotiate with UAS to see if i can get them to skip the regular stuff that I'm certain I take care of, for a reduction in the cost of the service, considering the other issues I'm getting them to fix.

Anyone know any reasons why they wouldn't cater to this request?

I can't see any reason why they would argue about it. Just go in there and say I would like you to do XYZ to my car and XYZ only. If you feel that something else needs attention, please ring me first and I will authorise the work.

that's fair enough

[silver gts-t]

most places will give you a nice looking long list thats full of things that you could do yourself to make the reciept look pretty. fact is, it doesnt justify the high cost.

You're missing my point, I said that not EVERYONE is an enthusiast who likes working on their own cars... This includes people who drive skylines. Hence to make sure that no negative reprocussions are had from an experience with a customer, we have to apply the same thoroughness (you know what I mean) to every customer's car, regardless of whether we think you know how to fix alot of stuff yourself or not. Point is, you brought the car to us to service because you either can't do it yourself or don't want to do it yourself so we are going to do everything we can to make sure that your car is safe and in good working order when you pick it up.

If you brought your car to me to get a service and I purposely didn't check the coolant level because I thought you are enough of an enthusiast to check it yourself, and your engine overheated and got damaged, you'de be busting down my door screaming at me about it. Yet you whinge about having to pay someone to check stuff which you could do yourself

It's simple.... if you don't agree with what's being done to your car at a service inrterval then don't go there...

i barely think it would cause a workshop to close down, if anything its charging extra for something stupid that would lead to it closing.

I bet you wouldn't think it were stupid if you didn't know anything about you car except how to fill it with Petrol and drive it. Believe it or not, there are people out there who drive Skylines who are like that and hence every workshop needs to make sure that we take the responsibility for someone's car.

nah i got your point.. just providing a different view

hence

i have a different point of view due to being around workshop most of my life and not needing their services much

[smasha]

edit: question already answered

Edited June 4, 2006 by smasha

[Tosh]

edit: question already answered

what was your question?

[smasha]

what was your question?

pretty much if an "enthusiast" goes to a workshop for a service that has a set price attached to it, but also involves mundane procedures that the enthusiast performs himself on his vehicle, would the workshop be willing to reduce the price for the amount of work hours/resources used that that particular procedure involved.

I'm just wary as I've had a bad experience with a workshop that did a regular service on my car (as part of a warranty agreement). They dropped the price by $15 when I provided my own engine oil.

They either used Canola Oil in the car, or pulled a dodgy. I also kept my mouth shut as they owed me an exhaust that they lost during compliance.

[Tosh]

Ahh OK Fair enough...

[wilch]

The car came with a genuine nismo strut brace, Wil

boo-urns! Wanna swap?

[wilch]

pretty much if an "enthusiast" goes to a workshop for a service that has a set price attached to it, but also involves mundane procedures that the enthusiast performs himself on his vehicle, would the workshop be willing to reduce the price for the amount of work hours/resources used that that particular procedure involved.

Well, UAS are great in this respect. I've had work done on both my car and my g/f's car at UAS. Each time I've told them what I thought was the problem and what I wanted done, also asking if they think anything else needs to be done. They were frank, to the point and listened to exactly what I said. They even provided a solution when I thought there was none, other than ordering a high priced japanese part.

They quoted the hours, and finished well within the time.

Well, that's my experience with UAS so far. With the exception of telling me that a certain strut brace was in stock when it wasn't, making me waste 10mins of my time driving there during work hours... pfft.

[Liz]

It's quite surprising how many workshops don't know their stuff when it comes to imports.

I've recently learnt the value of going to a reputable workshop that works on the same model car as mine, day in day out.

The workshop I went to took the time out to run through the breakdown of the work with me and I think I infact paid less than I would have done if I went somewhere that didn't know exactly what they were doing.

[scathing]

"Hi, is this the chemist? Do you guys deliver?

Cool, I need 1 chill pill sent to SW20-GT. Express delivery, please."

I get where he's coming from though.

If there's one thing I've learnt in a customer-facing environment, it is to assume that your customers are idiots until they prove otherwise. Don't assume they can or will do anything. Always double-check anything they say they've done. Because they will lie to your face, and then blame you for their incompetence.

A business has to service everyone from those that might have custom-made their own dump pipes because "the ones on the market don't have the right shape for optimal flow" to people who think you're insulting their mother if you ask if they checked the dipstick.

Since they won't know which one of the two you are when you stride in, they have to treat everyone like the latter. Because, like SW20-GT says, if they make assumptions and some customer's engine blows due to filthy oil....they signed off on the service as being complete, so they're liable.

But, build up a good relationship with the mechanic and they'll work something out with you.

I stopped having my car serviced by Nissan, but while I was still going there I told them to do or not do things. For example they wouldn't touch aftermarket rotors and brake pads, so when mine neared minimum thickness I told them to leave them alone and I'd sort it out myself. They did, and you can be damned sure I checked that they didn't charge me for it.

In fact, they went the other way. They made sure they put down "pads at wear indicators and rotors near minimum width, but customer instructed us not to replace them" so if I drove it somewhere and had a brake failure, they could say it was completely my fault.

[Tosh]

Thanks Alan I took it this morning

[wilch]

ooh, free plug for powerplay too. They know their shit!

Bonnet pin install (on a f**king expensive (normally) bonnet) went flawlessly.

[Tosh]

Thanks Will

[Liz]

ooh, free plug for powerplay too. They know their shit!

Bonnet pin install (on a f**king expensive (normally) bonnet) went flawlessly.

isn't it about time you brought that pretty car of yours out to play?

[Beer Baron]

i dont think there is any BS on that list at all. i mean if you drove out of there and had 10psi in one tyre, 35psi in another, 25psi in another and 15psi in the other one, wouldn't you be pissed they didnt even check the pressures during a major service? and when was the last time you got out the grease to grease up your hinges? i would imagine also that all of those little things add FA to the bill so if you do them all yourself you may save $50-$100 off the bill. but first you need to go out and buy $20 worth of grease, trek to the servo to check pressures with dodgy equipment and do all the other sh1t too. i say good on them for thinking to include all that stuff in the major service.

[smasha]

I don't know why, but the whole "tightening subframe mounts" gets me excited. Love it when you drive your car and everything feels tight (in a good way).

I'll prob just shell out the cash and feel good that I've got a car that's been "fixed up" properly.

Thanks for making feel better about it guys

[Trooper]

I just had my 100,000 km service - did it early ive only got 80xxx kms but wanted to get everything nice and working properly.

Had the same problem with the cracked head studs and was quoted big bucks to take the head off and get the holes drilled and retapped, found a bloke at "ACTION THREAD REPAIRS" he drove to the workshop where my car was, had a nice little drill that fitted in the tight hole and got the studs out, i might add that he didnt drill all the way through so there was no damage ...

think it cost me about $80?,? around that mark anyway for him to come and do that... MUCH cheaper than taking the head off although i didnt get to put my metal gasket in

Let me know if you need the number but the dude was a champ, they were flat out busy and he still made the time to drive all the way across sydney (my car was in Rockdale) on 1 days notice. Dont remember his name, but whoever he was he saved me $$