They get your Money and don't do the Job

[vc commodore]

Doing the caster swing, as it is called (that's the initial movement of the steering wheel, to the left and right), it shows the camber readings, as you have put up.....So yes they checked it, with the initial swing....That's why it is done....To see what the camber/ caster and toe settings are, before making any adjustments....And to me, it seems like they were happy with the camber readings, hence not touching the thing.

When I align a car, my employer doesn't charge extra for doing a camber/caster adjustment, if it is required...Maybe the place you went to operates the same way, which I say is the best way....

I couldn't careless if you have 50 cars or 1 car....This thread is about 1 car and the fact you are complaining that they didn't adjust the camber, when it obviously seems like they didn't feel it necessary to adjust it....Not having any mileage on the tyres, as such, (and I'm up with mileage vs kilometres), I still say you are complaining unnecessarily about the job...

There is no bullshit put on any sheet, from what you have written.....When you learn how the modern alignment machines work, then you will understand that SLIGHT variation is normal and WON'T effect tyre wear....Unless what you have written is the BULLSHIT part of the camber settings....



As for a current affairs.....If you go to them, with this bullcrap complaint, please put up the footage.....If they bother to do any research, you will be made out to be the fool.....

The same applies if you take them to court.....Please let me know when the proceedings are going to happen, so I can be in the court room and have a laugh.....Yeah, I might end up going behind those doors, for disrupting the court room with my laughter, but it'd be worth it, hearing your hefty legal bill that you'd cop

I've been aligning cars for decades and have come across your sort of thing before and I can tell you, you are trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill....That simple.....I've tried to explain to you in simple terms, what has been done seems to be all above board and no conspiracy to rip you off or take advantage of you......

 

[Fu Manchu]

I too am shitted off with the stunts workshops pull.
Charged for a new radiator hose and clamp just after we bought the car.
I had just replaced the hose clamp 2 days before. Have a guess which hose clamp was there when I collected the car. The hose was the same one as well. Didn't have to pay for it after I pointed out to the service manager they hadn't been touched and why I knew that.

First car I had, ripped off $250 to have a parking light repaired by an auto electrician. They cut the globe holder, crimped the two wires with those rubbish blue wire crimps (*eye twitches) and siliconed it into the light assembly. That led me to going out and buying some auto electrician books and start teaching myself this stuff.

Had a faulty crank sensor in a Hyundai that took 5 workshops to find the actual fault.
I learned a lot then too.

anyway, I could crap on with other examples. All trades have their sharks, but I guess, motor mechanics have more than most.

Sometimes, time is not on our side and you have to pay someone to do the job. These days, I have a very trusted father and son team that do all my work when I can't do it. They've been into racing for years and combine old and new school talents. They get it right first go every time and no BS.

 

[J_D 2.0]

Not trusting mechanics is the main reason I do my own servicing. That and most of the time they are hideously expensive.

I’ll tell you a little story!

When I first bought my wife’s Subaru Tribeca it was due for a service so I thought I would take it to the local Subaru dealership for service (I know, dealers are ripoff merchants) as they should know any issues to look out for and not having owned a Subaru before I wasn’t really knowledgeable in this regard. I made it clear to them that I had just bought the car and would like them to look over everything and advise if there was anything that needed attention. I had already had a quick look at the basics and saw that the air filter was dirty. It was one of the service items on the schedule anyway but I still pointed it out on handing the car over.

Not two weeks after the service was done we were in the middle of the city doing some shopping and not long after pulling out of the car park the car started to overheat and the aircon stopped working. I found another car park to pull over in to find out what was going on. On initial investigation I found out that the top radiator hose clamp wasn’t on properly (this wasn’t the issue but should have been picked up at service) and the radiator end tank had split and was spraying coolant everywhere and all over the accessories belt hence why the aircon wasn’t working.

Looking at the end tank on the roadside (on a 35 degree day mind you) to fix the problem the first thing that smacked me in the face was that the end tank was a very light brown colour, not black like it should be. This was most likely the original radiator (180,000km on the clock) and a cursory look would have told you that the radiator was well and truly on the way out and was heat fatigued (not to mention the hose clamp that was nearly off that they didn’t spot either).

After working out that roadside assistance is useless when you have a family of six as you can’t all fit in the tow truck I managed to get a hold of some water from a nearby business to top the radiator off again I managed to limp it home without it severely overheating as we didn’t have to wait on too many traffic lights.

Following this I decided to check what else that they didn’t do when they had the car for service and surprise surprise the same dirty air filter was still in the car! This despite it being an item listed for replacement on the schedule AND me pointing it out when handing the car over! I question if they actually did anything other than change the oil for the 500 odd bucks the “major service” cost me!

Needless to say I replaced the radiator myself and the air filter and never bothered getting it serviced by a “professional” again.

I always like the irony of people buying used cars who are always banging on about “does it have full logbooks” when in my experience (this isn’t the only one) “logbooks” just means the oil was changed at service intervals and nothing else was checked! I can almost guarantee that unless you have struck gold and actually found a trustworthy mechanic (one in a million) none of the items listed for checking on the service schedule are actually checked. They just do the minimum required to make sure they don’t get caught out (or not even that when they don’t even replace a dirty air filter) and take the money and run!

None of my cars have logbooks from the time I get a hold of them (if they ever did) because I’m not going to hand a mechanic nearly a weeks worth of wages for a major service for them to not do it.

TBH I don’t really like doing my own servicing these days as my back isn’t up to it anymore but I don’t really see that I have a choice as I’ve been burned so many times with mechanics just ******* you over for the money.