OK I dont really want to drag this out as we obviously have different opinions from different sides of the fence and my 19 year old ape remark obviously offended some people. Sorry if that is the case.
Don't worry, some apprentices are complete retards, they generally get told not to come back Monday if they don't improve in a short time.
but, being factual, why if "supervised" was a trainee allowed to remove my starter motor with a ball pein hammer, thus breaking it and a new part having to be sourced from over east? and leaving me without car for a week, and still getting charged full price for the service it was in for. Supervision is only good if done properly........i dont appreciate putting my $50,000 car in the hands of a person who was obviously not experienced or supervised properly.
Obviously he wasn't being supervised for some reason, 100% fault of the dealer
Why would you condone charging for a handbrake retensioning during a routine service? This should surely be a service item........back in the old days this was listed as a "check and adjust" item and done as part of the service as are fluid level checks and strip,clean and reassemble the brakes. Not sure how long you have been in the industry but going back 10-15 years, these items were all included on the printed service schedules. Now it seems that every Holden dealer just want to take as much cash off you every time you visit for these fairly minor jobs which have now been listed separately from main service schedules.
Dunno about other dealers but we are flat out every day, and to do a proper handbrake adjust on every car would just be too time consuming. A proper handbrake adjust means loosening the adjusting bolt on the lever, removing rear wheels (if not already removed) adjusting each side, refitting wheels, readjusting at the lever. And it's not uncommon on pre VEs for the adjuster to seize and require removal of the drum and dismantling the handbrake assy. Even more time consuming.
Points in case
Was told at 12 months/15,000 kms that I needed a coolant flush and refill.........dexcol has a life of 5 years or 240000kms according to GM's advertising You are right, dealer was wrong
Was told at 25,000 Kms that I needed a brake fluid change.......for $180 +GST....wtf sort of brake fluid are they using to charge this amount.......assuming they are using a pressure bleeder, this is not a major job. Brake fluid should be changed every 2 years regardless of kms, or when it appears dirty or cloudy. Brake fluid is hygroscopic which means it readily abosrbs moisture. This moisture absorbtion lowers the boiling point of the fluid and reduces it's effectiveness thus effecting your braking.
Was told at 25,000 Kms that I needed new wiper blades (seems to be a common one actually).....a wipe over with a rag and they worked perfectly Generally on the test drive if the wiper blades aren't 100% they will recommend new ones.
I can only assume that these are blatant attempts to take cash by deception and yes, I know dealerships need to make money and maybe City Motors treat their clients differently ricey but that doesnt make this kind of over charging right in other dealerships. There are dealerships out there that are dodgy but I know at my work if we tried to sell a coolant flush at 15k we would get a talking to.
Service costs have not got cheaper and nowadays very little is done for the money you pay. Yes service costs aren't cheap but you get the advantage of genuine parts and people that work on the same product all the time so they know the ins and outs and common faults and fixes. Something that could be diagnosed quickly at a dealer could take twice as long as a non dealer due to inexperience with the product and end up costing a lot more in labour time.
Holden service is marketed as the "gold standard" with great onus being placed on dealer service and logbook history. It just feels like a giant rip off. Dealerships actually get judged on performance and customer satisfaction and get reamed if they get negative feedback. If you're not happy with the service let them know.
So, this is why I am "ranting and raving", and these are all "facts" from my personal experiences
