What can I have then?



W

wafflycat

Guest
There's been a funny noise coming from Herman the German (my little A-class)
which sounded remarkably like a blowing exhaust - you know the sound...

Anyhow, Merc dealers (in Norfolk at least) are

1. Sh!t3 at customer service (from past experience)
2. Hugely expensive (from past experience)
3. Did I mention they are sh!t3?? (from past experience)


Vernon, being exceedingly overworked at the minute, rang the non-Merc dealer
we use to have Herman serviced at (good service, know what they are doing,
lower than Merc dealer prices... Fairland Garage in Hingham in case anyone
in Norfolk is interested - one of the mechanics there is a cyclist - good
one too) but unfortunately they are fully booked up until next week, even
just to have Herman in to be checked over to see if it the exhaust or
something else. So Vernon rang the main Merc dealer - enquired as to
potential costs, when work can be done etc., etc...

£700 to replace the exhaust...

So I took Herman into Holborns in Dereham - a tyre/exhaust type place and
asked if they'd have a look to check if it was the exhaust and if it was,
how much would it cost to be done.

Man at desk calls over man in overall, who takes key for Herman.

A few minutes later, man in overalls comes back, shaking his head and
mumbling in a broad Norfolk accent.

"Can't be doing that. Can only listen, can't see as to get to the exhaust
you hafta take the engine out, and even if I could do that I wouldn't want
to. It's a job for a main dealer that."

I get the impression that the man in overalls is not actually a mechanic as
he stood in front of Herman, with Herman's bonnet up and man in overalls
standing there, sucking in his cheeks, shaking his head and mentioning
'manifold' and 'dear' and 'not touch'

So I brought Herman back home. Then I pointed at Vernon and said - do your
stuff. Vernon went out and fettled Herman.

How to save £700 - have Vernon *look* at Herman properly instead of the
scant glancing of man at Holborns. Vernon spotted immediately that the air
filter had a bit loose. The Personal Bike Mechanic found the loose bit and
screwed it back into place.

Voila! Herman is cured!

Now, as I've saved £700, what new bike bits can I have?? :) :) :)

Cheers, helen s

--

~~
you may need to remove dependence
on fame & fortune from organisation
to get correct email address
~Noodliness is Good~
 
On Tue, 18 Apr 2006 17:56:36 +0100, wafflycat wrote:
> Now, as I've saved £700, what new bike bits can I have?? :) :) :)

Surely Vernon has saved £700. What bike bits are you buying him?

Jon
 
"Jon Senior" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:p[email protected]...
> On Tue, 18 Apr 2006 17:56:36 +0100, wafflycat wrote:
>> Now, as I've saved £700, what new bike bits can I have?? :) :) :)
>
> Surely Vernon has saved £700. What bike bits are you buying him?
>
> Jon

Don't be silly... What's mine is mine and what's his is mine...

Cheers, helen s
 
> Now, as I've saved £700, what new bike bits can I have?? :) :) :)

Just remember to spend it quick before Vernon blows it all on Nathan's
bike..


{personally, I'd blow it on all the half price creme eggs I've just seen in
Sainsburys)
 
"wafflycat" wrote ...
> There's been a funny noise coming from Herman the German (my little
> A-class) which sounded remarkably like a blowing exhaust - you know the
> sound...
>
> Anyhow, Merc dealers (in Norfolk at least) are
>
> 1. Sh!t3 at customer service (from past experience)
> 2. Hugely expensive (from past experience)
> 3. Did I mention they are sh!t3?? (from past experience)
>
>
> Vernon, being exceedingly overworked at the minute, rang the non-Merc
> dealer we use to have Herman serviced at (good service, know what they are
> doing, lower than Merc dealer prices... Fairland Garage in Hingham in case
> anyone in Norfolk is interested - one of the mechanics there is a
> cyclist - good one too) but unfortunately they are fully booked up until
> next week, even just to have Herman in to be checked over to see if it the
> exhaust or something else. So Vernon rang the main Merc dealer - enquired
> as to potential costs, when work can be done etc., etc...
>
> £700 to replace the exhaust...
>
> So I took Herman into Holborns in Dereham - a tyre/exhaust type place and
> asked if they'd have a look to check if it was the exhaust and if it was,
> how much would it cost to be done.
>
> Man at desk calls over man in overall, who takes key for Herman.
>
> A few minutes later, man in overalls comes back, shaking his head and
> mumbling in a broad Norfolk accent.
>
> "Can't be doing that. Can only listen, can't see as to get to the exhaust
> you hafta take the engine out, and even if I could do that I wouldn't want
> to. It's a job for a main dealer that."
>
> I get the impression that the man in overalls is not actually a mechanic
> as he stood in front of Herman, with Herman's bonnet up and man in
> overalls standing there, sucking in his cheeks, shaking his head and
> mentioning 'manifold' and 'dear' and 'not touch'
>
> So I brought Herman back home. Then I pointed at Vernon and said - do your
> stuff. Vernon went out and fettled Herman.
>
> How to save £700 - have Vernon *look* at Herman properly instead of the
> scant glancing of man at Holborns. Vernon spotted immediately that the air
> filter had a bit loose. The Personal Bike Mechanic found the loose bit and
> screwed it back into place.
>
> Voila! Herman is cured!
>
> Now, as I've saved £700, what new bike bits can I have?? :) :) :)
>
> Cheers, helen s

Not to excuse the man in overalls at Holborns or the Mercedes dealer, but
you may have left yourself vulnerable to being charged for unnecessary
repairs by offering those two individuals a diagnosis instead of merely
describing the symptoms. Had you told either person "there's a funny noise
that wasn't there before" they would have been forced to actually examine
the car before deciding how much to charge you. Since any repairs made would
have been recommended by them, they would have been responsible had the
repairs not solved the problem. When (if) you told them "the exhaust needs
replacing" they naturally told you how much it would cost, without
considering whether or not the exhaust needed replacing.
--
mark
 
>
> Not to excuse the man in overalls at Holborns or the Mercedes dealer, but
> you may have left yourself vulnerable to being charged for unnecessary
> repairs by offering those two individuals a diagnosis instead of merely
> describing the symptoms. Had you told either person "there's a funny noise
> that wasn't there before" they would have been forced to actually examine
> the car before deciding how much to charge you. Since any repairs made
> would have been recommended by them, they would have been responsible had
> the repairs not solved the problem. When (if) you told them "the exhaust
> needs replacing" they naturally told you how much it would cost, without
> considering whether or not the exhaust needed replacing.
> --
> mark
>

Didn't tell them ' the exhaust needs replacing' I didn't offer a diagnosis.
What was said was 'there's a noise coming from the car that sounds like the
exhaust has a hole in it. Can you check it to see if it is that and if it
is, how much will it cost to have done' I specifically asked for it to be
checked to see if that was, indeed, the fault.

Cheers, helen s
 
"wafflycat" wrote>
> Didn't tell them ' the exhaust needs replacing' I didn't offer a
> diagnosis.
> What was said was 'there's a noise coming from the car that sounds like
> the
> exhaust has a hole in it. Can you check it to see if it is that and if it
> is, how much will it cost to have done' I specifically asked for it to be
> checked to see if that was, indeed, the fault.
>
> Cheers, helen s
>

In which case the man at Holborn's should have looked for the hole, and your
assessment of his mechanical skills appears to have some merit. The Mercedes
dealer probably couldn't see the car very well over the phone, so he would
be justified in saying "if it's the exhaust it will cost this much".
--
mark
 
"mark" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "wafflycat" wrote>
>> Didn't tell them ' the exhaust needs replacing' I didn't offer a
>> diagnosis.
>> What was said was 'there's a noise coming from the car that sounds like
>> the
>> exhaust has a hole in it. Can you check it to see if it is that and if it
>> is, how much will it cost to have done' I specifically asked for it to be
>> checked to see if that was, indeed, the fault.
>>
>> Cheers, helen s
>>
>
> In which case the man at Holborn's should have looked for the hole, and
> your assessment of his mechanical skills appears to have some merit. The
> Mercedes dealer probably couldn't see the car very well over the phone, so
> he would be justified in saying "if it's the exhaust it will cost this
> much".
> --
> mark


Indeed.

As far as the local Merc dealership goes, having had stuff done there when
Herman was under full warranty, & required that servicing be done there, it
is

1. expensive
2. they get it wrong
3. Useless at customer service as the car is mine, and they kept on ignoring
me and speaking only to Vernon whenever we were in there... sigh...

The Holborn's man was just useless today. Can't complain at *what* Merc guy
said today, but the quote of £700 to replace an exhaust on an A-class is
*ridiculously* expensive (£90 an hour for labour). Needless to say, I avoid
going to a Merc dealership whenever possible. The local garage we've been
using in Hingham is good. They guys know what they are doing and charge a
reasonable amount rather than the ridiculous amount the Merc dealer does.
There is the added advantage that the mechanic we know there is a cyclist
(an a good one), so we'd rather send business his way when stuff needs doing
to the car.

Going off at a tangent & explaing another reason why I have grave suspicions
about garages - having experience of the local Merc dealership and the
garage we now use, I have no confidence that the Merc dealer would actually
have looked to see what the fault really was. This is based on past
experience where when it was in for a service there some time ago, they
totally missed a fault which should have been spotted under the service
being carried out. We kept getting, "Nothing wrong that we can identify.
We've had a look and can't find anything wrong" when we went back with the
problem several times due to a *loud* grating noise from Herman. Took it to
the garage at Hingham, the fault was identified straight away and put right
at reasonable cost. Needless to say, it's not difficult to guess which place
gets to do the servicing on the car now...

Cheers, helen s
 
wafflycat wrote:

> There's been a funny noise coming from Herman the German

Which has precisely nothing to do with cycling.
 
..

"Mark Thompson"
<pleasegivegenerously@warmmail*_turn_up_the_heat_to_reply*.com> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...
>> Which has precisely nothing to do with cycling.
>
> But nor does your post.

of course it does have a connection to cycling

it is helen!

Don't be so pedantic!

--
Trevor A Panther
In South Yorkshire,
England, United Kingdom
 
> Which has precisely nothing to do with cycling.

But nor does your post.
 
"Pinky" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> .
>
> "Mark Thompson"
> <pleasegivegenerously@warmmail*_turn_up_the_heat_to_reply*.com> wrote in
> message news:[email protected]...
>>> Which has precisely nothing to do with cycling.
>>
>> But nor does your post.
>
> of course it does have a connection to cycling
>
> it is helen!
>
> Don't be so pedantic!
>

Aww... thank you Trevor :)

Cheers, helen s
 
wafflycat wrote:
> ...lots of OT stuff, didn't even mention if the bike rack was on the car like the last time she blathered on about driving.
>
 
On Tue, 18 Apr 2006 19:26:48 +0100, wafflycat wrote:

> Going off at a tangent & explaing another reason why I have grave suspicions
> about garages - having experience of the local Merc dealership and the
> garage we now use, I have no confidence that the Merc dealer would actually
> have looked to see what the fault really was.

Going even more OT, when I had a series of company cars (i.e. I wasn't
paying for the servicing) they all went to dealers to fix minor and major
problems. The minor problems they were okay with, the major ones they just
couldn't cope with satisfactorily. I always used to get *much* better
service on my own cars at the guy a couple of miles down the road that had
his own wee garage up a side street. I decided that the difference was
probably down to most dealerships getting relatively new cars to service
and rarely seeing any major problems, whereas the local guy got all sorts
of cars of all sorts of ages and was used to fixing all sorts of problems
to keep them on the road.

Long live the local guy! (for car/bike/whatever servicing, shopping etc.)

Graeme
 
wafflycat wrote:
> There's been a funny noise coming from Herman the German (my little
> A-class) which sounded remarkably like a blowing exhaust - you know the
> sound...
>
> Anyhow, Merc dealers (in Norfolk at least) are
>
> 1. Sh!t3 at customer service (from past experience)
> 2. Hugely expensive (from past experience)
> 3. Did I mention they are sh!t3?? (from past experience)


uk.petrolheads is thataway ---> ---> --->

tt
 
wafflycat wrote:

> Now, as I've saved £700, what new bike bits can I have?? :) :) :)

I saved over £900 on Monday by the council agreeing that a couple of
years of council tax underpayments were entirely their fault and they'd
write it off.

I decided that in Not Buying A Rohloff I got several Virtue Points,
which right now may well be more useful than a Rohloff...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
Upon the miasma of midnight, a darkling spirit identified as wafflycat
<?@?.com.invalid> gently breathed:

>As far as the local Merc dealership goes, having had stuff done there
>when Herman was under full warranty, & required that servicing be done
>there, it is
>
>1. expensive
>2. they get it wrong
>3. Useless at customer service as the car is mine, and they kept on
>ignoring me and speaking only to Vernon whenever we were in there...
>sigh...

I always got cars services at a little local place (The Continental
Garage) when I lived in Gourock, The guy who ran it charged decent
rates for decent jobs and liked to keep his customers happy. In
contrast, whenever I've had dealings with main dealers I've been left
with the impression that actual mechanical diagnosis, understanding, and
fixing, are completely alien concepts to most of them.

Aside - I used to cycle to that garage as a teenager to earn a quid an
hour scraping paint off an old 60s Fiat sportscar he was doing up. Now
that was a nice piece of machinery to work on.

Not sure what you should spend the dosh on, though you can get some nice
complete bikes for 700 quid. Do you already have a Rolhoff, and/or one
of those BB gearboxen? Do you want/need one or both?

Perhaps you should kit the whole family out with new h*****s and b*b
s****s? <fx: ducks!>

--
- DJ Pyromancer, The Sunday Goth Social, Leeds. <http://www.sheepish.net>

Broadband, Dialup, Domains = <http://www.wytches.net> = The UK's Pagan ISP!
<http://www.inkubus-sukkubus.co.uk> <http://www.revival.stormshadow.com>
 
On Tue, 18 Apr 2006 17:56:36 +0100, "wafflycat"
<w*a*ff£y£cat*@£btco*nn£ect.com> wrote:

>
>Now, as I've saved £700, what new bike bits can I have?? :) :) :)
>
>Cheers, helen s

<invisible>

Ten pairs of good quality bib shorts :)

</invisible>
 
In article <[email protected]>, Mark Thompson wrote:
>> Now, as I've saved £700, what new bike bits can I have?? :) :) :)
>
>Just remember to spend it quick before Vernon blows it all on Nathan's
>bike..
>
>{personally, I'd blow it on all the half price creme eggs I've just seen in
>Sainsburys)

700 pounds worth of half price creme eggs? What a sickening thought.
 
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