Had my van serviced today by a mobile fitter,The last service was done while the previous owner still had it.
Anyway,I walked around chatting to the guy while he was doing his job,he took the wheels off and pointed out to me that they hadn't been removed before,I showed him the check sheet pointing to the ticks,he said when the wheels and hubs are removed to check the brake shoes,they should have used thread lock when refitting them,he then pointed out a few other things they had neglected to do.
The moral of this tale is Why do people still rip folks off,brakes are a lifesaver,and if a service fitter blatantly lies,by saying he had done something he clearly had not then he is putting peoples lives at risk.Has anyone else experienced this kind of problem,as the heading said
COWBOYS.
The check sheet had all the right labels,AWS,CC approved etc
Yes when I first bought my caravan in November 2010 from a dealer about 20 miles away. Although the caravan door was stiff on it's hinges when we viewed it they said it would be fixed which it hadn't when we went to collect it. At the time it was freezing cold with about 4" of snow and the future forecast was also bleak so I decided to fix it myself in the spring. Although I had a service sheet with the caravan I was doubtful if it had actually been serviced so we had an independent service undertaken in the February with the comments also that the brake drums had not been removed for a considerate time. Unfortunately we were unable to use the van due to the winter adverse winter weather conditions which meant that the 3 month warranty had expired otherwise we would have taken it back, complained and asked for reimbursement. In the spring I removed the caravan top and bottom stable doors, applied some WD40 to the hinges and rectified the job myself. Since then I haven't had a problem with the door and although it's not classed as a safety issue I totally agree that you can't always believe and trust what is written down, however, it does beggars belief how some cowboys can put peoples lives at risk so my views are mutual.
Combination of poor quality control from management & idle, conscience free employees. If the business owners don't have any system of checking their employees work the work may not get done.
Nothing really changes, its like the motor trade, Programmes like Watchdog put hidden cameras into cars to film the ripoffs, but still they continue. If you don't have a workshop that you trust, then best way is mobile fitter & pull up a chair & watch him at work.
Looks like it could be a common problem,I'm so glad I used a mobile fitter,he did a brilliant job,maybe because I was watching him do it,but three hours work,two cups of coffee and £120 cant grumble at that
We live in the Leeds area and there are a couple of excellent mobile fitters who service the area. Both are very reasonable and very thorough in what they do. I would certainly trust them over the service department of our local dealership. We are about to change to a new van so I am unsure if we will be stuck with dealership service to preserve warranty. I will have to investigate.
I use a local dealer - Turriff Caravans, about 30 miles from me. Owned and run by a family. Mum runs the office, Dad runs the yard and the son who's City and Guild certified does the servicing. There are 4 other dealers in this general area so having a good name for servicing and customer care is at the top of their agenda !.
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Topic: caravan service cowboys
