Opinions on work done

[tonylauno1 7]

This is from a BMW Specialist Workshop - just wanted opinions on the number of hours that it took to see if people think it's reasonable.

1) fill engine flush

2) drain engine oil, replace filter and refill oil

3) drain diff oil, refill and drain again, then refill to level

4) replace lower control arm bushes

5) replace trailing arm bushes

I was charged 8 hours for this.

First I was told it was $80 an hour when invoiced came out it was $90 an hour, I asked and he said oh, did I say $80, can't be. (This guy is a new manager)

The mechanic who was test driving my car does not have BMW experience, he diagnosed the problem but not sure if he was the one doing the job.

Another mechanic asked me how to flush the diff oil because as a BMW Specialist we know all about BMW and have never needed to replace any diff oil... So I told him to drain it, fill it up then drain it again.

The same mechanic ask me what is this STP Engine flush for? He has never used one before, how to use it? So explained it and told him to read instructions because he is responsible if anything goes wrong.

Picked up the car and came back to tell them the car still doesn't feel right, still feels like front end is lose and the steering wheel does move when I brake suddenly.

They had another look and said the bushing is all good, nothing else is wrong so I lived with it.

After a while I notice the tyre wear became increasing worse so I took it to another garage, and they spotted the problem immediately, the worn ball joint on the lower control arm itself. I gave them the same information I gave the BMW Specialist workshop and they were shocked something so simple was not picked up by anyone, let alone a BMW Specialist.

I ended up having to buy two new tyres to pass WOF when if in fact my problem had been fixed earlier I would have had another 15,000km from the tyres. It took a huge chunks off the inside tyre, it looks like the car had a huge negative camber because it was only wearing out a 2cm inside edge.

Edited February 8, 2012 by tonylauno1

[*Glenn* 854]

Here comes a crucifiction... glad it's not me

I would consider the work involved to be no more than 4hrs dependant on what was asked for, what was quoted and what actually needed to be carried out. You only present one side of a storey that involves 2 parties

Edited January 27, 2012 by *Glenn*

[Docile 64]

if a mechanic whos going to work on my car says "what is this engine flush for" or how do you change diff oil.. i would be high tailing it out of there no second thoughts.

[rjac001 0]

Mechanics are for work on your engine, if you had steering issues I would have taken it to a tyre shop like firestone they would have checked alignment and noticed and identified the problem immediately heck if you asked them nicely they would even change you diif oil!! sounds like you should have done the service yourself as you seem to know how to drain and fill engine oil I know its easy but some "qualified" people still screw it up.

Who was the company?

Name and Shame they deserve it!!!

I would not pay more than $500 for a full days work on my car especially if it was just changing fluids and working on the steering rack....

[*Glenn* 854]

Name and Shame they deserve it!!!

Not always... there is always 2 sides to a storey and in some cases there is a misunderstanding between both parties that gets distorted

[tonylauno1 7]

Here comes a crucifiction... glad it's not me

I would consider the work involved to be no more than 4hrs dependant on what was asked for, what was quoted and what actually needed to be carried out. You only present one side of a storey that involves 2 parties

Yes, always listen to both side of the story, I could not agree more.

To summarise, even when the car was on the ground, wheel can be moved backwards when the mechanic hold it in his hand and shook it with force. I guess there is much more force acting on it when braking.

All I'm saying is why did this BMW Specialist place did not check if their initial diagnose and work had fixed the problem and especially when i went back to say I am still having problems.

if a mechanic whos going to work on my car says "what is this engine flush for" or how do you change diff oil.. i would be high tailing it out of there no second thoughts.

This is a BMW Specialist workshop. I had spoken to the manager, sign the papers for the loan car, and on my way to the loan car I stopped to chat to the mechanic who was getting into my car, just to show him I had bought my own oil, filter & engine flush. (Was going to do it myself, since the car was going up on the hoist for other problems i got them to do it)

I guess the moral of the story is, who cares if the manager/owner is a great BMW mind, the staff he hires are not, and you are being charged for his expertise however he employs less than qualified mechanics to work for him yet still charges you a premium.

[tonylauno1 7]

Mechanics are for work on your engine, if you had steering issues I would have taken it to a tyre shop like firestone they would have checked alignment and noticed and identified the problem immediately heck if you asked them nicely they would even change you diif oil!! sounds like you should have done the service yourself as you seem to know how to drain and fill engine oil I know its easy but some "qualified" people still screw it up.

Who was the company?

Name and Shame they deserve it!!!

I would not pay more than $500 for a full days work on my car especially if it was just changing fluids and working on the steering rack....

Well I knew these problems are not for a tyre shop, it's a mechanical issue that needed to be repaired by a mechanic so didn't bother with a tyre shop.

The company is well known but no I can't named and shame them, it's easy enough to guess anyway

In a separate incident, my own mechanic replaced the lower control arm but they failed to noticed the wheel was still moving (Nov11). This was only picked up by tyre shop when I got new tyres few days ago. It turns out the rack end is lose too. That is what they think, car still in workshop at the moment, will get better idea what the actual problem was. This time i told my mechanic, can he manage the process and check all work himself before calling me.

By the way, have gotten my own stands and trolley jack

[tonylauno1 7]

Here comes a crucifiction... glad it's not me

I would consider the work involved to be no more than 4hrs dependant on what was asked for, what was quoted and what actually needed to be carried out. You only present one side of a storey that involves 2 parties

I only asked their hourly rate which was incorrectly quoted to me so it was up to them to get the problem solved.

What i put on numbered 1) - 5) is the actual work carried out, that is what was described on the invoice, word by word.

[kiwi328i 118]

I only asked their hourly rate which was incorrectly quoted to me so it was up to them to get the problem solved.

What i put on numbered 1) - 5) is the actual work carried out, that is what was described on the invoice, word by word.

Its stories like these that really really really motivate me to do as much of the maintanence on my cars as possible without going in over my head, which happens to a degree, but hey researching and having a go and not getting it quite right and rectifying the problem is all a part of the process. I would rather curse myself for stuffing my own car up than arguing with mechanics all day over stuff that cannot be checked or verified.

The other lesson I guess is hand your car over to someone who knows their sh*t...engine flush shouldnt really be an eyebrow crosser to a diy selfer let alone a qualified mecahnic. Not only that, even though the other side hasnt chimed in, it seems if what you have said is true, their attitude sux. There would be a few jungle mechanics on this forum who could have done those jobs in half the time...to a bmw specialist..they should be able to do this in their sleep.

[cliffdunedin 8]

I like your thinking ^^ and can't agree more.

[Greg111 13]

Haven't read the whole thing, BMW specialist or BMW dealer? There is a difference.

[shaneg 0]

Also bmw specialist that has bmw in their name or a place that advertises that they can work on euro's including bmw's

[Docile 64]

^^ puts my hand up as a jungle mechanic

[tonylauno1 7]

Its stories like these that really really really motivate me to do as much of the maintanence on my cars as possible without going in over my head, which happens to a degree, but hey researching and having a go and not getting it quite right and rectifying the problem is all a part of the process. I would rather curse myself for stuffing my own car up than arguing with mechanics all day over stuff that cannot be checked or verified.

The other lesson I guess is hand your car over to someone who knows their sh*t...engine flush shouldnt really be an eyebrow crosser to a diy selfer let alone a qualified mecahnic. Not only that, even though the other side hasnt chimed in, it seems if what you have said is true, their attitude sux. There would be a few jungle mechanics on this forum who could have done those jobs in half the time...to a bmw specialist..they should be able to do this in their sleep.

The owner of this place knows his sh*t, as well as the manager (I know this manager from a previous place he managed and it was great) However this manager is not the workshop manager, so he doesn't check the work, he is more like a consultant at this new workshop. On top of this, this workshop only does BMW cars, and are very busy too. My thoughts were if they only do BMW and these are common issues, they can do it in their sleep but how wrong was I...

The company should have said, this job takes certain amount of time, if the mechanics takes too long then they need to do something about their staff. So there could be two customers with the same work required ie replace bushings, and one gets charged 1hr while the other gets charged 1.5hrs because that mechanic wasn't capable or slow.

It was my luck with these two mechanics...

And I was not kidding or exaggerating, this mechanic that I had stopped to chat as he was getting into my car, he actually picked up STP Engine Flush, and asked what is this and he also asked how does he flush a diff. He also said have never changed any diff oil on any BMW.

Changing diff oil is in the InspectionII check list.

[tonylauno1 7]

Something new about this BMW Specialist in town who only fixed BMW cars.

While getting a rack-end replaced from my own mechanic, he said the front right bushing is lose, i showed him my receipt from Jerry Clayton on March 2011 for the bushing, he took it to Jerry Clayton for a replacment under warranty and Jerry Clayton said, the marks on the bushing showed that the mechanic did not lubricate it before putting it on so can't claim under warranty.

Will need to go back to these so called BMW Specialist and ask them whether they will take responsibility of this or will I have to listen to their excuses.

I wonder if they will refund $260 + 1/2 Labour because it's only one side.

[tonylauno1 7]

Haven't read the whole thing, BMW specialist or BMW dealer? There is a difference.

BMW Specialist, not a dealer.

[dubman 39]

it all depends on the mechanic who works on your car, i had one great and one bad experience at a BMW specialist.

my lesson from that was, TAKE THE CAR TO GLENN. Him and Chris are always helpful and take great pride in their work

Edited January 28, 2012 by dubman

[Greg111 13]

Specialists wouldn't have had dealer training, not that you need training to do a basic oil service. The place sounds like a joke to me.

[NZ BMW 368]

Specialists wouldn't have had dealer training, not that you need training to do a basic oil service. The place sounds like a joke to me.

Even then - I got my car back the other day from a dealership here in Auckland (I'm not going to name them) and had to send it back the next day as they'd managed to not replace some of the engine covers and broke some of the plastics whilst changing things (plastics which I'd replaced about six months ago). They thought it would be acceptable to simply glue them back together and not mention anything.

Seems even dealership training does not always guarantee attention to detail and basic competence.

[Greg111 13]

Even then - I got my car back the other day from a dealership here in Auckland (I'm not going to name them) and had to send it back the next day as they'd managed to not replace some of the engine covers and broke some of the plastics whilst changing things (plastics which I'd replaced about six months ago). They thought it would be acceptable to simply glue them back together and not mention anything.

Seems even dealership training does not always guarantee attention to detail and basic competence.

We get trained technical stuff about the brand, fitting plastic shrouds is billy basic. Some people are incompetent. Can't be helped. Although when working for a premium brand attention to detail is rule one.

[sp8s 1]

So is this place an MTA member?

[Docile 64]

i always ask when i get my fixed at a garage i always ask who will be the one working on it. i always specify if possible i don't want a trainee / apprentice to work on my cars. downside is usually i have to wait a couple of days before the senior mechanics are free.

have had a trainee before who did not bolt on the transmission oil cooler on my e36!! the bolt was on top of the radiator rolling around and he did not press down the the clips of the radiator properly. good thing it did not fall apart in the motorway on the way home.

[Jono51 59]

Not always... there is always 2 sides to a storey and in some cases there is a misunderstanding between both parties that gets distorted

I'm with you on this one Glenn,

there is usually some misunderstanding, this needs to be delt with appropiately, with the parties involved,rather than over the net

maybe tony you contact the business owner and get this rectified ,I understand that you are fustrated, but a thread like this may not help your problem, you do have rights as a consumer

other than that a "name and shame thread" on business' , will damage sponsorship and most likely discounts for bimmersport

Edited January 30, 2012 by JKSE

[M3_Power 636]

8 hours to do all of the above is excessive - you could hardly call misunderstanding on that part in my opinion. Personally I'd call it dishonesty.

3 to 4 hours for the above from a business is reasonable, twice that, no way unless they were seriously incompetent (in which case they shouldn't be working on other people's cars).

If you did this on a hoist on your own I'd say it's a 3 hour job tops.

I have nothing against specialist shops, but I do find that sometimes shopping around will help.

Dealership workshops aren't always the 'stealers' that people think they are. At least at the end of the day you know that they have the proper tools and diagnostics equipment (or at least access to them through BMW NZ directly) and the senior techs at least are updated with the latest training and have computer access to proper BMW repair process via online.

[Braeden320 0]

Dealership workshops aren't always the 'stealers' that people think they are. At least at the end of the day you know that they have the proper tools and diagnostics equipment (or at least access to them through BMW NZ directly) and the senior techs at least are updated with the latest training and have computer access to proper BMW repair process via online.

Me too. Every time and with Anything.