Autotech, Norwich - AVOID

I have got a 2008 Octavia Scout which recently needed a service and a few other things, including changing the Haldex oil.

I searched around and settled on Autotech in Norwich for a few reasons: they are a local VAG group specialist, the price was reasonable and there was a recommendation on here for them. The service itself went ok; everything was itemised properly and the turn around time was reasonably good.

However, 200 miles later, the rear diff/Haldex unit suffered from a catastrophic failure. A grinding from the rear quickly turned into the rear wheels locking up, with lots of fluid pouring from the diff area. Not good. I was in London at the time but the car was recovered back to Autotech by flat bed. Now, was this a co-incidence or was it related to the fact that they had been working on that part of the car? We had a look underneath and I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt.

A new diff from Skoda is over £3k(!) so it took me a couple of weeks to source a second hand part. This came via a Skoda dealership in Scotland. When it arrived, I dropped it off at Autotech to be fitted. This was also done for a reasonable price.

Unfortunately however, after a few hundred miles, a scrapping sound started coming from underneath the car. It sounded like a stone was caught behind a brake disk. So I took off all of the wheels to investigate. Nada. So, with a friend who is a mechanic, we had a look under the car. The drive shaft was rubbing on the exhaust. This was because the diff had dropped by a few mm. Unbelievable. Further investigation told us that the mounting points for the diff were missing some pretty substantial washers. We found these on the old diff (which I had kept, thankfully). So, yet again, I called Autotech. I explained the problem and was told by Anna, who runs the office, that 'they don't forget things' but she agreed that I could drop the car off to get the problem sorted. Even when I showed Anna the three washers, she was adamant that they hadn't missed anything. The evidence in my hand said otherwise.

The car was with them for a couple of days and when I went to collect it, Anna claimed that not fitting the washers hadn't caused the problem. But she wouldn't tell me what had caused the problem. I couldn't believe it. She actually said, "I'm not going to tell you what caused the problem." I was dumbfounded.

I walked out of the door, never to return again. So, please avoid Autotech in Norwich. They are a bunch of jokers.