http://youtube.com/watch?v=7FBkWaibE3g

Similar story a few months ago, again with a Focus, this time at a franchised Ford dealer.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2952483/Mechanics-took-car-118mph-joyride-Motorist-sporty-Ford-Focus-service-horrified-dashcam-footage-got-back.html

Edited 14 April, 201511 yr by silver1011

First one is a bit of a non story really, 60mph in any car is hardly pushing the limits. The second one is just a gold digger. The garage already resolved his situation by giving him all his £500 of work for free and 2 new tyres and giving the driver a disciplinary, yet he still felt the need to then go to the papers with the story. For half a tank of fuel he had already done pretty well for himself but he's cool with possibly ruining the garages reputation anyway.

Owner is a numbchuck

Why would you take your focus st to halfords for a service.....

First one is a bit of a non story really, 60mph in any car is hardly pushing the limits. The second one is just a gold digger. The garage already resolved his situation by giving him all his £500 of work for free and 2 new tyres and giving the driver a disciplinary, yet he still felt the need to then go to the papers with the story. For half a tank of fuel he had already done pretty well for himself but he's cool with possibly ruining the garages reputation anyway.

After he viewed the footage, he checked some simple points from the service like topping up screenwash, greasing battery terminals etc and found they hadn't been done. He then challenged them on the work and turns out hardly anything was done. The test drive was the icing on the cake.

Garage had already ruined their reputation.

Guy is a driving assessor for Dairy Crest so is rightly peeled by the poor standards of driving.

Guy is a driving assessor for Dairy Crest so is rightly peeled by the poor standards of driving.

A 9 year old could assess driving standards for milk float drivers.

I've had something similar before - airport parking company, wouldn't normally use their meet and greet service but knew I would be in a rush, got the car back and checked the Blackvue. Car was running about 270 bhp then. First guy has got in it to take it away from the airport, poked the throttle and had a bit of a surprise and eased off. All good. The guy who brought the car back has given it full beans from cold, cracked 84 mph in a 40, gone hard over three sets of speedbumps and then launched it again back at the car park.

I didn't go to the press, I sent a copy of the footage to the Ops Manager of the business who then set about sorting out the problem and I was compensated. The biggest issue with these things is the potential waste of time having to sort out the NIP if the car is caught on ANPR or by a speed camera but there is a right and a wrong way to sort these things out.

Edited 15 April, 201511 yr by j0hn

I'm going to call up a dealer today about something I found from one of our car's services earlier this month. Double the speed limit down a road with speed bumps, with zero consideration for the car. Video and outcome, with possible name and shame coming soon.

That remembers me we took out golf gt to a volkswagen main dealer for a service a few years ago

Received a phonecall saying the front wheel bearing had collapsed and our 2 choices were...

Sign a disclaimer to take away

Or

£200 for a new wheel bearing fitted

As i had drove the car there i knew there was no issue with the wheel bearing.

Picked up car and they were right, it was fluffed. Drove like a horse and cart. God knows what they had done with the car.

So after i flipped i had to pay for the part (£97 claimed this back under warranty) and they offered to fit it FOC as a 'good will' gesture.

No thanks, i spoke to the master technician that had been working on it (apparently thats a super highly qualified jo-manic) he came out and was about 20 years old with acne.

Hmmmm suffice to say the car never went back there

A 9 year old could assess driving standards for milk float drivers.

I know, but in this case it's a fleet of 4000+ HGVs !!!!

It's a very emotive subject as cars get more expensive and owners begin to fit such technology to their vehicles. We already run front & rear cameras across all our HGVs, only a matter of time before that filters down to our company cars.

Employees in the motor trade such as mechanics etc are really going to have to step their game up and improve customer service otherwise more and more issues like this are going to come to light.

I recall a situation many many years ago when the new Focus RS came out, my Dad at the time was a Personnel Manager for a major UK motor dealer group and they employed a large number of apprentices. They were specifically instructed not to drive any of the vehicles regardless of whether they were licenced or not. On one occasion, an apprentice was trying to help out at a fast fit/rapid fit type location as they were under staffed - he thought reversing this new RS out the bay would help, however he panicked when reversing out and promptly landed a customer's new RS on a low wall causing some serious damage and red faces.

Expect many more stories like this in the future.

Hundred of stories like this , the lesson is if you care about your pride and joy then only take it somewhere you trust

Well I called up and they're not denying anything. Talked to the branch manager and he's going to go find out why the driver did it and what they can offer me. I've always had good service from them before, so hopefully things will change. He hasn't asked for any evidence yet, either.

Hundred of stories like this , the lesson is if you care about your pride and joy then only take it somewhere you trust

 

Exactly. Halfords, for a service? Not a chance for me.

Well I called up and they're not denying anything. Talked to the branch manager and he's going to go find out why the driver did it and what they can offer me. I've always had good service from them before, so hopefully things will change. He hasn't asked for any evidence yet, either.

So he was the one that did it then