i have a octy vrs 2002, about two months ago my oil pump failed and wrecked my engine,cost £3,300 to replace with a reconditioned engine from skoda.warranty paid£1,700 of this.

after return of car, engine management light came on,took to local garage as garage who fitted engine(ARNOLD CLARK)informed me "we cannot check for faults sir"as we are a vauxhall garage,but they seem to be able to fit an engine! anyway local garage report says car has 14 faults,mechanic explains was probably due to engine failure and not being reset.

3 days later light goes again, local garage says has two faults both related to air intake,reset it again. goes again next day. local garage thing might be air flow meter,take off top cover and discover oil breather hose is burst and has been taped up.

phones arnold clark they say that it was burst when they did engine and was taped up,they just taped it up again"shoddy" at best, funny never had a problem in two years ,surely they should have reported it or replaced it.they tell me to take car to their vw or seat dealership for a diagnostic check at my expense as not skoda dealers, WHAT! JUST PAID FOR TWO ALREADY.

local garage replaces hose ,guess what NO light,what a surprise,really pi**ed off with them after spending all that money,what would you guys do?,do you think i'm over reacting ?or how would you approach this?. have read a lot about ac's online .and complaints are unreal,don't get me wrong the guy i dealt with on service reception was really good and kept me informed so no complaint there,but i did expect better than this

SHODDY TREATMENT after all has cost me another£100.00.

THANK'S IN ADVANCE GUYS

forgot to mention,got three new tyres from arnolds and they put two of them on the wrong way "rotation"

See if they are in the dealer review section and post your comments there.

They put 2 directional tyres on in the wrong direction? If so surely that is dangerous - especially if it resulted in an accident (which in this case it didn't)

yup..especially in the rain..lots of that in scotland.luckily i spotted it and no harm done.

There used to be an website called Arnalold Clark Sucks but it's been shut down.

They do have a reputation for being crap.

Arnold shark as its known where i live, really do have a bad reputation don,t they.

I got my octy vrs from arnold clark and was well looked after but that said id never use them for services or anything.

They have a tendancy to 'lose' logbooks for second hand cars too.

I used to have a Pug 306 Estate. The nearest Dealer to me at the time was an Arnold Clark. Immediately after picking the car up a man on the street started waving at me. Diesel was pouring out the bottom of the car as they hadn't put a hose back properly!:eek:

They paid for the fuel I'd lost and discount off the next service, but by then my confidence in them was truly shattered after such a muppet mistake.

From all accounts I've come to the conclusion they're quite good for buying a car at a good price, but once you've bought it their servicing and after-sales is truly awful.

Did I tell you about my friends Fiat that broke down after a service at Arnold Clark?..........

The list goes on.

their servicing and after-sales is truly awful.

Sounds like Westover Skoda in Dorset as well :thumbdwn:

I bought my car from arnold shark in Ayr, they will promise you the world to get you to buy from them then once they have your money they don’t care, cant get rid of you quick enough. Don’t use them, don’t buy from them. If you stood on any street corner in Scotland and asked people if they had bought a car from Arnold shark and were they happy with it you would have to wait a long time to get a yes answer. They have Scotland sewn up for car dealerships. Ayr has 6 dealerships alone. Rant over!

had car for two years ex-arnolds lease car,had no problems,

arnold sucks website is still going,and they do

.does anyone recon it's worth writing a letter of complaint to their head office?

i have also noticed if you are trading in a car to them they will never tell you how much you are getting for it.(something to hide perhaps)

got a new steering rack and anti roll bar bushes fitted today,something that was ok before engine wentSHE IS DRIVING LIKE A DREAM AT LAST. HAPPY AGAIN....BUT NOT WITH ARNOLDS

ARNOLD CLARK CARS (IMPORTANT CONSUMER INFORMATION)

I have a question re the 2nd garage, why didn't they clear all the fault codes, test drive vehicle, then rescan and interpret the codes properly and inspect round the maf and other areas for air ingress (presuming the code indicated maf giving a 'too low airflow' error as I presume excess air entering the breather pipe into the turbo inlet caused the maf to register an air mass lower than it should have).

Seems to me that the 2nd garage should have diagnosed a broken hose, then your argument with the first garage would have been just that diagnosis cost + replacing the hose/sorting the tyres. Resetting codes that come back and telling the customer to go away agian isn't going to fix it (it didn't).

Seems both garages were not amazing.

We bought the Mrs Picasso of Arnold Shark 3 years ago.

The brakes were woeful and when I checked the fronts the discs were scored to hell but the pads looked new.

Turns out Arnold had just slapped new pads on with wrecked discs (which they said were within 'serviceable limits'!!).

Not to mention the false promises made when looking to buy, etc.

I will never buy another car from them as long as I live.

We bought the Mrs Picasso of Arnold Shark 3 years ago.

The brakes were woeful and when I checked the fronts the discs were scored to hell but the pads looked new.

Turns out Arnold had just slapped new pads on with wrecked discs (which they said were within 'serviceable limits'!!).

Not to mention the false promises made when looking to buy, etc.

I will never buy another car from them as long as I live.

THEY ARE PLAYING WITH PEOPLES LIVES HERE,WELL DONE WITH CANCER COLLECTION MATE.

I have a question re the 2nd garage, why didn't they clear all the fault codes, test drive vehicle, then rescan and interpret the codes properly and inspect round the maf and other areas for air ingress (presuming the code indicated maf giving a 'too low airflow' error as I presume excess air entering the breather pipe into the turbo inlet caused the maf to register an air mass lower than it should have).

Seems to me that the 2nd garage should have diagnosed a broken hose, then your argument with the first garage would have been just that diagnosis cost + replacing the hose/sorting the tyres. Resetting codes that come back and telling the customer to go away agian isn't going to fix it (it didn't).

Seems both garages were not amazing.

MAYBE,BUT 2 ND GARAGE IS A BACKSTREET GARAGE,NOT ONE OF THE BIGGEST GARAGES IN BRITAIN

THEY ARE NOT VAG EXPERTS,AND HE IS NOT CHARGING ME FOR LIGHT RESETS,ARNOLDS WERE GOING TO.

THEY FOUND THE HOSE DAMAGE WHEN THEY WERE ABOUT TO REPLACE THE AIR FLOW METRE,WHICH THEY THOUGHT HAD TO BE FIXED IN CASE IT WAS AFFECTING THE ISSUE

AT LEAST HE TRIED TO SORT IT OUT, ARNOLDS ATTITUDE WAS ITS A SKODA WE CANT FIX IT,THEY TOOK £3,300 FOR A NEW ENGINE,IT'S SHODDY SERVICE.

I'm pretty happy with the car (ex AC lease car, supplied to them by Queensborough [now Henry's North], serviced by Skoda dealers in Bedfordshire), but have other horror stories ref ACs. For example, one of my sis's workmates had a Fiat Punto "serviced" etc by AC for several years. It was costing her more per year for the one Fiat than Mum, sis and I were paying between us for a Honda Civic, a Nissan Micra and Citroen Xantia, even with 3 sets of MOT fees to pay.

I'd consider buying another car from them, but no way would I use them for servicing, even with a relevant franchise to hand.

I'm pretty happy with the car (ex AC lease car, supplied to them by Queensborough [now Henry's North], serviced by Skoda dealers in Bedfordshire), but have other horror stories ref ACs. For example, one of my sis's workmates had a Fiat Punto "serviced" etc by AC for several years. It was costing her more per year for the one Fiat than Mum, sis and I were paying between us for a Honda Civic, a Nissan Micra and Citroen Xantia, even with 3 sets of MOT fees to pay.

I'd consider buying another car from them, but no way would I use them for servicing, even with a relevant franchise to hand.

i was delighted with the car too ,ex arnold's lease car as well.love it to bits,best car i have EVER had .i think the same as you ,unfortunately it's booked in for my 2nd free mot this wednesday,holding my breath,but will NOT use their service dept ever again. i cannot believe a word that they say.

after return of car, engine management light came on,took to local garage as garage who fitted engine(ARNOLD CLARK)informed me "we cannot check for faults sir"as we are a vauxhall garage,but they seem to be able to fit an engine! anyway local garage report says car has 14 faults,mechanic explains was probably due to engine failure and not being reset.

Sorry you've had problems and sorry to ask but if they are a Vauxhall Dealer why were they replacing your engine as part of a Skoda Warranty claim, surely Skoda would have arranged this with a Skoda dealer?

I had a claim just out of warranty that I took up with Skoda UK and they just contacted my dealer and made all the arrangements I just had to get the car to them to fix it.

If however your engine replacement was arranged through Skoda CS or a warranty CS team then I would imagine you have some ability to seek compensation for all the extra money/mileage you've spent getting their shoddy work corrected.

Sorry you've had problems and sorry to ask but if they are a Vauxhall Dealer why were they replacing your engine as part of a Skoda Warranty claim, surely Skoda would have arranged this with a Skoda dealer?

I had a claim just out of warranty that I took up with Skoda UK and they just contacted my dealer and made all the arrangements I just had to get the car to them to fix it.

If however your engine replacement was arranged through Skoda CS or a warranty CS team then I would imagine you have some ability to seek compensation for all the extra money/mileage you've spent getting their shoddy work corrected.

it was because it was autocare warranty, which is arnold clark's own warranty,which means they are supposed to do the work,engine was a recon engine supplied by skoda (old casing all new parts). wish skoda dealers had done it though:orb_sick:

i was delighted with the car too ,ex arnold's lease car as well.love it to bits,best car i have EVER had .i think the same as you ,unfortunately it's booked in for my 2nd free mot this wednesday,holding my breath,but will NOT use their service dept ever again. i cannot believe a word that they say.

I declined the service/MOT packs, because of the previous (but didn't tell the salesman that).

car is going into arnolds for mot on wednesday,only because it is free mot..how much do you recon they will try to sting me for?,bear in mind in last six weeks has the following new engine,new steering rack,new roll bar bushes ,3 new tyres,air flow meter replaced. i'm holding my breath

remember if it fails the MOT you could take the car away, have the work done and pay for a re test elsewhere. Then there's no money in it for them.

Get it up yees Arnold!