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Browns garage, Haywards Heath, west sussex
Asked on the forum for a recommended garage in sussex area for my 2.4td auto surf and was pointed to the above named garage, I know several people from here take their 3L surfs there without issue and perhaps they are familiar with those, they are however in my opinion not familiar, or even clued up about the 2.4L variety.
Haven't had the surf more than a couple of months (I'm fairly new on this forum, met a few of you etc.) and as the 100,000km cambelt change was due soon I thought I'd get a major service on the surf plus a few other bits n bobs done, the p.a.s. belt was slipping slightly too, those of you who I joined on the isle of wight trip can testify to that, so it was a major service to include the following :-
change all fluids (incl. transmission, engine, coolant & axle oils),
change all belts incl. cambelt,
change all filters,
change glow plugs &
grease all nipples.
The surf started first time every time before it went to the garage, £800 later when it was returned it was a different story..... it was a pig to start, ran seriously lumpy for the first few minutes and was blowing more smoke than before. This was not a good sign....
They had told me on the phone that there was no power to the glow plugs before I collected it (bear in mind that it started fine before it went to the garage) and I took that at face value as it was always a bit sluggish when pulling away after it had just been started, which is why i'd asked for the glow plugs to be changed, anyway after some searching on the forum and looking under the bonnet they had indeed assembled the isolator washers incorrectly on the glow plug supply, not exactly what i'd expect after an £800 bill. I reassembled the washers in the correct sequence but couldn't test now as they'd blown the 80A fuse by grounding the glow plug supply.
Phoned them the following day to complain and the mechanic firstly denied removing the glow plug bar - after I pointed out he'd changed the glow plugs and therefore must have removed the bar he then protested that he'd reassembled the washers as they'd come off - again I pointed out that the car started fine before they worked on it and now was next to impossible to start so I didn't believe that.
Eventually they offered to collect the car to sort the fuse etc. and I told them that they had better make sure that if they'd caused any further problems by shorting the glow plugs they had to fix it.
They rang to tell me this evening that the car is being returned tomorrow and that they had fixed an "earth return fault????" on the glow plug relay and that had always been there and would have meant i'd never had any power to my glows, strange I pointed out once more how it had always started before they had it..........
I'm now awaiting my surfs return, hopefully fixed and working this time, I will of course update this post then, in the meantime I certainly would not recommend Browns garage for any work to a 2.4td auto surf, the manager even had the cheek to ask me why i'd wanted the glow plugs changed in the first place???? Has he never heard the customer is always right and they have a choice in where they purchase goods and services??? End of the day I did them the favour by giving them my business, they then returned the favour by charging me £800 for breaking my surf, go figure.
Haven't had the surf more than a couple of months (I'm fairly new on this forum, met a few of you etc.) and as the 100,000km cambelt change was due soon I thought I'd get a major service on the surf plus a few other bits n bobs done, the p.a.s. belt was slipping slightly too, those of you who I joined on the isle of wight trip can testify to that, so it was a major service to include the following :-
change all fluids (incl. transmission, engine, coolant & axle oils),
change all belts incl. cambelt,
change all filters,
change glow plugs &
grease all nipples.
The surf started first time every time before it went to the garage, £800 later when it was returned it was a different story..... it was a pig to start, ran seriously lumpy for the first few minutes and was blowing more smoke than before. This was not a good sign....
They had told me on the phone that there was no power to the glow plugs before I collected it (bear in mind that it started fine before it went to the garage) and I took that at face value as it was always a bit sluggish when pulling away after it had just been started, which is why i'd asked for the glow plugs to be changed, anyway after some searching on the forum and looking under the bonnet they had indeed assembled the isolator washers incorrectly on the glow plug supply, not exactly what i'd expect after an £800 bill. I reassembled the washers in the correct sequence but couldn't test now as they'd blown the 80A fuse by grounding the glow plug supply.
Phoned them the following day to complain and the mechanic firstly denied removing the glow plug bar - after I pointed out he'd changed the glow plugs and therefore must have removed the bar he then protested that he'd reassembled the washers as they'd come off - again I pointed out that the car started fine before they worked on it and now was next to impossible to start so I didn't believe that.
Eventually they offered to collect the car to sort the fuse etc. and I told them that they had better make sure that if they'd caused any further problems by shorting the glow plugs they had to fix it.
They rang to tell me this evening that the car is being returned tomorrow and that they had fixed an "earth return fault????" on the glow plug relay and that had always been there and would have meant i'd never had any power to my glows, strange I pointed out once more how it had always started before they had it..........
I'm now awaiting my surfs return, hopefully fixed and working this time, I will of course update this post then, in the meantime I certainly would not recommend Browns garage for any work to a 2.4td auto surf, the manager even had the cheek to ask me why i'd wanted the glow plugs changed in the first place???? Has he never heard the customer is always right and they have a choice in where they purchase goods and services??? End of the day I did them the favour by giving them my business, they then returned the favour by charging me £800 for breaking my surf, go figure.
<--- Me)
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