Car Servicing.

[Onemore52]

A while back  I posted about a auto electrician who bodged a  job on the Nissan. So we got the name of another electrician who came highly recommended, remembering the nearest Nissan dealer is four hours way.

The new mechanic has had the car for four weeks now, and is waiting on parts from Manila, it is what it is in the province.

He called me yesterday and told me the first of the doggies stuffed up the horn in doing his best to drag out the job until retiring age, and that he would have to order another horn from Manila, and could I come in and pay for the horn before he orders it. No problem I will be there in twenty minutes.

So I get there and give the person at the desk 2 thousand for the new horn "Sorry Sir, the cashier is out at the moment, you will have to wait".

So I waited fo 35 minutes and then chucked off, what is another week in the scheme of things. I will call ahead today and see if the cashier will be at work, to NOT.

NOT CARS but in the same context.

18  months ago I bought a push lawnmower to do the grass from a big hardware chain, it was made in China but an American brand. It worked well for about 9 months till it gave up, it did not want to mow anymore.  I will keep this brief.

They fixed it once then it broke again, so took it back again. Never heard from them so after 2 months went to see them "We don't have any spare parts for that, you will have to buy the coil and we will fit it. So off I go and buy the coil. Another 3 months go by and nothing heard from them, so yesterday I was just in the mood to do battle with them after the SM episode. "it needs a new carburettor, but we don't have spares, so you will have to buy the spares and we will fit it".

So I just bought some balls to show for the dogs and left.

[JJReyes]

When leaving behind a vehicle for repairs, note on a piece of paper the mileage on the odometer.  It should be done in a dramatic way visible to everyone.  Sometimes this will cut the repair time by days or weeks.  

[Possum]

We have a Hyundai and can state that even dealer service is terrible due to parts. You have to pay 50% in advance and they order. 2-3 months before parts arrive. They only stock filters, belts etc., from my experience. I have bribed the parts guy to give me a part number and ordered from Korea myself. 7-10 day delivery. Mechanics are a crap shoot. Example; window roller broke so I ordered complete kit and took it to the dealer. After they took the door panel off they said they didn't have the tools to fix it as they would need to drill out the frame in order to install the new rollers and cable. My wife told them she didn't think that was necessary and they told her to be quiet as she was not a mechanic. That did not go over well at all. We took the car home, looked on Youtube and repaired it ourselves in about one hour or less. Didn't need to drill anything. Best to buy your own parts and find some mechanically inclined person to install.

[Snowy79]

As a fully qualified mechanic I have to walk away when I see them working on my motorcycle here or I'd lose my temper. I only go local if I'm in the area when a problem occurs or I repair it myself in half the time and correctly. 

 

[Tommy T.]

On 12/14/2022 at 9:22 AM, JJReyes said:

When leaving behind a vehicle for repairs, note on a piece of paper the mileage on the odometer.  It should be done in a dramatic way visible to everyone.  Sometimes this will cut the repair time by days or weeks.  

Good idea! Actually, may I suggest another one that I have used?

I took in my car for some work a few years ago to a shop that really did good work. Unfortunately, when I picked the car up, the service rep noted, "Sir, the low gas light is on so you need to get gas right away..." Oh really? That's interesting since it had about 2/3 tank of gas when I dropped it off. I pointed this out to him and he shrugged because he said he was sorry but there was nothing he could do about that - no proof.

So since then, whenever I take the car to a shop, I make it a point for the service rep to see me take a photo of the instrument panel including mileage and gas level. I even go so far as to note the gas level to him also. They have not been irritated and I have not lost gas or mileage since.

Edited December 15, 2022 by Tommy T.

[Snowy79]

12 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

Good idea! Actually, may I suggest another one that I have used?

I took in my car for some work a few years ago to a shop that really did good work. Unfortunately, when I picked the car up, the service rep noted, "Sir, the low gas light is on so you need to get gas right away..." Oh really? That's interesting since it had about 2/3 tank of gas when I dropped it off. I pointed this out to him and he shrugged because he said he was sorry but there was nothing he could do about that - no proof.

So since then, whenever I take the car to a shop, I make it a point for the service rep to see me take a photo of the instrument panel including mileage and gas level. I even go so far as to note the gas level to him also. They have not been irritated and I have not lost gas or mileage since.

I had one garage try to swap my battery.  I had just bought the battery 5 days previously and when I went to pick my jeep up noticed my battery clamped down on the car next to mine that had it's bonnet up. He never expected me to turn up mid swap.

[manofthecoldland]

13 hours ago, Snowy79 said:

I had one garage try to swap my battery.  I had just bought the battery 5 days previously and when I went to pick my jeep up noticed my battery clamped down on the car next to mine that had it's bonnet up. He never expected me to turn up mid swap.

A dozen years ago, a newly arrived  fairly younger than normal, Australian showed up at our ex-pat coffee spot hang out in the only real mall of the times. ( 6 now in our provincial capital to illustrate how the times have changed)

The tale he told amazed me, coming from a man his age and origin. He was as green and trusting as they come, much to his misfortune. He had arrived in MNL and decided to try living there, replicating his life style from AUS. So he bought what he thought was a decent used car. It immediately starting having problems. Every time he took it in,  they put on new parts and charged him accordingly. Over time, some of the 'new' parts were surreptitiously replaced with used ones he eventually discovered. belatedly.  

He told me all the things they had swapped out on him, the poor trusting soul, before he wised up.  At that point he decided to try living in the provinces, where he was when I met him. He wasn't around long, and was pretty sour on his new overseas home.

Don't know what became of him, but I doubt things got much better . 

[OnMyWay]

On 12/15/2022 at 11:25 AM, Tommy T. said:

I make it a point for the service rep to see me take a photo of the instrument panel including mileage and gas level. I even go so far as to note the gas level to him also. They have not been irritated and I have not lost gas or mileage since.

Most Filipinos stay and watch their car being worked on for some of these reasons.  They figure a foreigner will not watch.

[Viking]

14 hours ago, Snowy79 said:

I had one garage try to swap my battery.  I had just bought the battery 5 days previously and when I went to pick my jeep up noticed my battery clamped down on the car next to mine that had it's bonnet up. He never expected me to turn up mid swap.

I have heard it is very common that when you leave your vehicle for maintenance, they swap out original parts and replace it with a part of less quality. It's a win win situation for them (if they are not exposed). They can sell someone else the original part to a higher price and you will soon be back again to repair the part they exchanged!

To be honest, similar scams also happens in my country in Europe. They have made "tests" of different repair shops. They asked 10 shops to look over a perfect car, and I think only half of them said that the car was good to go as it was.

[BrettGC]

I'm wondering now that social media etc has online reviews that it will do much to curb this behaviour to avoid the reputational damage.  I know myself and my wife and her family always check small business reviews on FB, Google etc.  I tend to ask for recommendations from fellow expats or the local area expat community FB pages as well.  So far I haven't been led down the garden path.