Another 124 works experience

[Mark300SL]

Dave - I dont think anyone will think any worse of you for simply posting your experiences and I dont think John was referring to you.
As you have pointed out 124works got your business on the feedback from this particular forum and if you have differing feedback then you you have the right to post your experiences as much as anyone else.

There are a lot of 124Works supporters on this forum, and it is possible that they believe that the timing of these threads is not as coincidental as it may at first seem.
I understand exactly why you have chosen to post now, and I personally have absolutely no problem with any post that is left completely factual.

However the threads themselves are causing a lot of animosity because of the number of posts coming from from people who are in no way involved.


The moderators here are having a particularly hard time in dealing with this! On one hand we hear of experiences that have to be aired in public, and on the other a vast number of satisfied customers claiming character assasination. I like you take no pleasure in these threads but we try to keep any moderation to an absolute minimum and no-one should be afraid to voice real world experiences.

I would however ask that those experiences are first hand and not hearsay!

Mark

 

[glojo]

Are you referring to me, John? If so, I take no satisfaction at all. I had a dreadful, stressful, upsetting experience. I am not putting the boot in, I am merely giving an honest account of my experience. Why should only good reviews be allowed? Because the proprietor of 124works is a member? But that's how he got the work in the first place. It took a lot of persuasion for me to post this at all. I have also asked two questions, to which I genuinely would like to hear responses to. For the record, I have had no correspondence with Malcolm (television) on this matter.

Hi Dave
No I am not and I apologise to you if you feel that I am. It would be totally out of order for me to get publicly involved in your dispute and I will merely say how I hope you can resolve your problems in a satisfactory manner.

I have also had numerous pm's regarding this issue but there is NO WAY I will fire another person's gun. If folks want to complain then it is far better that they do it themselves. We may think we know the facts, we may even think we know the truth, but unless we were there, unless we witnessed both parties conversations then in my opinion we should not get involved. (my personal opinion)

My observations do not criticise those that post about contractual work they have paid for and feel they have been let down. I do not mean ANY disrespect to you Dave, I have not met you?? and I don't think we have spoken to each other? It does however appear you are well equipped to fight your own corner, plus I do accept this is not easy for you and you have quite rightly not asked a third party to fight your case.

This is a very distressing situation and we (me included) that are not DIRECTLY involved are inflaming the situation by submitting these types of posts.

If I come across as being critical of any legitimate complainant, then I apologise, It is NOT my intent, I certainly would not object if I were asked to try and assist in resolving this delicate issue, but I would NOT want to do that publicly.

Why am I doing what some will say is inflaming this issue?

Ian is in no fit state to come on this forum and I have finally snapped over the way third parties (not victims) are doing their best to destroy this person. They are not being clever and they are certainly NOT being helpful.

I commend the moderators for allowing complainants to voice their complaints, but these third parties are tearing this forum apart and that upsets me...... immensely.

I am hoping that Ian will stay away from this forum for a little longer and hopefully we will all please respect the fact that we are not helping by taking sides.

I have suggested we do a search of 124Works and read ALL the posts regarding Ian's workmanship but those that know Ian will also know that the thanks commenced years before the business started? I say this not to take sides but to try to allow a clearer picture.

I repeat my offer about trying to be of assistance and hopefully i am NOT taking sides.

Yours truly
John

Sorry for the rant, but enough is enough and I apologies once again to Dave

 

[mercmanuk]

ive been following the 124 threads and feel the members who have had bad experiances have a reason to post,but the members who "ive a mate who has had a bad experiance or ive heard on the grapevine"should be ashamed.
yes ive used ian in the past and found his work and service 100% better than the main agents.
leave the guy alone before we find him swinging from the beams!
if you have had a bad experiance then post it if you want, other members just read these posts but dont add fuel to the fire .
if this wasnt the respectable site it is i would be thinking it was a witch hunt trying to put a hardworking respectable guy out of business.north south divide-seems to be all the negatives are coming from south!.

 

[jaymanek]

people have aired there opinions I like Ian are probably the kind of people who prefer face to face to resolve any issues which I realize sometimes is not possible, as for myself and many others Ian's help and advice has been invaluable, but in business mistakes happen that is for the party's to take care of using the correct avenues, and I don't believe this is one of them.

This is getting silly... I like Ian, I respect Ian, but you cant tell people not to post their experiences of any garage.. good or bad!
That is what the forum is about..

The OP obviously went to great lenghts to try and sort this before his post on here.
His account is detailed, unbiased and without prejudice..

Like Glojo says, anyone seeking a review will make up their own mind after reading ALL the posts about W124 Works..

In fact I would be more suspicious of a business that has ALL positive reviews... there is no business on earth that has 100% satisfaction and so if i came across one that seemed too good to be true I would turn around and go somewhere else..

Anyway... what im trying to say is that as much as we love our Ian, you cant tell people not to do what this forum is all about.. sharing.

 

[Ratz]

Perhaps the "Mercedes specialists across the UK" section should be like the classifieds and not allow responses?!? That way the original report/review gets posted and it cannot pose questions or solicit opinions.

I realise that it is only on these recent threads that conversations have become so heated but that is why I suggest a review of the rules for this section.

I have only been involved on the forum for a few months but find myself less and less inclined to post or read because of the sniping which seems to be on the increase. I hope this is just a 'phase' because I have enjoyed my time here until recently.

 

[nick mercedes]

Perhaps the "Mercedes specialists across the UK" section should be like the classifieds and not allow responses?!? That way the original report/review gets posted and it cannot pose questions or solicit opinions.

I realise that it is only on these recent threads that conversations have become so heated but that is why I suggest a review of the rules for this section.

There always needs to be right of reply, in the first thread started by Nav, Ian responeded and sorted the whole thing out, I'm sure that when he's back he's reply to the others and sort those out too.

I have only been involved on the forum for a few months but find myself less and less inclined to post or read because of the sniping which seems to be on the increase. I hope this is just a 'phase' because I have enjoyed my time here until recently.

Don't be put off the forum, it's a freindly forum really.

 

[pipmk]

I'm amazed at some of these comments. This garage made a contract with the customer to excercise appropriate skill in servicing the car, it appears he failed so to do. He is therefore in breach of the contract and is liable for damages in tort. It matters not one wit that he may or may not be a nice fellow or a member of this forum. It also matters not one whit that many people have been satisfied in the past.You are only as good as your last fight. I for one welcome all feedback on service ,good or bad,and the customer has nothing to fear from any legal action for defamation if a. the comment is true and b. publication is in the public interest. That is an absolute defence. I cannot judge if the comment is true as can none of us but its publication in this forum is certainly appropriate as the garage concerned apparently gains much of its work via this agency.
Its the British diesease to put up with shoddy service and its one we could do with curing.

 

[jaymanek]

I'm amazed at some of these comments. This garage made a contract with the customer to excercise appropriate skill in servicing the car, it appears he failed so to do. He is therefore in breach of the contract and is liable for damages in tort. It matters not one wit that he may or may not be a nice fellow or a member of this forum. It also matters not one whit that many people have been satisfied in the past.You are only as good as your last fight. I for one welcome all feedback on service ,good or bad,and the customer has nothing to fear from any legal action for defamation if a. the comment is true and b. publication is in the public interest. That is an absolute defence. I cannot judge if the comment is true as can none of us but its publication in this forum is certainly appropriate as the garage concerned apparently gains much of its work via this agency.
Its the British diesease to put up with shoddy service and its one we could do with curing.

you certainly put that well, are you in the law business!?

 

[pipmk]

Yep,even if it appears I can't spell

 

[andy_k]

I don't think anyone has disagreed with what you have just said pipmk, we all think that's right.

The thing most people have a problem with is that certain individuals who have absolutely no logical reason to be involved are posting second and third hand hearsay as fact.

Andy

 

[aka$h]

It seems once agin there are a number of people rising to Ian's defence. yes i agree with you, Ian is a nice bloke and respected forum member, HOWEVER what we musn't forget is that for most members on this forum their MB is their pride and joy.

Yes Ian has many postive comments for his worskmanship skills but however few negative comments there are, they are still alarming. We're nottalking about small errors, such as overfilling oil, tightening hoses etc, and we can even forgive Ian for the dirty carpets and seats. The issues highlighted are MAJOR problems.

Before i get shot down for offering a 3rd party opinion, i've been on the receiving end of Ian's uninterested response when things go wrong. Having had the upmost respect for Ian, i was surprised to say the least when i was stranded on route to my friend's wedding in Nav's SEC. I spoke to Ian staright sway and to be honest it sounded like he wasn't even concerned or surprised by the events. After my first call to him his phone "switched off" for the rest of the day.

Before i get accused of sticking the boot in, the first negative thread could and should have been avoided.

My best advice to you Ian, is get the cars sorted and end these threads with a positive resolution. Any garage thats says they've never made a mistake lies, all have their ups and downs and i'm sure you'll recover from this and threads like this can be avoided.

 

[davidjpowell]

I have seen these threads and have wanted to comment, but resisted before. I do not konw Ian, but am aware that he has many happy customers on the forum, but equally has had some customers who are not happy with their experience.

In the world of complicated motor vehicles somethings are not going to go as smoothly as any one of us would like. Diagnostic work is often expensive and no car garage that I know of will do it for free, no matter how much we would like. Clearly in some cases indiviuals have an issue as to why some faults were not diagnosed earlier, and that is for those people to resolve and should in my opinion be done privately.

My understanding was for these posts to give feedback on their experiences with a garage, and therefore are prefectly valid. I am upset at seeing others jumping in and carrying out assination.

Ian has quite clearly worked hard to build his business up, and is well respected generally, and does not deserve to have it all wrecked by a small number of unhappy customers, and any number of people jumping on the bandwagon. Please before posting consider if it is really necessary or if you are doing harm to Ian for no good reason.

 

[jpskiller]

This is getting silly... I like Ian, I respect Ian, but you cant tell people not to post their experiences of any garage.. good or bad!
That is what the forum is about..

The OP obviously went to great lenghts to try and sort this before his post on here.
His account is detailed, unbiased and without prejudice..

Like Glojo says, anyone seeking a review will make up their own mind after reading ALL the posts about W124 Works..

In fact I would be more suspicious of a business that has ALL positive reviews... there is no business on earth that has 100% satisfaction and so if i came across one that seemed too good to be true I would turn around and go somewhere else..

Anyway... what im trying to say is that as much as we love our Ian, you cant tell people not to do what this forum is all about.. sharing.

I dident mean it to sound like I dident want people to post, everyone has the right to do that

I don't think anyone has disagreed with what you have just said pipmk, we all think that's right.

The thing most people have a problem with is that certain individuals who have absolutely no logical reason to be involved are posting second and third hand hearsay as fact.

this is more what I ment.

 

[DieselE]

Ian Walker is not the only forum member in businesses relating to Mercedes cars. Unfortunately these threads are demonstrating vividly that just as the forum can bring you business as a result of positive threads it can be very harsh when things go wrong.

I have never had any involvement with Ian outside the forum but I must say that even very badly performing MB dealerships seem to be treated less harshly than some of the comments in the various ongoing threads.

 

[Shude]

I visited 124works last Friday, purely as a social visit to see if Ian was ok. His "ill-health" appears to be mostly stress-related and his holiday from the forum is simply to take his mind off the things that are making him stressed and to get on with his work. He doesn't need to read the forum, he does not rely on it for work as he has hundreds of customers who are not forum members and in a lot of cases not even mercedes owners. It is not possible for someone to "defend" themselves on a forum for apparent poor business practices that have happened in real life, nor is it a suitable place for "apologies" for the same articles.

If someone has had poor service from a specialist then please feel free to post something about it on this forum but do not expect the proprieter or mechanic to post replies of defense or apologies as these activities should take place either face to face, on the phone or in personal writing.

 

[andy_k]

I have never had any involvement with Ian outside the forum but I must say that even very badly performing MB dealerships seem to be treated less harshly than some of the comments in the various ongoing threads.

Neither have I seen them criticised for failing to respond on the forum

 

[andy_k]

Before i get shot down for offering a 3rd party opinion,

nope it wasn't aimed at you - sorry if it came across like that, you were directly involved

Andy

 

[stats007]

It is not possible for someone to "defend" themselves on a forum for apparent poor business practices that have happened in real life, nor is it a suitable place for "apologies" for the same articles.

I don't agree with that at all. If someone can accept praise on a forum, then they can be expected to defend themselves when things go wrong.

Burying your head in the sand and avoiding discussions because they are stressful isn't a good sign. If we all did that at our places of work we wouldn't have a job for long .

I wouldn't wish ill-health on anyone, however I can't see things will resolve themselves by avoiding the issue.

 

[Alps]

Dave,

sorry to hear abt your bad experience, i think everyone has a bad experiance once in a while with a garage they use all the time, my indi has cost me money by misdiagnosing things in the past, but he has more than made up by doing little jobs for me when needed without charging, fitting me into his day when unexpected things happen etc etc..

a little off topic, just trying to ease your pain by saying it also happens elsewhere!

 

[Alfie]

I do not have any experience of dealing with Ian other than I bought some new wheels from him. They were exactly as described and I was happy.

It is very unfair of anyone without any first hand experience of dealing with any firm to post any criticism of that firm. I think Ian has suffered enough in this thread and the other one and its time he was left alone for a while.