Four advisory Items today on my Merc MOT plus really poor service !!!

[vijilants]

Took the Merc in for an MOT today and these were the Advisory Items !!!!

1) Front position lamps slightly discoloured ( both has a blue tinge to the light)

2) Under-trays fitted obscuring some underside components

3) Engine covers fitted obscuring some components in the engine bay

4) Number plate light has a blue tinge to the light


After I questioned the under tray and engine cover issue as they are factory fitted components, the bloke got the strop, refused to honour the £25 voucher that I had for the MOT, stating that I was supposed to give it in before the MOT as stated in the small print, and charged me full whack !!!

Then it got into an argument and he got seriously rude....needless to say I won't be going back there again and I told him so, to which is reply was "Good, don't come back....all you people want is something on the cheap" . The cheek of it was he is not the manager of the garage and the vouchers are in their advert in the local paper !!!

I have a feeling that this garage is scamming customers and they fail cars if a £25 voucher is presented and con them on the work required or unrequired as it may be the case.

 

[MarkJunedd]

I agree it sounds a bit suspicous doesnt it.? How can he advise on trays and covers being fitted when they are part of the car? Its a bit like giving an advisory stating 'unable to check inner wings due to wing being fitted'

 

[BTB 500]

Advisories aren't a fail though?

 

[WOODYTHEWISE]

A friend had similar comments about his lights, he had replaced the standard bulbs with led or similar, tester stated only white light to be shown at front of the vehicle, the lights looked white to me but with a hint of blue.

 

[Colin_b]

Did it fail?

 

[vijilants]

No it didnt fail.....but Ive never had such advisorys on any previous MOT on this vehicle and writing them is a total waste of time as just about every modern vehicle has underbody panneling as well as in the engine.

Lights may have been fair play as I have LED sidelights and numberplate lights....personally they look white to me but I think he was trying to be picky.

It was his attitude afterwards that also really sucked.

Funny thing was last year I took my other car in to the same garage and they failed it on a flexible brake pipe being in a poor state and the power steering resevoir not being secured. Just for a matter of interest, I asked them how much to sort it out and the very same guy said £350 !!!!!!!

When I took the car home and checked the resevoir, it had jumped out of its clip and simply needed pushing back in....5 second job that he could have done on the spot. The brake pipe took me 20min to replace and bleed...total cost of the pipe and fluid was £30.

I should have known better really to go back there this time.

 

[rascalmaster]

report him

simples!

 

[grober]

No it didnt fail.....but Ive never had such advisorys on any previous MOT on this vehicle and writing them is a total waste of time as just about every modern vehicle has underbody panneling aswell as in the engine.

Lights may have been fair play as I have LED sidelights and numberplate lights....personally they look white to me but I think he was trying to be picky.

It was his attitude afterwards that also really sucked.

Funny thing was last year I took my other car in to the same garage and they failed it on a flexible brake pipe being in a poor state and the power steering resevoir not being secured. Just for a matter of interest, I asked them how much to sort it out and the very same guy said £350 !!!!!!!

When I took the car home and checked the resevoir, it had jumped out of its clip and simply needed pushing back in....5 second job that he could have done on the spot. The brake pipe took me 20min to replace and bleed...total cost of the pipe and fluid was £30.

I should have known better really to go back there this time.

You said it yourself.

 

[WOODYTHEWISE]

Did it fail?

In case this question was for me, no, just noted. I think there must have been a bulletin or similar about lights. They looked white but with a tint of blue. No problem last year, same lights, same test centre.

 

[Stratman]

If a tester can fail a car on the colour of the lights, does said tester have to meet a certain standard of colour vision? Does he have a certificate to prove it?

 

[Deleted member 37751]

What's the issue here?

The MOT tester has given advisories on things that he is quite within his rights to.

And if the advert says to hand in the coupon before the test and you didn't, it's not his fault, it's yours.

You've had a bit of a bad experience with them last time, but then you chose to go back because they were giving out cheap MOT's...

 

[Dieselman]

No it didnt fail.....but Ive never had such advisorys on any previous MOT on this vehicle and writing them is a total waste of time as just about every modern vehicle has underbody panneling as well as in the engine.

Can still be written as an advisory though to show why some items weren't checked.

Lights may have been fair play as I have LED sidelights and numberplate lights....personally they look white to me but I think he was trying to be picky.

White light only. If the tester thinks yours look blue he could have failed the car, instead he gave an advisory. Sounds correct to me.

Funny thing was last year I took my other car in to the same garage and they failed it on a flexible brake pipe being in a poor state and the power steering resevoir not being secured. Just for a matter of interest, I asked them how much to sort it out and the very same guy said £350 !!!!!!!

When I took the car home and checked the resevoir, it had jumped out of its clip and simply needed pushing back in....5 second job that he could have done on the spot.

no He couldn't. At a test they are not allowed to perform any adjustments or repairs, just test the car and report on it's condition.

This forum gets more like the Daily Wail every day.

 

[rascalmaster]

i drive from north of colchester- to Olly at PCS to have my cars looked after... because i trust him

i don't go to the local garages; because they have tried to rip me off...

if i did go to my local garages knowing what they're like; and got ripped off... i'd only have myself to blame...

 

[Dieselman]

i drive from north of colchester- to Olly at PCS to have my cars looked after... because i trust him

i don't go to the local garages; because they have tried to rip me off...

if i did go to my local garages knowing what they're like; and got ripped off... i'd only have myself to blame...

Can PCS do MOT?

 

[rascalmaster]

Can PCS do MOT?

short answer- no; he sends it off to have done; to a trusted MOT Centre.

longer answer-

my 210's cats were cut out since we bought it... olly said it would pass on the pre- cats alone; my local fella said he would fail it; there is no way it would pass. as a 'special' deal, he got me a quote from Euro Car Parts; and told me it would be £650 plus labour.

i went to euro; they quoted me £295 (i think off the top of my head)!!!
so basically my local fella was skimming me off over £350 before he even got warmed up...

anyways- olly sent the car off to have MOT'd and it passed without the cats.

i asked olly to do the exhaust mid section anyways and guess how much i paid? £295+ labour...

(As a corollary- the ECP exhaust section baffles started rattling; olly is going to swap them tomorrow at the GTG)

 

[mct_cars]

2) Under-trays fitted obscuring some underside components

3) Engine covers fitted obscuring some components in the engine bay

Took my S-Max in yesterday for it's MOT, and got 4 also - two tyres nearing the limit (which I knew about), and the two above. Didn't give it much thought, guessed it meant that the tester couldn't check for leaks and stuff under the engine.

Booked mine online and it cost £25 - no arguing, bad service or anything. Well, apart from the blinkin' freezing office, but it is the North and it is Summer, so some things are to be expected!

 

[Alps]

mine had an advisory for the undertrays, when i had an MOT done at a halford autocenter , most MOT garages wont take them off.

my usual MOT guy verbally tells you the advisories

 

[Dieselman]

my usual MOT guy verbally tells you the advisories

I hope he doesn't get a mystery customer VOSA test.

 

[John]

I should have known better really to go back there this time.

I echo Grober...

OK, the small print might read 'present it before' but I can't see what difference it makes - bloody jobsworth.

They sound like a bunch of miserable nob jockeys so find a better MOT place...

 

[neilz]

The advisories are what any decent garage would have given, and you should have read the small-print. The reason companies like the one you used put these things in the small-print rather than in normal font with the rest of the ad is that they know people like you think you know better than to read the small-print and so they can make more money off people like you.

You may now shoot the messenger!