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

[SilverSaloon]

i know this probably isnt the case with the OP's car, but some people with absolutely mint, show winner cars wouldnt want any advisaries at all... so surely undertray shouldnt be mentioned. i guess someone so **** would want to check 1st or have some sort of pre test anyway.

whether it was in the small print or not, the garage should of honoured the voucher. i suspect they want to know what the customer is spending on the MOT and then fail it accordingly to make up the amount lost. dodgy dodgy.

personally, i'd ask to speak to the manager or write to them explaining your concerns and experiences. or maybe write to the newspaper who is printing these vouchers to their letters page. they may be interested in the fact they could be supporting/advertising a scam outfit.

 

[neilz]

I doubt it's a scam outfit, and I doubt they'd make up for money lost through the voucher. I think they knew few would read the small-print so would make money from people paying 'full price'. I think the voucher price is a bit like a DFS sale price with these garages - the 'sale' price is the normal price and only those who don't read the small-print pay the inflated price.

The print was there, that's why you always read the small print if it's any shorter than War and Peace (assuming the small-print for this was)

 

[Dieselman]

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...

I can tell you're not in business.

 

[m2287]

Sounds about right... My last MOT was in one of these places with £20 off voucher from the newspaper, funnily enough my 1 day old tyre had a split in it and my lights need leveling, guess how much to fit a tyre and level the lights.....


YES YOU GUESSED IT!!!!! £20...


And then they didnt even touch the lights!!!!

D*** HEADS

 

[vijilants]

I have a feeling that if I had presented the the voucher before the MOT he would have failed the car on something really stupid or something that wasn't faulty.

Since then, Ive googled this garage and there are several complaints about it failing cars when there has been nothing wrong with the car.

I genuinely failed to read the smallprint, and believe you me it was bloody small !!!
When the car passed and then I produced the voucher, it was at that point he got the hump.

The rules of this garage are if it fails the MOT, you get a free retest within 10 days provided the work is done by the garage and there is a minimum labour charge of £70.

If you take the car away and bring it back, there is a partial recharge fee.

I was 99% sure that the Merc was going to pass as I know that there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. (Unless a bulb had suddenly decided to blow or a sudden mechanical failure whilst driving it up onto the ramps.)


Anyway, from now on I plan to go back to my old joint....they charge the full fee, and if the odd bulb is blown they change it there and then free of charge if the have the time, and at least they are courteous and understand the need of a good relationship with the customer.

For this guy to say "Good ...and don't come back" just goes to show the type of service they provide.

In this day and age you simply cannot afford to have that sort of attitude in business as it simply means that your business gets a bad name and that causes a loss of customers. As we all know around here, the internet is a powerful tool when it comes to affecting your business.

 

[Dieselman]

Get VOSA to submit a car for test using a voucher.

 

[John]

I can tell you're not in business.

Because I don't tolerate piss poor service?

By all means run your business that way if that is what you do but you'll never see my custom.

 

[vijilants]

This forum gets more like the Daily Wail every day.

Sorry I spoke

 

[mexican gaz]

Hi regarding the under trays it is now part of vosa check list.

 

[Dieselman]

Because I don't tolerate piss poor service?

By all means run your business that way if that is what you do but you'll never see my custom.

Rubbish, but anyway, in what way are they giving poor service.

They are using an effective marketing tool to draw in custom, but as a result of the small print rarely have to offer the discount.

I may not approve of their ethics, but as a marketing tool it works.

Any business you ran would probably sink as you don't appear to have a commercial understanding.

 

[vijilants]

I wasn't so upset about the advisorys daft as they may be. If they are now part of the VOSA check list it means that every modern car out there will have this advisory.

What a waste of time and ink !!!!

It was his attitude towards the use of the voucher and payment and the rudeness of the guy was beyond belief.

 

[Dieselman]

What you should have done is driven the car round the block then gone back for a fresh MOT but present the voucher first and see if they failed it...

 

[vijilants]

in what way are they giving poor service.

I'm sorry but anyone that speaks to a customer in this manner "Good, don't come back....all you people want is something on the cheap" is providing a very poor service in my eyes.

If I ever spoke to any of my customers like that regardless of the situation I'd get the sack !

 

[m2287]

Rubbish, but anyway, in what way are they giving poor service.

They are using an effective marketing tool to draw in custom, but as a result of the small print rarely have to offer the discount.

I may not approve of their ethics, but as a marketing tool it works.

Any business you ran would probably sink as you don't appear to have a commercial understanding.

Are you being serious?!

I wouldnt run a business like that if i was serious about keeping it.

 

[John]

Rubbish

You got it, at last...

They are using an effective marketing tool to draw in custom, but as a result of the small print rarely have to offer the discount.

If you offer a discount and don't honour it, that is poor customer service.

Any business you ran would probably sink as you don't appear to have a commercial understanding.

Any business you ran would probably sink as you don't appear to have a customer service understanding.

 

[Dieselman]

I wouldnt run a business like that if i was serious about keeping it.

They know their business. If they circulate 10,000 vouchers in the local rag and it draws in 200 customers, they probably make £20k out of the tests and repairs.

The ethics aren't good, but the marketing is great and it works, therefore is a good business model.
They can afford to lose one customer that doesn't accept the "system", but the reality is that vigilants returned for another go, so...

A business needs bums on seats to make money.

 

[Dieselman]

If you offer a discount and don't honour it, that is poor customer service.

No it's not,you seem confused about what is customer service. That is a marketing/pricing issue, not customer service.

Any business you ran would probably sink as you don't appear to have a customer service understanding.

The garage in question did give the service they offered, they tested the car and gave an impartial test.
They fell down on customer handling, but were legally correct. The idea of being in business is to remove funds from your customers bank account and put it into yours. They appear to do this quite effectively.

 

[vijilants]

They know their business. If they circulate 10,000 vouchers in the local rag and it draws in 200 customers, they probably make £20k out of the tests and repairs.

The ethics aren't good, but the marketing is great and it works, therefore is a good business model.
They can afford to lose one customer that doesn't accept to the "system", but the reality is that vigilants returned for another go, so...

A business needs bums on seats to make money.

Unfortunately, if a garage carries on running its business in this manner, it locally land up with a very bad reputation. After all, not many people will travel way out to get their car MOT'd for £25. Its too inconvenient. Most people tend to go locally or within a reasonable distance regardless of the discount.

So you depend on local customers for MOTs most of the time. After all in London MOT stations are on just about every street corner so you are spoilt for choice. Even Halfords are doing cut price MOTs so as an independant garage, you really can't afford to lose customers in this way.

If you treat people well and fairly, they will always come back and that is worth far more than the "quick kill" attitude.

Now if they had treated me well, and had given me a reasonable explanation as to why they couldn't take the voucher after the MOT, I would have accepted their explanation as long as it was valid, and presuming that their service was fair, I'd come back and also recommend them to everyone I know.

However now I am slating them off to everyone I know including on a public forum.....fair enough, I havn't named the garage, but if I did, it would do them no favors.

 

[John]

No it's not,you seem confused about what is customer service. That is a marketing/pricing issue, not customer service.


The garage in question did give the service they offered, they tested the car and gave an impartial test.
They fell down on customer handling, but were legally correct. The idea of being in business is to remove funds from your customers bank account and put it into yours. They appear to do this quite effectively.

Nope.

I am the customer, you are providing the service. Part of that service is to offer me a discount and then not honour it. Therefore, that is poor - hence poor customer service.

Poor customer service doesn't mean no service. You can deliver the service entirely and it is still poor if the customer is not happy.

Customer handling, is how you handle a customer i.e. serve a customer i.e. customer service.

 

[RobertoMercini]

The idea is to take funds from the customers acct and into yours. Yes, but surely you want to keep taking money from that customer? There aren't enough new ones to survive as a static business if you were to treat them all the way vijilants was treated