KLP 92
MB Enthusiast
It is great regret that i have been forced to put this post up regarding some sub-standard work carried by Ian B Walker of W124 Works on my SEC.
My water pump pulley had failed resulting in the viscous coupling fan shooting through the radiator, resulting in me requiring a new water pump, radiator, fan shroud, coupling and fan. After reading the reviews of Ian on this forum and meeting him in person decided to let him carry out the repairs on my vehicle when he was visiting his brother in reading.
The initial repair of the vehicle was carried out on the 27th January this year.
Ian initally quoted the job as being "simple" and should be a "couple of hours" work. Needless to say i was happy at this point as my car was non mobile due to the radiator having a hole in it.
What bwas initially quoted a "couple of hours" wotrk turned into a 12 hour nightmare. Firstly i was unimpressed by beiong charged 10 hours labour
. Mercedes quote this job at 4 hours labour, MB Colindale have quoted £382 inc VAT for this work, which i ended up paying Ian significantly more for. I was charged £90 fuel costs, as far as i was initially tiold, Ian would be coming from his brother in Reading, not Preston.
So why does it take Ian 12 hours to do 4 hour job?? Well here's why:
1. Ian removed crankshaft pulley with great difficulty to gain more access to the water pump. (took 4 hours ttake pulley off)
2. Used an angle grinder to try and cut off the original pump - gave up after an hour
3. Failed to realise that there is an adjustment bolt at the back of the power steering pump to tighten/loosen the belt. Spent over an hour blaming my new short belts, couldnt compare to the old ones as he cut them off. Finally his apprentice pointed out the bolt at the back, that after my dad went to Halfords to buy a new belt, which was the same size.
4. Spent an hour arguing the fact with dad and myself that if he removed the thermostat my car would overheat and blow the head gasket
5. Ian replaced the rocker cover gaskets FOC (just scroll down and see the relevance)
Now from the above points you can all see i'm unimpressed already. But it got alot worse after he left.
Day 1.
· The following day (28th January) the car broke down on the way to work. The wiring loom had been routed over the manifold when the rocker cover gasket was changed and was not correctly routed after the repair. The vehicle had to be recovered back to my residence as the car went into limp mode due to the wring loom shorting out after the heat form the manifold had melted the insulation of the loom.
· The radiator was leaking water from the fins where there appears to be a spanner indent. (probably from tightening the crank pulley)
Day 4-the car had been patched up by Talbir to be in some sort of running state.
· The engine oil light came on. The rocker cover gaskets that were fitted were pinched on both sides in the corner resulting into a large quantity of oil leaking from them.
· The crankshaft pulley managed to work itself loose and began hitting the viscous coupling fan, resulting in another breakdown and again another recovery back to my residence.
A phonecall to Ian was made at every one of the mentioned points, and to be frank i was upset by the lack of his urgency to resolve these issues which blatantly due his poor workmanship.
It took him over a month to come back to me and resolve the issues (Sunday 9th March).
The following was repaired by Ian on the 9th March:
· Radiator was replaced.
· Crank pulley was tightened and i was assured that it would NOT work itself loose again.
The vehicle was loaned forum member Simal (aka$h) who needed the car to attend a friend’s wedding in Hastings. He subsequently broke down as the crank pulley yet again worked itself loose. AA were called and confirmed the pulley is loose and towed the vehicle to be left outside a friend’s residence.
Simal notified Ian staright away of the problem as he was aware of the past history. He notifiied Ian about the problem and need to know about the drivability of the vehicle. Ian confirmed the vehicle was unroadworthy and shouldn't be moved. He tried calling again but his phone was switched off conveniently for the rest of the day.
My SEC sat roadside for a few days while Ian thopught about what he was going to do. He promised a phonecall back the next day which never materialised. As far as i was concerned i did not want anyone from W124 Works to work on my vehicle again, as i feel i had given Ian adequate time to rectify the mistakes, and the fact he would not return my calls was the final straw.
Finally we came to a mutual agreement that Olly from PCS would rectify the vehicle. the following issues needed to be rectified:
· The ASR warning light is illuminated and subsequently the traction control/cruise controls are non functional.
· The crankshaft pulley needs to be adjusted/replaced/repaired, and the water pump bearing had gone again after the coupling fan hit the crank pulley.
Olly very kindly repaired the vehicle in afraction of time it took Ian. Ian had agreed to pay Olly directly saving me the headache of recovering costs.
Olly fixed all my issues exceopt the ASR, which was diagnosed as most likely the control unit due to the fire damage on the loom. Ian refused top replace this as its a £2000 part, and promised to source me another unit.
Many of you are wondering why i decided to post all this now. I still have the ASR issue, which Ian has kindly decided to sweep under the carpet. So much so when we met at Olly's GTG today he didn't make any eye contact and scarpered off very quickly when i arrived. Not the actions of a widely respected member of this forum that has been praised on so many occasions.
My reasons for writing this post is not to offend Ian, but mereley as a my personal views of my experience. Any garage can be praised on many occasions when things go right. Any mechanic can mistakes, its the way you correct them that counts. At every point during this experience i had to chase Ian in trying to resolve these issues.
My vehicle has still not been restored to the condition that it was prior to being worked on by Ian.
As everyone on this forum knows, i spend alot of my time restoring cars. My cars are labour of love, many people saw my SEC and my old V12 SL R129 at Olly's today, and it was to my horror what had happened to my SEC. Ian clearly showed affection/respect towards the vehicle when he worked on it, frequently dropping spanners on the bumper chrome, and managed to forget to use wing protectors.
Ian if you read this, it would be nice to see an active step from you to resolving this issue.
My water pump pulley had failed resulting in the viscous coupling fan shooting through the radiator, resulting in me requiring a new water pump, radiator, fan shroud, coupling and fan. After reading the reviews of Ian on this forum and meeting him in person decided to let him carry out the repairs on my vehicle when he was visiting his brother in reading.
The initial repair of the vehicle was carried out on the 27th January this year.
Ian initally quoted the job as being "simple" and should be a "couple of hours" work. Needless to say i was happy at this point as my car was non mobile due to the radiator having a hole in it.
What bwas initially quoted a "couple of hours" wotrk turned into a 12 hour nightmare. Firstly i was unimpressed by beiong charged 10 hours labour
. Mercedes quote this job at 4 hours labour, MB Colindale have quoted £382 inc VAT for this work, which i ended up paying Ian significantly more for. I was charged £90 fuel costs, as far as i was initially tiold, Ian would be coming from his brother in Reading, not Preston. So why does it take Ian 12 hours to do 4 hour job?? Well here's why:
1. Ian removed crankshaft pulley with great difficulty to gain more access to the water pump. (took 4 hours ttake pulley off)
2. Used an angle grinder to try and cut off the original pump - gave up after an hour
3. Failed to realise that there is an adjustment bolt at the back of the power steering pump to tighten/loosen the belt. Spent over an hour blaming my new short belts, couldnt compare to the old ones as he cut them off. Finally his apprentice pointed out the bolt at the back, that after my dad went to Halfords to buy a new belt, which was the same size.
4. Spent an hour arguing the fact with dad and myself that if he removed the thermostat my car would overheat and blow the head gasket
5. Ian replaced the rocker cover gaskets FOC (just scroll down and see the relevance)
Now from the above points you can all see i'm unimpressed already. But it got alot worse after he left.
Day 1.
· The following day (28th January) the car broke down on the way to work. The wiring loom had been routed over the manifold when the rocker cover gasket was changed and was not correctly routed after the repair. The vehicle had to be recovered back to my residence as the car went into limp mode due to the wring loom shorting out after the heat form the manifold had melted the insulation of the loom.
· The radiator was leaking water from the fins where there appears to be a spanner indent. (probably from tightening the crank pulley)
Day 4-the car had been patched up by Talbir to be in some sort of running state.
· The engine oil light came on. The rocker cover gaskets that were fitted were pinched on both sides in the corner resulting into a large quantity of oil leaking from them.
· The crankshaft pulley managed to work itself loose and began hitting the viscous coupling fan, resulting in another breakdown and again another recovery back to my residence.
A phonecall to Ian was made at every one of the mentioned points, and to be frank i was upset by the lack of his urgency to resolve these issues which blatantly due his poor workmanship.
It took him over a month to come back to me and resolve the issues (Sunday 9th March).
The following was repaired by Ian on the 9th March:
· Radiator was replaced.
· Crank pulley was tightened and i was assured that it would NOT work itself loose again.
The vehicle was loaned forum member Simal (aka$h) who needed the car to attend a friend’s wedding in Hastings. He subsequently broke down as the crank pulley yet again worked itself loose. AA were called and confirmed the pulley is loose and towed the vehicle to be left outside a friend’s residence.
Simal notified Ian staright away of the problem as he was aware of the past history. He notifiied Ian about the problem and need to know about the drivability of the vehicle. Ian confirmed the vehicle was unroadworthy and shouldn't be moved. He tried calling again but his phone was switched off conveniently for the rest of the day.
My SEC sat roadside for a few days while Ian thopught about what he was going to do. He promised a phonecall back the next day which never materialised. As far as i was concerned i did not want anyone from W124 Works to work on my vehicle again, as i feel i had given Ian adequate time to rectify the mistakes, and the fact he would not return my calls was the final straw.
Finally we came to a mutual agreement that Olly from PCS would rectify the vehicle. the following issues needed to be rectified:
· The ASR warning light is illuminated and subsequently the traction control/cruise controls are non functional.
· The crankshaft pulley needs to be adjusted/replaced/repaired, and the water pump bearing had gone again after the coupling fan hit the crank pulley.
Olly very kindly repaired the vehicle in afraction of time it took Ian. Ian had agreed to pay Olly directly saving me the headache of recovering costs.
Olly fixed all my issues exceopt the ASR, which was diagnosed as most likely the control unit due to the fire damage on the loom. Ian refused top replace this as its a £2000 part, and promised to source me another unit.
Many of you are wondering why i decided to post all this now. I still have the ASR issue, which Ian has kindly decided to sweep under the carpet. So much so when we met at Olly's GTG today he didn't make any eye contact and scarpered off very quickly when i arrived. Not the actions of a widely respected member of this forum that has been praised on so many occasions.
My reasons for writing this post is not to offend Ian, but mereley as a my personal views of my experience. Any garage can be praised on many occasions when things go right. Any mechanic can mistakes, its the way you correct them that counts. At every point during this experience i had to chase Ian in trying to resolve these issues.
My vehicle has still not been restored to the condition that it was prior to being worked on by Ian.
As everyone on this forum knows, i spend alot of my time restoring cars. My cars are labour of love, many people saw my SEC and my old V12 SL R129 at Olly's today, and it was to my horror what had happened to my SEC. Ian clearly showed affection/respect towards the vehicle when he worked on it, frequently dropping spanners on the bumper chrome, and managed to forget to use wing protectors.
Ian if you read this, it would be nice to see an active step from you to resolving this issue.
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