Sceptical about recent service

[saynotolettuce]

Good evening,

This is my first post as a new (ish) member.

I've recently had a full service at Mercury Car Centre situated at Brentwood (They advertise in the Porsche Post) of my Porsche Boxster S (986, 2004) and I'm slightly sceptical about the service and would value some opinions from the community.

Situated below my issues.

1) They stated I had a puncture though I regular check my tyre pressures so I'm presuming it happened under their duty of care, though I admit a slow puncture may have been present.

2) I received a call stated my front drivers side calliper bleed nipples were seized and broken (Though the brakes were working fine). I got them to replace the calliper costing £80 labour, £11.50 for a brake fitting kit (Which I only found about when I got the invoice), and £413 for the calliper itself. All of the costs are subject to VAT. I've inspected the old calliper and the bleed nipple brakes look fresh, the calliper looks in great condition with no rust situated anywhere, and the bleed nipples still had paint on at the point of breakage (So I'm guessing not rusty). So my hypothesis is they were tight and they have snapped them off by accident, and I've picked up the bill.

3) I asked for the air-con to be gassed, which was working fine a few months ago but has not been as effective within the last month. They have diagnosed that both my radiators are faulty and require replacement quoting a total of £437 for the rads, £44 for the receiver dryer, and £5.16 for the applicable O rings all subject to VAT. I'm not used to working on vehicles with air-con (More experience with old Land Rovers), however this doesn't sound right to me. I'm also unsure how they would diagnose both radiators as I presume each one would have to be isolated and pressure tested (Please ignore my ignorance if this is not the case). I told them this can wait for the time being.

4) They picked up and dropped off my car. They're situated four miles from myself so an eight mile round trip yet my car has just done over twenty miles (I took a picture of the millage prior giving them the car). In addition they had reset my trip computer and also adjusted my clock (It's now three hours out). My assumption being that they didn't know how to reset the trip computer and wanted to hide the millage.

Any comments would be much appreciated before I take the issue up with the garage. I appreciate I may be just overly cynical but the combination of all of the above has just got me pondering.

Total cost for the service was £1613 incl VAT for those who're interested.

 

[jasonp]

sorry sayno,,i live in woodford green,not too far from you and have never heard of the workshop you used,,dont sound too good though,,good luck jason p

 

[heathview]

I live in Bexleyheath area and for the last couple of years i've been going to Tony at Carrera Engineering situated at Waltham Cross just of the M25 at junc 6. Great service and a truly honest guy tells you what needs doing and when. I cannot praise him enough he has an advert in Porsche Post wouldn't go anywhere else.

Regards,

Martin

 

[Motorhead]

Hi Adam,

I'm not familliar with the Mercury Car Centre but in response to your points:

1) Did they actually repair the puncture? If not, just keep an eye on your tyre pressures throughout the week. Porsche generally don't recommend repairing punctured tyres, although many on this forum have done so without experiencing any problems.

2) I have to ask why they considered it necessary to replace the caliper when all that was required was to re-tap the nipple thread and fit a new nipple?

3) It's not unusual for the a/c condensers to fail at some time. Generally when regassing, the coolant contains a substance which fluoresces under ultraviolet light, enabling leaks to be spotted more readily. I'd ask them the basis on which they are suggesting replacement. Also, there are cheaper alternatives to the Porsche-suppied condensers: http://www.carparts911.co.uk/air-conditioning-condenser

4) Sounds as though they took the car for an extended road test after the service/repairs and you might want to challenge them whether or not it was necessary to do 12+ miles. It could be that the driver decided to enjoy a little drive at your expense when returning the car, but I suspect that you're never going to be able to prove it.

Hope that helps and good luck.

Jeff

 

[saynotolettuce]

Thanks for your recommendation Martin. I might take mine down there if it transpires I need two new radiators.

Adam

 

[saynotolettuce]

Hi Jeff, thanks for your message it's much appreciated.

1) They did fix the puncture at the cost of £10, which isn't extortionate.

2) When they called me they specifically said they were ceased and broke otherwise I would have made the some point. As such I'm going to do that myself you probably see a calliper on ebay soon (Though I might turn it into a clock if I can find a suitable old disc brake).

3) Thanks for the elaboration. When I get back to them I will ask how they have specifically diagnosed the fault and obviously keep the forum updated on their responses (I don't want to be unfair to them if I'm being overly cynical).

4) Agreed, guess I'm just going to have to grit my teeth about this. But obviously not the service you would generally expect.

Adam

 

[PORKA]

Hi
I have used Carrera Engineering for many years and know Tony very well and as already stated in a previous post gives great service is honest (if not very forthright in some cases) and only will do what is required at a very reasonable cost. He has serviced all my Porsche cars he rebuilt my SC engine) as well as other makes and my families cars. He is very knowledgable, has a very clean workshop, all the right equipment and computer stuff has been in the business for many years on Volvo, BMW, Porsche and for racing teams in the Renault Clio cup, the BTCC and Porsche Cup he even ran his own team for a time.
He has a web site and you can speak to him on 01992 892333 anytime between 8.00am and 5.00pm.
Brad

 

[saynotolettuce]

Response from the garage -

We regassed your air conditioning system as authorised, while we do the regas we induce an ultra violet tracer dye into the system under pressure, following inspection of the ultra violet light we identified leaks on both radiators.

When we were carrying out the brake bleed the N/S/F bleed screws were seized into the caliper , we would of soaked them in penetrating

Oil and use tools to attempt to remove the screw.

There is a possibility that this has been over tightened previously.

The puncture on the N/S/F wheel was spotted during the service inspection of your vehicle.

I am sorry you have had to raise these points with us ,I trust my reply helps , please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be any further assistance.