heathrow engines

my baby's ready! yay!!! all i have to do now is wait for some cretin to phone me about them delivering it back to my work for me!

sat here patiently waiting le phone call.

i'm asked my boss if the mechs here can check it out just to make sure when she comes back.  and tnite i'm taking it for a proper test drive along the motorway with the husband.

the only reason he's coming along is cos he'll want to see how it drives with working clutch and gearbox lol…it's been soooo long since it's worked properly.

ooh hope i've not jinxed myself again

anyhoo, i'm waiting for Trading Standards to get back to me over the whole fiasco so we'll see what they say. I'm sending a fax to heathrow tmorn asking for them to refund me for the hire car.  i think it's the least they could do.

Good luck!  Hope everything goes well.

It gets worse,

On Friday we were told that the car would be coming back to us today. This appears not to have been the whole truth.

I've just been told by Lesley that they have contacted her this morning to say that the car isn't coming back today after all. Apparently now it has a speedo problem and they have had to remove the gearbox again. It's expected to be another few days.


     and it's not even my car.

What has the waranty company said?

I would be asking them to help out.

TT

Lessy - To be quite honest I'd get a friend's help and go and get your car back. I'd then fight them for all the money the owe you and all your wasted time too!

I'd be doubting if any work has taken place so far - it seems there's an excuse for each time. Damn the speedo fault - something else to tackle later, just get the car back in yor pocession!

If their standard of customer care is as bad as their repairs and work…Do you want them to still work on the car?

Just my 2p!

Michael

I'm really tempted to go get it to be honest, i've spoken to trading standards, who were some help but as i've not had much written communication with them i've not much to stand on, more their word over mine etc.  however, i do have civil law behind me that i'm trying to impliment with them now if i can get hold of the right git to tell him.
I'm going to get him to fax me written confirmation of the new deadline and telling him 'time is of the essence' for  the speedo work being done now on TS's advice.

i'm sending them another letter of complaint tmorn with my car hire reciept attached and then sending everything again by recorded post.  
I'm asking for them to compensate me for that.  and asking for written proof of all works done dates, parts ordered with part numbers and where they were ordered from.
i'm getting my car checked out by a mech at my work when it finally gets back and i've put that in my fax to them.

I've asked for written permission for any future works and the 500 mile service it needs to be done by a garage of my choosing rather than them as i'm unwilling to give my car back to them.  their T&C's state i need this or the warranty on the parts is void.

Take the bocx out for a speedo problem?  Yeah right  :twisted:

Probably a duff speed drive in the 500,000 mile second hand repainted box.

TT

crazyquiff said

Hi,

Get one of your transporters round there ASAP and recover your car.

Do it NOW - well tomorrow

lol wish i could but we're closing the site down so pretty busy!
besides none of ours are single car transporters, however i do have numbers for some guys i'm friends with that could do it.

i'll be phoning them today to see how much it'll cost.

i would prefer to go myself with some heavies tbh, if they fall through again i think i'll have to do that cos i'd rather go and see my car and then go mental at them face to face.

they say that the 'plastic' bit in the engine where the speedo cables connected in the gearbox has broken, as far as i'm concerned they would have seen that on the 'test drive' no on the 5 yard pootle to the transporter.

the warranty company btw have nothing to do with this they are an after sales company and have already said tehy won't cover the cost. which i had to find out myself FOR the garage.

anyway i'm sending another letter of complaint today so i'll see if that boots some arses.

well, it seems my letter of complaint has worked this time.  after a bit of a pissin contest with one of the managers and having a good old go at him down the phone and via the 2nd letter of complaint i've actually gotten somewhere.

i think.

I phoned them up yesterday morning to get an exact date for completion, Jerry said he'd send it to me today.  I later phoned Martin up and was going to ask about taking the car as is as they've not started work on it yet, i needed rebooked in to fix the bits they broke.
Martin piped up that it had been on the ramp for 3o mins and would go and see when it would be ready, came back with hopefully 10am (today).

so fingers crossed…. touch wood…

I got a fax today from someone new! the office manager who's apologized profusely for the problems i've had, assured me that the parts were ordered promptly but that they were on back order with the supplier (now they tell me!)   they ordered a diff and pinion set apparently.

Jerry will be getting back to me with a progress report.  didn't say when tho, and office manager has neglected to give me a written completion date.

still better late than never!  however, i'm still gunning for my ?100 car hire off them.

got my car back on friday at 10am.

my gearbox looks SHINY!  works like a dream!

however the muppet that delivered my car on his flatbed lorry did leave the door ajar enough for it to open if he went round a corner too quickly which could have been interesting.

my car now has a new noise well a few actually and they have buggered my speedo, it now rattles, i have driven past one of those stupid signs that flash "30" if you're going over 30, and it didn't flash me when my needle was on 30 so that's a good sign. i go past it regularly so will be able to keep an eye on my speedo should it suddenly decide to stop working and not in a noticable way.

there's a slight grinding noise, i dunno where it's coming from, definately wasn't there before. and possibly related  i might have my other cv joint going on me, however that also wasn't making any noise before they took it away.  so considering it's only been on a 'test drive' i'm dubious about it actually being a cv joint.  My work's mechanic is having a look at it on monday, so hopefully i'll find out then.

all in all though still not very impressed with heathrow engines at all.

FYI - the bill

GEARBOX - ?336.17
RECOVERY - ?80.00
SURCHARGE (CLUTCH) - ?195.00
CLUTCH - ?98.00
VAT - ?124.10
TOTAL - ?833.27

I'm guessing the surcharge is the labour as it's not mentioned at all on the bill.  They've not charged me for dropping it off (although i was originally told last year that it was ?40 each way, this year just before they picked it up it had risen to ?80 each way)

No sure why they are charging for fitting clutch when they had the box of anyway - when the box is off it take about 10mins to swap the clutch.  I suppose this is fair if it is the charge for doing the box as well.

It all adds up though doesn't it  8O

i'm guessing the 195 was the whole labour charge, i asked my dad about the amount and he said it sounded pretty good. he's a mech/eng so knows what he's on aboot.

lol i'm not bothered about the money i spend on her as long as she kicks arse at the end of it  that's what i bought her for. to do her up.  I only get annoyed when garages don't deliver or keep me informed.

as long as the new noises aren't connected to them fixing her, i'm happy!  obviously i'll be complaining about my speedo now rattling and shaking about.  it was never that stable but it didn't rattle like charity box outside tescos!

Don't pay anything until you have everything sorted and an independant survey..

min UK rate for labour ~?30 ph..  London nearer to ?60..

Even a good garage would book a gearbox/clutch  change at 3-4hrs… so god knows what they are charging for with all the work they have supposedly done..

TT

Shrek our mech has taken a look at my car, said the work they did looks fine, but the monkeys must have jarred or bonked my brake caliper when they were putting things back together as they'd knocked it out of alignment, all the noises i was hearing that i couldn't place was the caliper sporadically rubbing against the disc.
This morning it clunked completely out of place and was sat fully on my brake disc squeeling like a pig, luckily did it just as i got into my depot, so didn't have far to go to get fixed.

that's all it was, and they didn't notice it????????  :roll:
i would call them complete idiots but i don't think they're bright enough to pass the course.

However on a plus side they are going to reimburse me for the hire car.

on the down side my big boss Al has said they used to work doing a particular hire car's fleet and had a big fire in the paint workshop destroying lots of cars, and someone else told me that they have been on Watchdog for taking too long to do peoples cars, the people getting annoyed and asking for their cars back for another garage to finish, and heathrow sending the cars back in bits instead of putting them back as they were received.

close call !!!

I'll be asking again for that written approval to have any further work done and the 500 mile warranty check to be done by another garage!
(as per their T&C's.

Bloody nightmare.

I live near Heathrow so will definatley avoid this outfit (if ever I was in such a bad siuation I had to give my pride and joy to a garage).

Thanks for the heads up.
D

Hi,
dropped my car at them 2 weeks ago. supposed to be ready in a week, but they hadnt started work on it, so i gave them another week. supposed to be ready last friday, but said tuesday (what can they do over a bank holiday weekend?)

Paid by credit card over the phone!!! What a P#@* I am!!

Certainly wont be ready on tuesday!! Shall i go there and collect it and get my money back? work has probably not even started…

HELP

Moggy hving read through this post and others on net:-

Bot Verification
http://www.bmwland.co.uk/talker/viewtopic.php?p=388809
http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/reports/transport/transport_20061219.shtml
http://www.tyresmoke.net/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/981009/page/vc
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22heathrow+engines%22&hl=en&rlz=1B2GGFB_enGB211GB213&start=0&sa=N

I suggest you get your car and high tail it away as fast as you can but don't go on your own take a few burly mates and an AA man or other form of car transporter with you. Phone your credit card company ASAP to get your money back and find a good garage to do your work. ask for recommendations on here or ask if anyone can do the job.

Thats just IMHO but I feel from googleing the company and all its previous incarnations you should run.

Craig

crazyquiff said

Take the bocx out for a speedo problem?  Yeah right  :twisted:

hmmmm


i'd be inclined to do as advised. not sure on the legalities of that though. if it were me, that car would be back home and i'd have filed in the small claims court. i would not trust them with an oil change, asuming all is as you have said, let alone anything else.
 get the car back, get it checked, get your claim in.
 alternatively, get a t shirt printed stating how long you have been waiting and how much they have charged etc… not too much info, as you want the letters large and readable, then wait in and/or around the premises all day, every day, until refunded cash plus car.