heathrow engines

Has anyone used this garage in Heathrow london for their car?  I'm having timescale problems with them, just wanted to know if they're normally really good or if they're really pants.

They've had my car for a gearbox refurb since last weds they didnt' look at it til earliest sat.  I had to fax my warranty details to them this tues, they didn't recieved them but didn't bother to tell me until i phoned up today, despite them knowing they were coming thru and even what time i was sending them!

They can't start work until they have either auth or refusal from my warranty company.  now considering i've told them that i NEED the car to get to work as i work in the middle of nowhere with useless bus times, I'm relying on work mates to get me to and from work, i ain't to happy.

Is it just me or are they always this bad?

the saga continues.

After faxing through my warranty details again, asking for them to reply by return to let me know they'd gotten them this time…. i had to phone 4 times didn't get an answer on whether they had them or not or even get to speak to the bloke who's 'dealing' with my car.

I phoned up today about 10 got through to bloke, who promptly told me that they've not had the chance to phone the warranty company yet as they were (and i quote) "abit hectic yesterday"

AYE?? wanna do my job for a day? i bet your not as hectic as me doing 4 folks jobs at once.

Needless to say i'm even less impressed with this garage, i'm phoning them back at 4 pm today, if they come up with the same excuse this time sweary words and much disgruntlement will be flying their way.

Now i'm not an impatient lady (depending on what i'm waiting for) i understand that i'm not the only customer and that they may have more pressing matters at points, but customer service is not this garages' forte.. and after them having my car for 8 DAYS and no work apart from them taking it apart 3 days AFTER they took it off my hands….
i'm getting a wee bit impatient.

How knackered is your gearbox?  Is it still driveable?  If so, I'd leave it till the final phone call today.  If they haven't started on it go and pick the car up and look for another company to use.  
If its not driveable, keep a diary of future events and hope your colleagues will continue being trusty taxis.  
Did they mention a lead time when you originally enquired?  
If/when they eventually get around to the refurb, you should try and get a discount - they've caused you problems at work, and 'emotional distress'.

Good luck

The gearbox and clutch for what i've gathered is in bits due to them taking it apart to start refurbing, it was drivable but the bearings were gone in some of the gears, and it was jumping out of 3rd and 5th when putting power down, hence the refurb.

lead time was a few days, they took it weds avo so we can scratcht that day for any work being done they had thurs/fri/sat to do it i would have said i should get it back monday avo.  but on monday avo i  get a phone call saying gearbox and clutch are poop and need such and such done to it.  
I will indeed be enquiring about a discount as they've messed me about something chronic and i'm not happy, i will not recommend them to ANYONE, no matter how good they are should they get their finger out today.

ooh brilliant, just called them.. their warranty claims dude has gone home ill….all together now "AAAAWWWWW"
So he should be phoning me back tmorn, can't be that ill if he's only off for an afternoon and knows he'll be back, i'm giving them til weds to have it done and thursday to have it back to me.  After that i'll be down the citizens advice and seeing about ombudsmen and phoning up the local newspapers round their way.

Also less than impressed by the fact they've already taken their money out of my account already, i've not had a proper written quote yet, just one over the phone. I don't even know at this point how much they've taken out, will find out tnite.
As far as i'm concerned they've taken the full amount quoted BEFORE work has started, which isn't how things work.  a deposit yes, the whole amount? tres dodgy!

I'll be interested to understand what they charge you for a rebuild gearbox as I've just bought one from a member off here for 425.00 only took a week to get as well and I've done a gearbox change with Clutch change as well with-in the same day of having the replacement gearbox.

I would say garage should be able to do this job with-in 7 days easy, depending on parts for gearbox rebuild, that may impact delivery of work.

…have I missed something here…???? …warranty ….???? and you paid…. 'up front'….????…

…reminds me of a 'Watchdog' episode not long ago where cars were left in bits until the owners paid more dosh….

Don't scare her Prowler!

Judging from their recent performance I doubt you got a call back today.  I reckon you should head down to the CAB on monday.  It is very worrying they've taken the money already.

lol i'm not that easily intimidated by garages trust me!  I work for transport logistics i know what to say and when.  luckily i paid by visa so i'll be re-imbursed if it comes to the worst.  they took my details over the phone to commence work, i had assumed they wouldn't take the money out until the work was done.  Stupid me!

they didn't fone me on sat so they will be getting shat on from a great height come monday morning, about EVERTYTHING they've done so far.  
I'll be mentioning such things as local press, theft & police involvement, ombudsmen, and watchdog among a few others.

Madone, they're refurbing it so it was about ?400 inc vat and labour, it's now gonna have a clutch change too as it's only got 25% life left.. i agreed to this cos i've got the money now to pay for it and it means i don't have to worry about it in the future, it was something i was going to do anyway.

But as i don't actually have a WRITTEN quote i can't tell you exactly what cost what, once i get it i'll stick it on here for everyone to see.

The warranty bit's the thing thats stopping them doing anything…they seem to have a phobia about using a phone.. everytime i've phoned them, i've had to phone them back if i've not gotten to speak to the 2 blokes dealing with my car   as they've never phoned me back when i've been told they will.

Unfortunately i can't get out of work to go to cab this week..  much important taxing has to be done and i'm the only one that can do it… however i do have some big guns at my work that i could get to phone and shout for me if my puny wee scottish threats don't do the trick lmao

and hey if all else fails i'll get one of our transporters to take me to a better garage.  Then sue their arse for false advertising, theft and whatever else goes.

progress!  of sorts.

I after awaiting YET ANOTHER phone call from them.. i phoned them this morning and asked for the manager.
Who was WAITING for me to call…anyone know what a phobia of phones is called?

anyhoo, i asked what's going on…he asks why did i mention my warranty after they got the car and starte the work (sorry taking apart my car to see what's wrong isn't technically starting fixing it it's diagnostic as far as i'm concerned, more on this point later)

I forgot all about my warranty, as i didnt' take it out, until the monday they phoned to say the clutch was gone to.  I told him i forwarded the details twice and it's taken over a week for them to act on it, and they still haven't, metioned that i phoned the warranty Co.  and olympic confirmed no one from heathrow had phoned them regarding my car and that they   wouldn't cover the costs.  I told him then that i wanted him to go ahead with the car, forget about the warranty, as i'd already paid for it, AND would i get a discount for the problems they've cause me….and i quote the reply - "i'd rather give you the car back than give you a discount, because the costs are so tight"

ALRIGHTY THEN!

It'll be thurs/fri before it's done (wait i thought you'd already "started" work)  "we're waiting for parts to come in"  

i'm confused again, it's been 2 weeks yet theyre still waiting for parts?? are the company they've ordered from MINING THE ORE to MAKE the parts??????
CRETINS

Told him that was fine i'd wait till then (no choice) "we will phone you with progress and let you know when it's ready"  
Me: "WILL you ACTUALLY phone me back, cos that's another problem i've had with your company"  they've phoned me what 4 times i've had to continualy phone them not get through to who i need to speak to, get told by the person i'm speaking to that it's the other guppit i should be speaking to when it's not, and not actually get told what i need to hear.
he assured me i would be phoned….so i'll be NOT holding my breath in anticipation.

i think i'll be asking bf if we can GO to the garage to pick my car up so that i can check it over and take if for a test spin BEFORE leaving, just to make sure, i trust them as far as i could throw them now, i've been kept waiting openly lied about several things and treated like a pesky woman who knows nothing about cars.

the saga maybe at an end! YIPPEE!!!

I just phoned the wide-o's up and my wee car is currently on it's test drive! omg i might just get it back 2weeks and 2 days after i gave it to them!   8O

I will up date on prices etc when i get the bill in.

Of course i'm sitting here waiting for them to come back to me and tell me they've crashed it, and if not that a nice speeding ticket to come through my door in 2 weeks, which i'll fax on thru to them.

On a brilliant note, i may just have the job of the century by next week, doing my currenty job as transport logistics for a classic car movers! YES!  :mrgreen:

i've jinxed myself, i spoke too soon.

i phoned them, they're still awaiting parts from germany, i can only assume that the test drive was for one of the things they've fixed and they're awaiting parts from germany for the other part.

"it could take another 7 days for the parts to arrive"

and then of course i'll have to wait till theyfit them.

I'm awaiting a phone call back from them to tell me when the parts were ordered.

I'm contemplating writing to watchdog and cc'ing them in, it depends on when they manage to dial out and phone me and what they say about the situation.  

I'm going to have to rent a car, another ?100 out of pocket, for the next week maybe longer, cos getting lifts off friends etc is getting very very very annoying!  And i have a job interview on monday evening, which i can't get a lift to or from, and i'm NOT going to miss an opportunity like that!

Whats even more annoying, there are thousands of cars at my work :"( i can't use any of them!!! sucks!

it

I hate to say it…

But in my dark memories the name Heathrow and Engines/Boxes dings a warning bell.

I can't remember why or when but it's just dinging…

TT

lol i was wondering if anyone had used them before, i thought it odd that no-one had… i'll just have to make sure no one from here does again!

I've not had a phone call back, so i've now written a letter of complaint, with a full diary of events to show why i'm soo angry and at the bottom is a small list of who i'll be sending the letter on to if fingers aren't pulled out and recompense isn't received.

Again, watch this space for the continuing adventures of 'my baby' and heathrow engines.

oh dear lmao… i've had to rent a car for the week, which considering it was only ?100 i shouldn't expect too much but dear god!! THE AFFRONT!
it's a corsa! :roll:

i faxed a formal letter of complaint to the garage today, so we'll see what happens with that.
however, seeing as i sent it at 815 this morning and still haven't heard anythign i reckon i'll be sending it again before i go home t'nite, just to make sure they've got it.  would't want them to turn around and say it didn't show up like they did the last time i sent a fax.  

I'll be sending it snail mail also, no excuses for them to reply then.

well my letter of complaint must have been highly impressive cos i had to phone THEM again to find out if they received it yesterday morning AND yesterday afternoon (just to make sure they hadn't lost it in the bin the first time).

I asked for a managers name yesterday, when i sent it the 2ND time, i phoned up today asking for 'bal' no-one of that name works there! wow lies coming in thick and fast from this joint!

anyway spoke to one of the managers, who are apparently the guys i've been talking to all along! good lord! no wonder the places is rubbish if these guys are in charge!

he got my fax yesterday morning and thought his other customers much more important, he would have given me a call regarding it at some point.  uh-huh.
my car parts should be here by thursday, my car SHOULD (pinch of salt) be ready by friday.

He ddin't order the parts from GSF or Euro car parts, cos they wouldn't have the parts my car needed, he said something that was supposed to baffle me, i ignored for the gibbering lie it actually was.

He also said that non manufacturer parts that you can order from places like gsf and Eurocar parts are of 'dubious quality' and made in places like 'bulgaria'.
wow he's a wealth of information this man, bet he's great at pub quizzes.

Out of all the points I raised regarding the incompetance of the garage/staff, this is the one he picks up on?  bizarre.

he also mentioned when asked why HE DIDN'T PHONE ME once he'd read my letter his response was along the lines of:
Your not our only customer, we have 700/1000 cars being worked here, i have to update my other customers, i was going to phone you at some point.

1000? sorry, is that all? i have SEVERAL 1000 going through my depot weekly, I actually laughed down the phone when he said this, he sounded abit confused after that, i think he was expecting me to be impressed.

Now, is it just me or does someone who's written a 3 page letter of complaint with evidence that they've been totally ignored for over 2 weeks with no updates unless they've phoned in themselves, warrant slightly more attention than new customers?


And that's pretty much the whole conversation regarding said 3 page letter. watch dog here i come, just as soon as i ACTUALLY get my car back!

OH! almost forgot to mention, I will be GETTTING a phone call from them on friday regarding my car and whether it's ready or not.

uh-huh.

Hope this all goes ok, watchdog has done features before on engine firms. And sometimes things are not good, or even ok!

TT

cheers tt

fingers crossed i will get it back today, or saturday depending on when they finish sticking all the parts in, test drive etc.

pleasepleaseplease! :?

Test drive?


Oh you mean off the ramp into the pound…

TT

Hi,

Call trading standards NOW.  Don't wait - phone them NOW - they are very helpful and will know if this trader is a problem one.  If they are get one of your transporters round there ASAP and recover your car.  Then contact your credit card company to get your money back - NEVER pay for this type of work or give payment details before the work is done and you are happy with it.

If ther are not a problem company - get your car checked out once fixed by the AA or RAC - only ?50 or so I think and get a full report - you may need the info in the small claims court if the work is no good.

DO NOT give them any more money.

From what you have written I have a really bad feeling.   

Cheers

Rich

lmao they're getting no more money from me i can assure you of that!

I had to phone them this morning as i didn't get a phone back last nite, it apparently will be test driven on monday, NOT A HAPPY BUNNY, they don't have a test driver working today. cretins, absolutely no forethought at all.

they will test drive it first thing on my insistance and give me a phone back again on my instance (several times of me saying 'are you sure someone will call me? i won't have to call you'  'you didn't call me last nite like you said you would'.

I don't need to take it to the aa/rac to get it checked out my work can do it for me. which i'll be getting them to do!

I've just emailed trading standards, included my letter of complaint and told them what has happened since i sent it.

The good thing about all this is, almost no-one from this forum will ever use these plebs again!!!