Garages: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

county Greater Manchester

Town Leigh

Name North West Mini's

Service MOT

Rating - I feel well and truly conned out of £44.00 (not a lot I know, but considering I had to pay that again 2 days later!!)

Failed My car on lots of stuff, including bulbs not being orange enough, even though they were new. Then wouldn't do a free retest if I drove the car away, but couldnt do any work on it for 2 weeks !!! Also wanted extortionate amount for rear radius arms (120 plus fitting a side) when I can buy em from Minisport (not the cheapest place) for £29 exchange !! Had a slanging match which got me absolutely nowhere, took the car to a local MOT centre (non mini expert) Passed with 2 advisories, which I have had sorted !! Now tell me if I'm wrong but how can 2 garages rate the condition of a car so differently?

So personally I would advise against getting your car tested here, although I must add I have heard that their mechanical work is good...

Try SUREFIT on Wigan road Atherton !! Ians a top mechanic and reasonably priced.

Whilst entitled to his opinion (and I agree with some of the above) some of the "facts" in the above report are untrue.

The car didn't fail on lots, but did fail where our Tester felt it should fail. No apologies for testing cars properly.

I have a bag of new orange bulbs here which the tester has failed my cars on and which we have changed. Some of the current batches are not dipped for long enough and don't show orange enough.

We, along with the vast majority of MOT stations, don't do free retests if removed from the premises (unless they fall within the regulations.) We have to do a full test when they are brough back and this has to be paid for.

We were booked up for 2 weeks (we are a very busy Garage) but said we would start the work the following week if desired.

Radius arms are £110 per side FITTED. Customer was told that he probably didn't need one as it could be greased.

"Had a slanging match" - We can't and won't delay existing jobs for existing customers because someone raises their voice.

So, I agree that we are strict with the quality of our MOT testing. We believe that an MOT test is there to check the safety of your car and we take that resopnsibility seriously. We are NOT con men, if we were we would not have said that the Radius arms would grease up.

If you want good honest work done we will do our best for you.

Thanks for the chance to respond
Colin

fair comment

personally i dont think £110 a radius arm is to bad seeing as everything around it is usually rusted solid and the brakes need bleeding afterwards

County / Country : Nottinghamshire
Town : Giltbrook / Eastwood
Name : Surf Blue
Services : Only ever used them for bodywork
Address : About 5 minites from ikea
Link to Map or website : www.surfblue.co.uk
Rating: 5/10
Testimony: Sent my mini there on club recomendation for new front panel, new wings, new a-panels, new inner a-panels, a new bootlid and the roof sprayed in black(i supplyed all the pannels). I also asked for a sumpguard to be fitted (supplied) a chrome grill (supplied) chrome boot light and hinges (supplied) and a Chrome roof trim (supplied).
8 mounths down the line the minis been back 3 times. When i got it back after the work, 4 weeks later, after surf blue having to retake it down the body shop over and over again beacuse the black roof kept reacting, i got a box back with the inner a-pannels and all of the acsessorys id asked to be fixed on, except the chrome grill which was the only thing fitted. The mini then went back for the scuttle pannel cracking, paint reacting all over the front and to have a few key marks repaired.
Its not going back again, unless they can expain why ive still got the original front pannel with the same dents and stickers on thats still rusted in the same places, in addition to why my mini came back with an empty tank of petrol and 200 miles on the clock after it went in for the theird time. And now ive found the black paints comming off the roof.. and guess what.. its still red underneath .
Its not fair to surf blue for me to give them 0/10 beacuse ive never used them for anything other then body repair.

^^^^ If they charged you for work they havent done then get trading standards on them or take them to the small claims court.

If someone put 200 miles on my car without my permission they would be getting a serious beating !

And now ive found the black paints comming off the roof.. and guess what.. its still red underneath

Sounds like they've done a blowover - where they just paint over the top and eventually it peels off...not proper paintjob and totally unproffessional.

Like jimmyarm says, get onto trading standards

Cheers, If id had rerlised all there shortcuts when id got the car back id have gone to trading standards, but its at least 6 mounths down the line now and theres no hard evadence against them ( i dont think i even have the recept for the work still .
I think i post on here will be sufficant action, just so that evreyone else knows not to trust them and therefore cant go though the annoyance ive been though.

Just To Clarify To Anyone Reading This Artical.. Dont Use SURF BLUE For Bodywork!

County / Country : Avon/north somerset
Town : Thornbury
Name : Spamspeed
Services : supposed to be a RR
Address :
Link to Map or website :
Rating: 0/10



My car was booked in at spamspeed RR before Avon
something went wrong with the turbo so i rang him to say that i was having problems as soon as possible, i did not want to waste his time the least i could do

got called a w@nker as he put the phone down

i am looking forward to a mag RR day there now! what a cnut

i have since not heard a good word about this guy sounds a complete cowboy who knows nothing about customer service

Edited by wolfie, 19 July 2006 - 01:08 PM.

County / Country :Kent
Town : Broadstairs
Name :Manne Hutte Services
Services : General garage/Petrol and Spare parts
Address : Yell details
Link to Map or website : see above
Rating:6
Testimony: 9 times out of 10 they've had the parts I needed, especially odd little parts that, or parts that are stupidly expensive new (Speedo housing to rad bracket - £5!!). The main guy there (Alf) can be a bit old and grumpy, but he always has time to stop and tell me the best way to do something, or a handy little tip that will save me time! Haven't had any work carried out there, so can't comment on that.

The Cheek of calling my old man grumpy!! Cheers for the comments as after over 30's of playing with minis he knows a thing or two and as you say is willing to give tips especially being his business is to fix these as have heard many comments of garages who will not share any info just want the work!
Alf Established Manna Hutte Mini's 31 years ago and is known to be a Good supplier for second hand basic mini and rover bits, New Panels and most servicing items. We have slimmed down on fancy trick bits purely due to stiff competition from larger mini shops who do cheap mail order. Good to see some old mini specialists still about due to them slowly disappearing. Personally should give him 10/10

I think that Manna Hutte mini's is a really good place, when ever i have been there everyone is really friendly and tries to help me out as much as possible, so i think overall its a really good place. Also all the parts i have brought from there have been good and never let me down.

So i give it the and a 10/10

The Cheek of calling my old man grumpy!!

Ha ha, sorry about that, but you know what I mean, probably comes from having to deal with the general public everyday! (I used to hate dealing with the public when I worked weekends at B&Q!). But yea, Manna Hutte is a fantastic place when your working on your car and need an odd little bit there and then! The only other gripe I have is that its not closer to me! But then I spose I wouldn't never have any money!!

County / Country : hampshire, england
Town : gosport
Name : Newtown Motor Engineers
Services : bodywork, mechanical, mot, servicing, sales
Address : unit 1 elmhurst business park, elmhurst rd, gosport
Link to Map or website : http://maps.google.c...tnG=Search Maps
Rating: A+
Testimony: this is the garage i work at, richard (my boss) knows minis like the back of his hand and is one of the few 100% honest mechanics around. 25years of experience and a massive stock of parts. cash paid for minis dead or alive. mini (old and new) and mgf specialists

I'll give Manna Hutte 10/10! They've always got the bits I need and even the bits I don't expect anyone to carry! Always friendly and an excellent sauce of information...I'm never in there less than half an hour as I can't resist but stop for a chin wag! Top marks, keep up the good work

Ratbag can talk for hours.......

County / Country : Greenwich
Town : Mottingham
Name : Palmer Brothers
Services : Everything from engine to body
Address : Albert Road, Mottingham, Greeenwich
Link to Map or website :
Rating: 5
Testimony: They are very good....at taking your money without permission. They will do work on your car without notification and charge you for it. I put my mini in and just simply asked if they could tell me why there was a funny noise coming from the engine bay. I came back later that day and was then confronted with a £60 bill as they replaced the alternator belt. Annoying especially it was a job I could of done myself.

County / Country : CAMBS, england
Town : Peterborough
Name : Williams Minis
Services : bodywork, mechanical, mot, servicing, sales
Address : Peterborough, Fengate
Link to Map or website : www.williamsminis.com
Rating: Very Poor

Bought mini from them a year ago, turned out to be a lemon, had 3+3 dash put in and the wiring behind was soo dodgy Im lucky my mini hasn't burnt to a crisp (bare wires and allsorts) Re-spray was done on a friends mini and I had front end done both were shocking, rust within a couple of weeks. Steer well clear.