My bad experience at Camden GTI

[RedColourConcept]

Thanks for the thread. Has kept my mind open as I was about to take my VR6 to them for a engine recondition, suspension refitting and gearbox service. Most probably will end up going to them but will be sure to get a quote first!

[phaeton]

Thanks for the thread. Has kept my mind open as I was about to take my VR6 to them for a engine recondition, suspension refitting and gearbox service. Most probably will end up going to them but will be sure to get a quote first!

Camden GTI has been supporting the VW community (forums/clubs) for over 5 years - to date this must be the only complaint that I have ever seen on the forums.

[greasykitchen]

Camden GTI has been supporting the VW community (forums/clubs) for over 5 years - to date this must be the only complaint that I have ever seen on the forums.

I also had a bad experience when ordering a part for my Mk1 last year. I was disappointed with their honesty (they told me several times the part was in the mail when it was actually still in the donor car) and their attitude (they got all defensive when I complained, essentially blaming me). And while they didn't guarantee the part's compatibility with my car, it turned out to be completely different. It wasn't cheap either.

Wasn't at all happy.

I know can't please all people all of the time, but I don't think I was being unreasonable in this instance. Even though it wasn't that bad in the grand scheme of things, it was possibly the worst experience I've had with a mechanic or any business.

[ffoff]

The only experience I've had with Matt was when I was changing my clutch and ran into a problem, I was trying to buy a flywheel off him an instead he told me how to modify mine to suit. Can't complain with that!

[brad]

as a complete aside - mechanics charge $100 per hour!

Hell, I'm a paramedic of 15 years, I can keep your heart going, keep you breathing, administer several medications including schedule 8 drugs, I'm also a clinical instructor (teach students on road) and a driving standards facilitator ( driving instructor) work rotating shifts and i don't even make $40 per hour...

man i went into the wrong business...

oh, and I can't speak highly enough of Matt at Camden, helped me a lot with my engine conversion....

When I was on weekly pay as a mech, the mechanic pay to hourly rate ratio was 1:4; when I took a pay cut & started working on commission it was about 1:3; when I went totally solo it worked out as 1:2 but I could go months without being paid by my clients (single large jobs rather than multiples). The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. As an Ambulance Officer, you haven't got a lot of risk have you? (from an administrative/cash flow perspective - I am fully aware of the personal stresses in that industry).

I take my Octavia to Camden GTI & find them quite flexible in their approach & attending to my needs / budget, etc. It sounds like the OP & Matt had some form of communications breakdown, which is unfortunate.

A "proper service" at a dealer would have been a lot more than $315 from my experiencebut I can see why you would have expected it to be a fraction cheaper ($250 would have been equitable IMO).

[phaeton]

Ok guys I'm locking this thread before it gets out of hand.

[Golf Loon]

So having been absent from the forum for a few months with family commitments and running the business, looks like you lot have been having fun on here without me!

In this instance, the customer got the oil supplied and changed and a filter from our stock. If he had categorically just asked for the oil change, then maybe we would have done it at an hourly rate. However, he wanted the book stamped which then brings my warranty into play.

We are warranting the work is done to a standard and have all the insurances and licences to back up this guarantee.

The hourly rate of $110 is not our pay rate, i wish, but rather reflects a proportion of GST, workers compensation insurance, public liability, licence fees, insurance, workers wages, taxes and super. This is how we arrive at that figure.

If someone tells us how to do our job and says I want just this part fitted, not what we recommend, I write on the invoice "fit part supplied by customer" and there is no warranty. Or we just send them away to fix the car themselves.

In this instance, had I been there, I would have told the customer to have a seat and let my professionals do their job, or buy some oil and top it up himself. I was actually on a mountaintop on a family skiing holiday when I got the call. I asked my mechanic if we were stamping the book as if so, its a service. That`s why it was billed as such.

Winston Churchill said it best, you can please most of the people most of the time.

If the customer had got in touch with me and expressed his concerns, I would have sent him some free stuff to ease his pain, now its all over the net, I will just have to try and keep the rest of our customers happy.