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Author Topic: A nice little earner?  (Read 3011 times)

inertia

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A nice little earner?
« on: June 16, 2014, 07:13:22 pm »

Had Thunderbird 2 serviced today. On the bill was an item marked as "Battery, Trans" with a price of £10.01 excl VAT. That's £12.03 on my credit card. This turned out to be a CR2016 Lithium button cell in the lock "zapper" thingy. I can buy these from Component Shop for 40p at full retail. Anyone got a calculator?
The worst thing is that I gave them the spare zapper, which is only used when I take the car for a service and has therefore probably been "zapped" maybe a dozen times in its life!
Guess where I'm going tomorrow.................... <*<
DM
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Brian60

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Re: A nice little earner?
« Reply #1 on: June 16, 2014, 07:29:59 pm »

But you forget the minimum charge for fitment of the button battery- 40p for battery £11.63 labour for fitting {-) {-)

grendel

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Re: A nice little earner?
« Reply #2 on: June 16, 2014, 07:41:58 pm »

I once needed a connector for the ECU on my car replaced, it had 40 wires, I was quoted £40 for the part - £400 fitting, needless to say I got the part and fitted it myself.
Grendel
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boatmadman

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Re: A nice little earner?
« Reply #3 on: June 16, 2014, 07:56:49 pm »

Driving over to Europe in the not too distant future, I went to my car stealers for an upgrade on the sat nav, the car is an 09 reg, and was quoted £309.00.   <*<


I shall use the tom tom I bought last year for £100!
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Robert Davies

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Re: A nice little earner?
« Reply #4 on: June 16, 2014, 08:51:54 pm »

Driving over to Europe in the not too distant future, I went to my car stealers for an upgrade on the sat nav, the car is an 09 reg, and was quoted £309.00.   <*<


I shall use the tom tom I bought last year for £100!

Not that I would suggest such a thing, but a look at gpsunderground dot com may prove useful.
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malcolmfrary

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Re: A nice little earner?
« Reply #5 on: June 16, 2014, 10:28:14 pm »

But you forget the minimum charge for fitment of the button battery- 40p for battery £11.63 labour for fitting {-) {-)
Since it was an item in the bill, I would bet your granny's favourite brown boots that labour was charged separately, and probably at a rate that would embarrass a solicitor.  Somebody has to pay for the main agents showroom.  I reckon that if its still working after the blacksmiths have been inside it, Dave is a lucky lad.
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inertia

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Re: A nice little earner?
« Reply #6 on: June 16, 2014, 11:09:31 pm »

Yep - labour was separately charged but the rate wasn't listed. I removed the offending item in less than a minute. Replacing it would have taken maybe three minutes, with time off for a yawn and a stretch. 'Roundings' would be beyond imagination as an excuse.
Mark up was 3900% on parts (trade price is 25p). Oh - and I've 75 minutes in the dentist's chair tomorrow as well - £180/hour.
Next time round I'll ride a bike and eat berries.
DM
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Guy Bagley

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Re: A nice little earner?
« Reply #7 on: June 16, 2014, 11:13:30 pm »

well main stealers can do the right thing from time to time.... well mine has  ...now...after some discussion !


my wife's car decided to die on our driveway on march first.....its a foreign job with a keyless entry system... you just need a credit card style key about your person .... you climb in and press a button to start the engine....quite simple really ...there is no ignition key to lose....( good for the wife or so i thought )


but when this foreign heap decides it wont recognize the credit card style key and wont start you are well and truly snookered.....non recognition of the keycard renders the car immobilized, and it has electrically driven power steering, electrically operated steering lock and an electric handbrake....


so after trying new batteries in both credit card style keys still nothing...i call the recovery chaps who say its a common fault, but it needs to go to the main dealer....


they collect the car and take it to a main dealership in a big town 10 miles from my home....


3 days later the main dealer calls up to say the fault is not what they thought it was...but its been tracked down to a faulty electrical part on the steering lock, they don't have the part but they can get it in 3 days time.....oh and the bill will be £470 to supply and fit......


wife needs the car back asap  so - ok i said and that was that.... or so i thought...


3 days later the garage phone and say its still not fixed  even with the new parts fitted.... its another EHU unit which is several hundreds of pounds to buy and £120 per hour labour to fit.... they fit this part and it still is not fixed.... its now the ECU, then its an ABS control computer, then its a voltage module then its this and that....


every time they were clutching at straws as to what to replace to make this car go ......in the end the UK headquarters of the car manufacturer got involved after i  contacted them and they ended up sorting out a useless service dept at a lousy main dealer garage...


anyway to cut a very very long story short,  tomorrow ( june 16th )  i get the car back from the main dealers.... they have finally fixed it after bringing a troubleshooter over from france.....THEY HAVE HAD THE CAR SINCE MARCH 1st....


stavros will know the brand, we have had crossed words on this already- he says never buy french.. !!!


so there you go , a mainstream manufacturer cannot fix a a four door saloon which was delivered to them on march 1st  in less than 3 months....


but my complete log of calls, emails and excuses were presented to the UK headquarters of this car manufacturer-  who have now agreed to pick up the repair and labour bill of over 2k






so  David, stick to your guns , get your money back or if all else fails, do as i did with the service dept manager at the dealers.... i threatened to create a second orifice for him so he could spout twice as much brown stuff ... it seemed to do the trick.....


i am with stavros now....I will never buy french again !!!
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all in all its just another brick in the wall......

JayDee

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Re: A nice little earner?
« Reply #8 on: June 16, 2014, 11:24:44 pm »

Hello Guy,

Proud of you!! - - - very well done.

John.  :-) :-) :-)
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inertia

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Re: A nice little earner?
« Reply #9 on: June 17, 2014, 10:38:56 am »

Job jobbed. They made the mistake of having a lady service supervisor. She was putty in my hands....... 8) £12.01 is now back chez moi - "ker-CHING!"
DM
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Guy Bagley

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Re: A nice little earner?
« Reply #10 on: June 17, 2014, 11:01:42 am »

 :-)) :-)) :-)) :-))
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all in all its just another brick in the wall......

BarryM

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Re: A nice little earner?
« Reply #11 on: June 17, 2014, 04:21:29 pm »

Job jobbed. They made the mistake of having a lady service supervisor. She was putty in my hands....... 8) £12.01 is now back chez moi - "ker-CHING!"
DM

Oh My _ the old Milbourne magic strikes again! A packet of Salt & Vinegar and the offer of a loan of your ferret and she just couldn't resist. What's the secret of your power over wimmenhood?

BM
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inertia

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Re: A nice little earner?
« Reply #12 on: June 17, 2014, 07:03:39 pm »

Oh My _ the old Milbourne magic strikes again! A packet of Salt & Vinegar and the offer of a loan of your ferret and she just couldn't resist. What's the secret of your power over wimmenhood?
BM
It's as pure and simple as that, Barry; a secret (or, to be strictly honest, a total mystery...........)
DM - Doll Magnet  :kiss:
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sparkey

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Re: A nice little earner?
« Reply #13 on: June 17, 2014, 07:22:33 pm »

 >>:-( Should be glad it's only the battery and not the fob itself,mine ended up in the washing machine a couple of years ago,the total cost of this mishap £142 for fob,£107 for programming +VAT ouch! check my pockets now,Ray. >>:-( >>:-(   
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Nordsee

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Re: A nice little earner?
« Reply #14 on: June 18, 2014, 10:59:32 am »

Hello Guy,

Proud of you!! - - - very well done.

John.  :-) :-) :-)


I thought you were going to say the car was either  WV or a 4 ring Circus, sounds like their Service Departments.


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