Is this typical Australian?

[Eureka]

  Yup- pretty much normal these days.
 When you get better service over the internet, quicker delivery from China than from a local company, and better communication  from some one who does not speak english as their first language- you dont have to think for long about why people are not buying from local business' .

 As the old saying goes, people will vote with their feet about service.

[D4D]

Can't get your car serviced in China...

[ant_schomacker]

You've really got to wonder when you ring to book the car in and inform them of the issues inc split intercooler hose two weeks ahead, drop it off and tell them they can have it for a week why they only "discover" on the day it's due to be picked up that not only do they not have the hose in stock, but that there are none available in Aust!  Bear in mind this is the stealership itself that's done this, and then when I asked how I was supposed to get 1200km home for work 3 days later (also pre-notified) they couldn't give me an answer. Many polite phrases were used

[Eureka]

D4D - I know, but the bad local service, ever decreasing transport costs - it may soon be worth sending your car over seas to have the work done!

 I have been lucky and found a good service mob, I will never use stelerships for cars or my bike again due to the extreme attitude, bad service and extreme pricing (cheaper to buy a 2nd car some times!) I have copped in the past.

[Kit_e_kat9]

Haha I just came back to edit my post as I thought writing sh$t mighten be appropriate, only to find its already been bleeped out! Thanks computer

This is an option in your profile ... to see or not to see ...

Kit_e

[Riguez]

Sad to say, but this discussion has put a smile on my face  , because now I know I'm not the only person in the world who these things happen to. Just about everything that has been said has happened to me at some point in time. My wife wonders why I get so irritable about this stuff, I began to think someone had put a hex on me to make my life miserable because anytime I want to do something there is some kind of setback, and its not just the vicissitudes of life. Now I'm resigned to the fact that whenever you want something done on your vehicle, house, whatever, the fine fellow that your handing over good coin to to do the job is either gonna rip you off, install improperly, order the wrong part, not do the job your actually paying them to do, not ring when they should, not turn up, break something, scratch something, leave a great bloody mess etc etc. 

But, on the bright side I've become very good at fixing up the problems left behind and at understanding their jobs well enough to be able to tell them exactly what they should be doing when I can see what they're doing is not going to work - because its been tried before.  Its been an education for me.

And dont you hate it when you've had something done, you want to know how they did it so you can understand the problem, how to stop it from recurring etc or fix it yourself next time and they wave their hands in the vague direction of said item and mumble useless rubbish like they think you wouldn't get it or they just dont want you to know - like its a trade secret or they just want you to keep calling them next time. (eg Me - 'so i'm paying you $200 because you used one of my own rags to wipe moisture off a sensor? It was that easy? So where is the sensor?' Tradie Reply 'under there', points in general direction. me- 'thanks for that, where under there? Which part is the sensor?' Reply 'just under there' vague waving of hand - said with a smile.

[kiwipete]

"Typical Australian"  does that even exist any more now Australia is Multicultural..        

[cruisindub]

I can see this thread going on from a while.
I can see this thread getting filled very quickly.

Shameful. 

Absolute disgrace.

The sad part is that we think its normal and it seems we have to put up with it.
I reckon I could employ a boat load of refugees to do a better job than some of the local so called tradies I've had to look at the house I'm renovating. Be a damn site cheaper too.
The government might even pay me $300 for the privilege. 
Absolute shameful that these people call themselves tradesmen and Australian.
been burnt too many times not to be judgemental first and cynical. All very well justified.
I've worked in some dodgy places in the past. With some dodgy workers,  Australia ranks up there with the worst of them. And the worst thing,it ain't even cheap here.
Absolute shameful.
Sadly all too normal. But WHY?

[johnyd]

Auto-electricians never seem to listen to listen when asked not to put things in my knee space.

[McGirr]

I might as well add to this. I have had 3 great joys with local mechanics.

Toyota Smithfield

First experiance was when the cruiser had a service and the brake fluid cap was loose and starting to perish. Picked it up and checked that they topped up the brake fluid on the service and then walked back in and told the service guy to look at this. He said they must have missed it. Wtf, they had to take it off to top it up. He ordered a new one that day.

Second... Left cruiser to be serviced at 8.30am after booking it in 2 weeks prior. Arrived at 4.45pm to pick up and they said sorry been too busy to look at it. Hmmm I said 2 weeks notice and you are too busy to do it what about a phone call. Too busy to do that. Told them to forget it and also called their service manager who was just as hopeless.

Kmart

Had the car serviced and after checking the things they did they had charged me for new wiper blades but somehow they never made it onto the car. What else was charged and not done !! I emailed Kmart head office with my complaints and the redo of both cars. I had a call the next day and he was very apologetic and advised it was hard to keep good mechanics as they quit and work in the mines. He not my problem so I got a free service done.

I have 4 mechanics all within 1 kilometre so I use 2 and very happy with them.

Today the word service does not exist, you need to be on the back foot and untrustworthy of tradesman, mechanics etc which is ashame. If I get great service I will tell them and will always go back even if they are more expensive. Yes you now have to pay for great service.

Mark

[seqfisho]

It is for this very reason I try and do most things myself, and find I'm getting braver each time with the technical level, thanks to the internet and great people and their advise from forums such as this one.

The other reason I do things to the car myself is I am the only one to blame if the wheels fall off, and then I am the one who may have to put it back together in the middle of nowhere, so all that practice at home builds some confidence in your ability to get out of a tricky situation without having to rely or wait on someone else.

The thing is I am very anal about things to do with cars, especially if I pay someone for the work, I like all the covers back in place properly, the cable ties and hose clamps to be affixed correctly, dirty hand prints and oil spills to be wiped or cleaned off, all the bolts put back in bash plates and not stripped cause the lazy bastards use air tools and not spanners and dont check to see if the thread is started correctly......etc etc etc, you get my point, I dont think that we ask too much for work that we pay for to be done correctly and charged at a reasonable rate.

I am glad that I have a good degree of mechanical ability and if I had the time and tools would prefer to do every job on my car even full engine rebuilds, the people I feel for most are those with no mechanical aptitude who rely solely on these clowns to keep their cars running safe and sound and having their family at risk due to the poor attitude of some so called professional.

Now my rant is over I will plug a business that due to time constraints had to have them do a little bit of auto elec work on the ute, when I dropped by one afternoon to discuss the problem they were very helpful and discussed a couple of options that they said could be looked at the next afternoon due to being a bit busy to do much on this day, no probs I didn't expect them to either as I had just dropped in off the street with no notice.
I turned up as arranged the next afternoon to find they were flat out with 3 times as many cars lined up than the previous day, I thought it would be best to probably leave it for another day as I was going to wait for it to be looked at and had other things I could do that afternoon anyway, but the guy said to just hang on for a few minutes as he will slip mine in and the others can wait because they were all booked in for the morning and didnt turn up till after lunch. So they spent about an hour and a quarter chasing a break in the loom from the boost sensor back to the ECU which was done when the head gasket was repaired, fixed the problem retied everything and taped the loom back up and run the diag machine on it all for the grand total of $45, I was more than impressed and an more than happy to refer people to them. Plus they are 4wd and camper fanatics to boot.

So if your on Brissys northside or are prepared to travel for good service and quality work try

Adventure Auto Electrics
Beattie St
Kallangur

See Mark there, they are good blokes.

No affiliation etc just a happy customer

[LJs GU]

I am glad that I have a good degree of mechanical ability and if I had the time and tools would prefer to do every job on my car even full engine rebuilds, the people I feel for most are those with no mechanical aptitude who rely solely on these clowns to keep their cars running safe and sound and having their family at risk due to the poor attitude of some so called professional.

x2 to that one.

LJ

[becboo]

Holy crap! Your car would need a service again by the time you get it back home!!

Not quite LOL!  The great thing about living here is you don't have to go far to go to work. We do get it done roughly every 3 to 4 months according to the time of year.
We are very glad (as sad as it is) that we have found a trustworthy honest mechanic. My hubby can do any mechanical stuff needed but would rather pay the mechanic for servicing now we have found a good one.

[GeeTee]

I'll throw a spanner in the works here:

Many people these days (conditioned by cheapness from everything from Bunnings to Ebay) don't feel the need to pay for good service. Everything is cheap, cheap, cheap... so for a good service person to ask for a fair day's pay for a fair day's work is getting difficult.

For instance, In my mate's tyre business (where I hover sometimes), I've seen and heard people bitch and moan about a (for instance) $40 wheel balance on a $80,000 4WD wearing $1800 worth of tyres. They justify the whinge by saying things such as "I expected this as part of your service!".

Ummm... No - you paid to have the oil and filter changed, and said you wanted the tyres balanced, too. That's a jack-up, four wheels off the car, balance, then back onto the car. That's at least 40 min time investment by the tech. That's way more time and effort than an $80 filter flick 'n fill. And for half the $.

I am not sticking up for stealerships, just putting a diferent slant on things - there is always another side to the story.

I read about someone on a forum recently, pretty much boasting about how he ripped off a retailer/manufacturer for warranty: his kids broke the product (his admission) and he thought he'd 'try it on' to get a replacement product, citing 'not fit for purpose' reasons (IIRC). It wasn't - it was an outrageous lie that cost the manufacturer the price of the product. Now, in the grand scheme of things, one giveaway product in 1000 sales might not hurt this manufacturer but it would sure as hell hurt somone with much lower sales volumes. Did this dude care? Nup - he's go his new jobbie.

So, by all means be vigilant about being ripped off (yes it happens) but always support - and be willing to pay for! - a good tradesman and good service. Find one and be loyal. It's a two-way street...

[D4D]

Many people these days (conditioned by cheapness from everything from Bunnings to Ebay) don't feel the need to pay for good service. Everything is cheap, cheap, cheap... so for a good service person to ask for a fair day's pay for a fair day's work is getting difficult.

x2

[WilSurf]

Wow what a replies :-)
It seems that I am not the only one.
The next was another great day.
I had ordered a Sahara bar for my early 2002 LX470. This was all stated in an email.
To be sure, I called them on Monday if the bvar was in and if I could collect it on Friday.
No problem, the bar is in.
So I drove down to them, around 50 minutes drive and asked for the bar.
Long story short, they ordered the bar for a Sahara Landcruiser which is different and doesn't fit.
Luckily they found one in SA and will get it to Perth.
I told him that I wasn't happy to drive all the way down for nothing.
Now they will drop it off at our front door.
It takes some effort, but it will happen.
But again, not without a hiccup.

[seqfisho]

Many people these days (conditioned by cheapness from everything from Bunnings to Ebay) don't feel the need to pay for good service. Everything is cheap, cheap, cheap... so for a good service person to ask for a fair day's pay for a fair day's work is getting difficult.


So, by all means be vigilant about being ripped off (yes it happens) but always support - and be willing to pay for! - a good tradesman and good service. Find one and be loyal. It's a two-way street...

I agree that there is a vast majority that are solely focused on getting the best price regardless of quality, but when you get stung top dollar for crap service it leaves a sour taste in your mouth, I'm more than happy to pay extra for good service, it's just a pity that we now have to pay extra to just get what we should expecting as standard levels of service.

[dallp]

We are lucky we have a fantastic mechanic we go to in Townsville.  Yes, we travel from Weipa to Townsville to get our car serviced! That takes us 14 hours to drive there. Definitely worth it! We have been going to him for 6 years.

Who is it if you do not mind. Feel free to Pm me if necessary. Thanks in advance.

[theflyingbadger]

I had ordered a Sahara bar for my early 2002 LX470.

nice, with or without hoop?

[briann532]

I agree that there is a vast majority that are solely focused on getting the best price regardless of quality, but when you get stung top dollar for crap service it leaves a sour taste in your mouth, I'm more than happy to pay extra for good service, it's just a pity that we now have to pay extra to just get what we should expecting as standard levels of service.

OK this should probably go in the rant section, but I had a great mechanic nearby that actually gave great service and charge a fair price......

But then the buggers went and had their shop burnt down in a bl@$#y fire....................

While I sympathise with them and wish them the best, it really is damn inconvenient

I need my car serviced and they are the only ones I trust after years of looking round.
Geez I hope they get on their feet again..............
Good blokes are hard to find.

Waiting patiently
Brian

[WilSurf]

nice, with or without hoop?

With hoop, black bar.
BTW, did you change your rego Jon?

[theflyingbadger]

With hoop, black bar.
BTW, did you change your rego Jon?

i did indeed. the "special" rear bumper makes my car easy to spot!

[yandiferal]

I would agree with most of the comments here, i recently wanted a stone guard made
 so i took photo's and measurements and spoke to the owner on the phone for about 30Min's got a quote $560 mmm OK i live in the pilbara so proberly double that here so OK mate I'll have it, my mate picks it up and brings it back the 1600km form Perth,  when i saw it i almost cried my 16yr old son could have made a better one at school, I'm straight on the phone and i get what's wrong with it??? ummm it's crap mate , yeah i didn't think it was to good when i saw it the bloke goe's OK bring it back and we'll give you your money back,,, Lucky for me i was going down 6 weeks later.
So back on the net and phone i find one that's on a particular hard floor camper in Perth , $765 yep no worries mate a 50% deposit and it will be made and delivered SWEEEET i drop off the first one get my cash thanks bye, around to pick up the new one......... pay my my balance of $382.50 and remember that this is 7weeks after i ordered it 15 minutes later the guy comes out and couldn't get it in my Ute quick enough,,, wouldn't let me touch ect ect it felt wrong so i pick it up and yep black paint on my hands,, Is this secondhand?? arr yeah mate we sold yours I'll give $100 off the price your 5h1tting me? arn't you??
A new one will be here  Friday ,,, um i drive back on Tuesday that's OK we'll freight it up.. so after the old if you ring me up and say its to expensive to freight I'll fly down and shove it where the sun don't shine talk
so after paying $765 and now at 8 weeks I'm still waiting... wouldn't let me take one off the camper on the show room floor so a quick phone call on Monday and I'll be flying to Perth, bad news for this bloke cause he's gonna cr^p stonegaurd's.
The service of business's is appalling people don't care so time to take a stand and shove the mongrel's back and spread the word so other people can avoid the
dodgy mob's.
P.S will Name the company after/if i get my stone guard.
 

[becboo]

Who is it if you do not mind. Feel free to Pm me if necessary. Thanks in advance.

I have no problem recommending Kirk.  His wife Kylie is the receptionist.  He services our 100 series TD wagon, our 96 model cruiser ute, and our daughters mazda 3 (when she thinks of it LoL)

Kirk's Auto Service
99 Perkins St
Sth Townsville
4725 5438

I have also PM'd you as well

 
Becboo

[Sicilianmama]

This is an option in your profile ... to see or not to see ...

Kit_e

Oooooohhhhhh okay