197: Birch down auto services

[Adcupsport]

Hi everyone. I have had a few problems with my 197 recently and looking through hear I found what I thought was the answer to my problem. A lot of you guys on hear have recommendations for birch down auto services in Malpas Cheshire. So being only half a hour away I took a drive straight up to be met by a fella who really did seam a genuine nice and trustworthy guy. Told him my problems and he got me booked in 13th if jan (this was a week and a half before Christmas) I waited patiently and a few more little problems arose like abs sensor as and thermostat. So I rang them up to give them a heads up. I was told that it would take more than a day to get the parts but that won’t be a problem as can leave it with them and they have a curtesy car. So I arrived bright and early all excited told him problems and instantly sed we will have to order some parts I will keep you updated with what we fined. I got a call at 3 o’clock come get saying come get it and they have changed 1 lower ball joint as was goosed and that’s £120 please so straight away not happy as they should have changed both upper and lower. And if he had of rang me first with what he found like he sed I would have asked fir both sides to be bone top and bottom and would have had polly bushes installed as well . So I drove all the way back up costing me £13 fir the privilege of using there curtesy car . I asked if it driving better to be told yeh well it should now that’s bin changed. Hold on? Have you not test drive it? Right now we have to order the thermostat and abs sensor and get you booked back in. Ok when can you get the parts. I will call them shortly and let you know but parts will probably be on back order. So once again waiting patiently luke a good boy. And guess what now Saturday 3 days later and still no call. I rang renault and abs sensor is in stock ind the thermostat I will have to order from online. I told him I am booked in to efi for a re map on the 25th will it be before then for him to shrug his shoulders and go I don’t know . So driving back home with my dash still lit up like a Christmas tree £130 odd worse off wondering why I am constantly miss treated by so called professional . I just want my car right and I’m really loosing heart already. I have my partners Clio sat at the side of the house with a miss fire and had 3 auto mechanic out all charged me and never turned back up . Just thought I would let everyone know how let down I feel by such a highly spoke off garage and hope that no one els gets fobbed off like me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DS197]

Sorry to hear that. It’s not just how well a garage does work that matters, but also how they treat customers afterwards or when things go wrong.

I sent them an email to get a quote (which was just a formality as I would have booked in with them anyway) and they never got back to me. It was a good £3/400s worth of work in labour alone. That’s where my experience with them started and ended. If other specialists (including those who work solo) can respond to emails, why can’t they. Anyway I digress.

I’ve used many different specialists all over the country, and I’d recommend going down to Mick at Diamond Motors. I realise it’s a treck, however you won’t regret it for one second. You won’t find a single bad review and believe me when I say it is worth the wait. What he doesn’t know about Renaults isn’t worth knowing.

Keep us updated on if you get the work done elsewhere.

 

[Adcupsport]

Sorry to hear that. It’s not just how well a garage does work that matters, but also how they treat customers afterwards or when things go wrong.

I sent them an email to get a quote (which was just a formality as I would have booked in with them anyway) and they never got back to me. It was a good £3/400s worth of work in labour alone. That’s where my experience with them started and ended. If other specialists (including those who work solo) can respond to emails, why can’t they. Anyway I digress.

I’ve used many different specialists all over the country, and I’d recommend going down to Mick at Diamond Motors. I realise it’s a treck, however you won’t regret it for one second. You won’t find a single bad review and believe me when I say it is worth the wait. What he doesn’t know about Renaults isn’t worth knowing.

Keep us updated on if you get the work done elsewhere.

It’s so disappointing and disheartening. I just don’t know why they don’t want my money. What done me as well is that there was another car there with a thermostat problem and he actually told him not to drive it while it’s not working properly as will cause damage and just turned to me and went we will order yours bye bye.
That’s fir the recommendation it’s only a hour and a half away from me so not bad atall just with all this covid crap it’s a bit risky driving that far to get my car fixed. Hopefully this will blow over soon and will be able to get up there. I’m going to do it myself at my mates unit. Thinks that’s how it will be from now on .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[turkie172]

Well £120 is the going rate for a specialist to change a lower ball joint and it is a bit of a job, Upper ball joints don't always fail and don't always need changed as for a test drive if the part was changed a test drive is not necessary and poly bushes are not part of that job as its not something you can do along the way. The only review I found on the site was 2011 and was just a service a lot might have changed since then. Why not become a member and get access to the "how to" section if you want to fix your own car and maybe the other car as well.
Normally Renault dealer part orders take three days and a 75 Degree thermostat's are rare for a quality one round here dealer orders don't arrive to after 3pm on the third day (N.Ireland). Thermostats can fail in two ways they can block the system and the car overheat which means don't drive it or they fail to close and the car does not get up to or stay at optimal temperature but drivable so don't feel the guy is treating you like shit these are difficult times, the ABS problem seems simple but could be anything at the 4 wheels and steering to be honest the fault happened after you booked him so he had no parts or time set aside for them and if its the rear pickup plate rusted you cant ring your local parts store to get one unless you ring the dealer and order a stub axel assembly (comes attached) to get a £16 plate that others charge £60 and on eBay. The Dealer charges £600 for a lower ball joint if that gives you perspective it's the assembly they change they aren't allowed to change the ball joint and if the pinch bolt does not come out the EE jointing bracket gets replaced which is £175 of that. I don't know the garage or the people in it but they must know their way around RenaultSport cars so you got a lower ball joint changed for £120 and the use of a courtesy car. After a holiday period is a hard time in the car trade, cars break down over Christmas and it's always a few days after everything opens to get parts to start to clear the backlog.

 

[Adcupsport]

Well £120 is the going rate for a specialist to change a lower ball joint and it is a bit of a job, Upper ball joints don't always fail and don't always need changed as for a test drive if the part was changed a test drive is not necessary and poly bushes are not part of that job as its not something you can do along the way. The only review I found on the site was 2011 and was just a service a lot might have changed since then. Why not become a member and get access to the "how to" section if you want to fix your own car and maybe the other car as well.
Normally Renault dealer part orders take three days and a 75 Degree thermostat's are rare for a quality one round here dealer orders don't arrive to after 3pm on the third day (N.Ireland). Thermostats can fail in two ways they can block the system and the car overheat which means don't drive it or they fail to close and the car does not get up to or stay at optimal temperature but drivable so don't feel the guy is treating you like shit these are difficult times, the ABS problem seems simple but could be anything at the 4 wheels and steering to be honest the fault happened after you booked him so he had no parts or time set aside for them and if its the rear pickup plate rusted you cant ring your local parts store to get one unless you ring the dealer and order a stub axel assembly (comes attached) to get a £16 plate that others charge £60 and on eBay. The Dealer charges £600 for a lower ball joint if that gives you perspective it's the assembly they change they aren't allowed to change the ball joint and if the pinch bolt does not come out the EE jointing bracket gets replaced which is £175 of that. I don't know the garage or the people in it but they must know their way around RenaultSport cars so you got a lower ball joint changed for £120 and the use of a courtesy car. After a holiday period is a hard time in the car trade, cars break down over Christmas and it's always a few days after everything opens to get parts to start to clear the backlog.

Firstly can you please stop the becoming a member rubbish I am a member. The first thing did was become a member. As I have done with my previous cars on other forums. Money wasn’t the issue the issue is I booked my car in to get fixed and it’s still not fixed. They could have told me that I would struggle getting parts for it when I rang to pre warn them about the extra works.
Why dose pretty much every one recommend that you you change top and bottom at the same time then? I understand they may not have gone but what’s the point in say I’m driving another 4 5k and the top ones go? And all has to come apart again. I wanted my car right and new parts so I know what has been done. I have got the bits on order and I have someone els to fit them for me. I have my own business and we are quite busy at the moment so haven’t got time to do my car hence why I have been taking it to to a garage. There’s stuff on hear from them asking fir photos of cars for there website and the guys on there were pretty hyped about them and I have seen on Facebook as well. Any way I’m personally not happy and just didn’t want anyone getting disappointed like me. Where as long life exhaust on the other hand I can highly recommend as they installed my new custom straight through last week and it’s mint.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[turkie172]

OK I can only see what you write so now I know about the extra work that's fine so they probably know what's wrong after they seen the car and are waiting on parts and as far as the ball joints are concerned yea change them all if your pulling the whole thing apart but the lower ball joint can be done on the car without fully pulling everything apart did you ask them to change everything when you left the car in or fix the knock issue so they did not ring to ask did you want everything else that was OK changed that's fine. The upper ball joints do less work and are better protected and don't normally fail they cant move up and down and are normally damaged by someone trying to stop it spinning undoing it nut or trying to separate the two hub assembly's and the lower ones have no boots catch the road grime and corrode and a track curb or good pothole can kill them so don't worry if you are going to do track stuff it can be done when you change your suspension so no problem getting to hear your opinion hope we can help you in any future problems.
As for the membership thing if you look at your name icon it says paid member/Gold member etc. under it that's why people are asking you to join try and go into the "How to" section to check and bring it up with the admins of the forum again we are here for a common purpose and can only act on what we see.

If the other Clio has a misfire and is a petrol the coil packs can go down even two at a time I fixed a 197 cup for a dealer which he was selling near me had two coil packs go down you could see from the sparkplugs which cylinders by the marks left on them the car does not show errors or warning lights for this fault if that helps I gave him my old plugs and showed him which coil packs to change as it ran fine on my coil packs.

Best of luck let us know how the car turns out.