Local dealership. Am I being fobbed off?

[Cannit]

I would be going elsewhere and contacting customer services. They sound like a bunch of numpties

 

[Zaid]

The phone number 08000723372

 

[Ams]

Indeed, well I just picked up the car, I wanted to see the tech guys in person but they had gone apparently. I told the main desk I'll be back in the morning if it's still leaking.
I picked up the car and opened the bonnet, upon inspection I seen that they had made a meek attempt at cleaning the oil that had pooled around the HT leads so it was looking dry.
Drove back home and lo and behold.. Lovely fresh oil has pooled around the leftmost HT lead clearly via the cam bolt which is weeping as is the other bolt. What a bunch of incompetent knobbers. So off I go again tomorrow morning, this time I won't bother being chatty and pleasant. ****wits.

 

[Roy]

Bunch of ****s or what

 

[Ams]

Thanks for the suggestions advice again guys, despite my pissed off posts last night I cooled down this morning and went in today to discuss the issue in a reasonable manner. They asked for the keys and said someone will see me, they took the car into their garage area again to inspect the leak once more and I waited outside. Then the guy who looked at my car yesterday came out from the garage area into the car park to speak to me. This is where things started getting a bit retarded again.:001_unsure:

To put it into perspective, the guy that looked at my car and decided there was no leak yesterday (a teenager by the looks of things) told me that "Bishopbriggs Arnold Clark Renault do not classify leaks from the cam cover bolts as a leak". Even if it's dripping onto the manifold.
He also added "Even if there is fresh oil present" (clearly from a leak)" if the leak isn't occurring while the car is IDLING then this means there is NO leak" Even if the leak only occurs at high rpm/high pressure.
He went on argue that NO mk2 or mk3 Cliosports in the UK have this issue and no mechanics in Bishopbriggs Arnold Clarke Renault have ever heard of cam bolts leaking. It is apparently "Unheard of by Renault".
Tbh I actually felt a little sorry for the guy, I think he and his colleges are simply being taught disgracefully badly by their cowboy seniors at Bishopbriggs Arnold Clark Renault. He really believed the above was completely reasonable. Speaking of seniors, I asked for the head tech guy to verify the logic behind the above comments the young tech made. I was told by the sales staff he was in the back, someone ran off to get him. But then he mysteriously vanished. "He's away on holiday" I was told by the underling at the front desk 5 min later.

This was enough to convince me that Bishopbriggs Arnold Clark Renault have many inexperienced mechanics and tbh I don't want them looking at the car. An individual connected to the branch told me most of the mechanics are basically kids that have little experience and simply do as their told which makes the silly statements made by the mechanic understandable.

Also one of the flanges scuffed my sideskirt getting into the car with his boots and left sticky sealant on the front bumper from his overalls from leaning against the bodywork. Total lack of care.

Before I left they FINALLY offered to use sealant on the bolts, but I refused because I'd heard and experienced enough sh*te by this point from them, plus I can do it myself and will no doubt do a far better job. Also I don't want the car returned with more scuffs/issues from their retarded staff of children. I told them to not touch my car and just and give it back.
Got it back, drove home and looked at the engine bay, lo and behold they used sealant on the nut next to spark plug 1 despite me telling them to touch nothing. Ignorant fools didn't realise four more nuts are still leaking. Utterly pointless. I'm willing to bet it hasn't been torqued to 12Nm either.


I'm putting in a complaint to Renault about their idiotic attitude, inability to fix a simple issue, inability to diagnose a simple issue and wasting 2 days.

So to sum it up...the mechanics wing of Bishopbriggs Arnold Clark Renault = monkeys with spanners led by cowboy senior techs. Not exactly a news flash though to be honest....

 

[Roy]

Disgraceful

 

[brightside]

thats really bad.

 

[DanT]

Its ****. I would complain about that too.

 

[Cannit]

I think I would send the above post to customer services. Pretty much sums your latest experience with them up well. They really are shocking

 

[marky-f1]

Sounds about right to think they daftes had ma car in bits lol

 

[adam1942]

coolant tank is held by a bolt as far as i can remember:s

for info its held on by a plastic clip with the ID 7703072361

 

[adam1942]

Oh also... I had a bolt leaking and it was sealed with heat resistant sealant.

don't know if this will help your case?? see below..

 

[Cannit]

You can seal them with a gasket sealant quite easily but you then don't know if there are any other weak points under the cam cover where more sealant would be helpful. If I'm honest a lot of f4r engines suffer with this from new and yours isn't one in a million but your unhappy with it and clearly have a large leak and as a customer you are not being treated right

 

[Arran]

This sounds so crap, but unfortunately seems to becoming a common thing with Renault dealers again. They need to clean up their acts. I'd be complaining. Arnold Clark are a waste of time as well tbh.

 

[Gorms]

I had this on my 200, fixed 2 hours later under warranty. The guy told me that they had improved the sealant but i just took it with a pinch of salt and await a re-leak some time soon.

Second time round it is a cover off job.

 

[Ams]

You can seal them with a gasket sealant quite easily but you then don't know if there are any other weak points under the cam cover where more sealant would be helpful. If I'm honest a lot of f4r engines suffer with this from new and yours isn't one in a million but your unhappy with it and clearly have a large leak and as a customer you are not being treated right

T200 that is almost identical to the issue I have but it's more than one bolt, and Cannit you right as that is what I was told by my independent garage KBM. The problem is I have 2 weeks left on warranty so I don't have the luxury of waiting for it to resurface after a sealant type fix. I'm aware it's not a critically bad issue and does not affect the running of the car but it's just messy to see a low milage engine leaking oil and pooling and sealant is a bit of a gamble, not a true fix. KBM stated the removal, cleaning the inside of the cam cover, inspection and resealing is not easy nor can it be done quickly because the task requires a good deal of care.
Using sealant on the bolts would be an option if it was out of warranty. However it's unacceptable for Renault dealerships to ignore the proper solution which ensures the issue won't resurface if the customer is under warranty.
It's especially disgraceful for them to claim the issue doesn't qualify as a leak at all which is what I experienced, pretty outrageous.

I know the dealer has been a negative experience, but I should add that this hasn't marred my ownership experience of my 197 Cup, it's brilliant car and a huge amount of fun. All my previous cars had compromises in some form that but this little car is a brilliant all rounder. I just want to take care of it properly and treat it right since it's my daily drive and I should be able to get defective issues fixed properly under warranty. Shame the Arnold Clarke dealers can't see things our way. The only other main dealers in Glasgow are Parks Renault and I've been warned by people how hilariously bad they are as well
I'll get something sorted and will speak to Renault head office on Monday. For now I'll continue keeping the engine bay clean:rolleyes:

 

[Gorms]

T200 that is almost identical to the issue I have but it's more than one bolt, and Cannit you right as that is what I was told by my independent garage KBM. The problem is I have 2 weeks left on warranty so I don't have the luxury of waiting for it to resurface after a sealant type fix. I'm aware it's not a critically bad issue and does not affect the running of the car but it's just messy to see a low milage engine leaking oil and pooling and sealant is a bit of a gamble, not a true fix. KBM stated the removal, cleaning the inside of the cam cover, inspection and resealing is not easy nor can it be done quickly because the task requires a good deal of care.
Using sealant on the bolts would be an option if it was out of warranty. However it's unacceptable for Renault dealerships to ignore the proper solution which ensures the issue won't resurface if the customer is under warranty. :

Yeah it was only the one bolt with mine. All i did was tell the service man and he instantly said its a common issue with the F4R and booked the car in. He didnt even come and have a look. Just a word of advice before you ring RUK, take the car to another Renault dealership and see what they say because once you make a warranty claim the original garage are the only people who can deal with the issue.

I hope you get this sorted.

 

[Ams]

Ah good bit of info ther T200, I hopefully should be ok because Bishopbriggs Arnold Clark Renault verdict is it isn't a leak and classed the job as a routine "inspection". No work has been carried out apart from the unauthorised buggering of a meagre single bolt.

 

[Foxspeed]

Thanks for the suggestions advice again guys, despite my pissed off posts last night I cooled down this morning and went in today to discuss the issue in a reasonable manner. They asked for the keys and said someone will see me, they took the car into their garage area again to inspect the leak once more and I waited outside. Then the guy who looked at my car yesterday came out from the garage area into the car park to speak to me. This is where things started getting a bit retarded again.:001_unsure:

To put it into perspective, the guy that looked at my car and decided there was no leak yesterday (a teenager by the looks of things) told me that "Bishopbriggs Arnold Clark Renault do not classify leaks from the cam cover bolts as a leak". Even if it's dripping onto the manifold.
He also added "Even if there is fresh oil present" (clearly from a leak)" if the leak isn't occurring while the car is IDLING then this means there is NO leak" Even if the leak only occurs at high rpm/high pressure.
He went on argue that NO mk2 or mk3 Cliosports in the UK have this issue and no mechanics in Bishopbriggs Arnold Clarke Renault have ever heard of cam bolts leaking. It is apparently "Unheard of by Renault".
Tbh I actually felt a little sorry for the guy, I think he and his colleges are simply being taught disgracefully badly by their cowboy seniors at Bishopbriggs Arnold Clark Renault. He really believed the above was completely reasonable. Speaking of seniors, I asked for the head tech guy to verify the logic behind the above comments the young tech made. I was told by the sales staff he was in the back, someone ran off to get him. But then he mysteriously vanished. "He's away on holiday" I was told by the underling at the front desk 5 min later.

This was enough to convince me that Bishopbriggs Arnold Clark Renault have many inexperienced mechanics and tbh I don't want them looking at the car. An individual connected to the branch told me most of the mechanics are basically kids that have little experience and simply do as their told which makes the silly statements made by the mechanic understandable.

Also one of the flanges scuffed my sideskirt getting into the car with his boots and left sticky sealant on the front bumper from his overalls from leaning against the bodywork. Total lack of care.

Before I left they FINALLY offered to use sealant on the bolts, but I refused because I'd heard and experienced enough sh*te by this point from them, plus I can do it myself and will no doubt do a far better job. Also I don't want the car returned with more scuffs/issues from their retarded staff of children. I told them to not touch my car and just and give it back.
Got it back, drove home and looked at the engine bay, lo and behold they used sealant on the nut next to spark plug 1 despite me telling them to touch nothing. Ignorant fools didn't realise four more nuts are still leaking. Utterly pointless. I'm willing to bet it hasn't been torqued to 12Nm either.


I'm putting in a complaint to Renault about their idiotic attitude, inability to fix a simple issue, inability to diagnose a simple issue and wasting 2 days.

So to sum it up...the mechanics wing of Bishopbriggs Arnold Clark Renault = monkeys with spanners led by cowboy senior techs. Not exactly a news flash though to be honest....

how did you keep a straight face after all that waffle :lol:

i dont think their defination of what a leak isnt would stand up in court bunch of :whatever::whatever::whatever::whatever::whatever:

 

[Ams]

how did you keep a straight face after all that waffle :lol:

i dont think their defination of what a leak isnt would stand up in court bunch of :whatever::whatever::whatever::whatever::whatever:

Haha these were the series of faces I pulled during the conversation --> :closedeyes::s:confused1::'ohmy::scared: :zomg:

Well as promised here's the update on my saga. Now from what T200 posted I realised phoning Renault direct to make a complaint about Bishopbriggs Arnold Clark Renault may lock me into dealing with the Bishopbriggs branch, who's tech staff have proven themselves to be arsejockeys of the highest order. So after a bit of researching I decided to go to another Glasgow branch, namely Bearsden Arnold Clark Renault seeing as it had the least amount of complaints. Here's my experience...

Up to service desk, explained the issue I'm having with the cam cover bolts (omitting the Bishopbriggs experience of course) and the staff member immediately mentioned it's a problem he's seen before which was a relief. He then proceeded to get clearance from Renault regarding the job involved to fix the issue. I asked him what will be involved and he stated it'll need the cam cover off, inspected, resealed and the belts will need changing too. In other words..bang on! They took the car into the workshop to check the leak and their tech quickly confirmed the above will need doing.
The service guy then approached me and said he's received confirmation from Renault, they will cover the job under warranty 100% and the parts are on order. Once they've arrived he'd phone to confirm a date to hand the vehicle in and added it's a reasonably big job so it may be in for a day or two tops. :thumbsup:

What can I say? They were spot on, efficient and zero hassle. A TOTAL contrast to my dealings with Bishopbriggs who were total cowboys.

So to sum it up.. Bearsden Arnold Clark Renault have been brilliant, tech guys were spot on and their staff were excellent. Result!! ****ing finally! :thumbup1:

I just hope the work goes smoothly when it goes back in.