Idiot Tyre Fitters.

[Bully]

Went to the local tyre shop today in Modbury, (wont mention the name but it is a national franchise) to get the clubbys wheels rotated. I wanted to wait for it while they did the work, but was going to be an hour & a half & Mrs wanted some work done at home in the mean time. So when she comes to pick me up, she asks why she saw our clubsport going flat out & sideways around the roundabout??!!!!!
Went straight back to the tyre joint & confronted the 18 y.o. moron about w.t.f. he was driving it like he stole it, apart from sh*tting his jocks when I confronted him, his reply was " I had to see why it was pulling to the left".
After telling him if he did it again I would rearrange his face so bad he would need to pull his jocks down to brush his teeth, I asked the manager why his techs were driving my car like it was on a race track. His reply - Im sure he wasnt going that fast, and we have to know what its doing before we do the wheel alignment so we can rectify it.
What a load of crap. Im sure his green tech has got enough skill & experience to control a powerful ls1 clubsport, especially seeing he turned tract. off.....NOT.
I know I wont be taking my business back there!!!!

[GPT]

What a load of crap.I'd hit them for 2 new tyres for that shite.

[SilverB]

Don't hold back. Name the franchise. Next time they could wrap someones pride and joy around a tree. :mad: (oh and maybe the fitter could get hurt too!!)

[Ryzz]

Make an offical complaint to the franchise head office. Thats uncalled for. Like hell they need to drive your car to see whats wrong with it. That have all aligning tools to tell them if something is even a pooftenth of a mm out. No drive should be required. Besides if they wanted to drive your car THEY SHOULD HAVE ASKED FIRST!

Id be following this one up all the way to the top mate. Thats uncalled for!

[ssberlina]

One of the guys at work had a similar experience here in Brisbane, but this time the car was in for new tyres and after the "road test" they were highly scrubbed on the rear and slightly feathered. He had a major spit and got new tyres.

I think it is very common.

Another chap I know on the Gold Coast now watches and waits for his car to be serviced after watching it come out of the service driveway sideways in the hands of an apprentice.

[IIV8II]

yeah, stuff that. Try and find a good old-school shop that you can trust. I've got one near me and they do ALL my underbody work on six or seven of my family's cars (inc a couple of really 'special' and comp cars) and after 13 years, I trust them 100%

[Bully]

The worst thing is, I was made to feel like it was their right to thrash the crap out of my car which we worked bloody hard to pay for & they probably wouldnt be able to even afford the HSV I JUSTWANT ONE sticker on the back window.

[Steve/redvxss]

Similar problem here , Ihave been going to b jane at nerang on the coast for about 10 years always been good ,the only problem is i can't get tyres to last anymore than 20/25 thousand k's always thought it was the way I drove . I have had all sorts of different cars same problem .
Then I fitted a castor kit to the front of the crummy on the weekend took it in for a whhel alingment and was told the kit would make no difference at all and was a waste of time :confused: they told me it had way to much castor and it would only make the steering heavy and that's all it would do . So I told them to take a little castor out then I was promptly told that they can't do it as the front was a complete mess (it is a castor kit for f___ks sake 5 nuts to undo :mad: ). I told them to do the wheel/aling ,balance ,and rotate the tyres as per their b jane tyre service book :booty: as the front tyres on it are only 17000 k's old and are very badly worn on the inside almost unroadworthy .
I had a suspicion they hadn't been rotating the tyres so I told the wife to make sure they did that is when they told they don't rotate unless you specify, so now I know why my tyres are always wearing out :mad: .
The funny thing is my wife drives it 90% of the time like she's driving miss daisy.
So just check they do the job right ,and don't make the same mistake as me and trust anyone . They have lost a long time customer here

[BionicXR6T]

Make an offical complaint to the franchise head office. Thats uncalled for. Like hell they need to drive your car to see whats wrong with it. That have all aligning tools to tell them if something is even a pooftenth of a mm out. No drive should be required. Besides if they wanted to drive your car THEY SHOULD HAVE ASKED FIRST!

Id be following this one up all the way to the top mate. Thats uncalled for!
Dead right Ryzz, Id be doing the same thing.

[dmhhsv]

What a horrible experience, to be told that your car was being treated like that. I won't even leave mine unattended at the hsv dealer I bought it from. I insist on being with the car all the time. Stuff them, I don't thrash it and neither will they.

[pagey]

...........

[pagey]

I am a real suspicisous (I.e non trusting) motherf$%#er when it comes to leaving my car @ a dealer or tyre place...

3 months ago I left my SS ute (with freshly tuned 241rwkw).. and from the moment I left It with the pimple face little f#$k I was suspicious..

So.. as I worked literally across the road I grabbed my video camera watched them (told you I don't trust people!).. Sure enough.. 30mins later.. and after the alingment.. said pimply f$%k took off at mach 1 and had the ute facing 90 degrees from where it should..

Long story short.. I took the footage to the manager.. pimply f$%k joined the dole cue.. and I was given a $200.00 store credit..

It was a major chain...Store was sth Brisbane.. & began with a capital B :D

[CV350]

I'm with Dmhhsv. No matter where I take my car I always stipulate no road test ( I have no interest in some mechanic or tyre changer deciding how much value my mods add).

[FNQracing]

I am a real suspicisous (I.e non trusting) motherf$%#er when it comes to leaving my car @ a dealer or tyre place...

3 months ago I left my SS ute (with freshly tuned 241rwkw).. and from the moment I left It with the pimple face little f#$k I was suspicious..

SO.. as I lived worked secliterally across the road I grabbed my video camera watched them (told you I don't trust people!).. Sure enough.. 30mins later.. and after the alingment.. said pimply f$%k took off at mach 1 and had the ute facing 90 degrees from where it should..

Long story short.. I took the footage to the manager.. pimply f$%k joined the dole cue.. and I was given a $200.00 store credit..

It was a major chain...Store was sth Brisbane.. & began with a capital B :D

I like hearing stories ike that. Not the abusing of cars, but a semi-satisfactory outcome. Should'nt have happened in the first place.

[racketsports]

About 12 months ago I had yo take my Clubby in for repairs at a local and reputable panelbeaters after a minor dingle when a WRX ran up by rear at a set of lights. Anyway, as I was suspicious of the apprentices taking it for a test hoon whilst they had it for a few days I reset the trip computer on the way there. When I dropped it off the avg fuel consumption was 15.2l/100k and I had used about 2 litres of fuel. I spoke to the manager and told him I didn't want anyone driving my car on the street as there would be no need. I told him of a previous incident at a Holden dealer where I caught the apprentices giveing my car some willy and said i didn't want the same thing to happen. He assured me that it would be fine. 2 days later I come to pick the car up and as I start it up and idle I see that the fuel consumption is 54.1L/100K and it has used a total of 5Litres. I say "WHAT THE F%$K" and go and get the manager. He tells me that this is because they had to idle the car for long periods of time. I tell him that is bullsh*t as the reading would be in L/Hr and would have to idel for 2 hours to use that much fuel, plus the odo has 3km more on it. I told him the most I have had on fuel consupmtion is in the 30's when I took it to a race track and gacve it some so his workers must have been flogging the cr*p out of it. I went right off but it didn't do me any good. Lucky I'm getting an engine rebuild under warranty though. The fact that even after going to such lengths people will still abuse your trust just sh*ts me. Sorry aboput the long post, wanted to get that off my chest for a while. :mad:

[pagey]

fibreglassing chemicals are VERY flamable :D :D :D !!

[vxcalaiszzz]

Write down the odometer in front of them or better still on the job docket they write your phone number on. Valet switch with low rpm cut out would work too.

[V8R]

vxcalais, i was just about to post the same thing.. valet switch with no more than 2000 rpm and no more than 25% throttle opening (could be done on the new ones i bet, fly by wire?)

JM

[VQ304]

I'm sick of these tyre guys too... I've also witnessed a tyre guy (worked for a large chain of stores, name of it is a guys name) ripping it up in my car when he didn't realise I was watching. After that happened I thought I better not leave the car alone with anyone else, so the next time I took it somewhere I went with them while they took it for a 'test drive'... But even while I was sitting in the passenger seat, he got it sideways around a corner then hammered it up the road hitting almost 120 in a 50 zone?? Needless to say I didn't let him touch my car again after that.

Then just recently while I was getting a service I thought I might reset the trip computer before taking it in to see how far they drive it. Well, turned out that the car was driven for 3.7km and averaged almost 40L/100km in that time :doh: I don't even want to know how...

Why don't any of these people have respect for other peoples cars... Actually that's not entirely true. I had to go to a radiator repair place a while ago, and when I pulled up the guy said nice car. I was just thinking great, I've come to the wrong sort of person, but as far as I could tell the car wasn't driven at all while he had it.

[dominik]

Not everyone has the time to do it, but Pagey's approach was gold. Resetting the trip computer and a little surveillance work sounds like the way to go. If it's good enough for some insurance agencies, it's good enough for me. Once you've argued the matter and they keep denying it, it must feel great to pull out the video camera and say "recognize this guy? recognize the car?" and watch the situation swing into your favor. We might not talking about Bentleys here but on principle no way should this kind of crap be happening. I'm glad some of them are getting caught out.

I've done the surveillance trick minus video camera while having a service done and it never ceases to amaze me how much bullshit they can talk. "Yeah mate, she's up on the hoist right now." Wait a sec, isn't that my car gathering cobwebs out in the carpark? It all comes down to trust and it's not easy to find out there. Once you find a shop with people you can trust, stick to them.

[Bully]

Taking it to the top today, Mr Jane will be getting a phone call personally. What has tipped me over the edge is there is a little card they hang from the mirror that says they may have moved the seat, however we have not road tested your car!!!!!! WTF!!!!!!?????? :mad:
Also while I was in there waiting, an old guy came in with a tube with about 4 patches on it- said he had a puncture in his pathfinder & got this mob to fix it, paid for it to be patched & for a brand new tube. Firstly they didnt fix the hole in his tyre, & then when he took it elsewhere to get the tyre fixed properly, found they used a 2nd hand patched up tube!!!!!!!
This is making me more angry all the time, thats not what we bought a clubby for.
NEVER USE BOBE JANE TMARTS MODBURY SA :mad:

[tlr1000]

I have both good and bad experiences, for the wheel alignment after i lowered my ute i was very fussy as car was only 500km old, the guy working on my ute done a great job and said for me to road test my own car. One the other hand, holden dealer 3000km service i see them caining it in the back car park and free revvivg it flat out, maybe he was checking the rev limiter. What a goose.

[PepeLePew]

Taking it to the top today, Mr Jane will be getting a phone call personally. What has tipped me over the edge is there is a little card they hang from the mirror that says they may have moved the seat, however we have not road tested your car!!!!!! WTF!!!!!!?????? :mad:
Also while I was in there waiting, an old guy came in with a tube with about 4 patches on it- said he had a puncture in his pathfinder & got this mob to fix it, paid for it to be patched & for a brand new tube. Firstly they didnt fix the hole in his tyre, & then when he took it elsewhere to get the tyre fixed properly, found they used a 2nd hand patched up tube!!!!!!!
This is making me more angry all the time, thats not what we bought a clubby for.
NEVER USE BOBE JANE TMARTS MODBURY SA :mad:

If it isnt too far, Bridgestone cnr of Grand Junction and South Road...always taken the car there. Dont charge like wounded bulls and do it while you wait (and dont keep you waiting forever). I'd happily leave the car there if I had to tho, good people.

And no, I dont have any mates there or any other reason to recommend them...

[xshore]

I am so paranoid about these situations. For mechanical issues I take my car to my gf's uncle and he is v. professional. If for any reason I had to take it to someone else, like what you guys are saying about for tyres, I wouldn't let it out of my sight no matter what, period. You should never trust people you don't know.

For the rest of us you should post the name of that place that treated ur car like shit as a warning to anyone else.

[pagey]

would LOVE to post the name of the shop, address etc.. but in this day and age you are just as likely to get sued for slander... but....as I said in my post.. I wasn't filled with confidence with a capital B :stick:

:D :D :D

[dvx]

yeah, stuff that. Try and find a good old-school shop that you can trust. I've got one near me and they do ALL my underbody work on six or seven of my family's cars (inc a couple of really 'special' and comp cars) and after 13 years, I trust them 100%

Im interested to hear more. Can you PM me this shop, as i'm finding a hard time finding a place that wont lose my lock nuts and rotates wheels when i request it!

[Crusty]

If it isnt too far, Bridgestone cnr of Grand Junction and South Road...always taken the car there. Dont charge like wounded bulls and do it while you wait (and dont keep you waiting forever). I'd happily leave the car there if I had to tho, good people.

And no, I dont have any mates there or any other reason to recommend them...

The problem these days is that big tyre places tend to turnover staff on a regular basis (how long would you want to be fitting tyres for?) so one day they do a good job and have good staff, next they could be out flogging your car for fun. About the only thing you could do is watch them like a hawk, unfortunately these days too many people think it's OK to abuse someone elses property.

[XLR8 V8]

I actually had an pleasant experience with a tyre fitter on Tuesday. Was doing my work run to Maryborough/Hervey Bay. My car has been in need of new rear tyres for a few weeks, and one was particularly bad as my insurer only replaced 1 of them after my accident a while back.:rolleyes:
Anyway, I roll into Hervey Bay and get my work done with some time to spare, so I ducked into the Bob Jane Hervey Bay to price some tyres. The bloke at the counter was very friendly and helpful and we worked out the best tyres for my requirements - rather than just what they were trying to flog that month. I gave him the go ahead.
I handed them the keys and said I'd go for a wander to the shopping centre to get something to eat. By the time I got to the other side of the road I heard my car start. I thought that was a little quick as they seemed to be quite busy, so I turned and watched. He drove it straight inside and onto the hoist - no laps around the bloke here.

By the time I got back, the bloke apologised that it was taking so long (had only been about 20mins) - I said I didn't even expect him to have started yet with them being busy and me just driving in with no booking. He said that he assumed that since I had to drive back to Brisbane, that I'd want to be back on the road ASAP. Nice!
After fitting the tyres, he came in and said, "one tyre was shot, but the other's still good for another 8-10000kms ... I'll wrap it up in plastic wrap and put it in your boot if you like?". Many tyre places would have said nothing and just kept an S03 with that much meat left on it - and probably still charge a "disposal fee".
Before I left, he commented that he liked my car - "I can appreciate a car that isn't cluttered by a bodykit, just some nice wheels and suspension to get it sitting right. I'm a fan of the old 5.0L sounds, but yours is sure one of the nicest new ones I've heard".

Good guy and the service was excellent.

[sloone]

I had an alignment done at one place and they did a shit job. Following week I took it back and they fixed it straight away, and I asked how come they didn't notice it when they test drove it and the manager said they no longer test drove the cars. Been back a few times for tyres and alignments (a few huge pot holes to and from work) and even though they have turned over staff (same manager though), same thing, car park to hoists/ramp and back to car park. Where do I take it? A Bob Jane outlet. Must just be the different managers and their staff.

[wally01]

I don't have an LS1 but CLUSE BRO'S Parafield have always been good to me ,took step daughters VS Sedan up for alignment they never test drove it ,just on to the hoist and off then tyre blacked the tyres ,good enough for me to keep going back ..

[Bully]

The manager has offered me a set of ROH FURY 18" (which I asked him for a quote for before I knew they had thrashed the crap outta my car) for my ute with tyres for $2300 with lock nuts fitted balanced & wheel alignment (NO TEST DRIVE). Is this a good deal do you guys think??? He seems really sincere in his apology & is also a fellow ls1 owner - has an R8 and VT SS. What does everybody think????

[andrew77]

real nice wheels them fury's!!what sort of tyres? if there a decent brand of tyre i think they would be a steal

[group 3]

The manager has offered me a set of ROH FURY 18" (which I asked him for a quote for before I knew they had thrashed the crap outta my car) for my ute with tyres for $2300 with lock nuts fitted balanced & wheel alignment (NO TEST DRIVE). Is this a good deal do you guys think??? He seems really sincere in his apology & is also a fellow ls1 owner - has an R8 and VT SS. What does everybody think????

Why reward their poor service by spending more money with them?

I had a problem with the same place, I used to keep a few $$ in the console for emergency use (ie milk and paper!) they cleaned me out after a wheel alignment. Naturally everything was denied and I couldn't prove it but I will never go back.

[XR6 Martin]

Went to the local tyre shop today in Modbury, (wont mention the name but it is a national franchise) to get the clubbys wheels rotated. I wanted to wait for it while they did the work, but was going to be an hour & a half & Mrs wanted some work done at home in the mean time. So when she comes to pick me up, she asks why she saw our clubsport going flat out & sideways around the roundabout??!!!!!
Went straight back to the tyre joint & confronted the 18 y.o. moron about w.t.f. he was driving it like he stole it, apart from sh*tting his jocks when I confronted him, his reply was " I had to see why it was pulling to the left".
After telling him if he did it again I would rearrange his face so bad he would need to pull his jocks down to brush his teeth, I asked the manager why his techs were driving my car like it was on a race track. His reply - Im sure he wasnt going that fast, and we have to know what its doing before we do the wheel alignment so we can rectify it.
What a load of crap. Im sure his green tech has got enough skill & experience to control a powerful ls1 clubsport, especially seeing he turned tract. off.....NOT.
I know I wont be taking my business back there!!!!


Bully, try posting your complaint on www.notgoodenough.com.au
Once a complaint is posted the business is contacted and they are left to make the next move, more often than not the business comes through with something positive. And with a company as big as the one your complaining about you can bet something will be done about it.

[TUNDV8]

Well I went and bought a set of 18" ROH FURY SHADOW CHROME with fairly decent tyres (235/40/18) and they told me that they sold it to me for rock bottom price which was $2300. They did a very good job but it prob just depends on that staff they have on at that time i guess. So considering they did it for the same price I wouldn't really consider $2300 anything special, so i would prob go somewhere else... Hey mine didn't even include a wheel balance...They prob tell every customer they are giving it to them for a "special price"

As said b4 i prob would take it somewhere else (considering their history)... any respectable tyre/wheel dealer will match that price on the furies, or even better it...

[cheffy]

It sounds like Mr Stewart has a bad employee... I've had work done by him and I hae always found them to be very good... However I now use city discounts at reynella because they give me tyres nd matty is the dunlop motorsport agent...


See what you can get the wheels and tyres for elsewhere....

[NORTY8]

I had wheel alignment done at a B J franchise in Melbourne on my previous car and found out 3-4 weeks later that one of my front wheels only had 3 wheels nuts holding it on! (wheels had centre cap over nuts)

Rang state manager and got some crap apology and was told that employee was no longer there.

Not good enough considering it was a front wheel and I regularly do plenty of highway driving!

[NORTY8]

oh and a Holden Dealer a few k's nth of Melb city was checking some minor issues with my current ride and while I was stretching my legs from sitting in waiting room I saw a young mechanic raise and then lower my car on hoist a few times.

Then for no reason at all I heard him revving the sh@t out of my car! :mad: Not quite sure why engine had to be revved so hard considering the brakes and suspension were the only items requiring some attention!!!!???
This went on for at least 30-60 seconds and then he drove it around and parked at the back carpark.

I was furious and brought it to the attention of the Service Manager.

His response was- 'Im sure he didnt over rev it and I assure you that no damage has been done. If you were not here you wouldnt have known about it and there wouldnt be any problem'.

This response made me upset and my interpretation of his statement is the same as saying 'what you dont see us do with your car wont hurt you!'. :mad:

Im not ever going there again and Im never ever leaving my car anywhere without me being present. :mad:

[BOBGEN111]

I don't have an LS1 but CLUSE BRO'S Parafield have always been good to me ,took step daughters VS Sedan up for alignment they never test drove it ,just on to the hoist and off then tyre blacked the tyres ,good enough for me to keep going back ..

I second that, they are a good mob. They have never had an excuse to drive my car and they first couple of times i went there, I even tried to set them up by dropping the car of and then getting picked up to go shopping and then hide but all they did was put the car on and off the hoist without any unecessary reving or driving.
Plus they are the only place that will sell my 15" tuanzas for $130.

[commomate]

If it isnt too far, Bridgestone cnr of Grand Junction and South Road...always taken the car there. Dont charge like wounded bulls

No place charges like wounded bulls on tyres and if they did would be out of business very quickley and most small stores are lucky to break even as there is only a very small mark up on them the only way stores make money is to sell in bulk

[commomate]

The problem these days is that big tyre places tend to turnover staff on a regular basis (how long would you want to be fitting tyres for?) so one day they do a good job and have good staff, next they could be out flogging your car for fun.

Most stores turn over staff quickley because its dirty work the hours are long and the wages are CRAP because there is no money in tyres (see above) as evey body shops around an haggles so the stores can not aford to keep on the good staff and they go on to get better jobs and they are left with the people you discribe