Garages to avoid

[the-termin8r]

I saw an older thread of someone putting out a warning for a garage, so I hope this is still acceptable to post.

Obviously, everything I'm about to share is anecdotal, so make of it what you will, but I feel I need to put this out there. To my knowledge, we don't have a general thread for this, so if you want to add warnings of your own, feel free to post a reply. There's a few places I want to get through. The general gist is that they're rubbish for big Citroens, probably mostly fine for "normal" ones, but I'd still avoid. I'm partly to blame, I only went to first-party places because they offered courtesy cars (or so it appeared on the surface) when most independent places didn't. I'll just go independent next time.

1. Stellantis & You Peugeot - Edgware, London.
Formerly called "Robins & Day." As much as I hate this place, to their credit, they're the only ones on this list that gave me a courtesy car with zero fuss and the technicians take a narrated video of issues found during their initial (basic) inspection.

• I'll start with the worst one. They didn't reassemble my front suspension properly and could have gotten me, my family and friends killed. I have no way to prove it concretely, but they're the only ones that have ever done suspension work on the car.

• Mis-quote prices and then try to charge extra. Had a major service + other bits and pieces to do last year for my C5 X7. They quoted me some £3K which was already insane, but I agreed and authorised the work because the car needed it. 2 weeks in, they call me to tell me they made a mistake when giving me the initial quote (having looked at the car before quoting) and that the actual price was £5K! I put up a fuss and they agreed to the 3K, but they've always pulled stunts like this even back when my dad owned the car and dealt with them

• In general, they have no clue what they're doing when it comes to big Citroens, my dad got it back once and the normal ride height was pretty much at lift-stage 1. Apparently they had "mounted the ride height sensor in the wrong place." I assume they mean they got the adjustment wrong as opposed to mounting it in the wrong place.

• Often lie about the progress of work. For instance I'd ask them for a report and they'd say "we're fitting the wishbone today", then a week later I'd ask what's happening and they'll say they're ordering the wishbone that day and it should come in a week. They had the X7 for 53 days for the major service I mentioned a couple of points up.

• Don't listen to instructions. A couple of years ago, my dad asked them to fix the car before MOTing it because it will fail (ruined wishbone bushings), they MOT'd it first...and it failed...who'd have thought? I also asked them to give me new wipers (3rd party X7 wipers suck), but to not fit them (they added a note on the docs to leave them in the boot), they fitted them and charged me labour.

• They'll also try to sneak things into the final price that you told them you don't want. They tried to sneak a pair of Goodyear tyres in on my last service because I had a front tread depth advisory. Had to tell them at least twice to not put new tyres on.

2. Worleys Garage - High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
Technically these guys are Suzuki + Citroen, with more of a focus on Suzuki, but given that they're Citroen-authorised I'd expect them to be up to scratch. Having gotten fed up of R&D, I went to this place as it was close to where I used to work. I only used them for a diagnostics session (£125/h) and it was enough to put me off.

• I came to them with a list of issues accompanied by Diagbox error codes, graph captures and specific instructions to reproduce the issues. I even offered to join the technician during the test drive to help repro. They were quite dismissive and acted like I knew nothing about what I was saying. When the session was over they came back saying they couldn't repro the issues and that there was only 2 error codes present, as opposed to the 6 or 7 I read. And that to further investigate they'd need to tear apart bits of the engine. So they basically came back to me with less info than I gave them to begin with

• They said that they offered courtesy cars, but at no point mentioned that I have to have held a license for at least a year (I was a week short). It makes sense, but it would have been good to know when I initially booked the appointment. Had to spend £15 on trains to get back home. NOTE: R&D gave me a car when I had only been driving for about a month.

• They won't stop bugging me over the phone even though I've finished my business with them. They called me a few days after my appointment for feedback. Then a month ago they called me to try and get me to book an MOT with them and then a couple of days ago again. This time I asked them not to call again.

3. Theoco - Kingsbury, London
Polite reception staff, incompetent and sketchy. Another Citroen-authorised place that have no idea what they're doing. I've only dealt with them once. Their diagnostics were cheaper than Worleys, Theoco wanted £120/1.5h.

• I came to them with the same set of issues as I did Worleys + a new minor oil leak. They weren't dismissive, heard me out and took the short document I had with the graphs. I again offered to join the tech for the test drive. However, they missed literally everything I came to them for. It was by sheer chance during the MOT that they found the cause (unassembled suspension) of 2 of the issues I had.

• They also offered a courtesy car, but only if my insurance was comprehensive for other cars as well. Mine's comprehensive on my own car, but only 3rd party for others. At least this time they told me up front

• They said they'd cover the London ULEZ costs for the days they drove it. I ended up getting fined 2 weeks later. They paid it without fuss though.

• Terrible with communication. I had to chase them up multiple times. They promised me a call back 3 times in one day, I ended up going in in person that day. Didn't call me when the car was ready. I only found out it was ready when I called them for an update and they said they had forgotten to call 2 days prior. It also took a lot of nagging for me to get the photos they took of the suspension.

• Just like R&D, they MOT'd the car before fixing it despite my explicit instruction and their putting a note in the docs. That's two unnecessary blemishes the car has now on a fairly clean MOT record. They failed it for a split CV boot. Fine, that's valid, but surely they should have caught it when they were investigating the front knock? It was during the MOT that they also found that the suspension wasn't assembled. Again, what were they doing during the diagnostic session if they missed this stuff?

• Sketchy attitude to pricing and didn't explicitly ask for authorisation of work. Unless I explicitly asked for it, they wouldn't give me the price of anything. They also lied about the cost of the CV boot. Said it would be £25 which seemed low for this car. So I asked if that was parts and labour, they said it was parts, labour and VAT. Turned out to be something like £280 on the invoice. I just paid it without comment because I had no evidence of the £25 price as it was a verbal exchange and frankly I was fed up of dealing with them at that point.

• Despite having it for 2 extra days, they admitted to forgetting to wash the car. They offered to wash it for free on another day (this was Fri before closing), but I declined because it wasn't worth the ULEZ charge.

• As I went to drive out of their car park, I felt something weird on my left thumb. Turns out they had somehow managed to take a slice out of my gear knob leather. Went back in to complain, reception people who I'd been dealing with until now were apologetic. I just asked them to order me a replacement and I'd consider it settled. They said that they had to escalate to a higher up. Out comes one of the co-owners of the company. He takes a look and pretty much immediately tries to gaslight me saying it was wear and tear and was like that when I brought it in (despite the clearly fresh leather surfaces where the rips were). Cue 10 mins of back and forth before he finally gives in and say's he'll order one in. I tell him it needs to be an original, he reluctantly agrees. As an aside, for some reason while we were arguing he tried to turn the engine over as if it was a petrol. Of course it didn't start because he didn't preheat the glow plugs. The confusion on his face was funny.

• Gear knob arrived today, I went to pick it up. And of course it's not original, I made a comment about it on the spot. They tired to lie to me again, but I'd had enough, so took it and went home. It smells of cheap suitcase, it's got sharp moulding burrs, weighs nothing and all the numbers on the gate map are a different size. Oh and of course the plastic plate with the gate map came off in my hand while I was just inspecting it at home. Came in a non-descript white box with a single sticker on it with a barcode, part number (AN0022864) and "made in China" printed on it. Googling the part number only goes to dead sites that redirect to AliExpress. The PN of the original is 2403AH, which I bought on my own dime earlier today. Won't be mounting the fake.

[GiveMeABreak]

No problems using this Thread for Garages not up to the mark. Sounds like you've had a run of poor garages.

£125 is the official standard rate for up to an hour of diagnostics as of time of posting for all dealerships, but some will not charge you anything. It really depends on the garage and what the situation is and if you are a regular - accepting that you and your father were already good customers of R&D.

Citroen Fixed Price Repairs

I've used my local Citroen dealership for 30 years and they obviously know me throughout all the Citroen's I've owned. But it's also about the staff and they are only as good as the experience of the technicians. My dealership has had the same guy there for donkeys and he has come and gone but usually always returned. He has a wealth of Citroen knowledge and 'nursemaids' the other techs on the Hydropneutmatic / Hydractive Citroens, even though they are all trained. You can't substitute hands on experience with these, so I think that has a lot to do with it. It's great that a spotty faced teenager is learning the trade and getting trained up and does the technical courses, but they don't have the history, relationship and ownership of many of us enthusiasts when it comes to these specialised vehicles.

I was in my dealership a few years ago picking up my X7 and there were a couple on the forecourt looking at some cars and saw my car with me about to go when they came up and started asking me about it. The salesman (who was new) was going to intervene, when he took a sharp intake of breath when he heard me running thorough everything about the types of engines and answering technical questions that the salesman realised he knew nothing about. He thanked me afterwards and the realised from the other staff that I probably knew more about these cars than he ever would!

I do hope you get yourself a garage that you can trust, build up a relationship where possible and let them know that you know what you're on about in a non-condescending manner is the only advice I can give. But at the end of the day, money talks and good business is where you find it. I often get free courtesy cars and sometimes they waive the insurance for me, or will drop things to sort out an issue without charge.

[Gibbo2286]

There is always the problem that customers don't know the difference between an estimate and a quote, some jobs cannot be 'quoted' you first need to get in there and investigate therefore you only get an estimate until the investigation is done.

[myglaren]

The place I use isn't even a Citroen specialist but the owner is Citroen trained.
I don't ask for a price. I could get it done cheaper but I know with them it will be done right and his prices are reasonable anyway.
Never had the slightest problem with them, always accommodating and some things they don't even charge for.
I'm really sorry he didn't have a replacement for the Civic, only an Astra that I won't entertain.

[the-termin8r]

There is always the problem that customers don't know the difference between an estimate and a quote, some jobs cannot be 'quoted' you first need to get in there and investigate therefore you only get an estimate until the investigation is done.

I get that, but in both cases, they had already investigated and had the car for over a week. When it's something as simple as a CV boot (by their own admission), charging me over 11 times the "estimate" is taking the p**s. Even after I asked them whether they were sure about the estimate they gave me. Likewise, when a price of 3K has been agreed upon and the work has been authorised based on that price (and has already been underway for over a week), they can't then turn around and say "oh sorry, we made a mistake giving you the original estimate, it's actually 5K." At the time, 3K was already 2 months' salary for me, 5K would have been more than the car is worth. Slight fluctuations are expected, but not what they were pulling.

I don't ask for a price. I could get it done cheaper but I know with them it will be done right and his prices are reasonable anyway.

For me it's not a matter of finding a cheaper place, it's about whether the repair will be expensive enough that writing off the entire car starts to look like a sensible option. If I found a reputable place I knew I could trust, I wouldn't really ask either, or I'd ask just to have the info, not with the intention of finding someone else.

[GiveMeABreak]

The X7 is a great car and I loved mine being the last ever Hydractive Citroen to be made. But I as I wasn't dong the miles, it wasn't getting a good run to the point even the new battery was discharging in a week between drives, plus most of the key power steering pipes are no longer available and that, along with the ongoing steering rack issues, sealed its fate and we reluctantly parted company. So be mindful of this issue and I hope you get the most out of it whilst you can.

[the-termin8r]

I'm besotted with mine as well, it's been in my family since 2014 and gone through a lot with us. Previous owner had only put about 9K miles on the clock from new, legally I'm the 3rd owner. The wishbone bushings are the only real consistent issue it's had. I'm determined to keep it going for as long as I reasonably can.