Error..... in judgement

[Howmanygoes]

Been quiet for a while, whilst real life took over. Working in health and safety currently is rather a slog.

Anyhow.

Following having to replace my nsf knuckle, WB etc at £500ish at local garage, I booked my LC into Overland Cruisers for a health check, too look at the work the local place had done and to discuss future plans.

Health check didn’t turn up anything major, a list of small works to do, until I got them to strip and rebuild the front wheel bearings, both done by the local garage and had also done the corner that failed. They were basically dry and hadn’t been packed with grease. Local garage has now refunded me for the wheel bearing rebuild OC did.

So now comes the error part/s. OC still haven’t given me the written report despite Julian saying he would do it in the week after. Nearly a month later no report still, ignoring phone calls, emails, Facebook messages etc. Seems others have had similar problems, so maybe I shouldn’t have used them and I now have given them until close of play tomorrow to issue me the report or I will claim the costs back from my cc company.

I need some further work doing on my rear brakes. I had a sticking calliper replaced but after my recent trip to Scotland it appears to still be sticking, hot and smoking sometimes, plus the cooked brake smell.

The question now is do I stay with my local garage who are likely to be more attentive with the work they do or do I risk finding someone else and having to trust them.... anyone aware of any other specialists in the East Midlands.

Wife is getting a bit judgemental about all the money being spent on the car, just want it fixed and fixed right. Is that too much to ask.

 

[steverjuk]

I’ve had all my work done on my cruiser from @Trevor and so have many on this forums and we all have nothing but positive things to say about it. It’s a four hour round trip to his garage from my house and well worth it.

 

[Howmanygoes]

thanks @steverjuk.

 

[clivehorridge]

It’s not too much to ask, but it does seem to be a major problem these days to get work done properly.

I’ve been very lucky out here in Romania, I dropped on a small backstreet Repair / Workshop company that soon (within a couple of years) developed into a 5-bay new facility which is quite impressive.

They spawned from 80 and 70 series LC enthusiasts, and there’s still four 80 and one 70 based comp vehicles in their yard, even though you’d never recognize them unless you‘re familiar with the engines and chassis, the bodies are hand crafted to suit the sport.

They’ve served me very well for 15 years of ownership of my truck.

Recently, I had them fit a replacement rear axle to give me disc brakes instead of drum brakes on the rear (that’s Euro spec for you ) and they rebuilt the s/h uk spec axle I came by, but the supplier sent them the wrong handbrake cable.

Anyway, they got me mobile and said they’d call me when the cable was delivered.

I got the call this morning, and within an hour, a guy arrived in a van, parked it next to my truck, I gave him my keys and off he went. He returned 3 hours later with my truck, all done and tickedy-boo... and, I have no idea of the price of a new handbrake cable fitted in the UK, but I paid the equivalent of £260 all-in, and never had to leave my armchair...
well happy.

Good luck with your quest

BTW, @Trevor has an excellent record going by others ... and he’s a great guy, having had the pleasure of meeting him.

 

[Shayne]

Took me 8 years to find a garage withing a 25 mile radius including Cardiff and its not 4 minutes from my house . Luck pure luck had me notice 2 modified 4x4's parked up near a side street garage when i was picking the girls up from a night out about a year ago .

I went down a few days later for a chat , noted how impressed they were with my truck and they sealed the deal by saying they only use motorfactor parts so they would guess i might like to source my own parts for them to fit .

The best garages don't have big windows and signs , they don't advertise - because they are busy by reputation .

 

[karl webster]

Again @Trevor

 

[Howmanygoes]

Took me 8 years to find a garage withing a 25 mile radius including Cardiff and its not 4 minutes from my house . Luck pure luck had me notice 2 modified 4x4's parked up near a side street garage when i was picking the girls up from a night out about a year ago .

I went down a few days later for a chat , noted how impressed they were with my truck and they sealed the deal by saying they only use motorfactor parts so they would guess i might like to source my own parts for them to fit .

The best garages don't have big windows and signs , they don't advertise - because they are busy by reputation .

The local place had (unsurprisingly) a defender with the body off and a 120LC on the ramps when I first went there, no adds all by rep, allowed me to order my own parts and they fitted them. Just they seem to have ballsed up big time with my wheel bearinga.

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

To re iterate what Steve said, Trevor does have a reputation for being very thorough and whilst I do all my own work ( except for the injector swap on the 120) if I was to farm work out it would be , like Steve a four hour round trip to Brackley area and consider it time well spent.

 

[Shayne]

We all make mistakes so i guess i'd be looking at how difficult it was to get a refund which is an apology of worth .

Currently i'm waiting for one from £150 an hour marine engineers - a shipyard no less that forgot to bolt a £2000 propeller on !?!

 

[Chris]

Not wishig to steal work of Trev, but I'm in the East Mids. If all you want is a caliper changing, I could help you with that. I've done more of those than the preverbial parson preached about.

 

[nick_the_fish]

@Howmanygoes just to be clear, are you unhappy with the work Julian at OC did, or is it just the lack of report that is the problem? And what is this report telling you out of interest??

These days I am doing more and more of the work myself, but I am driving down to Devon 4x4 this weekend to get the new ARB rear diff installed because they are the only people who I have found who have experience of putting in a number of ARB diffs.

 

[Howmanygoes]

Not wishig to steal work of Trev, but I'm in the East Mids. If all you want is a caliper changing, I could help you with that. I've done more of those than the preverbial parson preached about.

Hi Chris, the caliper has been changed already but something still isn’t right, maybe a damaged pipe restricting return flow. But Iam not sure and want it fixed properly and timely.

 

[Howmanygoes]

@Howmanygoes just to be clear, are you unhappy with the work Julian at OC did, or is it just the lack of report that is the problem? And what is this report telling you out of interest??

These days I am doing more and more of the work myself, but I am driving down to Devon 4x4 this weekend to get the new ARB rear diff installed because they are the only people who I have found who have experience of putting in a number of ARB diffs.

Probably a bit of both. I’d love to do more work myself but don’t have the hard standing to access underneath safely.

 

[Chris]

Well I've never worked on Landcruisers at all so you're better speaking to Trev then

 

[chapel gate]

I’d love to do more work myself but don’t have the hard standing to access underneath safely.

What's the day job again HMG...

 

[Raj]

I thought I am thinking too much to select a garage, Mrs complaining about spending more time n money on car…

it seems a common thing here, I am not alone

I requested appointment from IR Cradock. They seem to be busy so waiting for appointment. They respond to emails n calls always n assured me they ll free up time n call me in few weeks. Not sure how far they are from midlands

 

[frank rabbets]

Are you in Midlands yourself Raj?
BTW just been ripped off by VW. I agreed a price for a job and paid but they had told so many lies I got £200 back from a bill of £1200. I should have gone further but ran out of steam. So difficult to choose a garage.

 

[Raj]

Frank, I live in Reading. It’s a 1.5 hr drive for me to Cradock but Trevor referred me to Cradock so I contacted them and waiting for appointment. I won’t dare to go anywhere else now
Toyota was very close to me but can’t rely on them with Land cruiser.

 

[goodoldboy]

Rip off garages don't respect borders , race , creed or religious belief.Our nearest town , which serves a wide rural area has 5 garages .2 of em are OK ish 2 need to have their owners flogged in public & the last one , where i've been a customer for 15 odd years is best described as a cheap maestro that gets expensive results. He did a cambelt change on the 95 & said the Spanish equivalent of "fuckinell , only took me an hour including the auxiliary belts & re setting the light" He also sells us organic olive oil from his own olive trees at a frankly ridiculously low price.I'm very lucky.