I have possibly just had the worst experience I have ever had when it comes to the Motor Industry. And considering the massive fight I had with Peugot /Citroen last year that's quite a statement.
Long story - I'll try and keep it to the point.
Some monkeys did a crappy job overhauling the engine on my 626 last year. I ended up taking it to Automate (out of the frying pan into the fire) to sort it out properly.
They redid the engine and I got it back in Feb. I drove it for 2 weeks and on my way back to automate to sort out slipping belts one Monday the radiator burst.
I had the thing towed into Automate and here is when the pawpaw hit the fan. I left it there and for two days I got no response from them. I left messages and even went there, but the manager was to busy to see me. Eventually he phones me on the Wednesday late and tells me that the radiator burst, that's why the car was overheating.
I tell the idjit that the radiator burst while the temp was down. He is making no sense.
I posted about it here: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/315845-Radiator-question.?highlight=radiator
Then I had to throw my toys before I managed to speak to Ross the owner of Automate.
He is apathetic, saying because I drove the the car for 900km before it failed its not their problem. Their 6 month guarantee is obviously worthless. He offers to charge me only R2600 for the parts. Yea right! A R600 radiator and a R30 belt come to R2600? FSKING MORON.
From there I went to RMI of which automate is supposedly a member. I find out that only some of the branches are members and the branch I'm dealing with is marked as closed down. Rmi then says they will help me anyway (some help
) and off we go.
Automate then stonewalls RMI for 2 months and they allow it while I am without a car. Supposedly they have 5 days to reply to my complaint, they took 60 days without an issue or recourse from RMI. After having to get really hard and nasty with the generally sloth like workings at RMI they eventually get a response from Automate.
They are trying to blame the whole thing on my power steering. First they say that the cap was missing from the power steering fluid bottle and sprayed everywhere causing the belt to fail on the water pump and somehow that caused the radiator to burst. Then they change the story to the power steering pump is leaking fluid. At this point I get a bit antsy because my car is still with them and I send my driver with the bakkie to fetch it.
I replaced the radiator and the belts myself and got it running. Now it turns out that the car is still overheating because the (insert suitable explicative here) at Automate did not actually fit the R171 thermostat they charged me for (new one R65) and the old one disintegrated and now the pieces are lodged in the engine blocking the water flow (I suspect).
This is what I took out of the car:
This is what it should look like
It was up to me (not a mechanic) to find the cause of the radiator bursting after they insisted that it was the power steering fluid leaking from the pump that cause the belt on the alternator/water pump to come off and somehow caused the radiator to burst.
To back up their theory they loosened a pipe on the power steering pump to MAKE it leak. They threw away the cap to my power steering fluid bottle (R80 to replace) as part one of their bull**** story and when that didn't fly they went on to sabotage the pump itself.
RMI are now still insisting on a mediation meeting, but since they have been lying and sabotaging the process from the beginning I don't have much hope.
Just stay away from them for your own sake.
Long story - I'll try and keep it to the point.
Some monkeys did a crappy job overhauling the engine on my 626 last year. I ended up taking it to Automate (out of the frying pan into the fire) to sort it out properly.
They redid the engine and I got it back in Feb. I drove it for 2 weeks and on my way back to automate to sort out slipping belts one Monday the radiator burst.
I had the thing towed into Automate and here is when the pawpaw hit the fan. I left it there and for two days I got no response from them. I left messages and even went there, but the manager was to busy to see me. Eventually he phones me on the Wednesday late and tells me that the radiator burst, that's why the car was overheating.
I tell the idjit that the radiator burst while the temp was down. He is making no sense.
I posted about it here: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/315845-Radiator-question.?highlight=radiator
Then I had to throw my toys before I managed to speak to Ross the owner of Automate.
He is apathetic, saying because I drove the the car for 900km before it failed its not their problem. Their 6 month guarantee is obviously worthless. He offers to charge me only R2600 for the parts. Yea right! A R600 radiator and a R30 belt come to R2600? FSKING MORON.
From there I went to RMI of which automate is supposedly a member. I find out that only some of the branches are members and the branch I'm dealing with is marked as closed down. Rmi then says they will help me anyway (some help
) and off we go. Automate then stonewalls RMI for 2 months and they allow it while I am without a car. Supposedly they have 5 days to reply to my complaint, they took 60 days without an issue or recourse from RMI. After having to get really hard and nasty with the generally sloth like workings at RMI they eventually get a response from Automate.
They are trying to blame the whole thing on my power steering. First they say that the cap was missing from the power steering fluid bottle and sprayed everywhere causing the belt to fail on the water pump and somehow that caused the radiator to burst. Then they change the story to the power steering pump is leaking fluid. At this point I get a bit antsy because my car is still with them and I send my driver with the bakkie to fetch it.
I replaced the radiator and the belts myself and got it running. Now it turns out that the car is still overheating because the (insert suitable explicative here) at Automate did not actually fit the R171 thermostat they charged me for (new one R65) and the old one disintegrated and now the pieces are lodged in the engine blocking the water flow (I suspect).
This is what I took out of the car:
This is what it should look like
It was up to me (not a mechanic) to find the cause of the radiator bursting after they insisted that it was the power steering fluid leaking from the pump that cause the belt on the alternator/water pump to come off and somehow caused the radiator to burst.
To back up their theory they loosened a pipe on the power steering pump to MAKE it leak. They threw away the cap to my power steering fluid bottle (R80 to replace) as part one of their bull**** story and when that didn't fly they went on to sabotage the pump itself.
RMI are now still insisting on a mediation meeting, but since they have been lying and sabotaging the process from the beginning I don't have much hope.
Just stay away from them for your own sake.
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