Key fob + earth strap recall

[Johniboi]

My key started getting sluggish at flipping out a few weeks ago and then stopped altogether. Took the car in for a recall notice (new earth strap - apparently car could have stopped at any moment - anyone else had this recall?) and I asked the service manager about the key. "No, it wasn't part of the car so it wasn't under warranty - no they couldn't fix it (they used to but can't fix this type) and a new one would be £187!!!" I don't really believe anything they tell me. They measured my front tyres to 4.5mm of tread depth and quoted me some fantastic price for new ones.the minimum is 1.6mm so I have a bit to go yet don't I? Then a quote of £219 for first service - don't make me laugh - do I look stupid? Who would be daft enough to buy tyres from a Citroen main agent anyway?

So anyway, I took the key fob apart tonight and fixed it in ten minutes: I stretched the spring so it located in the lugs on either side of the case (which seem to have spread apart a bit - the key fob on my old C3 was a much better quality thing than the DS3 one), put a couple of tension turns on it in the right direction, clicked it back together and, hey presto - it's fixed! I am gonna go up there and show the guy just to shame him for being so useless! These are the same crew that screwed up fixing my dual controls and I had to sort the problem out myself cos they are completely incompetent. Oh, and yes, I went and wasted an hour out of my day, plus fuel, because they had got the wrong earth strap for the recall job and had to book another appointment to go and do it all again. Holy crap, I hate people who are no good at what they do and masquerade as professionals!!

[Rickzayne]

The MLY recall is for most 2010 DS3s just for the earth wire

the tread sounds nearly new tbh and I don't understand why they told you about it.

as for the fob it should be covered by a 12 month warranty at least.

as for the service.. that's what I've been quoted which IS alot of money but a citroen service is worth more on your log book than some backstreet one to be fair.. not by much

[Johniboi]

I think the tyre warning was to see if I was gullible or rich enough to throw money away. I was in the motor trade as a self-employed Citroen mechanic for 25 years and seen have plenty of cases of these charlatans trying to screw gullible people out of their money- especially women and people who were silly enough to admit they knew nothing about cars. I can remember several occasions where a new customer had come to me after a service with one particular main dealer , wanting the new brake pads and discs they been told were necessary, because I would do it a lot cheaper than the main dealers. So I would get the bits in, take the wheels off and, guess what - absolutely nothing wrong with the brakes! So I would tell the customer the good news and win myself a new long-term client merely through being trustworthy and honest. There were also so many times I heard of when people had been to kwik-fit type places for something trivial - nearly always coming out with an estimate for urgently need shock absorbers and/or brakes - I think not!

As for the service, i will be going to someone I trust who will do a much more thorough job than Citroen for a vastly cheaper price. I would do it myself but I need a stamp in the service book and I make a living another way now, so prefer to let him earn a living doing what he does. I wouldn't trust our local Citroen agent to service a pram, to be honest, but I wouldn't tar them all with the same brush of course.

You would think the key fob should be covered wouldn't you? I expect they were lying as they seem quite reliable at doing that - I think I will ring Citroen UK up next week and find out whether the fob assembly is covered or not.

And the earth strap - if there were two types, didn't they know this and why didn't they order both types instead of gambling on inconveniencing the customer? Surely there must be more DS3's coming in for the same job doing which need the other type of strap?

[Rickzayne]

When I went in for my recall I had to go in for a 20 minute inspection then the replacement, I left it with them for 2 and a half hours.

[Johniboi]

Well it only took them an hour each time while I waited, but I think they probably spent most of that time measuring the tyre depth which I never asked them to do. Thoughtful of them, I suppose....

[cyclone]

Really don't like that it was Citroen this and Citroen that when it was just that dealership, every Citroen place is not out to screw you! just like every independent repair shop is not 100% trustworthy. There are lots of people here who have had nothing but positive experiences with there dealer. It all boils down to finding someone you trust to do the work whether a dealership or independent garage.

[Johniboi]

Hmm, bit unfair I think. I did say that I "wouldn't tar all Citroen dealers with the same brush" - it wasn't all "Citroen this and Citroen that". If you know a good dealer then good for you, but my local one has provided me with nothing but bad experiences. I have always loved the cars and the marque and spent a good proportion of my life dedicated to them, both hobby-wise and career wise. When i said "more thorough job than Citroen" I admit I should have said "more through job than my local Citroen dealer". Apart from that, if you read my reply again there was only one other reference to a particular Citroen Dealer from the past and that obviously does not imply that all Citroen dealerships are poor. As for independent garages - like I said, I go to someone I trust - there are good and bad amongst them as with any trade. But I, for one, can't afford main dealer prices and,knowing what they do on a first service, I consider the price to be somewhat astronomical. I know they have their overheads and so on, but we all make our own choices of where to go for repairs

[Faxo]

Take it to Perrys Huddersfield, Bronze Service is £39.99 and do exactly same as a 1st year service minus the pollen filter and topping up your washers, plus you'll get the Citroen stamp

Being a techy ive never understood why people ask for a '1st service' at £xxx when its basically an oil change, which is £xx

[cyclone]

All I"m saying is name them so others can avoid or if you find a good one again names so others can try them too. If you want to rant do it this is the place, Don't fall back on generalities.

[Faxo]

We should have a 'good garage' page where people can pass on their comments be it good or bad (obviously not slanderous) about dealers, like some other car forums have

[Johniboi]

Ok, if names need to be named the dealer who I bought my car from is Cars2 at Kildwick, between Keighley and Skipton. This is the garage that fitted my dual controls so badly that they seized up after a week and began holding the clutch on so it suddenly started slipping. I drove the 6 or 7 miles to the garage immediately but it slipped more and more on the way so that it was really bad by the time I got there. A "technician" loosened a bolt which he said had been tightened up too much and the car drove ok again. When I got home I looked at the lever and pivot arrangement on the pedals and it was obvious that things were lined up wrong. I fixed it myself by taking a rod off, bending it to the correct angle and putting it back on. The guy who had just looked at it should gave seen this and done something about it and the mechanic who fitted them in the first place shouldn't have let it leave the garage like that. I took the car back and told the sales manager, who was suitably shamefaced and angry with his mechanics, that I had fixed it properly myself. Since that moment, the clutch pedal, which had previously come to the biting point as soon as you lifted the pedal, now bit half way up the travel. This seems to indicate that a lot of premature wear was inflicted on the clutch but they won't do anything about it because the clutch still works. It was a perfect clutch for one week (500 miles) and now it ain't like it was! This is not good for my learners either, since my beginners take ages lifting the clutch up before they come across the biting point. It feels to me like a clutch that has done 60,000 miles.

In addition to this, (and also the fact that they can't even fix a simple problem with a key fob which I, the customer can fix in ten minutes), my first buying experience with Cars2 was a complete disaster. I had just qualified as a driving instructor and had the cash to buy outright a new C3, which I ordered from them so I could start my business up ASAP. That was at the beginning of February 2009 and I was given a reasonable delivery date which was not met. To cut a long story short, I was strung along with a load of hogwash, lies and broken promises for months. There had been industrial action in France at the seat manufacturers which caused a couple of month's delay when otherwise finished cars were kept waiting in a compound for their seats. Then when the factory got the seats they had so many cars to fit them to - mine had priority as it had been one of the first to be kept waiting, BUT then it took them weeks for them to get to it because it was at the other end of the compound, hemmed in by hundreds of other cars which were waiting for seats! I eventually got the car in September that year, having missed five or six months of trying to build up my business. I, and other purchasers got a couple of hundred quid in compensation off the price of the car but this was nothing compared to what the car could have earned me.

I know that these problems were mainly in France but the communication between Citroen France and Citroen UK was absolutely dreadful - nobody seemed to tell anyone else what was going on. The gripe I had with Cars2 was over the false hopes and lies they kept giving me when they faithfully promised me at least three separate delivery dates, all of which were broken. I was in despair by the end of the summer since I was so frustrated at getting my business off the ground, but I had got a good price on the car and it would have cost me a lot more to go to another dealer and buy another car (which I was seriously considering). I think what possibly happened was that they sold me a car which was not even in production at the the point of ordering. I was told by a salesman at another dealership that Citroen had stopped making them for a while due to poor sales in the recession during 2008.

So that's my experience of Cars 2. Citroen love them because they sell lots of cars, but I wouldn't trust them with anything much. The turnover of staff seems rather quick as well, if that means anything (which it probably does). if I needed a warranty job doing I would probably take it to Walker Farrimond in Nelson, who used to own the garage now trading as Cars2.