The Pentagon group

[Siruskey]

Sent from my iPad



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Im an easy going kind of guy but I'm at breaking point with Pentagon.

The story starts a couple of years ago with the body shop. SWMBO sent her car in for some work. Three times it went back because of the poor work.

Then in January 2011 I went to Pentagon Citroen and purchased a new DS3 from dealer stock.

Went to collect it, signed all the papers and went outside to be told "by the way there are extensive scratches on the bonnet from an incident during delivery". To my horror the bonnet was a mess.

So my brand new car went to the body shop on two occasions before it was looking better!

January 2012 I get the call to book in for a first service. I went down to book the car in and was informed that I didn't need to have it serviced until it was 12k or 2yrs. It would cost £114 as a standard price.

Today it went in for it's service and I have just collected. The bill arrives "£199 please"

No I say £114. So I take a look at the invoice £30 parts so how is it £199?????

Get ready for it....... £80 an hour labour and £12.50 for use of their vehicle!

Anyway long story short I paid £129 in the end but i won't use the Pentagon group again!

[Bigfeet]

Ouch! £80 hourly rate!

[Siruskey]

I'm not joking either. They said. "THIS IS SET BY CITROEN"

[gar074]

I'm not joking either. They said. "THIS IS SET BY CITROEN"

Price-fixing = anti-competitive = unlawful under Competition Law = totally bollox explanation!

[joeking27]

Aftersales and service is where all the money is made, there's next to no margin on manufacture...

£80 per hour is nothing, I have charged £100 an hour in the past for some training once.

[Bigfeet]

I'm not joking either. They said. "THIS IS SET BY CITROEN"

Crap.

[Stanly]

in 15 years of the motortrade I vehicle manufacture has been able to set RETAIL labour rates they can however set WARRANTY labour rates

[gar074]

they can however set WARRANTY labour rates

As in, what they are prepared to reimburse the dealer for undertaking warranty work? That's different, as the customer isn't paying.

[Bigfeet]

^

Thats right, Warranty labour rates are set by Citroen, this is the rate they pay the dealer while they perform warranty work. Retail labour rates are set by the dealership themselves.

[CliveP]

Feel for you in the messing you about way...

If I'd had turned up to collect my DS3 and there had been scratches on the bonnet I would have noted the VIN number (or whatever it's called), and said 'I'm refusing delivery of that car, get me another one and give me all my deposit back until you do'....but then I'm OCD about swirl marks (I did inspect mine for swirl marks on collection, I told them I would, and if at an unacceptable level reject)...(the VIN muber record to make sure there was no attempt to pull wool over my eyes with a repair!)...

All my services before I sign the order to say I'll pay, I get them to sign a letter to say if they wash my car, they'll pay for a full multi-stage machine polish (which I do as a hobby, but that's irrelevent) which is around £500 plus........they look at me but not one of my cars has ever been washed by any dealer!

However, good luck with finding a nice new dealer...!

Regards,
Clive.

[pauljack]

[QUOTE=CliveP;68476]Feel for you in the messing you about way...

All my services before I sign the order to say I'll pay, I get them to sign a letter to say if they wash my car, they'll pay for a full multi-stage machine polish (which I do as a hobby, but that's irrelevent) which is around £500 plus........they look at me but not one of my cars has ever been washed by any dealer!

Jesus I bet the dealer gives you a wide berth!

[Siruskey]

Another thing that has bugged me. They have given me an amber warning on the disks. I know warranty does not normally cover things like this but at 18 months old and not in need of pads or tyres should it need disks? 12k miles

[Bigfeet]

^

Modern component parts these days are not as durable as they have been, this is mainly due to the fact that most parts must meet a recyclable ruling set out buy the EU.

[Chris_Blue]

Ive just had annual inspection after 12,000 miles- %20 wear on the brakes
Wonder what AMBER means- WIND UP?
CBLUE

[ICF]

Another thing that has bugged me. They have given me an amber warning on the disks. I know warranty does not normally cover things like this but at 18 months old and not in need of pads or tyres should it need disks? 12k miles

Have they told you what the minimum disk thickness is and what yours measured at?