The Pentagon group

[ivorex]

Why would anyone want to call CUK a bunch of vagina's, lack of knowledge of the english language perhaps.?

[Dangerousfish]

Why would anyone want to call CUK a bunch of vagina's, lack of knowledge of the english language perhaps.?

Hardly. As Matt said, if you're curious as to why I'm not such a big fan of CUK have a read through the history I have with them.

Also, I could comment on your poor grammar usage in your post but I'm not so immature as to judge somebody by their use of punctuation and such.

[pauljack]

Why would anyone want to call CUK a bunch of vagina's, lack of knowledge of the english language perhaps.?

Just a note, you don't put a full stop then a question mark lol. lack of knowledge of english punctuation perhaps....?????? lol

[ivorex]

Point taken on punctuation. I have read the posts concerning CUK, perhaps they are lacking people with the correct skills in their customer services, perhaps those people react negatively to irrate customers.

[Dangerousfish]

Perhaps, but they also do the same with previously happy customers too.

[pauljack]

I know all car makers have poor dealerships but Citroen seem to have quite a number of poor dealerships compared to the Japanese/German dealerships. CUK are in my opinion, shocking at customer care.

[Dangerousfish]

My experience with BCC Bolton has always been great. The back-office though can be horrible.

[gar074]

To return to the question about replacement discs, I've now done just over 30k in mine, I'm not particularly gentle on the brakes, and I'm still on the original pads and discs.

Not convinced by the argument that premature component wear/failure is all the EU's fault, tbh - I can't see why ease of recycling would affect the lifing of the disc (and neither can SWMBO, who is a research metallurgist). If components are wearing or failing earlier than they used to, it's because of the inexorable pressure to reduce manufacturing costs, which leads the manufacturers to beat down the component suppliers on price, who then compromise on the quality of the components to maintain their margins. Where cost is not the number 1 issue, components can still be designed and manufactured to last for the expected life of the vehicle (by which I mean, significantly more than the 3 year warranty period). It's no accident that many vehicles begin to experience significant component failure after 3 years - they are designed that way. If the components routinely fail within 3 years (VAG coil packs, anyone?) it's because someone cocked up (hope I'm allowed that one) on their lifing calculations.

[DaveB]

To return to the question about replacement discs, I've now done just over 30k in mine, I'm not particularly gentle on the brakes, and I'm still on the original pads and discs.

Not being gentle on the brakes can be beneficial for disc life - it keeps the working surfaces nice & clean.

Not convinced by the argument that premature component wear/failure is all the EU's fault, tbh - I can't see why ease of recycling would affect the lifing of the disc (and neither can SWMBO, who is a research metallurgist).

Discs are made, as they always have been, from a fairly low-grade cast iron - just about the easiest material there is to recycle. Legislation, worldwide, not just in the EU, has, however, reduced the service life of brake discs. Non-asbestos friction materials are much more aggressive than asbestos-based materials were.

If components are wearing or failing earlier than they used to, it's because of the inexorable pressure to reduce manufacturing costs, which leads the manufacturers to beat down the component suppliers on price, who then compromise on the quality of the components to maintain their margins. Where cost is not the number 1 issue, components can still be designed and manufactured to last for the expected life of the vehicle (by which I mean, significantly more than the 3 year warranty period). It's no accident that many vehicles begin to experience significant component failure after 3 years - they are designed that way. If the components routinely fail within 3 years (VAG coil packs, anyone?) it's because someone cocked up (hope I'm allowed that one) on their lifing calculations.

Let us be under no illusions, cars are designed by accountants, not engineers - the vehicle manufacturer dictates prices to the supplier, rather than the other way round. Two suppliers offer a particular component, one of which is adequate for its intended purpose, the other better but more expensive . . . who gets the order? 1p on the price of a particular part may not sound much, but if you're making 100,000 a year that's a substantial saving!