Thoroughly, completely, utterly hacked off

[mystic sport]

So, the alarm goes off at 6am. I crawl out of bed and into the car for what is inevitably a stop/start boring journey round the M25, M1, A5 to Thorney Motorsport in milton keynes to get the eibach pro kit supplied and fitted. A 170 miles round trip.

It was according their website and the guy I spoke to 'Stuart' £200 for supply and fit - too good to be true - well, yes :( .

Last night whilst checking the address of the place I noticed that the price had suddenly gone up to £350 - even though today they denied any prices on their website had been altered :confused: .

Even better though, THEY KNEW FUCK ALL ABOUT MY BOOKING!!!!!!!

Seems that 'Stuart' appears to have forgotten to make a note of it, and they only had one technician in today anyway. I know I should have confirmed the booking with a phone call yesterday but trusting old me still thinks that if you have arranged something like work to be done on the car with a 'reputable' outfit then that is good enough.

So, the trip was a total waste of my time. Will I use them again - will I hell :( :( .

So, I have learned a number of things today. Go with your gut instinct, if it seems too good to be then it is. Only trust those that you know. I should have spoken to Roy, Teddy and you guys first - lesson learned I guess.

God knows when I can get it done now - oh, and a days annual leave wasted as well - bollocks :( .

[PAUL ///M3]

Knew they were utter twats

[Chosun Wan]

That's a shitty bit of luck there mate!

TMS used to have a very good reputation when I had my VX220T - John Thorne (the boss) was very keen on maintaining a good relationship with the VX crowd and (IIRC) is even a mod on vx220.org!

Have a word in his shell-like as he's the boss - he may offer you a concession?

[peppernick]

Have you got the springs with you? If so just try any garage, they should be able to get them on for you. It's straight forward. Alternatively, try R-Tec, they are usually quite free on a weekday.

[mystic sport]

That's a shitty bit of luck there mate!

TMS used to have a very good reputation when I had my VX220T - John Thorne (the boss) was very keen on maintaining a good relationship with the VX crowd and (IIRC) is even a mod on vx220.org!

Have a word in his shell-like as he's the boss - he may offer you a concession?

They offered to pay for my fuel, that was already taken care of by my company. Even if I was offered the supply and install for £1 I wouldn't take them up on it. That was my first visit there and it has left a very sour taste. I value customer service pretty much above everything and there didn't seem to be any other than the offer of the fuel (£20 I guess) and an appology. Not good enough, the work should have been performed as per the booking I made with their employee Stuart (who wasn't there). SSDD, CA Automotive and friends on here all the way now. They could learn alot from Roy and Teddy.

[mystic sport]

Have you got the springs with you? If so just try any garage, they should be able to get them on for you. It's straight forward. Alternatively, try R-Tec, they are usually quite free on a weekday.

No mate, they were supposed to supply as well. Going to make a phone call to a 'trusted' friend.

Where is R-Tec Nick? Do you use them mate?

[uberbmw]

R-Tec (http://www.rtecshop.com/?p=findus) did a top job when I went down to them to have my arches and springs changed over.

[zarnd]

Sorry to hear this mate, would be able to do it for you from 22nd onwards, and would be damn cheap too!

Let me know mate!

cheers

[imu]

Gutted for you mate.... :(

On the plus side, however, at least you have seen what they're like before you left your pride and joy with them. Glad you hadn't paid them upfront.

It could have been an indication of what was to come... a company that can't handle correctly scheduling a spring fitting is not worth dealing with imo....

Good luck in getting it sorted elsewhere... :)

[Juber]

Mate sorry to hear this, PM Black Sabbath, his mate Leo did mine for dirt cheap money and his work is sweet! :)

[madmatt m3]

I was going to take mine there for a geomtry set up after fitting my coilovers cos they are only down the road from me. Dont think i'll bother now and will go the extra few miles down to Roy

[mystic sport]

I don't want to put people off using them as they obviously know their stuff but am just stating my experiance ;) .

Mark very kindly PM'd me last night about possibly using his friend. This is now a very viable option as he seems very very trusted (I like that word at the moment :p ) ;) .

[benny boy]

bad luck mate I dont really know much about thorney I've never had to deal with them but not heard good things about them. As for the vxr tuning Regal are the best people in the UK for that.

[Griff]

hope you get it sorted soon.

[Raj]

Really bad luck Paul. They are seriously expensive to be honest.


I was going to take mine there for a geomtry set up after fitting my coilovers cos they are only down the road from me. Dont think i'll bother now and will go the extra few miles down to Roy

I also was gonna get the alignment done from them, but I asked how much and they said £250 - £300 and about 2 - 3 hours :confused: .........No way am I paying that much. I only needed a 4 wheel alignment done and an adjustment to the toe on mine as my tyres were badly worn on the inside.

They may know what they're talking about but their prices are a bit much.

[thegolfather]

Paul, that's unfortunate - feel for ya!

Have you tried BMWMstyle in Romford? they supplied and fitted the eibach springs on my car and from memory they were much cheaper than quoted above.

Good luck.

[mystic sport]

Kash, their website shows ex vat prices so whenever I ring up the price quoted suddenly isn't quite as good :p . Got some springs coming from Roy - should have bloody well done that in the first place as at least i know they will be here fast and the correct ones and then get the fitting sorted asap. Have dropped Mark a PM.

[thegolfather]

Nice one mate, glad it's getting sorted at last.....combined harvesters are getting very unfashionable.....;)

[mystic sport]

Nice one mate, glad it's getting sorted at last.....combined harvesters are getting very unfashionable.....;)

Ouch, that hurt :p , hopefully the M'X'3 look will be gone soon. Good thing is I rang in work and have been given back a half days annual leave as long as I do some online training at home :p - will use the half day given back to get the springs on :D . Gotta get it done before brunty on the 27th, can't have Nick, Teddy and now Kash giving me grief about the air between the tyre and arch :( .

[shimano]

you would be like me mystic if i get bad customer service i will think twice about going back, anyone can make a mistake its how they go about fixing the mistake that shows you what they are like.

[SYE]

what a pisser a wast of a day and petrol ,nothing more annoying than looking forward to something and then being let down.

[lumus]

god what a piss take, they should have fit you in and done the job surely? Pretty abysmal service... oh, and their website looks like it was designed by a 5 year old - www.thorneymotorsport.co.uk

[BigFas]

Crap day and if you search the archives, you'll see my rants about the state of unreliable tuners in the UK today.

good service is great, but CONSISTENT good service is rare and you're right, thorney have blown their chances of any business with you as they have sullied their own reputation with you, which means in turn they've lost out on the potential of you recommending them to anyone ever again.

Hopefully you'll get it sorted soon

[popsy360]

im surprised by this as they seemed to have a good rep at bm3w..but maybe not

[SpeedTrap]

Speak to Roy - his brother in-law is in North London where I get my stuff done:) and I can personally recommend it!:)

[Thorney]

OK, sorry I've not posted here before (I've been told this was a CA forum and I wouldn't be welcome here) but I should respond I think. Firstly I wasn't here when Paul attended but got a call saying an M3 had turned up that wasn't in the diary, we simply had no record of any booking whatsoever. Paul mentioned he spoke with Stuart who is a new member of staff (ie his first week) and as a result he's not allowed to actually take bookings until he's trained on the system he should forward them to another member of staff to action, it appears that this hasn't taken place.

At the time I suggested that we compensate Paul by offering his petrol costs - an empty gesture I'm sure some will suggest but in the absence of speaking with Stuart (he is on holiday) I think thats pretty fair? Think of it from our perspedtive, we book up 3/4 weeks in advance and for all we knew Paul was simply turning up and chancing his arm? (I'm not suggesting this for one second of course, simply trying to show the alternative view).

I am sure of course that this is not the case but until I speak with Stuart I lack the information to come to any complete conclusion. If it does turn out that we are at fault and a booking was made but not entered onto our system then of course we will offer to rectify the situation with Paul.

I take our reputation very seriously and I'm happy to say that there is very little negative comment about us and we pride ourselves on this but the only formal complaint I've even seen is via this and on BMW Land forums (both threads were referred to me by regular customers who suggested that as this was not representative of our service so suggested I comment).

Can I suggest Paul contacts me directly (01908 238 798 john@thorneymotorsport.co.uk) and I can investigate what may or may not have happened and if we are at fault then I will honour to resolve the issue amicably and to his benefit.

Customer service is not about never making mistakes (hands up anyone here who is perfect in every way?:) ) but about how you deal with those issues if and when they arise. At the moment all I have is third hand comment, I'd like to deal with the issue and resolve it for the benefit of the customer but I do need communication to do that.

[Thorney]

god what a piss take, they should have fit you in and done the job surely? Pretty abysmal service... oh, and their website looks like it was designed by a 5 year old - www.thorneymotorsport.co.uk

lumas, thanks for your comment, I will pass it onto the web design team as soon as they've finished naptime (they get tired after running around in the rain, the little scamps):)

As regards squeezing the job in, firstly we don't have any springs in stock and secondly we already had 2 CSL's and 2 M3's in for work, to sort Paul would mean cancelling other work that was booked in - not really fair on them is it?

[Thorney]

The website prices are all including VAT. As regards cost for geometry alignment, its simply based on time. We also have £18k worth of lazer wheel alignment kit that even the highest BMW dealer would kill for, its not some manky kit thats 10 years old. We use the same equipment of race car set up which allows us to corner weight and enter tyre pyrometric readings for the perfect set up. We don't just bang on factory settings but work with the owner to come up with the perfect set up for their driving be it on track or road. We even have specific sets ups and geometries designed and tested purely on the Ring so do special ring trip set ups for owners. Typically the process takes between 2 and 3 hours so between £180-250 or so.

[Juber]

hmmmmmmmmmmm interesting

[mystic sport]

Hi John, thanks for taking the time to reply.

You may remember that I PM'd you on BM3W around the 16th april and you said it could be done (replied on the 17th). I then replied saying thankyou and the car was all booked in via stuart - can't seem to see my sent PMs on BM3W.

Thing is, the website stated that the eibach kit supplied was £150 and supplied and fitted was £200. I queried this as I am aware of the cost of an eibach pro kit plus fitting, and was told on two occassions that the job was supply and fit £200, once when just enquiring as to the price and second phone call to make the booking, the exact words when I asked what the price was went "let me check the website, okay, £200" - no matter, I appreciate that was not the correct price quoted to me. However, that price was listed on your website under E46 M3 Tuning, Handling, Eibach Pro Kit stage 1. Even my wife saw it as I kept saying how I couldn't understand how that price could be so low - however, I think that is all academic as you and I both know that even if it was on the web at that price it wouldn't have been correct ;) .

Stuart did ask for the reg number and I even gave him the build month and year to help. I am not looking to pee anyone off and maybe I should have checked first yesterday to confirm. Stuart obviously took the booking but failed to write it down.

Again, I am not looking to upset anyone but a four and half hour round trip to look at a Miltek exhaust (nice exhaust by the way) didn't leave me in the best of moods. No hard feelings I hope John, I guess these things happen.

Ian did ask if I could wait until you arrived but I knew that the possibility of fitting the kit was not possible yesterday so I simply preferred to get back on my way and battle the traffic - nothing against you at all John.

I am in a far more reflective mood today. You must understand that I wasn't too happy when I realised the work wasn't going to be carried out (everyone was certainly pleasant toward me) and was pretty well steaming by the time i had got home having endured more bad traffic hence the forum venting (not normally my thing as I am as calm as a calm thing ;) ). I was a bit quick out of the blocks and maybe should have spoken to you direct but didn't for the reasons above.

Thankyou for the offer of further assistence John. I fully appreciate that this is not your error and maybe Stuart should have explained it was his first week and asked me to call back. He did explain that around may 9th/10th would be when the car could get booked in hence me asking for the 10th.

Anyway, as far as I am concerned this is water under the bridge and me being me I now feel bad for venting in the first place. I have since bought springs but thankyou for offering to rectify the situation. Many people wouldn't have wanted to publicly reply or indeed want to have a civil discussion so I thank you for doing so.

[Thorney]

Paul, thanks for clearing that up, I was a bit suprised to hear of it this way but I fully appreciate that travel and days off etc can be a monster pita.

Tell you what, we'll fit them for £50 for you just to show no hard feelings, I'd rather lose money on a job than lose a potential customer over something is simple as a booking foul up.

[Raj]

Paul, thanks for clearing that up, I was a bit suprised to hear of it this way but I fully appreciate that travel and days off etc can be a monster pita.

Tell you what, we'll fit them for £50 for you just to show no hard feelings, I'd rather lose money on a job than lose a potential customer over something is simple as a booking foul up.

Can't say fairer than that.

[tbmeech]

I agree, that sounds like a good compromise, TMS has a good reputation over on BM3W, at least he has bothered to post on here and try make amends.

£50 to get your Eibachs done is a bargain :)

[mystic sport]

Paul, thanks for clearing that up, I was a bit suprised to hear of it this way but I fully appreciate that travel and days off etc can be a monster pita.

Tell you what, we'll fit them for £50 for you just to show no hard feelings, I'd rather lose money on a job than lose a potential customer over something is simple as a booking foul up.

Indeed, that is a very generous offer. Can I call you in an hour or so? I actually have a pretty tight schedule for this infact only three days toward the end of may and it would have to be an afternoon so appreciate that it may not be possible but if you don't ask and all that.

I also post up positive experiances ;) .

John, I honestly commend you for publicly fighting your corner and being extremely pleasant to me and the rest of the forum - thankyou ;) .

[Raj]

The website prices are all including VAT. As regards cost for geometry alignment, its simply based on time. We also have £18k worth of lazer wheel alignment kit that even the highest BMW dealer would kill for, its not some manky kit thats 10 years old. We use the same equipment of race car set up which allows us to corner weight and enter tyre pyrometric readings for the perfect set up. We don't just bang on factory settings but work with the owner to come up with the perfect set up for their driving be it on track or road. We even have specific sets ups and geometries designed and tested purely on the Ring so do special ring trip set ups for owners. Typically the process takes between 2 and 3 hours so between £180-250 or so.

Appreciate you describing the reason for the costs. I know that it can make or break the feel of the car if the alignment is not done properly. The last alignment I had done was by AmD (on my previous car) but they have since moved down to London. I guess my initial surprise was at the time/cost involved compared to others I have had/heard dealings with. If it does take potentially 3 hours then the cost is understandable.

[mystic sport]

I agree, that sounds like a good compromise, TMS has a good reputation over on BM3W, at least he has bothered to post on here and try make amends.

£50 to get your Eibachs done is a bargain :)

Precisely why I booked with TMS. Also think it was a good thing that John wanted to publicly talk about this rather than converse via, phone, email, PMs etc. Has certainly rebuilt a bridge as far as I am concerned.

However, I must stress I am not looking to get a bargain price for fitting but get it done well. I adore my M3 and want it to be looked after well, however the offer of fitment for £50 is indeed generous.

[MistaSmiff]

Result!:cool: a very generous offer indeed :)

[Thorney]

Actually AmD went bankrupt, some of the trading name has been sold but not much else.

We do have a good reputation its something I've spent nearly all of my time making sure of and from our persepctive the more informed our customers are the better it is, hence our website explains the procedure rather than just a price.

The only bad thing is time, we're booked up until June now so getting you in short term is going to be tough, however if time is of the essence I'm happy to offer an equivalent offer on future work be it servicing or other tuning work should you need?

[peppernick]

Good to see a professional approach to problem solving and an amicable outcome. Well done guys.

[zarnd]

Tell you what, we'll fit them for £50 for you just to show no hard feelings, I'd rather lose money on a job than lose a potential customer over something is simple as a booking foul up.

Been following this thread, and that is a seriously good offer, and an extremely good outcome for all involved!

[benny boy]

An offer that cant be refused by the sounds of it.

[SJD]

Good to see a professional approach to problem solving and an amicable outcome. Well done guys.

Can but echo these sentiments. Nice one.

[robinh20mrv]

well done guys, glad its sorted,

i did not think john thorney would let you down, i have always found him 100% straight with me, and his reputation is very good indeed!

John, you are more than welcome on the fourum with your skills and ability to put up with my somtimes dumb ass questions!!

from a personal view john put up with my stupidity with very good grace and patience when i told john the kw3s he had sent me were the wrong ones.......i even sent john the photos, thats when he pointed out that a had the left rear on the right and the right hand rear on the left..........dohhhhhhh

we all can make mistakes, just glad its all sorted!

the kw3s are SUPERB by the way!!

cheers robin.

[madmatt m3]

Can't say fairer than that.
I agree!

John, Fancy fitting mt Teins for £50 as well lol :D

[robinh20mrv]

well, since my kw3s need set up is that £50 as well???

lol!! cheers robin :) :) :)

[girlpower]

It is good to see a problem being dealt with like adults...well done boys. Glad it's all getting sorted. :)

[olli]

Well, in my book good customer service doesn't only include to produce as few problems as possible, but also how a problem is handled if it occurs.

Sounds well handled to me.

[thegolfather]

Ollie, lovin your sig - speed is just right although slightly slower wouldn't be a tragedy!! ;)

Can you bring her along to the next meet please???

[mystic sport]

I have just spoken to John and we had a good chat. Car is booked in on the 8th june for my kit to be fitted as per his promise. All is good ;) .

[BigFas]

Ollie, lovin your sig -


Yep, but I've removed it as it sucks bandwidth

[thegolfather]

Yep, but I've removed it as it sucks bandwidth
:( :( :( :( :( :(

That ol' chestnut!

[BigFas]

:( :( :( :( :( :(

That ol' chestnut!

Because you're paying for the bandwidth right?

[plowy]

A very fair conclusion and well done to John Thornley for being open about the situation.

Should have fitted them for free though...:D :D :D

[shimano]

like i said before,its how people respond to mistakes that really make a reputation,top marks for coming online and sorting it out:)