Hi Friends, Pls see below contents of my complaint letter. What would you do ? The Service Manager Honest Motors Ltd 20 Kai Cheung Road Kowloon Bay Kowloon email: paullee@dchmsc.com.hk Attn.: Mr. Paul C.M. LEE, Service Manager 14th July 2005 Ref.: 1993 Nissan Fairlady 300ZX, Registration Number LK 6858 Dear Sir I refer to the recent attempts to repair faults with my captioned car and I would like to bring to your attention the sub-standard service I received at you Kowloon Bay branch. 2. After carefully reviewing my experience with your company and discussing this with friends, mechanics and various members of 300 ZX Internet Clubs both in Hong kong and worldwide, I feel that I have been very unfairly dealt with, in particular with regards to the bill I received for the overly expensive parts and repair services, which in fact not only failed to identify and rectify the problem, but possibly demonstrated the incompetence of your mechanic. 3. In early June 2005 (7th June I believe) I attended your Service Centre and spoke with your Service Consultant, Mr. Canny KONG. I described my car's problems, i.e. no power at all speeds, that the car would not go into overdrive, but the problem went away when the engine warmed up and when the ignition was turned off and re-started. Canny very kindly arranged a mechanic to use the Consult computer to diagnose the problem which showed faults for the TPS (Throttle Position Sensor), Solenoid B and Line pressure solenoids of the Automatic transmission. He suggested it was better to fix the TPS first as the latter solenoid repairs would be very expensive. I agreed and ordered a spare part which cost $826 and said I would replace this myself. However as there was no stock in Hong Kong the part had to be ordered from overseas. I was very impressed with Canny's enthusiasm and helpfulness in this regard. 4. A few days later Canny called me and said the part arrived so I went down to pick it up. However, after checking the spare part, it was the wrong TPS; it being for a 2003 not a 1993 Fairlady. Canny had to reorder the part, and my expenses for petrol / tunnel fees was lost; I live in Yuen Long. This was due to the negligence of your Spare Parts department. 5. On the 16th June, Canny called me again and said the TPS has arrived. I went down to Kowloon Bay again and paid for the part which I took home and replaced myself. After replacing the TPS the problem remained, and I ran some electrical tests on the TPS myself with a multimeter, and it was still showing 2.7V at full throttle when it should be 4V. This is the same reading for both the old and new TPS; I had unnecessarily replaced the TPS. 6. I ran some further electrical tests as follows:- (a) Terminal 7 of the Solenoid Harness Connector (located offside in the engine bay) was showing a fault, i.e. resistance of 0 Ohms instead of 20- 40 Ohms, indicating a problem with the Solenoid B. (b) Terminal 1 of the Solenoid Harness Connector (located offside in the engine bay) was showing a slight fault, i.e. resistance of 5.4 Ohms instead of 2.5 - 5 Ohms, indicating a problem with the Line Pressure solenoid. (c) Terminal 1 of the ATU (Automatic Transmission Unit) was showing a fault 3.3V instead of 1.5-2.5V when the accelerator is released after warming up engine, i.e. Line Pressure solenoid problem. (d) Terminal 7 of the ATU was showing a fault with 0.025V instead of 12V for D1 and D2 selected. (e) Terminal 34 of the ATU was showing fault with 2.02V instead of 4V when the throttle is fully open. 7. On 22nd June, I handed over my car to Canny for repairs together with a copy of the tests and results listed above. He asked me to give him the old spare parts which I did, passing him my old TPS and an old Coolant Temperature Sensor. However, after my car was handed over to me on the 7th July, the spare parts were not returned. Please expedite their return since as I have shown above, there is nothing wrong with these. 8. On 29th June, I called Canny for an update and he said that the problem is not the Solenoid B and Line Pressure solenoid, but the electrical loom. However he stated the loom was out of stock even in the Head Office in Japan, and suggested another wire could be used to `trick' the computer by bypassing the system. 9. On 7th July, Wilson Wong called me and said that Canny was on sick leave. He told me that my car problem could not be fixed and that the problem was due to the ATU, solenoid A and line pressure solenoid, but the ATU was out of stock and may take 3 months to order from the manufacturer. He said the cost for the parts is HK$14,718 (ATU is HK$10,743 and HK$3,975 for the solenoids and gasket), not including labour. However I recall Canny telling me earlier the solenoids were checked okay, and now a new part (ATU) had been identified to be at fault. Wilson said I could either leave my car in Kowloon Bay for the 3 months or collect it and wait for the parts. I told him I would, of course, pick up the car first. 10. When I arrived, around 4:30 PM, Wilson told me that I owe HK$6,502 for the labour and parts on my car even though the problem had not been fixed. I asked to see the Manager (you) and was told you were in a meeting and I would have to wait for about 30 minutes. I then chose to check my car and when I looked into the engine bay I saw that the solenoids harness connector was disconnected ! I told Wilson this and the mechanic told me this did not affect the automatic transmission. I asked what is this harness was for and he replied he did not know and would have to check the workshop manual. I told him I knew this was the solenoid harness connector and it WOULD affect the automatic transmission if disconnected. He told me he did the road test the day before and that the Consult was showing some error codes indicating the ATU, Solenoid B, and Line Pressure were at fault. I replied of course it was because the harness connector was disconnected ! He denied this. I requested he do another road test right now with me and Wilson agreed. During the Road Test, there were no error codes showing at all speeds through all gears. I myself had discovered the problem of the harness being disconnected hence the reason no error codes were now showing. The problem of the car has been fixed as I now have power at all speeds, gears, and overdrive now. 11. If I had not noticed the harness disconnected, I may have been forced by your staff to pay an additional HK$25,000 !!! (ATU, solenoids plus labour). The question that comes to mind now is whether this was done deliberately, and there are many motorists who believe this is a common trick used by garages to dupe customers, or if it was more a case of negligence on the part of your mechanics. I certainly expected more of your company. 12. If the harness was left disconnected due to the negligence of your mechanic, this would obviously have affected the fault finding process which took from 7th June until 7th July, i.e. over 4 weeks ! To then expect me to pay HK$6,502 is quite honestly ludicrous and unreasonable. 13. Thus far I have paid HK$826 for a TPS I did not need, and HK$6,502 for your labor, a total of HK$7,328 for a simple wire replacement which should have been discovered by a more professional and competent mechanic. In real terms I have lost a lot more in terms of inconvenience and other expenses. 14. As you will appreciate I am very unhappy with your company's performance on this occasion and would suggest you look into this complaint as a matter of urgency. Quite frankly I was shocked being charged so much for what I consider to be your staff's error and it would not have been unreasonable for you to waive the charges as a gesture of good will. However before I take this matter further at a higher level, I will allow you the opportunity to provide a satisfactory explanation for the negligence demonstrated on this occasion and hopefully you will at least try to restore my confidence in your company and its reputation. In the meantime please have your staff return my spare parts. Please reply by email to heathcotesj@netvigator.com. Yours faithfully, Steven J. Heathcote cc bc
Geez that is crazy... There are some BAD mechanics out there, keep us posted on what happens, i'd be very interested in reading what the manager has to say about this... Mike
