A Christmas Tale The Workman Calls

[vhgmcbuddy]

A little tale to make you suck your gums! I bought a Tow Bar from that well known auction site, a brand new one , german made, to fit my Mercedes, I had every intention to fit it myself, but reading the instructions to remove the rear Bumper and Exhaust, and, suffering from a chest infection, I decided to use the services of a “Specialist” from a National Towbar fitting Company, and duly booked it in for a Home fitting, The person doing the booking was very thorough, and noted the year , make and model of the car and towbar, with a quted price of £75.00 plus Vat, the fitter would arrive at 9.30 am , and if early or late would ring.
At 8.30 after a banging on the door, I opened it to a young chap with a fag in his mouth, and when I asked why he had not rung as planned, he shrugged, and said he did not know my number, I asked him if he had experience of fitting this particular towbar to this type of car, and he said he had fitted “Hundreds” I told him that I intended to fit it myself, until I read the instructions regarding the bumper and exhaust and then drilling a 50mm hole in the floor to take a tubular projection, he laughed, and said that it was not correct, and there was no need to do any of those things, and he could do it in 30 mins, Hour max.!.

After half an hour, I went out and saw that he was struggling to get the Bumper off! he didnt have a ratchet spanner to undo one particular bolt, so I got my tool box out, the bolt had nothing to do with the Bumper! I helped him to remove it in case he did any more damage, ten mins later he was unbolting the Exhaust and trying to drag out the heat shield! by now I had lost all confidence in my “Professional Fitter” and decided to keep a close watch on his progress, sure enough after ten mins came the sound of drilling, he was using a cone drill not big enough to make a 50 mm hole, I asked him why, he did not follow the instructions in the first place, he said he had never fitted this type of towbar to this type of car! and he did not have a hole saw! I did, but had to make a “Packer” for the pilot drill, because this idiot had already drilled a hole too large for it!. as you can imagine I stood over him when he did the wirering, I told him that my previous car was a Range Rover, and I had fitted the tow bar, he told me that new Range Rovers had a Tow Bar frame “Built in” and the owner just had to buy a detachable tow ball for £500.00 he went to fit one to a new Range Rover, where the owner had “Lots of money” but he found in the boot a new tow ball from Land Rover in its compartment, so he pocketed that, fitted a £150.00 one that he had bought, charged the owner £500.00 and sold his Land rover towball on Ebay for £500.00! he seemed very proud of himself, I was appalled .
After he left I found that he had lost half of the trim screws and the bumper is half an inch away from the body, glad to have him off the premises, Merry Christmas!!

[vhgmcbuddy]

TAKE THEM TO THE CHRISTMAS CLEANERS. I WOULD GO TO A MERCEDEES DEALER AND GET THEM TO TAKE IT OFF,FIT A GENUINE MERC TOWBAR AND CHARGE THEM ACCORDINGLY. TAKE NO PRISONERS ON THIS ONE PHILIP.

[charlie]

One for trading standards by the sound of it.

[stevewoollas]

You say this is a national installer of tow bars and therefore I presume one that you engaged as a reputable name in the industry. Assuming this to be the case may I suggest contact with their head office or booking service as reporting this should result in the company taking remedial action to resolve the issues with your installation and a level of retraining for the operative. You never know–there may be compensation for your inconvenience.
We are a major national supplier within our industry and we always appreciate to know when an installation or product is not quite as it should be, and make an effort to put it right.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Sounds like a right cowboy, did he leave you any horse poo for your garden ??

Seriously though I would not be a happy bunny if a muppet like that was let loose on my car, and as Steve says would be asking for compensation for a very shoddy job…

[wristpin]

A few years ago I had new windows fitted by a very well known national company. Part of the job involved 11 units in a semi circular “conservatory” and because the units support a tiled roof their structural engineer specified “stainless steel props” between each unit. A couple of years after installation two of the plastic trims came adrift to reveal bits of 4X2 timber!
When challenged, their reply was that they were adequate for the job and they didn’t see/want to see that they were not what was quoted for and paid for. I had a lot on my plate at work at the time and didn’t take it any further but I know I should have.
Sending out badly presented and ill equipped “tradesmen” who demonstrate poor technical proficiency and even less respect for one’s car/property etc seems to be becoming the norm these days.
Bah humbug !!!!!!!!

[vhgmcbuddy]

Yes, When I close my eyes, I can still hear the sound of The Lone Ranger and Tonto trotting up my drive! I agree with what you say about getting it put right, But on quizzing our master craftsman at the time, what I thought was a National fitting company, turned out not to quite fit the profile of the advertisement! they seem to operate in the south of the country with three mobile fitters, and this cowboy is one of them! He also told me that they fit for Mercedes and BMW main dealers, they charge the dealers £500.00 for supplying and fitting my type of tow bar, and the dealer charges £1,500 !!

i dont want them (any of them ) on my premises again, The problem for those of us with this hobby, is that we are used to using tools, and can spot a cowboy from a mile away, rather fix it myself and leave a vivid description of my experience on their website for all to see! BY the Way, the 30 min job took him Three hours!

[vhgmcbuddy]

A Christmas tale alright, season of good will I thought, I hope you don’t let that misfit get away with that. I’ve had a few conflicts and I find the internet useful to find ways to complain. That’s if you can’t get any satisfaction from the suppliers. I once ordered a pond liner, when it arrived it was one of these woven thin plastic type when it should have been rubber. I asked for a refund, he said he would if I sent it back at my expense. By this time Id had enough. I rang credit card and explained the plight, Four days money refunded back to my card and no mention of any return. We got a consumer affairs person on the local radio, it’s surprising what they sort out.

[Author]

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