3 Year Or 37500 Mile Service.

[Border_Collie]

Just had the service on my car plus MOT, cars only done 12500 miles from new. How much would you expect the bill to be?

[gittos]

Had a 48000 mile service in December - £150 - Don't know off hand if your service is more involved, so £200-£250 would seem a reasonable guess

[JoeBlunt]

£240 for the Service +£53 for the MOT?

[blondchaser]

Has anyone had experience of the Arnold Clark service deal? Cost is £350approx for 1x3years servicing. Got me worried when i see what others are paying--will my car get serviced, or just a lick and a promise (which is all a citroen service is). Clark assured me that wheels would come off at every service, as i require that brakes are inspected, cleaned and refitted using "Gold Grease". Hope im'e not the only one daft enough to have Clark service contract.

[Border_Collie]

I thought it would be between £250 and £300. but wait, are you seated.

 

Service including parts

Oil Filter

Air Filter

Strainer Filt

Housg Plug SE

Pollen Filter

Washer Liquid

Quartz 9000 Oil...........313.04

 

MOT.............................53.10

VAT.............................46.96

 

Total........ ............£413.10

 

I suppose I can't complain because, according to the tick boxes, they did replace the sparking plugs and the petrol filter. That's good of them considering my vehicle has a 2.0 HDi engine.

 

They also pointed out the FREE Quality Health Check Certificate they gave me, which had ticks against all the green lights.

 

I still have a sticker in my rear window which states 'People Trust Hidson's' but that will be coming out tomorrow.

 

I was going to complain AGAIN about my vehicle appearing to be underpowered but recently, thanks to this forum, I found the accelerator cable was well slack so adjusted it and all's well, it's a shame they never thought of that. So this, coupled with the excessive bill, I'll be looking round for another garage. Their loss as my two sons have Citroens and they won't be going back there either.

[Border_Collie]

I've just noticed something else.

 

I took the car in and left it just before 09:30, I'd asked for the service to be done first knowing if anything was wrong it would be corrected before the MOT and I should therefore pass. (Which it did).

 

I understand the MOT now takes about 45 minutes, the time stamp on the MOT was 11:51 from which I assume it was started around 11:00.

 

That means the service was carried out between about 09:30 and 11:00, just 1.5 hours :angry:

 

I assume all dealers will charge the same so before letting your car loose with the main dealer, check the prices.

[kfk]

Surely the way to resolve any concerns here would be to contact the dealer for an explanation.

 

Its normal practice to inform customers of costs both at time of booking the vehicle in and also when accepting the vehicle from the customer, if this action has been carried out and the costs accepted i fail to see why this should be commented upon now.

 

With regard to servicing/MOT and which comes first.......the Person doing the MOT is often the one who is also going to do the service.....so, if it fails on trivial items during the MOT it gets repaired on the service, due to mot regulations this will be recoded as required that the vehicle failed the test.....there is no additional cost for the MOT.

 

It should also be noted that a service is a service & an MOT is an MOT......just because you have had it serviced it doesnt mean it will pass an MOT, any more than an MOT means the vehicle is reliable.

 

So why might an MOT be done first when specifically the customer requested the service first.....simple......the MOT ramp was empty and free to be used.......if the service was done first the MOT wouldnt be done till the afternoon by which time there could be others queueing up for the same equipment......it might seem logical that the customer should be be able to pick and choose the order they would like things done, but there comes a point where we have to use common sense.....if we didnt the customer wouldnt get the car back the same day.

 

So we might assume in this case that the vehicle was started fairly promptly after you dropped the vehicle off......it didnt fail the test, and was subsequently serviced.

 

I wont enter into further communication on here regarding this but would ask you to contact Hidsons to verify any charges.

[Border_Collie]

QUOTE Surely the way to resolve any concerns here would be to contact the dealer for an explanation.

 

My contact with Hidson's has finished.I've had over a year of aggro with my vehicle being under powered, you yourself went out in it with a computer attached and found nothing wrong. It took me, reading these forums, to find the slack in the accelerator cable and cured my problem. Take Boxley Hill, it was always foot down to the floor in third to get a reasonable speed, it now 'flies' up on approx half throttle. As the accelerator adjustment is a known problem I can't understand why someone there hadn't fixed it, I assumed, wrongly, that would have been one of the things you would have checked. Oh yes, the 'computer' said everything was OK. It was all my imagination, not all cars are the same etc. Excuse after excuse and it was like hitting my head against a brick wall.

 

QUOTE Its normal practice to inform customers of costs both at time of booking the vehicle in and also when accepting the vehicle from the customer, if this action has been carried out and the costs accepted i fail to see why this should be commented upon now.

I have now noticed on the invoice it said I was quoted £360. I wasn't quoted verbally and had I been I would have walked away.

 

Regardless as whether the Service or MOT is done first the total time taken would have been a maximum of three and a half hours. A lot of the work carried out appears to be 'checks'. You talk about having the MOT first, if it had and e.g. a split gaitor or worn pads were diagnosed, the service would then be carried out, the problems fixed and another MOT required. If the service had come first problems could have been fixed and then surely it wouldn't fail unless something was missed.

 

The laughable thing is the 'tick' boxes on the service sheet, Spark plugs and petrol filter were renewed. As I said earlier 'On a DIESEL'? Does the service bod just tick everything just incase he misses something?

 

I also noticed the service card, hung on the rear view mirror, had two of the tear off tags still attached. One 'To remove upon completetion of work', the other 'To remove upon satisfactory completetion of quality check'.

 

The service book was not completed fully either.

 

I've always understood this forum was to help each other and voice opinions. Note. I never put this in Dealers to Recommend or Avoid, I've just stated the facts and leave others to decide which is best for them.

 

All in all it's Hidson's loss, for not only am I going elsewhere for service in future but so are my two sons with a Xsara Estate and a C2 Furio.

[CitTone]

You talk about having the MOT first, if it had and e.g. a split gaitor or worn pads were diagnosed, the service would then be carried out, the problems fixed and another MOT required. If the service had come first problems could have been fixed and then surely it wouldn't fail unless something was missed.

 

Over and above the splits and wear issue - surely changing the air filter, i.e. part of the standard service scope, might make the difference between an emissions pass and fail?

[JoeBlunt]

With regard to servicing/MOT and which comes first.......the Person doing the MOT is often the one who is also going to do the service.....so, if it fails on trivial items during the MOT it gets repaired on the service, due to mot regulations this will be recoded as required that the vehicle failed the test.....there is no additional cost for the MOT.

Surely Kfk has explained this? If they have 5 ramps + MOT bay the technicians use the MOT bay when its available in case a queue forms which ultimately means customers would have to wait longer for their vehicles. If Border_Collie's vehicle had failed the emmisions test the technician would then have completed the service which would have included doing the stuff to reduce the emmisions & then re-tested the vehicle (at no additional charge) so its just a case of how the workshop runs dictates in which order things are done.

[Border_Collie]

Surely Kfk has explained this?

 

Yes, he did.

 

However, he also stated

 

So we might assume in this case that the vehicle was started fairly promptly after you dropped the vehicle off......it didnt fail the test, and was subsequently serviced.

 

Is that assumption correct though? If it was started promptly and passed the MOT then serviced, why would the date stamp on the MOT show 11:51?

 

if the service was done first the MOT wouldnt be done till the afternoon by which time there could be others queueing up for the same equipment

 

Equally, if it had failed and had to be re-tested after the service, when things were put right, the MOT ramp would have to be used again and my car put in a queue behind the others.

 

just because you have had it serviced it doesnt mean it will pass an MOT

 

The mind boggles. :rolleyes: Especially as they also carry out a FREE Quality Health Check and supply a Certificate showing anything else which may need doing.

 

Nah! I'm outa there and my money's going elsewhere in future.

[bobuk54]

QUOTE (Border_Collie @ Mar 19 2009, 05:34 PM) Just had the service on my car plus MOT, cars only done 12500 miles from new. How much would you expect the bill to be?

Hi,,took my picasso 1.6LX 2003 with 37500 miles in to have a new COMMS 2000 UNIT,TIMING BELT,FULL SERVICE and MOT.

The job was done at the local Citroen/Honda Showroom.

Total cost was £630 01.Reading your story makes me feel a little better.

Bob

[X-Picasso Man]

reading these forums, to find the slack in the accelerator cable and cured my problem.

Hi Can you tell me how to adjust the slack accelerator cable? I have a 2.0 HDI 05 plate and it also feels underpowered since I have had it? Is it easily done?

Thanks

Paul

Edited August 15, 2009 by JoeBlunt

[Border_Collie]

Lift your bonnet and look to the right hand side of the engine where you will see the cable. It runs through a black plastic housing. The protruding part has grooves where a spring clip is held to the back part of the housing. Gently pull the cable to see how much slack there is.

 

Remove the spring clip carefully and don't drop it.

 

Gently pull on the cable again and fix the clip in the nearest 'full' available groove next to the housing.

 

Start your engine to make sure the tick-over is not too fast. If it is you will have to move the clip back once notch.

 

From start to finish takes about 2 - 3 minutes.

 

And what a difference it makes.

[JoeBlunt]

Hi Can you tell me how to adjust the slack accelerator cable?

 

FAQ's in Technical Section - Page 1 Post 8 (Click Here)

[Guest Nick R]

The Hidsons story is sounding very familiar. I have just taken my car in there to the Rainham branch (3 months into its Approved Used warranty) to have a faulty window jet looked at, a regular service, and an enginer warning light, and suddenly out of nowhere they have found that the sump is leaking. Not only that the damage "must have been done during its last service" and is not repairable. So that's a £306 bill for a new sump and labour (2 hours). But the car had a multi-point check at the place I bought it from in Bristol only 3 months ago and they say that had there been such a problem it would have been picked up at that time.

 

This isn't the first time I've had an issue with Hidsons as a franchise. I went to the Northfleet branch with my last car (also a Xsara Picasso) to have its first service out of warranty. I thought I would continue getting a manufacturer service for consistency. Well, they managed to find £2000 worth of stuff that needed doing! I disputed it all and in the end had just a tire replaced (which I could see was actually worn). Then took it to a local garage. They found nothing wrong, charged me £100 for the service and the car ran for another 2 years quite happily before I sold it with absolutely no further work done to it.

 

This is quite outrageous. To the extent now where I am looking at possible legal proceedings. I will also be contacting Watchdog as I think there may be a more serious case for them to answer. If you have had similar issues (sounds like there are a few) and would like to band together to ensure more weight to the story let me know...

[Border_Collie]

I started this a year and nine months ago and haven't been back to Hidson's since.

 

My son with the Xsara Estate noticed he had a slight blow from the exhaust, which turned out to be the 'cat'. Hidson's quoted something like £800. Took it to a local independant I've used and the bill was £300. Took it in at 08:30 and they phoned at 12:30 to say it was ready.

 

The independant suggested, as I do a low mileage, that I should take it in one year, just before MOT is due, for a check over and the following for a service etc. and has assured me they will only replace parts where necessary, after having phoned me first. Anything found when servicing will be put right before the MOT, when it should then pass.

 

£165 of your £306 bill would have been for the two hours labour, which was £82.50 per hour nineteen months ago, probably higher now. Two hours to remove and replace a sump and refill with oil?

 

Since adjusting the throttle cable on mine, which Hidson's always overlooked (a known problem) although I complained enough about lack of power, and giving it some 'shots' of Millers Diesel Additive it's been running as sweet as a nut and fuel consumption is far better.

 

'People Trust Hidson's'? Yeah right! Until they're enlightened. Having said that, many people on here appear to have problems with other Citroen main dealers. They are brilliant to deal with when you're buying a new car but you quickly become a nuisance if you 'dare' to complain or query something.

[Guest slow_rider]

QUOTE (Border_Collie @ Mar 19 2009, 10:21 PM)

 

'Their loss as my two sons have Citroens and they won't be going back there either'

 

 

QUOTE (Border_Collie @ Jan 17 2011, 10:58 PM)

 

 

'My son with the Xsara Estate noticed he had a slight blow from the exhaust, which turned out to be the 'cat'. Hidson's quoted something like £800.'

Edited January 19, 2011 by slow_rider

[pixan]

I can only sympathise with members who have bad servicing experiences and reiterate that my experience is very similar to Border_Collie's, the only difference is that in my case it was Duff Morgan's in Norwich who ripped me off. Despite challenging them with photographic evidence with regards to the filters that HAD NOT BEEN CHANGED, but charged for, I got the usual closing of ranks. The Service manager dismissed the discolouration of the filters as normal, after the car had done less tham 500 miles. For Christ's sake this is England and not the depths of a dusty desert island.

 

Furthermore, they failed on two previous occassions, to put the correct grade of oil in the engine, using a 10W40 non-descript oil from a 40 gallon drum. The corect grade should have been a C2 Low Saps 5W30 fully synthetic. Needless to say, they charged me for the correct grade of oil at around £30 for 4 litres.

 

I wondered why the oil on the dipstick was so very dense black until I refilled with the correct oil that still looks good today after 1500 miles of fast motorway mileage.

 

I do believe that those of us who have had these unsatisfactory servicing experiences should get together and make representations to Citroen directly.

Edited January 19, 2011 by pixan

[Lancelot]

Letters to Citroen U.K and France, plus local trading standards plus TV watchdog programmes would seem like a good start. These bum garages get away with highway robbery and we let it happen. Go for it! Check to see if they are members of any trade association or motoring assn. such as A.A or R.A.C.

[Border_Collie]

QUOTE (Border_Collie @ Mar 19 2009, 10:21 PM)

 

'Their loss as my two sons have Citroens and they won't be going back there either'

 

 

QUOTE (Border_Collie @ Jan 17 2011, 10:58 PM)

 

 

'My son with the Xsara Estate noticed he had a slight blow from the exhaust, which turned out to be the 'cat'. Hidson's quoted something like £800.'

 

This post has been edited by slow_rider: Today, 10:48 AM

 

Oh I see. What happened was he got the quote from the independant and then phoned Hidson's out of curiosity.

 

We haven't been back to Hidson's and all cars running OK without trusting them. Obviously tyres, brakes and clutch will need seeing to in due course but none of us are getting the little 'niggles' we used to. Luck or something else we don't know but all happy with our motoring.

 

'People trust Hidson's'? 'A fool and his money is soon parted'. (Especially if they have no knowledge of the working of cars.)

 

 

PIXAN, it's not just Citroen main dealers as I had a 'run-in' with Peugeot at Rochester. I had a 405 GRD and 'had' to take it there for the first 3 years to satisfy the guarantee. A mates son started as a trainee mechanic, coincidently at Hidson's, and he said he could get me all the oil, filters etc at a good discount, all I had to say to Peugeot was 'Fit customers parts'. I booked the sevice told them oil, filters etc were in the boot. At the same time they were to do the 2-year corrosion check.

 

Took the car in and as I parked I heard a noise and thought I had clipped the wall with the front of my car. 'Oh ****'! But on checking I had driven onto a Coke can which was under my front offside tyre. I took my keys to reception and said again to use my parts in the boot.

 

I returned about 4pm to collect my car and paid, if I remember, £212. I returned to my car and noticed it was parked in the same position with the front o/s wheel still on the Coke can. I opened the boot and lo and behold all the parts were still there. I went back to reception and asked if they had used my parts or had been charged for theirs. 'Your parts as instructed'. 'Why the ****ing hell are mine still inthe boot then'?

 

Th manager appeared and I took him to my car and opened the boot. If only I'd had a camera to take a shot of his face. He was very apologetic and said it must have been overlooked, it had never happened before' etc etc. I then noticed there were some stone chipping caught in the 'dirt trap' in the wheel arch. I asked what they did when carrying out the corrosion check. He said 'We steam clean the underside of the car and then check all over for 'tell tale' problems. I pointed to the stones and said 'What do you do, remove the stone chips, check and then replace them'? No answer there. I then asked when they would carry out the service and corrosion check and was told I would have to book in another day. I told him I would be going to trading standards to report them. He said 'Hold on, I'll get it taken in straight away'.

 

Less than an hour later my car was ready. I asked for Mr. Tett (or was that TWAT?) and said 'If the service takes two hours and the corrosion check takes two hours, how come it's been done in less than an hour'? He made enquiries and said 'The service was carried out by our most experienced technician who works fast, unfortunately we didin't have time to do the corrosion check'. I eventually received a refund for the two hour charge for non-corrosion check.

 

Still had a years warranty left so had to continue using them for the following year, in which time I was having problems with the sun roof sticking. They had several goes and each time it appeared to be fixed but soon went back to a 'creaking' slow movement. I wanted to get it sorted before the warranty ran out and when I took it in during April I was asked 'When did you last use it'? I said 'Probably last Septemeber'. 'Ah' was the reply 'it's seizing up due to lack of use'. They greased it and made a few adjustments and it worked until about two months after the warranty ran out when it stuck closed. I went back and said it was an on going problem which they had failed to fix under warranty and would like it done properly. 'Yes sir, no problems, it will be £300+VAT to remove headlining and replace motors and cables'.

 

I suppose I could conlude that as I've had problems with both Citroen and Peugeot it's a French problem, however, whilst travelling to south or France for a holiday I was getting some strange mechanical noises when I changed year and sometimes on cornering, I thought it was the gearbox. There is a Renault garage just along the road from our friends and they arranged for it to be checked. The French bloke said 'Roulement, roulement'. He had no English and I no French so I nodded. Later I returned and found out it was a wheel bearing, total cost £60. On our return home I phoned Peugeot and asked for a quote 'Yes sir, that will be £60 for the parts plus two hours labour (at the time £30+ per hour) plus VAT. My conclusion 'Rip Off Britain' as usual.

[blondchaser]

The fuel filter on a diesel XPic is supposed to be changed at 37,500mls according to shitroën.

I happened to be speaking to my local garageman today and he says that they recommend changing the fuel filter at every service. This is because they have experienced problems with vehicles fitted with the HDI engine and run on modern diesel which contains increasing amounts of bio diesel. A jelly like substance sometimes forms (bacterial/fungal action of bio)which has been the cause of pump/injector problems.