Sending your vehicle to a workshop is a matter of trust- and not always a positive experience :-(

Author: Jens Lyck (originally written in Danish, tranlsation by Google)

-At the same time, you enter into an agreement with the workshop where you trust that they treat your vehicle correctly and only replace defective parts.

If for any reason you believe that the bill you receive does not reflect the service you expected, the entire burden of proof lies with you. And it can be extremely difficult to do anything about.

Therefore, it is very, very important that you trust your mechanic, so if you feel robbed - THEN FIND ANOTHER WORKSHOP !!!

The following story is an example of an extremely negative experience with a workshop. It is not about motorcycles, but about the family car, but it clearly shows how weak the customer’s position is when there is a crunch with the workshop.

It is strongly advised not to shop at Breitenstein Biler A/S.

We bought our Suzuki Wagon at Breitenstein Biler in Nykøbing F. The first years (while there were no problems with the car) we were very happy with the treatment we received, but one day there were lumps in the stream......

It could at times be very difficult to start when it was cold, and when we finally got it started the fan (behind the cooler) immediately, even though the car was icy. It was clear that the computer was mistakenly informed that the engine was very hot, so that it did not think that there should be shocks to start, but there against the blower started to cool the engine down.

We drove the car to Breitenstein who examined the car, changed the temperature sensor, and told us that now it was in order. It was too - for about a week, it was mad again. Still as a periodic error. I cleaned all the plugs I could find, but no result. It should be noted that all connectors are waterproof plugs in a good quality.

Electric charts are not publicly available on modern Japanese cars, and I do not have access to Suziki's computer equipment for reading out fault codes, so I gave up and sent the car to Breitenstein Cars again, with the message that they could keep it as long as they wanted, as long as it worked when I got it again.

A few days later the car was ready, and we were told that they had changed some plugs, and it looked like there had been mice!!!! in the mains.

Strange, when I cleaned the multistics in the car, there was no sign that there had been gnawn in the wires, and when the next day I looked in the engine compartment there was at least none of the plugs I had cleaned that had been replaced. But my confidence in the workshop was still intact, there could easily be places I had not looked for - I am definitely not an expert in cars.

The car worked fine - for about a week, then it was mad again. I have great understanding that periodic errors are hard to find, so I called Breitenstein Cars again. I told you that it was exactly the same mistake as there had always been there, explaining that I expected an extraordinary effort to find the error, and that I did not think that I should pay further. At this point I had paid over 4000,- kr without having had my car repaired.

Then I got a long lecture on:

• that the first two "repairs" shame had been real, because the car had worked when I got it back.
• that there could easily be several different, consecutive errors that gave exactly the same symptoms !!!
• The story of the hungry mice was repeated.

It gave rise to a longer dialogue where I kindly, but clearly expressed my desire to have a car that works as intended, without adventurous or zoological explanations, but at Breitenstein it was maintained that I had been properly treated.

Nopes! - I don't make my money that easy, so Breitenstein didn't get the chance again. But the car should be made, so I complained to my distress to a buddy who is cunning for cars (he lives off it). He could be persuaded to drive in the car for a week, and after two days he called and had found the error:

Three wires gathered inside a cable bundle had a periodic interruption on the grung of a poorly executed pressing of the assembly. He had found that the error could be started and stopped by grabbing the cable bundle and pulling it easily!!! So much for smart test computers and fine sales rooms with marble floors......

The car has worked perfectly ever since, and I am very grateful to have friends who have knowledge and experience on the things I do not know anything about, but I was still something knotted on Breitenstein Cars over the treatment I had received. And one thing was certain: I'll never show myself at Breitenstein again!

However, I think they should know that I felt unreasonably treated, so I sent them the following letter:

To
Leon Nielsen
Breitenstein Biler A/S
Randersvej 4
4800 Nykøbing F.

8/11 2002

For your information, I can inform you that the electricity fault that has been housed in my Suzuki Wagon for the last 8-9 months, has now been found and finally rectified with the help of a competent mechanic.

The fault lay in a collection of three wires inside a cable bundle. The wires were gathered by the de-isolated ends being stuck into a tint and pinched. (A normal method on Japanese cars.)

It turned out that the pipe was not pinched correctly together and this has meant that the collection was unstable. The collection is now soldered and the cable bundle is reassembled.

I am aware that electricity errors can be miserable to find, and when I called you I was also prepared for the chance to have the chance once again to rectify the error.

But there were a few points in our conversation that got me on second thoughts:

• You maintain that Breitenstein Cars have carried out real repairs the first two times the car has been filed, and that there can easily be a longer row, consecutive, errors that exhibit the same symptoms. Anyone with a minimum technical insight knows that this is not the case in practice.
• You tell me that there have been mice in my wiring. I have not managed to find signs of mice or other rodents in the engine compartment, and I will allow myself to doubt that mice are intelligent enough to selectively gnaw in and create errors in the same subsystem a larger number of places without destroying other functions of the power system.

I believe that such statements are the expression of a very lax business morale, and it is my clear belief that Breitenstein Cars prioritize the printing of bills higher than the repair of customers' cars.

I do not want to be a part of that, so our cooperation will cease.

I suggest that you do not send me advertising material in the future – it will be an unnecessary financial expense that I do not want to inflict on you.

The above process represents unconditionally the worst treatment I have been subjected to date by a car repair shop, and will certainly not get you positive advertising from my side.

Jens Lyck Hansen

It should be noted that Breitenstein Cars have never responded to the letter. The car, on the other hand, seemed impeccable until we sold it a few years later, we should probably never have a Suzuki again.

It is quite deliberate that I mention Breitenstein Biler by name and have not been cencurating in the wording of the letter I sent to them. I have to have a little pleasure from the 4000,- kr. I had to pay for nothing.

/Jens