My bad experience at Camden GTI

[Tim]

Re-read my post. Nowhere did I say a contract was an invoice. As a lawyer specialising in contract law, I don't think I would make that error.

As a lawyer you should be entirely comfortable with overcharging people.
(sorry nothing personal. I just paid thousands of dollars in legal fees recently so Im a bit jaded)

[jamie88]

This is Fun. Like a vag themed jerry springer !

[Damo105]

I can confirm that so far I've not heard anything from Camden GTI, which is disappointing.

I guess when I asked for the oil change I entered into a contract, but as all the terms of the contract were not negotiated at that point, then the service provider may be legally free to charge whatever they want. Although perhaps under the Trade Practices Act, charging for services not performed might be considered unconscionable?

Regardless, all I wanted was to be charged a fair price for the work performed!

[BlackSuperb]

As a lawyer you should be entirely comfortable with overcharging people.
(sorry nothing personal. I just paid thousands of dollars in legal fees recently so Im a bit jaded)

Alas I work for a transport company and am unable to charge what I like, but I'm glad somebody picked up the irony.

[phaeton]

BlackSuperb I don't want any haters or negativity on this forum.

Saying the above though, do you have to write about Transporter the way you did - Miro is a person to and his opinions from a Mechanic who runs his own business should be respected as much as the customer complaining, also I believe English is his second language.

On this forum, we only hear half the argument all the time.
Matt who runs Camden GTI may not want to comment on a public forum as its between the customer and the business what goes on with the issue. I am sure all who run a workshop would have read and taken in objective critism.

My view is that the customer was not explained the pricing properly and in my opinion should have contacted the manager himself.
My background is simple I worked my way up in a petrol station to assistant manager role at a small service workshop. We made mistakes admiting them and how you correct them is how you keep clientele happy, 100% will never be achievable.

[RedColourConcept]

Thanks for the thread. Has kept my mind open as I was about to take my VR6 to them for a engine recondition, suspension refitting and gearbox service. Most probably will end up going to them but will be sure to get a quote first!

[phaeton]

Thanks for the thread. Has kept my mind open as I was about to take my VR6 to them for a engine recondition, suspension refitting and gearbox service. Most probably will end up going to them but will be sure to get a quote first!

Camden GTI has been supporting the VW community (forums/clubs) for over 5 years - to date this must be the only complaint that I have ever seen on the forums.

[greasykitchen]

Camden GTI has been supporting the VW community (forums/clubs) for over 5 years - to date this must be the only complaint that I have ever seen on the forums.

I also had a bad experience when ordering a part for my Mk1 last year. I was disappointed with their honesty (they told me several times the part was in the mail when it was actually still in the donor car) and their attitude (they got all defensive when I complained, essentially blaming me). And while they didn't guarantee the part's compatibility with my car, it turned out to be completely different. It wasn't cheap either.

Wasn't at all happy.

I know can't please all people all of the time, but I don't think I was being unreasonable in this instance. Even though it wasn't that bad in the grand scheme of things, it was possibly the worst experience I've had with a mechanic or any business.

[ffoff]

The only experience I've had with Matt was when I was changing my clutch and ran into a problem, I was trying to buy a flywheel off him an instead he told me how to modify mine to suit. Can't complain with that!

[brad]

as a complete aside - mechanics charge $100 per hour!

Hell, I'm a paramedic of 15 years, I can keep your heart going, keep you breathing, administer several medications including schedule 8 drugs, I'm also a clinical instructor (teach students on road) and a driving standards facilitator ( driving instructor) work rotating shifts and i don't even make $40 per hour...

man i went into the wrong business...

oh, and I can't speak highly enough of Matt at Camden, helped me a lot with my engine conversion....

When I was on weekly pay as a mech, the mechanic pay to hourly rate ratio was 1:4; when I took a pay cut & started working on commission it was about 1:3; when I went totally solo it worked out as 1:2 but I could go months without being paid by my clients (single large jobs rather than multiples). The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. As an Ambulance Officer, you haven't got a lot of risk have you? (from an administrative/cash flow perspective - I am fully aware of the personal stresses in that industry).

I take my Octavia to Camden GTI & find them quite flexible in their approach & attending to my needs / budget, etc. It sounds like the OP & Matt had some form of communications breakdown, which is unfortunate.

A "proper service" at a dealer would have been a lot more than $315 from my experiencebut I can see why you would have expected it to be a fraction cheaper ($250 would have been equitable IMO).