Hello everyone.
(This is just my personal opinion gained from personal experience)
I've just just had the misfortune to have had my car "serviced" by STAFFORD SWEDISH CARS a so-called specialist. I asked them to service my 2.0T S60 and give it a quick check over.
A figure of approx. £165 was agreed over the phone, so I dropped my car off leaving instructions to call me if any other work needed doing .
4 hours later they phone me to pick it back up and tell me it's going to cost £299!!! :huh:
When I asked what was covered by this price they told me this:

Oil and filter, Sump Washer, Screen Wash, Spark Plugs, Pollen Filter.

Then they told me that £165 only covered an oil change!!! :wacko:
What a f*****g rip-off. How can they justify that? £40 for oil £7 for a filter and £1.50 for a sump washer.
That leaves over £100 for the labour? I don't think so!
In the end I told them to remove the plugs and the pollen filter and I ended up paying £187!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The moral of the (sorry it's so long) story is: Don't take you car to a dodgy "specialist" when you can get the same thing done at a Volvo dealer for the same money.
My advice to anyone in the midlands area is to avoid Stafford Swedish Cars at all costs unless you fancy having your wallet emptied and your pants pulled down! :o

End of Rant!!
Cheers, Daz. :liebe011:

The S60 tends to use Semi or fully synthetic oil....just oil service on my D5 costs £136 from a main dealer...when i changed oil myself oil alone cost me nearly £50 filter £7....it seems Swedish are charging main stealer rates for labour..what else did they do in the Service?

You think thats bad - I needed a new connector for my engine management unit, part cost £40 - for my local volvo dealer to fit it - £400, I asked them to order the part and I would fit it myself, they concluded their report with the fact the car must be brought back in to have the idle adjusted after the connector was fitted, I fitted the new connector slowly and carefully in 2 hours, and the car has been running better than ever since 9without taking it in for adjustment (except for a minor hiccup today with the rev counter- which doesnt seem connected to the previous problem.)
Grendel

Hi there.
I got a new sump plug washer, some screenwash, some 'sundries' :puzzled: and they had a quick look around under neath for anything obvious, eg. rusty exhaust, bald tyres, etc.
I've spoken to a consumer watchdog today and they reckon there's nothing I can do about it, because if it went to court it would be their word against mine.
Next time I'll get a written quote before I have anything done!
:beer:
Daz.

I can now add Stratstones Volvo of Birmingham to the dodgy specialists site..being a car nut myself i check my car each and every day..i know when things are wrong..i checked my car at 22:00 hrs and left the car in workibng order..09:00hrs car was collected by stratstones for a service..i got a call from service manager at 12:00 telling me car is ready and awaiting drop on receipt of payment i asked how much just to confirm price which i had already been quoted..she said £292.56..how much? i asked..i was told £270 plus volvo club discount..she the manager tells me my light bulbs needed to be replaced as they were blown and they had to investigate a electric problem...all this untrue as i know i had no electric probs..nor where my bulbs dead..to find bulbs on both side of car gone is very rare..they had infact only replaced the sidelight bulbs(501's) ..rather than argue over phone i agreed the price ...when car was returned the service book hadnt even been stamped...went to garage and was told to return monday for stamp..i spkoe to about 3 Stratstones employees who inform me that their management is aware of issues with bad customer dealing and they are going to deal with it...for the while i have found myself a new smaller main dealership who has excellent reviews from their customers..

My God !! What a ripp off. Our small garage which we own in Ayrshire charge £49 for a S60 oil change . And thats using genuine filter and sump plug washer , and using Quantum fully synthetic oil which we've used for years with no problems at all. I cant believe what i'm seeing. Speaking from a mechanics point of view , i really dont know how these companies can get away with that.

I'm afraid they are all to interested in getting a quick buck , and are not really bothered if you return for further work. Short sighted business view as far as i'm concerned. We've been in business since 1982 and in our experience you have to price your work in accordance to what the public around you can afford.

Treat people fair and give them good service and they will always come back. As soon as people think they are getting ripped off , you lose business fast.

Kind of angers me a little , because i'm afraid a lot of good garages get tarred with the same brush as these cowboys. And ALOT of 'Dealers' need to buck their ideas up too.

(Marty gets off his soap box)

B)

Hi.
It's terrible that Main dealers are resorting to those sort of tactics. It seems that they are trying to extract every last penny from their customers! We shouldn't have to put up with this sort of behaviour from a company such as Volvo. You just don't expect it from them. :liebe011:

Hi Marty
I agree totally. These people have ripped me off and so won't be getting any future business from me.
Shame I don't live in Scotland so you could service my S60!
I have a friend who owns a VW/Audi Specialist and he uses Quantum oils too. He has had no problems either. For the money Stafford cars wanted to charge me, my friend would have done a cambelt service!!!
:liebe011:

At that price difference it would almost be cheaper to drive to scotland for the service.
Grendel

Im glad im not the only one who doesnt trust "specialists". Some years ago we had a couple of of Volvo 340s, the local "specialists" were nothing but glorified scrap merchants living off the fabled "have you seen main dealers prices" and "no one else understands volvos properley" statements. Their work was so ham fisted they always created time bombs from their originalwork. and on top of that the prices were well stiff considering the parts they used were often not much better than those they removed.

As if by coincidence i had called Stafford for a quote on parts only some weeks back and am still awaiting their call back. Lucky Near miss if you ask me now!

Thanks for the warning. :grouphug:

I went to my local authorized mechanic today and found out all authorized mechanics have a contract with Volvo that states how much they can charge as well as how long they're supposed to take. If they're fudging the price you should report them directly to Volvo.

Hi bigben
Very lucky you didn't use them cos they would have ripped you off!
Glad my rantings have saved someone from the same mistake as I made. :beer:

Hi terminos27
I don't think for a second that they are actually "authorised" by Volvo.
I will be mentioning it to Volvo very soon though, so I'll let you know what happens.
:beer:

Damn I wish i could find more mechanics like you guys! Its damn near as bad over here in the 'states. I found one gentleman who has helped me with plenty of issues for a great price but other than that, everyone wants an arm and a leg!