Scottish Elises

Novice Racer · Post by **Novice Racer** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 8:00 pm

First visit to MMC.

They had my car for 7 days to fit a new alarm after the control box was contaminated with water. Cost £400 for parts /labour.

Now have the car back with the following "additions"

1) Rattling dashboard - it does not appear to be fixed on next to the left of the stack and can be raised up. Cannot seem to secure this on my own

2) Big gouge out of rubber covering over gear stick

3) Kicks, black marks and a few scores on the central console

4) Broken plastic fascia in on the left of the glove compartment area so it cannot be properly attached

5) Constant rattle from passengerâ€™s side dash

6) A mechanics glasses case and phone charger left behind the driverâ€™s seat

7) Best of all - a hole where the 2nd from the right windscreen vent should be. It has obviously been snapped of and just left like that for me to find

Was on way home yesterday when I started noticing these things and turned back. Spoke to John at MMC who apologized but it is pissing me off more and more that my property is damaged and the car just thrown back together after an expensive job. It this was my house, MMC would be liable for criminal damage.

These boys are supposed to be working on Lotus/Aston Martin cars. If I wanted Ford level servicing, I would have bought a Ford.

How angry should I be? Have others experienced the same thing? What do members think is a reasonable course of action and has anyone had similar problems with this garage?

Is this what I have to expect from MMC and who/where would be a suitable alternative near Edinburgh?

JT

thinfourth · Post by **thinfourth** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 8:07 pm

sounds like MMC

james · Post by **james** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 10:01 pm

Novice, that sounds terrible. My answer to your question would be "I'd be very angry"

I would like to see what others make of this since my car is about to go in for its next service there - my first experience of MMC post buying the car.

mac · Post by **mac** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 8:51 am

They just seem to be going from bad to worse these days.

It's not an un-monitored forum (ie. there is no one from MMC who vists here on company time)

I think it's time that all concerned, and there are plenty out there who have had "issues" with the workmanship at MMC - (myself included although very minor - when I had the floor fix the passengers sill had the marks of someones greasy hair!) take out complaint to the top of the tree of the John Martin group - if we don't get satisfaction there the next stop is hethel.

Cheers

Mac

Post by **pete** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 10:10 am

Glasses case and phone charger?

Had it done any extra miles? (Those sound like personal possessions - almost as if someone had used the car! No that would never happen.)

Oh, very angry - go into writing straight away.

pete

Dominic · Post by **Dominic** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 10:46 am

Clearly, for the replacement of an alarm, the car needs test driven, to check its handling / engine / brakes

Post by **simon** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 12:35 pm

I agree that I'd be extremely annoyed too and I have also had some issues with them. I think Mac's probably right, some form of complaint needs to be made to JM. However, I'm quite cautious of going to Hethel about it after what happened with Town and County in Aberdeen. They lost their franchise after a number of complaints to Lotus and I'd hate for Scotland to lose it's only dealer, not that I think it would come to that!

GregR · Post by **GregR** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 12:50 pm

shooting the breeze here, but how about a 'bad experiences' thread, indicating nature of problems, costs involved and dates of commission. If that collated info was put into a dossier, there's not much JM Grp could do other than realise a change requires to be made.

I've tried thinking of other ways, but that seems to be the only thing we as owners can do as a 'collective' to try to get things sorted; a kindof owners 'union' if you like

Michael · Post by **Michael** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 5:16 am

too right Greg..gets my vote. Name and shame. Simon, so what if we lose them, come on man!

Id just be happy that noone else will go through what i went thourgh with them if they got shut down.

Novice, see my other posts re MMC

mac · Post by **mac** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 8:18 am

So what if we lose them - well any warrenty work would involve a three hour trip to Chris Neil in Cheshire.

Let me do some digging - see if we can find out what the root cause is - and the best way to tackle the issue. I'm quite happy to get Graeme involved - at the end of the day he sells the cars (and whether you like the guy or not, you have to remember it is his job to sell them) and folk ain't going to go back to MMC if the aftersales service is a joke.

Mac

thinfourth · Post by **thinfourth** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 8:33 am

is there an aston martin forum as maybe they are getting the same service?

Post by **simon** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 9:00 am

Michael wrote:too right Greg..gets my vote. Name and shame. Simon, so what if we lose them, come on man! Id just be happy that noone else will go through what i went thourgh with them if they got shut down.

Novice, see my other posts re MMC

Because I don't want to have no Lotus dealer up here. If that happened, where would those who do want an official stamp go? Where would you go for parts? What happens when a new Lotus is launched that interests you? What about warranty work? Regardless of how anyone has been treated, it would be terrible if they closed that franchise down. If there was no Scottish dealer, I probably wouldn't have had my car and you can bet there's plenty of other people who wouldn't have theirs.

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 9:11 am

I should clarify I have never delt with MMC and have no wish to ever do so! My comments are an observation on the comments I have read.

MMC can't seem to do anything about their service dept, they don't warrant their £95/hour fees where as they should be setting the standards. If my lads were as slack theyed have killed someone by now.

Their workshop management seems to need to kick some arse and/or have their arses kicked. Quality comes from the top, there is no excuse. They are not difficult cars to work on mechanically and access is not as bad as some.

At the end of the day they are supposed to be the best of the best, you are not supposed to be able to get a better service for 1/3 the price.

my 2p

mac · Post by **mac** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 9:18 am

MMC have some good guys - we know - they are like us.

These failings are either a quality control issue - ie there is none OR the mechanics are being rushed to get the job done quickly.

I accept that not every mechanic there is like Ali who comes up to Knockhill to watch and grab some pax laps but we need to be careful not to tar them all with the same brush.

I'll start a thread in the "meets" section for folk to detail their ACTUAL issues with MMC at both Glasgow & Edinburgh. Please don't use it for sounding off or things that you think they SHOULD have done. Once we have enough info we can approach MMC and ask them what they are going to do about it.

Cheers

Mac

PS: I'm using the meets section as it's locked to non members.

GregR · Post by **GregR** » Mon Aug 14, 2006 9:22 am

Chaps, I can see this getting out of hand, so I thought I'd best clarify:

The dossier isn't for sending to Hethel, just to Mission Control at MMC - doubt MMC would pull the plug on their own operation, but would rather see that there are areas of concern with a number of their customers.

Greg