Rant of the Day v2.

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llondel
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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#2181 Post by llondel » Wed Sep 04, 2019 5:01 pm

Pontius Navigator wrote:
Wed Sep 04, 2019 4:30 pm

A chemical, I forget which one, that exploded when you trod on it.
Nitrogen triiodide, much beloved of schoolboys. In its pure form it's very unstable, can be set off with alpha radiation. The schoolboy version tended to have ammonia and water involved, so it was more stable, at least until it dried out into the little crystals that got sprinkled on the floor.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#2182 Post by Pontius Navigator » Wed Sep 04, 2019 5:16 pm

That's the one.

These quirky chemicals such as H2S are essential for grabbing their interest. Secret writing was another. Instant destruction from future use was adding concentrated sulphuric acid to sugar in a glass jar. I forget the resultant chemical but remember it being indestructible, irremovable and black.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#2183 Post by CharlieOneSix » Fri Sep 06, 2019 4:38 pm

Raging I am, raging!! ~X(

I posted about Mrs C16's breakdown in her Audi A3 earlier here: viewtopic.php?p=192527#p192527

Just had an Audicam message saying what the problem was and what part was needed. We knew that from the AA man's investigation. The message should be renamed Audiscam.

Earlier today I researched the problem online. Genuine Audi part £133, overpriced as usual. Videos online showed it takes about 10 minutes maximum to change the part once the car is on the ramp. Last time I checked a couple of years ago Audi labour was £109 an hour so it will be even more of a ridiculous price now, say £130 an hour. Allow an excessive 1 hour so total price should be a guesstimate of £263.

The Audiscam text shown below arrives. Price £403.46!!! :-o :-o I hit the roof.
.
audiscam.jpg
I called them back and spoke to the Workshop Manager and asked him to explain the pricing. Oh dear, there were two variants of the single sensor on the car so they had priced for both sensors. Price revised to £270. Not a word of apology. I'll be taking this further as my wife would have paid that and been none the wiser.

Yes, I know Audi Main Dealers are formed in the image of Dick Turpin but we needed the car back serviceable ASAP for use next week and I doubt if our usual local garage we use for servicing (£48 an hour) could have reacted as quickly on a Friday afternoon.
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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#2184 Post by Pontius Navigator » Fri Sep 06, 2019 5:25 pm

Charlie, you are also vulnerable to 'book time'. Average Audi box changer doing job for first or second time. - time 2 hrs including road test and car wash 😐

My first car, Ford Anglia, needed a new windscreen on a Saturday so I could go back to base in Sunday. Found a garage, told come back in 2 hours.

I returned and they hadn't even started. Annoyed. Mechanic came, popped out old screen, put a cord into windscreen rub. Placed windscreen on rubber, pulled out cord, job done, 10 minutes. I was charged 2 hours "Well I could have put an apprentice in the job."

Today I would have said "I'll pay apprentice rates then" .

I have had some good experiences though.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#2185 Post by llondel » Fri Sep 06, 2019 6:11 pm

This is where it helps to know something about your car and how to do various jobs even if you prefer to pay someone else to do them. I replaced a starter motor myself because I knew it was a 20-30 minute job, fixed the aircon myself, did the brakes myself. I paid over the odds when the engine warning light came on and they said it needed a new O2 sensor. Now I know how to do that too, and will do it myself next time. I also invested in one of those ODB2 gadgets so I can tell what the problem is before taking it to the garage.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#2186 Post by Alisoncc » Fri Sep 06, 2019 8:36 pm

llondel wrote:
Fri Sep 06, 2019 6:11 pm
I also invested in one of those ODB2 gadgets so I can tell what the problem is before taking it to the garage.
Bought an Autel AutoLink AL519 OBDII EOBD six years ago for my Subbie. Saved me a fortune in garage costs. Once got lots of flashing lights warning me the sky was about to fall in, and not to drive any further. Hundreds of miles from civilisation - no phone reception - bloody long walk. Plugged the Autel in and it told me the car heater temp sensor was crook. Me worry. Like it was 40 degC outside.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#2187 Post by Pontius Navigator » Sat Sep 07, 2019 9:33 am

Thank goodness for honest people.

Bloody delivery driver delivered a box of wine to the wrong address. He matched part of the address: 3 I**** Court, NG33 5N* but wrong Court, wrong postcode not the right name, so no banana.

Not sure why the neighbour signed for it. Anyway he brought it around which was kind of him.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#2188 Post by Pontius Navigator » Sat Sep 07, 2019 9:44 am

We had had a different problem last month. We moved 2 years ago and told everyone our new address but these two companies that we hadn't used since had stored our old address. We entered our correct billing address and the parcels winged their way to the wrong house.

First was perfume and never heard a thing. Complained to the company and they must have sent a returns label for we eventually got a refund. The other parcel was redelivered

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#2189 Post by CharlieOneSix » Sun Sep 08, 2019 3:29 pm

Monday approaches - the start of week 5 of our BT phone line saga. Six engineers so far, plus two no shows for appointments. Tomorrow they say they will dig up and replace the faulty cable at the roadside. They are 'confident' this will fix the problem. We shall see. Thank goodness I use a wireless feed for the internet rather than a BT copper wire.
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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#2190 Post by CharlieOneSix » Mon Sep 09, 2019 9:55 am

Ha! Usual BT efficiency. Two contractor vehicles arrived, one with a mini digger, ready to expose the faulty underground cable. They sat there for an hour, didn't even unload the digger, then drove off into the wild grey and rainy yonder. No BT engineer arrived. Why am I not surprised. ~X(
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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#2191 Post by Rwy in Sight » Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:25 am

Maybe a new mail to the CEO is worth to keep him updated on those developments.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#2192 Post by CharlieOneSix » Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:37 am

RiS - I have a contact in Executive Level Complaints who is the liaison person between me and BT Openreach. I'm awaiting a call back regarding today's farce.
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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#2193 Post by Rwy in Sight » Mon Sep 09, 2019 11:48 am

CharlieOneSix wrote:
Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:37 am
RiS - I have a contact in Executive Level Complaints who is the liaison person between me and BT Openreach. I'm awaiting a call back regarding today's farce.
I don't like to be a snitch but sometimes it is ridiculous. Honestly when we had to handle an issue associated with the Big Boss we usually did our best - most of the times. The remaining cases (with a generous help from Murphy) were just like what happens to you.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#2194 Post by CharlieOneSix » Tue Sep 10, 2019 4:47 pm

Here I go again! Re my post viewtopic.php?p=192542#p192542 this afternoon we went to collect Mrs C16's car from the Audi dealers following the replacement of the Exhaust Gas Temperature Sensor. From my other post, the initial quote for the work was £403, revised downwards to £270 when I complained about the excessive charge and they then realised they had quoted for two sensors.

The service representative handed us an invoice for £330! :-o When I challenged it he explained there was a £60 charge for "investigation work". This was the first we had heard of that charge but apparently it was 'normal' to charge it in addition to the quote for the work!! The AA man who recovered the vehicle took a couple of minutes to find out that the EGT Sensor was the problem and the Audi people wanted £60 to plug in their gizmo for a couple of minutes to get the same result!

They could not justify to me why they had never mentioned it before it was shown on the invoice. They offered to halve the charge. I told them there was no way we were paying any of it. I had verbally agreed £270 for the work and that was all I was paying. I suggested he take the issue 'upstairs' if he could not authorise the removal of the £60. He got up to do that and I then suggested while he was there he mention that for a continuous period of 33 years we have been customers of Aberdeen Audi since they were known as Specialist Cars and that this was a make or break issue as far as my being a customer and purchaser of new Audi cars there in future. The £60 charge was removed. Ba****ds! X( We won't be going back in a hurry.
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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#2195 Post by Capetonian » Tue Sep 10, 2019 5:14 pm

£60 to plug the car into a computer and interpret a number that comes up.
You were lucky, we had to pay €150 for them to do that for our Saab, one of the reasons I got rid of the thing.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#2196 Post by k3k3 » Tue Sep 10, 2019 5:39 pm

My brother-in-law had the engine light come on will I was visiting once, the Subaru garage in Chichester wanted £90 to plug it in to their machine. I phoned the family run garage we always used in Germany and they told me of a pair of green and black wires under the dash, connect them to each other in a certain sequence and count the flashes of the engine symbol on the dash, did this, phoned him back, he looked it up and said it's the knock sensor, dead easy to replace, shouldn't cost more than €50. We spoke to the UK dealer and he wanted £200+, I phoned our man in Germany and he posted the part to me with a photocopy of the page in the manual showing how to do it and I paid him next time I was there.

Auto Beres in Heinsberg for anyone between AC and MG in Germany.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#2197 Post by llondel » Tue Sep 10, 2019 7:49 pm

As I said somewhere else, an ODB2 reader is a valuable thing to have for a modern car, it will tell you what's wrong so even if you go to a garage, you can read up in advance about what it is and have some idea how deep you're being gouged.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#2198 Post by Undried Plum » Tue Sep 10, 2019 8:08 pm

Sometimes it's hard, really really hard, for a Tesla driver not to smirk.

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#2199 Post by Boac » Tue Sep 10, 2019 9:06 pm

Any opinions on the obd2 - I see prices start at around £9 on Amazon, but are these any good?

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Re: Rant of the Day v2.

#2200 Post by CharlieOneSix » Tue Sep 10, 2019 9:11 pm

Capetonian wrote:
Tue Sep 10, 2019 5:14 pm
£60 to plug the car into a computer and interpret a number that comes up.....
If they use the same kit as the AA man they don't need to interpret it - it comes up in plain English!
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https://www.glenbervie-weather.org

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