.I've had an intermittant problem with the wiring on my offside headlamp for a while now but I was always able to fix it myself.
However on Sunday the corrosion had got to the point where the wires had basically had it.I decided that an expert was needed but seeing as the pop-up headlight units are quite fiddly to take apart I thought it would be best to take the car to Toyota rather than any old garage who might not have worked on an MR2 headlight before.
I hate leaving my car at any garage, and avoid it if I can, the thought of some 17 year old mucking about with my car really worries me.
I rang Mr T and it was arranged that I would take my car down and they'd look at the problem and let me know how much it would cost to fix before carrying out any work.
So, I arrived at my local dealership at 09.30am yesterday and was greeted by the lady on the Servicing desk, she informed me that with every car they work on they do a free
"Visual Safety Check" and me for my permission to let them do this, I said "no thankyou" and signed a form to say that I do not consent to the check being carried out. I know my car and had a mechanic friend of mine go over it with a fine toothed comb at the weekend, I dont want someone else poking around it. By 3.30pm I still hadn't received a phone call to let me know how much it would cost so I rang them to be told that they went ahead and fixed it anyway and that I owe them
£90.........rightSo I went back down to cough up the readies and pick up my car.
The lady at the service desk then informed me that the mechanic carried out a visual safety check for me anyway, (despite the fact that I said I didn't want it) and that he found that my brakes were badly corroded and binding very badly at the back therefore making the car dangerous and not safe to drive away from the dealership. At this point I'm pretty shocked that they had the nerve to do this. I had my brakes checked at the weekend by the friend I mentioned earlier who I should point out started out as a brake specialist and was headhunted by the sportscar maker Farbio thanks to his reputation, he had told me that the offside rear was binding ever so slightly but he could still rotate the wheel easily with one hand. He also said that there was a small amount of corrosion on the front but nothing to cause concern.The Toyota lady asked if I'd like to leave the car with them to have the brakes repaired
"NO". I paid up for the headlight repair and was handed my receipt which helpfully states that my car is unroadworthy and shouldn't be driven, thats going to be great to explain to any potential buyers.Finally she said that I may receive a customer satisfaction survey through the post and asked if there is any reason why I wouldn't tick the box stating that I am
"completely satisfied" with the service. It was at this point that I decided to let her have it.I'm just very dissapointed that they've acted in this way, I think its a very cynical ploy that they use to fleece more money from people for unneccesary repairs.
It worried me at first and I rang my mechanic friend to question him about the brakes and he was very pi$$ed off.Not a happy bunny!
