Rip-Off Ireland at it's best

Ok I'm currently driving a Mini Cooper, which I brought in from the north. I managed to save about €4,000 on a top of the line Cooper.

The car has full TLC pack and everything like that. I dropped the car in to be serviced today and got a phone call about 2 hrs later telling me that it's not due a service yet. The TLC pack is service conditioned, meaning that there must be less than 1000 miles left before you can drop the car in and get your free service. Ok that's fair enough, I was unaware of this. I've done 17,000 miles since I bought the car. Now excuse me if 17,000 miles isn't enough for a service. But I won't argue about that.

I arranged to collect the car at lunch time. About an hour later I got another phone call telling me they'd done a safety check on the vehicle and I needed two new front tyres and new break pads, along with new wipers. Well now if a car needs all of the above, is it not safe to assume that the car is due a service!!

I was slightly stunned as "the car isn't due a service" but it needs all of these...... Plus I hadn't asked them to do anything with the car, such as a safety check. Anyway I decided I'd ask for a price for what needed to be fixed.........

Now here's our rip off culture..... €305 per tyre!! So that €610 for the tyres!!! Then the break pads..... €250 and the wipers €75!!!!!! €935 in total. At this stage I was being to feel that perhaps the dealer in question might be "over-charging", would an Irish dealer ever do so??

I rang the garage I bought the car from in Northern Ireland (Main BMW and Mini dealer) and got a quote for the same stuff..... £270 fully fitted for the same equipment. Are we just expected to cough up the extra money? I'm no idiot and will not have a garage rip me off. I might as well bent over for the sales person at the desk.

I dropped over to the dealer and picked the car and also received an invoice for €50 for my trouble. I had a flaring arguement with the service manager who kept me waiting for 30 mins.

My question is: How does one go about making a complaint against professional robbery?? I doubt the Garda would take it seriously but I actually felt as if I'd been robbed!

Are we allowed name and shame on here? For the moment I'll just say the dealer is a leading Mini/BMW dealer located on the Naas Rd. Anyone had similar problems?

Can one complain to SIMI?

Help would be appreciated!

Iceman732 said:

... I got another phone call telling me they'd done a safety check on the vehicle and I needed two new front tyres and new break pads, along with new wipers. Well now if a car needs all of the above, is it not safe to assume that the car is due a service!!
...

Click to expand...

But the items you mentions are not part of a standard service anyway.

A standard service would usually consist of oil, oil filter, sump plug & washer, fuel filter (diesel), air filter element, pollen filter, spark-plugs (petrol), checks on coolant and hydraulic fluid levels and either topping these off or replacing them if its a major milestone service (every two years usually).

Tyres wear at different rates dependant on whether they were kept properly inflated, whether the suspension or steering was damaged by a pot-hole or kerb and on the driving style of the driver (enthusiastic / conservative). Brake pad (and brake disc and even clutch) wear are also effected by driving style and indeed competence. Similarly wiper blade wear depends on how often and in what way they were used (ice, snow, rain, dust & bugs in summer).

I am not defending the charges for replacing brakes, wipers or tyres, in fact I find the charges staggering, but these items are never part of a standard service.

BTW, what was the 50 quid for? Was it a tip?

I would guess you went to a BMW dealer - bad idea for the "consumables".

So basically a "normal service" would involve someone opening the bonnet and looking at the of oil etc.... I.e. checking the dip stick! In fact I actually had to put oil in myself about 700 miles ago.

Under the TLC Extreme pack break pads and wiper blades are covered.

I feel the heading of my question is relevant..... I was ripped off.

The €50 was the charge for some guy making sure my seat was in the upright position!! It's a complete joke.