thanks dealer, wheel bearings collapsed on motorway and i nearly got hurt

[Ant FR]

so, its 3:20 am, just got dropped off by AA, the noise i had told the dealer was a wheel bearing decidedt to let go fully tonight and caused me a major brown pant moment as the car went all over the shot at 70mph.

after telling the delaer that it was a bearing and then being told it was play in the drive shaft i was close on selling the car last week as sick of the noise. so tonight at 11pm i was driving along the motorway when all of a sudde it felt like i had a huge blowout as the car weaved left and right and i actually thought the wheel was coming off. could'nt keep it in a straight line and gently applying the brakes made it worse. managed to get to hardshoulder and inspected the damage, could'nt see anything but could fee huge heat from the inside of the tyres and crakling sound from hub of cooling hot metal. manage to limp it 400yeard to the petrol station to get off motorway, nd as i drove on to the forecourt there was a huge bang and mettalic sound .

Then had to wait 3 hours to get an AA pickup.


Car is outside now, i am fuming and now i have a problem to sort. Really pissed off that the dealer was so bloody stupid to not spot this depsite me telling him that was the problem and allowed me to have this problem. Also the danger as if i had lost control i could have hurt myself or somebody else. a lesser experienced driver could easily have lost control withhow violent it pulled. my arms are still hurting now.

hopefully i have calmed down int he morning, but the dealer is going to be lucky not to get this car chucked through his forecourt window. Christ knows what other damage has been done

I'm still bloody freezing cold now

 

[techie]

At this point I normally stand up for the dealer playing the devils advocate, but right now I agree with you. Stay calm if you can, but let em have it.

 

[krussel]

Christ thats bad

Thank god your ok. I agree get onto the phone and let rip on the dealer

Wheel bearings do not suddenly fail and you pointed it out to them. Its not hard to test for a worn bearing as they do it every year at MOT time for christ sake.

Sorry about your car but at least your in one piece.

 

[Aimez]

At this point I normally stand up for the dealer playing the devils advocate, but right now I agree with you. Stay calm if you can, but let em have it.

same but, agree but try and stay calm as I never wanna help customer who scream abuse at my face/down the phone. Glad you are alright and no one else was hurt that is the main thing. Your car is under warranty as well I am guessing?

 

[UncleFester]

I'd be having a fairly strong word with their service manager / dealer principal. For the amount they charge per hour for 'professional' services, this is unnaceptable. A mistake is forgetting to put screen wash in the tank, something minor and non life threatening.

Not spotting a duff wheel bearing when the customer has already asked about it is just not good enough, failed in their duty of care etc etc etc.

Good job you caught it, glad no one was hurt but i'd be asking for a free service at least as well as sorting out all the damaged parts.

 

[Deleted member 13581]

Glad no-one was hurt firstly.

As for the dealer, i would be asking for quite a bit of free services the damage to be repaired free aswell. As you reported it to them and they done nothing, i think this is unacceptable.

If it all fails and they give you nothing, head to the Citizens Advice Bureau and Trading Standards as to what you can do.

 

[lil3520]

Glad you are ok, after your bad experience.

 

[CJRamze]

A test to see if the driveshaft has "Play" is a TOTALLY different test to seeing if the Wheel bearing is failing, That garage have fobbed you off.
If that was myself I'd park your car up on the forecourt, Demand to speak to the Manager/Owner of the garage and explain the danger of what had happened, The lives that were at risk and the emotional stress and trauma that its put you under.

If they try and give you some bullshit tell them your contacting Seat's head of PR, you'll take it to the newspapers and you'll take it to Seats head office in London.

You could of died, Others could of died and YOU made THEM aware of the issue.
THEY fobbed you off, and as such THEY are responsible for the lives that could of been lost that day.

If your not happy with the response, take it to the papers.

I'd expect both as a minimum, [#] number of services free
two new hubs, A set of new front discs incase they were warped due to the intense heat of a wheel bearing failing.

And various other front end bits and bobs. I'd also make sure your stern, they could just "Fix the minimum" and something else could fail!

Also glad your alright!

 

[RachIbiza]

have u got the big seat receipts they give u saying what it went it for and what they charged u for? means you've got a leg to stand on, i bet they'll say "we never said it wasnt a wheel bearing" i had a big issue with this sort of thing with toyota and my corolla - needless to say they paid for a respray to one side, gave me a certain amount of refund and i got a shed load of freebies and a free service etc etc so if u stand your ground/make a fuss (whilst trying to keep your voice down) and go thru their official complaints procedure then you can win good luck!

 

[great_kahn]

I have thought since i bought it that some of the bits SEAT used to make the ibiza are piss poor sub standard.

Ive been thinking of going the other way, to a cooper s jcw... lol.

 

[darkhorse]

Well if it happened to me, I'd be taking it back to the garage and almost rubbing there noses on the wheel (like you would house train a dog). The level of incompetance in this country is horrendous and that stretches much further than the car mechanic industry.

 

[BKR]

A test to see if the driveshaft has "Play" is a TOTALLY different test to seeing if the Wheel bearing is failing, That garage have fobbed you off.
If that was myself I'd park your car up on the forecourt, Demand to speak to the Manager/Owner of the garage and explain the danger of what had happened, The lives that were at risk and the emotional stress and trauma that its put you under.

If they try and give you some bullshit tell them your contacting Seat's head of PR, you'll take it to the newspapers and you'll take it to Seats head office in London.

You could of died, Others could of died and YOU made THEM aware of the issue.
THEY fobbed you off, and as such THEY are responsible for the lives that could of been lost that day.

If your not happy with the response, take it to the papers.

I'd expect both as a minimum, [#] number of services free
two new hubs, A set of new front discs incase they were warped due to the intense heat of a wheel bearing failing.

And various other front end bits and bobs. I'd also make sure your stern, they could just "Fix the minimum" and something else could fail!

Also glad your alright!

put it better than i could

and agree with you fully there chris

 

[warren_cox]

Garages seem these days to over-rely on DTC's to diagnose any issue. No DTC, no issue, must be the nature of the car.

When my first clutch was giving up, I could not get an Audi tech to agree it was the clutch. They were saying the fault was intermittent, inconclusive, and they didn't want to have the box off to find it wasn't the clutch.

I drive the car every bl00dy day, and could feel something was wrong (usually when I went to overtake and put my life on the line). £125+VAT for the privilege of being told I'm a clueless idiot, and when it breaks down it will be easier to diagnose (no $h1t)! Audi Master Technicians my @r$e. When I travelled 160 miles trip to get a dealer who would agree to do the work, guess what... it was the clutch.

When the customer is having to specifically steer the garage at the faults, I pity the poor customers who aren't car savvy, and are at the complete mercy of the 'wisdom' of service centres. I know you can't predict everything, but these days you end up with faults on the car you choose to live with as it's just too hard (I still have a baseplate error for my BT phone kit they've not resolved after 3 visits).

I'm glad you are safe and well Ant, and unfortunately for you it meant being stranded 3am in the morning for your point to be enforced. Make sure you make a very firm, but well made point (preferably when buying customers are about).

 

[andycupra]

one thing i find with dealers is that where i indicate what i think the issue is, im sure they go out of their way to prove its something else and i dont know what im talking about as im a simply member of the public that knows nothing...
My personal experience of dealers is terrible i have NEVER had a dealer manage to fix a fault, and recently i told them what to replace (rather than expecting them to diagnose) and guess what, they informed me that the part i requested be changed was fine... before trying to get me to agree to some other expensive work and suggesting i pay for their time so far investigating...
Good service?
Well i said im not paying for investigation, stuck to my opininon and told them it was in for its MOT the next day, we would then discuss this after the MOT (they then tried to get me to do MOT with them..)
Bugger me.. it failed on the part i said to replace, otherwise the car is fine, they even double checked the parts the dealer said needed work and let me take a look myself, they were perfect.

Another dealer ive used in the past even showed me that they had looked at the car, then spoken to seat technical, then finally searched forums such as scn to find out what the codes meant and what the solution was! mind you they still got it wrong..

'Experts'... dont make me laugh, dealers are not far of totally incompetent in my opinion, id really like to be proved wrong, but until that happens ill continue to report my experiences..

ps just remembered, i had a corrado VR6.. had it serviced, got call saying HT leads were no good and it was running on 5 cylinders.. i nearly passed out at the quote for a replacement set of HT leads.. i asked how come it was fine prior to service.. they said the old leads get brittle and often fail when plugs are changed due to handling of leads etc..
Ok well i was passing the local version of GSF on the way to the dealer, so said id get Leads myself on route and replace them myself in the car park.. ("thats not advisable sir".. blah blah)
Anyway got there, opened bonnet and started to remove olf HT leads... but hold on... this ones not even on the spark plug.. its just dangling down the side of the engine....
F***ing idiots.. went and got service rep and showed him.. "oh yes thats the faulty one, we left it off so we know which one it was.." really? so if i connect it it wont work? "correct sir"
i think you know the rest....

 

[DEAN0]

I agree with all the suggestions so far.

Reading stories like this just re-enforces my reasons for NOT taking my car anywhere near a garage unless I absolutely can not do the job myself.

My life, my safety and the reliability of my car are worth far more to me than having some incompetent stamp my service book.

It amazes me what is classed as "proffesionally competent" nowdays

 

[ZBOYD]

A test to see if the driveshaft has "Play" is a TOTALLY different test to seeing if the Wheel bearing is failing, That garage have fobbed you off.
If that was myself I'd park your car up on the forecourt, Demand to speak to the Manager/Owner of the garage and explain the danger of what had happened, The lives that were at risk and the emotional stress and trauma that its put you under.

If they try and give you some bullshit tell them your contacting Seat's head of PR, you'll take it to the newspapers and you'll take it to Seats head office in London.

You could of died, Others could of died and YOU made THEM aware of the issue.
THEY fobbed you off, and as such THEY are responsible for the lives that could of been lost that day.

If your not happy with the response, take it to the papers.

I'd expect both as a minimum, [#] number of services free
two new hubs, A set of new front discs incase they were warped due to the intense heat of a wheel bearing failing.

And various other front end bits and bobs. I'd also make sure your stern, they could just "Fix the minimum" and something else could fail!

Also glad your alright!

All great points I'm sure, except the fact that SEAT UK HQ is based in Milton Keynes, but we'll gloss over that.

The Head of PR probably isn't a suitable target for complaints either, even if you did choose to run to the press with the complaint.

I would draft a letter of complaint to the dealer principal/managing director of the garage in question, sent recorded delivery. This is your primary source of complaint before all others..if this avenue of contact is unresponsive or unapologetic then SEAT UK should be informed.

You should also send the same letter of complaint for the attention of the Customer Services Manager at SEAT UK in the fact that you are bringing the complaint to their attention.

If after this you really want to make it a high level issue then the top positions/departments at SEAT UK to address would be as follows.

If it was purchased as a used car then, the Used Car Manager - responsible for all used car issues / promotions / inspection policies for SEAT dealers.

Head of Operations - directly responsible for the running of all SEAT operations within the UK, essentially the No2 man at SEAT UK.

Head of SEAT UK - Speaks for itself really.

 

[CJRamze]

Also, the only reason I take my car to my local Seat garage is I know there are 4 mechanics there and three of them are VW enthusiasts. I always request a certain engineer work on my car as I know him personally.

Flawless so far, can't recommend thompson and thompson enough.

 

[zach225]

Sh1t mate that's not good, luckily your ok and weren't overtaking or anything at the time,

like most have said all dealers are the same, you can tell them what the issue is till ur blue in the face and they never listen, my brother works for ford and he says they try anything they can to get out of warantee jobs which is a joke considering that's the point of a warantee

When I had my c2 vtr that was a yr old I took it to Citroen as the clutch was whining at low revs, they had it for a week and then I was told all it needed was the Clutch software reinstalled, I got out the car park and went straight back in, I hadnt even left the forecourt and I was turning round, demaded to take the mechanic who sorted of for a drive, another week later, one new Clutch, happy days

I hate dealers!!

 

[Ant FR]

well , i got what i expected, the digging started straight away trying to blame it back on me and that there was no way it would go out with a worn bearing.

Somebody did explain to me before, but how do you test a Wheel bearing under load, is it just as simple as driving the car or is their a process that can be done int he workshop to test it. I'm sure somebody mentioned this before in another post.

my gut instinct is that the car is going back and they can keep it, as i'm not sure what else this may have damaged.

Thanks for the advice on complianing, luckily i am not too bad at that as i am head of compliance at my firm and spend all day long dealing with complaints myself.

The reason for me being so annoyed with this one is the fact that had i been going round a corner at speed i would have left the road and that is made such a fuss about it being the wheel bearing making the noise and was simply told that it was CV joint and the tyres that they changed back to front.

I will keep you updated. funny tghing is they have another cupra tdi same colour, age and milage on their forecourt. tempted to say swap it, but have to say my faith int his car is gone,

 

[CJRamze]

Wheel bearing test,
Jack the car up, make sure the wheel is straight and grab the wheel by the spokes. If you can rock it from back and forth (In and out towards the car) Wheel bearing

If you can push it IN and OUT thats the steering rack (The way the wheels turn when you use the wheel)
If you can rotate the wheel (as it would when it was rolling at speed) and hear a clunking thats driveshaft play.
I'm pretty sure thats the case, I might ask a friend if you want me to confirm.

Also you'll know if a wheel bearing is failing as it will "HOWL" very loudly, its not something you can miss. Unless its catastrophic and totally fails at once.
Which case you'll go from driving to watching your wheel pass you by.