Well guys here are the rundown of my encounter with them... (Get ready for the essay... please read all)
I went to Hannies in need of a change of my input shaft bearing as it had gone and was quite noisy,
They seemed pretty well organised and explained to me what they were required to do,
me not exactly being a mechanic and only knowing the basic things you can learn from backyard work and research and not knowing how or having the skill set to do this job with the gearbox myself, thought i would get Robert(owner of hannies) a well know pretty reputable person around here to do the job for me. So i put my trust in him to fix the issue for me. So i left my car there in the morning and off to a normal day of work i went.
I received a call from Robert later that day and was informed that there was an issue and that i would be required to come down before any further work was to be completed by them.
When i got down there he said.’look your main shaft has a slight scratch on it so it will require replacing.
I said' well if i wasn’t to replace it at this stage what would happen in which he stated' well it should be okay but i would provide no warranty on my work and if anything was to happen he would accept no liability...
He also told me i required a new clutch, i had a look and i probably would have gotten 5- 6 months more out of the clutch i had... but thought fk it yer ill change it no while the box is out and save money in the long run..(Also changed clutch master cylinder, my choice... was a lil leaky (brand new OEM))
Well back to the story i guess that left me no option... so i said yea sure ill replace it all i require is a quote on how much extra this will be... that wasn’t an issue and he opted to get the part with me and i was still fine...
I would rather have a quality assurance on the work i get done to my car...
Once he got the part in he asked me to come down again and inspect the part. I came down counted the teeth and it was right. And asked him “so this is definitely a main shaft for my engines gearbox B18C7 s80 LSD box " in which he replied "yes 100% this is the right part for your car... don’t worry it will fit perfect no issues"
well with his tick of approval and reassurance i was more than happy to proceed and even asked again " so there will be no issues with this and my gear box will be back to normal and will run perfectly" to this he confirmed once more yes definitely..
Feeling quite re-assured with this i left with a grin on my face, excited to go back and drive my car again.
The next day i called up hannies once more and spoke to Robert and yes everything was fine and he told me to come that afternoon to pick up the car....
No this part my guess is even he did not know until he drove it.
Well i rocked up ready to get my car back... was quite excited... when i got there i payed and he handed me the keys... then said.... Oh and by the way... there will be a slight whining noise for a little bit while the main shaft wears in a little bit... i thought this a bit odd at the time and asked why that was and if he was sure he used the right part. He stated “yes of course i used the right part, it just hasn’t mated yet and will take a couple hundred kilometres (probably about 2-300kms) and it would be gone... Again this is not my profession so just thought ... OK..? I asked him and his mechanic the younger fellow "how long until it is guaranteed to be gone ad back to normal and they said. 1000KM maximum and the noise will be gone...
I left his complex and the noise was noticeable almost straight away, at a constant speed it would whine in every gear once you get to a stable acceleration point and then stop when you take your foot off the pedal. But come back as soon as your foot hits the pedal again.
I left it 100km and then 200kms and it was still very present ... if not louder and more annoying... not being my daily at the time took a while... then even got it up too 1000kms and the noise was showing no signs of going away... So i went back to hannies to see if they could help me with the issue...
When i got there i explained that i had driven the distance that he stated without being too aggressive on the pedal and the noise is still very present... This is when i got the blunt reply of...
Well that’s not my problem. You should have gotten a whole new final drive assembly... i was absolutely shocked at this response and said... “Mate you told me that in your professional opinion that it would be fine and you wouldn’t give me warranty unless i changed it to this one you provided” he even picked up the nerve to give me an on the spot quote of something like $1200-$1300 on top to repair it... ... Now i was like ... WTF? And tried to negotiate something and got no where... now i wasn’t exactly well in the money at the time and couldn’t afford to get it fixed right there for that price and continued to state how he told me that that was what i had to do and that it would be fine with no issues.. He tried to tell me to give it more time and it would go...
What was i going to do.?
I had to deal with the gearbox whining for a number of months longer until i couldn’t handle it any more...
So i Thought FK this shit why not... DEPARTMENT OF FAIR TRADING... he fked me over so ill go over his head to a department that will get a response. After lodging the complaint they quickly got into contact with his business and to my surprise he was willing to negotiate with me now. I could not be bothered for a long drawn out process as i wanted it fixed so i went and negotiated terms...
(the only reason i hadn’t gone fair trading earlier is because i had believed I’d need to get a statement from another mechanic stating the issues and be further out of pocket and then pay for the tribunal.. turns out not the case for initial complaints)
its fixed now but that experience is not worth all of the time and effort i had gone through and headaches to get to a beneficial conclusion.
So again i would not recommend them to anyone... They seem nice but won’t take responsibility for their **** ups and will put it back on you unless you have the balls to take it further.
(if anyone is wondering how i remember all of this in such detail, it is because i kept memos of the incidences for future reference)
The issue is - you replace main shaft and final drive IN A SET as they are balanced with each other exactly. He ( uncle Robert ) obviously replaced the main shaft and the whine is what you got. It would never stop whining. Great to see you took it the right direction with Department of fair trading - that's the kick a lot of workshops need once in awhile.
the issue with this was them inforing me that this would fix my problem. and then trying to push the blame for it not working .
i fully understand that they come in set, and thought sweet if i dont have to get the whole thing that will be great
but was informed by Robert that he could fix the problem by just changing the main shaft.. so i forked out the cash and then when the issue arouse he wouldnt take fault.. after explaing to be that everything would be 100% back to normal.
to be honest i believe he didnt even know that is would happen and only found out once it was in my gearbox after he test drove it.
dont get me wrong they can probably do a mean service and oil change there... but so can a monkey if you trained it.. (and not to sure bout his oil pressure trick.. but hey thats another story)
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Originally Posted by an93l
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