Mechanic left oil filter loose??

Okay so my story starts about a month ago when my Lovely Holden commodore (-.-) started making some terrible noises, so i booked it in for a service at ultra tune in Wynnum, after abbout 8hrs and a huge hole in my wallet everything seemed fine about two weeks ago i noticed very little drops of oil under my car, i didnt think much of it (not very good with cars ;/) so i left it, about few days ago it just started dripping quite rapidly, and it was everywhere, on the road/my driveway/my work. A guy from worked noticed it and told me to go to kmart tyre and auto next door, i take it there and they say the soonest they can book it in is tomorrow (today). so i was like okay sweet as… i take it down at 8am..
I get a call out about 12pm asking when i got my last service down, i told him and he was quite surprised as he told me they didn't tighten the oil filter thing. and hes like that was free to tighten but the amount of mess under my bonnet was so bad i had to spend like $120 for them to clean it -.-…
do you think i should write ultratune an email? or should i just leave it.
There is just absolute mess and it cost me a little bit of money, which really i shouldn't of had to spend.

Comments

  • If you have FriendFace, give that a whirl. What's to lose?

    https://www.facebook.com/ultratuneaustralia

    • didnt think of that, thanks

  • Why don't you just ring them?
    Of better still, go in there with the invoice from kmart and give them a chance to make good.
    Slagging them off on facebook is a gutless act.

  • $120.00 to clean the mess…….. hmmm I would like to see how that was justified

    A bit of degreaser and a pressure washer or steam clean, I should open my car detailing business again and just do engine bay cleaning

    • it does seem a little pricey dosent it, but thats what i was charged. but the mess was horrendous, i bet they charged me to clean their carpark aswell :P

      • Quite reasonable considering they have to cover the cost of a $400k building, tools and appliances, insurances, licences, maintenance of the premises, salaries… Plus it would be a shit of a job to do if it was done properly,

        Op could have looked under his car and tightened the oil filter…

  • I had a dealer install the wrong filter on my car, 4cyl filter on the v6 engine. I noticed a huge amount of smoke billowing out behind me on there way home, a lot of oil was dripping onto the exhaust and burning off. I stopped and luckily an nrma van pulled up and helped me as my phone was out of range. Straight onto a tow truck and back to the dealer, a couple of hours later they had cleaned it up and installed the right filter and offered a n apology. I never went back there for a service.

    It gets tricky when there are two places involved and only one of them has stuffed up.

    • +1

      Dealers can be hopeless when it comes to servicing.

      Company car I took in for a change of radiator under warranty, they changed it, forgot to fill it up with water again, overheated by the time I got it back to the office.

      12 months later, another change of radiator under warranty, and this time they forgot to refill the transmission oil (the radiator also cools the transmission oil), because some had been lost during change over. 24 hours later, the car was stranded about 150 km away from the office with a stuffed transmission. They towed it to the nearest service centre (Geelong), and replaced the transmission under warranty.

      No hassles to get the situation rectified in either case, but still… facepalm

      The initial radiator change was done in Brandon Park, VIC by Barloworld Holden.

      • Oh so typical.. They charge maximum professional rates for rank amateur work.
        (paid for by dealer / gm in your case)

  • quick update, i had a little winge on facebook to them, just got a call from head office saying theve spoken to the store and said the will reimburse me the $120. a little complaining goes a long way.

    • congratulations on receiving compensation for dodgy workmanship.

      About Ultratune, I went to the one in Fairfield NSW a few years back, I needed them to change my air-conditioning belt. A week later when I needed to use the air-con, I noticed it wasn't cold, so I thought what now? maybe it needs re-gassing? so I went to get it re-gassed at another mechanic (because they were recommended to me), the (honest) mechanic came back to me and said you don't need re-gassing, it's your belt, just needs to be tightened because it's completely loose, I immediately suspected Ultratune, then I remembered how they said "no customer allowed in workshop" - had I seen him working on my car, I would've seen if he had tightened the belt or not. Never went back there ever again, or any other Ultratune, because I hate their policy of not allowing customers to watch work being done. One time when I got a major service done with my car, I made sure the mechanic returned all used parts because I was worried that he wouldn't change the part because it was still in good condition.

      • Ooops… fell for the same trap I did… an old post :-(
        Still relevant though… never trust them..

        If they have nothing to hide why not let you watch them. I now use mobile mechanics (the non franchised ones) for that very reason.

        Re returning the old parts… they can and do just give you some out of the bin… you still get screwed.

        • They use the "insurance liability" reason - in case you get injured while they perform work on your car, which I think is somewhat true, but not plausible because they should at least allow some sort of perimeter at which you could view the work in progress, say 5 metres. At the end of the day it's not good business, customers should be allowed to see if proper work has been carried out on the car as some jobs carry hefty labour costs, hindering this would only encourage customers to look elsewhere to service their car.

          That's why I'll never send my car to the likes of Peter Warren, over-priced and they don't allow you to watch work being carried out. I only trust my local mechanic, fair price and honest, well the honest part you need to establish.

          Yes, this is an old post :p but as you said, very much relevant.

  • without proper proof, it could have been anything.. it could have been your dipstick not fully in.. if an oil filter is lose, from the engine vibrations, it will remove itself and you will have oil everywhere with a missing oil filter.. but like i said earlier, it could have been ANYTHING

  • I didnt trust the Wynnum ultratune. I do all my own servicing, but I went in there once looking for a used sparkplug for a project I was working on.

    Wouldnt you know they had NO spare parts? There is a Bursons 50m down the road…… Great way to work with no overheads I guess, but it proves its basically a backyard mechanic who just happens to hire a shed; or so is my oppinion.

    • agree, never taking it there again. The head office guy was giving me rubbish about how hes having a mid life crisis.. im like do i care? i have a damn driveway to clean up now! but orwell all good now !

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