I'm Still Here

Well, I'm still here, kind of ...

My car, my mobility outside my home, went in for it's third year service plus first MOT test. When the provisional booking came in a few weeks back I booked for the 'first window' for drop off so I would get my car back by lunchtime with any luck, Arnold Clark offers three time slot windows for servicing, 8am to 10 am, 10 am to noon, noon to 2pm. 2pm is the latest you can drop off a car for servicing that day.

I got confirmation that while my service dept. didn't offer actual times for getting servicing the earlier you can bring in your car the better as they operated a first come first serve operation.

So up I was at before 7am and on the road by 7.30. At quarter to eight I was first in the queue waiting for the service dept. to open up while it snowed heavily. Yuck!!

So we were first to the desk to hand in my car, when we asked if they could give us an estimate of how long it would be we were shocked to the core to say my car was booked in for the entire day and could be picked up at 5pm. I asked how that was possible when I didn't book it in for the entire day, I've had two services before and each finished by lunchtime why is it now taking an entire day when I was waiting for them opening, kind of takes the mockery out the first come, first serve they assure you of.

We asked how long it would take, because an MOT test takes 30 to 45 minutes at the most, so why does the service (which we've gotten two years previously by lunchtime) mean that it will now take 9 hours to have my car ready for pick up?

So they went and checked and the mechanics said the service would take two and a half hours, and the MOT would take place after the service ends. So that would mean a little over 3 hours tops, so why is my car not being ready for three times that?

They explained that they were booked for the first appointments hence while I was booked in for a whole day.  We explained that we didn't book for a whole day, we tried to book for first thing when the dealership opened and were told that the depot didn't accept timed bookings and worked on a first come/first serve basis. The mechanics said they would try their best to have it ready by lunchtime but they couldn't guarantee it. We thought about not having the MOT done today but the soonest MOT they had opened was for next Tuesday and my MOT was due by Friday. Luckily the mechanics managed to have it ready for 12.30pm but we have to go back first thing on Friday as I need four new tires, my left front is approaching the legal limit on tread and all four are beginning to crack between the treads (something that has never happened on any car of mine in almost 15 years of driving). So it's going to take four hours to get the tyres done so I was asked to bring it in the 'sooner the better' on Friday so we will be waiting for the dept. opening again on Friday.