Nothing to do with SAAB, but just venting.
Yesterday my 80 year old father drove to our house in his 2-year old Skoda Fabia with the grand total of 6k on the clock. He heard a loud bang and a minute or two later a warning light came on. He was within a few hundred yards of us so just kept going. turns out it was total loss of coolant. Looked to me like a stone had gone through the small gaps on the lower front bumper and holed the radiator low down. Took him home and said to leave it with me.
This morning phoned Skoda Breakdown just befor 10. They said they'd have someone here by 1! So much for the usual standard of within the hour....I said I didn't think the car could be repaired, so probably best they send a vehicle that could recover.
RAC man turned up at about 11:30. His solution was to put in a sealant, get me to drive down the motorway for 35 miles to nearest dealer, then it appears just leave me there!
Not happy:
1. Putting in a sealant may be OK in an emergency, but is that really a good idea to get gunge in the system unless absolutely necessary?
2. Is it a good idea to drive at motorway speeds with a big hole patched with sealant?
3. I expected a better service from manufacturer cover than to abandon me 35 miles away....
I'm going to get the local one man band to replce the radiator next week. Alltogether easier, although I know my Dad prefers to stick with the dealer if possible.
Am I just being grumpy and unreasonable??
Harrumph....
I think a lot depends on the individual 'mechanic' that you get on the day, yours sounds either naive or obstructive, but the manufacturers need to know that stuff like this damages the brand. Aeons ago I had company cars: good story, bad story....
Ford Granada 2.9 auto, 6 months old, work trip from Cheshire to Cambridge, M6 blocked so using A5, engine management failed so choice of full throttle or no throttle, using ignition key as full/none switch (dodgy now cars have steering locks). Rolled up at a big Ford dealer on the A5, sorry sir can't even look at it for 2 days, tough. Tell you what, said I, I will drive it to that layby just there and call Ford recovery who will send you to drag it back and fix it and if you can't you will have to give me a hire car. So I did, and they did all grumpy like, and all was well except I vowed never to go near a new Ford again (plus they nicked my Nancy Griffiths cassette while it was in the workshop)
SAAB 900XS auto, 4 months old, when SAAB were SAAB and proud. On holiday miles West of Fort William, took short ferry from Mallaig to Skye, drove a few miles and car dumped all its power steering fluid (turns out, loose union). Phoned recovery, they worked out that nearest dealer was Inverness, I said I would buy some fluid, put it in and get back to Ferry and Mallaig, they said good plan, we will meet you there. They did, a local garage on SAAB behalf waiting at top of ramp. Bang on time. Tow to their garage, up on ramp, fixed. No bother. Later that evening, car phone rang "SAAB here sir, just checking that everything is OK for you ............"
Which is why I bought another SAAB but have never had another Ford. Pure prejudice I know, but hey, reputation lives on, and on and on and ...
Several horror stories from the "bad old days" when the big corporates ruled the major franchises. My friend qualified to degree level in automotive engineering and after a few year lecturing on the City and Guilds circuit bought a small garage.
One Friday a guy called in with a problem in his Ford. It was a company car. He was going on holiday in two days and the main dealer was booked for 10 days ahead. My friend put it on the ramp and found that all the suspension bushes were worn or missing, plus some other things that were wrong, like the oil filter being the wrong type, etc etc. He called the driver who came in and saw the state of the car. Driver was accompanied by his fleet manager, whio was ready for a fight as the car "had been regularly serviced by the Ford main dealer". When he saw the state of the car and the obvious fact that the services had probably not been done, he was a bit upset. but the upshot of it was that my friend got all his fleet servicing. :)