Bongo Fury

Well I have had quite the week and thought I would share my experience as a cautionary tale to others. It all started a couple of weeks ago when Folkley the Freda's radiator started steaming like a sticky toffee pudding and my coolant alarm filled the cabin with the terrifying shriek that all Bongo owners dread. After carefully limping home (this involved stopping to top up the coolant level a lot) Folkley was consigned to sitting outside the house looking a bit sorry while the new radiator arrived.

Luckily the new radiator arrived the day before a friend and I were due to take the van to Blissfields festival for a lads weekend of general debauchery. We popped the new rad in, filled up the system and completed the special secret coolant system bleeding procedure (which is such an unreasonably massive faff). All was well with Folkley so we filled him up with junk food and beer and headed off down the M3 to Winchester. The journey, which was sponsored by MacDonalds and country music, was smooth and traffic free. We arrived at the festival parked up in the field and heard a horrendous gurgling noise, at first we thought it was the Maccy Ds repeating on us but no it was coming from the van! When we stuck our heads underneath we saw all the nice new coolant gushing out in to the field (don't tell the environment agency). Oh bugger!

After a little poking around and a game of "you pour the water in I will try to spot where it comes out" I came to the conclusion that the water pump was no longer attached to the front of the block. Hmm looks like we will be needing a lift. Fortunately we weren't planning to go anywhere for a few days, so we joined the RAC and decided to drink through the 24 hour waiting period (and the following 48 hours as well).

So Sunday comes around and we are all looking a little worse for wear (and dancing). We limp the van out of the field to a pub at the top of the road and call the RAC. Now this is where it get's complicated. I am meant to be meeting the wife and the midgets in Poole at the in-laws house so I can take the small ones back to London on Monday. Obviously this isn't going to happen, however if I can get the van fixed I can probably get back for Tuesday. Thinking I am very clever I have a look for Bongo friendly garages in Poole/Bournemouth and come across Magna Motors in Christchurch. Problem solved, after a long discussion with the RAC chap about me and my friends weight (apparently we were pushing his safe limit....) we were on the way with a plan.

As Monday rolls around I have a chat with Magna Motors and let them know my suspicions. They get the van on the ramp and confirm the water pump is buggered. I ask them to quote of a new pump, all three aux belts and coolant. They come back with a figure of, wait for it, £648! On top of that they are going to order the pump from Mazda and it will take 5-7 days to arrive from Europe. Needless to say this was not okay.

I immediately jump on the phone and thanks to Imperial Motors was referred to Hamworthy MOT Centre in Poole. They quote for the same work £260. As you can guess the van was quickly picked up and moved. The chaps at Hamworthy did a sterling job especially Carl (top bloke) and now Folkley is running like a dream. I did have to spend far longer than expected at the in-laws, but they did feed me well so silver linings and all.

Sorry for the rambling but I thought it would be good to share the info about a fantastic garage (Hamworthy) and a caution about how massively prices can vary from garage to garage.

Cheers n' done

An amazing yarn. Glad it ended well enough - what a mad price indeed!

if your going to break down, - - - - have a plan.

my old boss always wondered how most people break down at the road side, but i always used to ring from a cafe.

The pub was a rather convenient place to break down.

Interesting comments about Magna Mazda. Don't know if I'll get told off for this comment as it involves my views on a garage and previous experiences. Anyway, here goes. I have a Mazda 3 that I bought from Magna Mazda in Salisbury. Last year I took it back for a service but prior to doing so I checked my screen wash as I didn't want to pay over the top for something I had in my garage.
Needless to say I topped my screen wash bottle to the top until I couldn't get anymore in. I have to emphasise that it was topped to the brim. I drove it to Magna in Salisbury and left it with them. On my journey I did not use my screen wash as I had no reason to.
On my return and being given the bill I see I was charged over £5.00 for screen wash. I didn't say anything at the time as I didn't want to cause a scene in the garage. There was no way they could have put any wash in as there was no room to do so. To say I was unhappy is an understatement. I know it was only £5.00 something but it goes to show that these places can charge for things they don't do.
My Mazda 3 is now due for another service but needless to say I will not be taking it back to Magna in Salisbury. Sorry guys, you have lost a customer in me as if you have charged me for something you haven't done, I will not be coming back. How many others have been charged for things like this. Easy money but in the long run you just lose customers and your reputation. A cautionary tale and I can associate with astronomical price quoted for the water pump work. Be careful Magna as you have already lost a customer in me.

That's really annoying, it's stuff like that which gives the whole trade a bad name. Luckily I worked in the trade for eight years so can usually spot a rip off. I was just amazed that Magna quoted more than double what I was expecting. I didn't ask them for a breakdown of costs I just got the van out of there as quickly as possible.

I had a similar rip off with Enterprise car rental. When my Mazda 6 had been shunted in the rear I was given a rental car by Enterprise while my car was being repaired. The rental was a Vauxhall Insignia with some ridiculous 19" wheels on and while driving it I got a puncture. As it didn't have a spare I had to use the tyre inflation kit to drive the car to a garage and get the puncture repaired (Enterprise offered to come and fit a new tyre which I could pay for, no thank you!). I had the puncture repaired for £10 which was fair enough as I would have had to do the same if I had been driving my car.

The issue came when a few weeks after returning the rental car I received a bill for £120 to replace the tyre inflation kit in the rental car. £120! I was completely shocked, firstly because had I been in my car I could have fitted the spare wheel and driven to get the puncture repaired and secondly because when I looked up the price of an inflation kit from Vauxhall they were £40 and you could buy them online for around £10. I called Enterprise and explained my concerns to them and after mentioning Watchdog and the term day light robbery they decided as a gesture of goodwill they would not charge me for the kit.

What really annoys me is how many people would have no idea they were being ripped off and just paid the £120.