Hi everyone,

I want to believe my story is no different from that of countless Nigerians who work hard to make the much they can with the hope of getting at least the minimum comfort life has to offer. In this case, a functional vehicle one can use to commute while facing the harsh socio-economic environment we face in this part of the world. Before I continue, I feel obligated to tell you that the title is a bit misleading…this story did not start with GAZZUZZ (I only hope it can end with him). It started with my personal ‘auto technician’. I believe you may readily know him as a “Kazeem” a term I will try not to use because I find it demeaning, especially when directed at one whose only fault is not having the right education and arguably the right technical know-how but does all he/she can to help customers resolve whatever challenge they face with their vehicles at a ridiculously low fee.

So, when we purchased the vehicle, a Nigerian used 2007 Acura MDX made for the 2008 model year, we took it to my personal technician to help diagnose what was wrong with it. After purchase, we noticed that it shifts to the side whenever we go past a pothole and the front tires seem to touch the roof of the front wheelbase (not sure what it is called). He diagnosed that the vehicle has a loose bolt around the engine bay area and that the shock absorbers needed change. I quickly had these fixed and the vehicle drove like a dream for about 3 to 4 months until I was ready for an oil change. The oil was changed alongside other services but since then the vehicle has never been the same. From a smoking exhaust at start-up to low oil level pings, to a bad starter motor, to a disturbing steering noise that comes with a stiff steering wheel, to a bad ignition key, everything seemed to be coming apart at the same time.

My technician helped get a new key (which I am still having problems with), linked me up with an electrician who was supposed to help with my starter motor but only made matters worse and he (my personal technician) attempted to solve the other problems but despite his best efforts, the problems persisted until I had an episode when I traveled to the East (the story here: https://www.nairaland.com/1788778/maintenance-tips-cars/257#97456422 ) and I knew it was time to change my technician. I thought it was time to move on because it seems the issues with the vehicle has gone beyond his technical know-how so I needed someone with the right sets of skills to help resolve my issues. This is where GAZZUZZ came into the picture.

(To be continued…).

Hmmmm

Following with keen interest

typing...

Let me keep seat

I have bought pop corn and drinks. Waiting...

Okay

Come and finish this oooo

I am following...

uboma:
I am following...

Whistles. Oya pass me one chair.

Following with keen interest

Barman... abeg 1 bottle of bear each for everybody....
.

Okay..

Popcorn on the low

Ayo8:
Barman... abeg 1 bottle of bear each for everybody....
.

I dey chop hyena not 'bear'

Driver, make I drop here

This story go sweet oh... I trust gazzuzz and radautowork

let me lodge 4 here

Anticipating ..

codemaster2much:
This story go sweet oh... I trust gazzuzz and radautowork

Sarcasm..

Either end in war or joy...either way this would be very entertaining

Its better this thread is moved to literature section.
This one na story time

Happy weekend all.

Una go start Tory, only to pause and put African magic suspense. I don check tiyer, 5 bags pop corn don finish and story never start

Ayo8:
Barman... abeg 1 bottle of bear each for everybody....
.

the seats are still empty sir

OP, make thunder no fire you oo. Come here and complete this story. After I don drag for chair, fight unnecessary fight, siddon, you come suspend the gist. Like I said, no let thunder locate you oo.

Yesterday was not a good time to continue with my little story. I just collected the vehicle and I don’t want the disappointment I felt cloud my judgement and in the process taint someone’s legitimate business which, for all I may know, they put in all they can to ensure their business fulfils its mission and vision, even when things can go horribly wrong sometimes. In this light, I will not share some of the feedback I shared yesterday with some of the staff (both junior and senior) before I left with my vehicle.

Back to the story…

When I parted ways with my personal technician I decided to ask GAZZUZZ to help look at the vehicle so I can get a proper assessment of the vehicle’s health in order to help me make an informed decision on the next steps I should take. The level of assessment for me then was two-fold: an assessment on the health of the engine and what changes I need to make to get other mechanical parts (to include body works) to good working conditions. The engine assessment was very key for me. It would tell me whether I need to get another engine or not. After the first contact with GAZZUZZ online I sent him a series of messages on whatsapp to an extent that I felt that I may now be encroaching on his right to private life. Despite, I continued because I just want to get this done with so I can move beyond the problem(s).

GAZZUZZ tried all within reason to answer my questions and requested for additional information where needed. This I provided and I thought the online communication was not working satisfactorily so I went a step further to ask if I can come with the vehicle so he inspects physically considering that I am not a technical person and a lot of the information I provide may be skewed because of my lack of technical abilities. He informed me that he wouldn’t be able to meet me because he had a lot of inspections lined up and he was not able to schedule me in the current period. I understood and felt his response was fair enough considering that he needed to give his customers everything or nothing (my opinion). I would not want him to take on the job when he cannot assure me of his personal touch.

I then decided to approach radautorworks (Mrtransmission-Milex) since they come highly recommended in the car section of nairaland and the parent company has been in operation for over a decade if not over a century and their works seems to be trusted. Kindly note that my first contact with radautoworks was in January 2021 when I came back from my road trip to the East. The first impression I got was less than ideal. I was sent an email informing me of a scheduled appointment but got there to realize that the front desk officer had no clue of my visit. I had to wait for some time and left without seeing anyone. This experience was not enough to get me upset because I believe things like this happen and it should not be the basis to assess the quality of their work. So I went back again (after communicating with someone I believed to be the CEO of radautoworks on nairaland) to see if the second try would be better…this is where my experience with radautoworks (her organization) started.

To be continued and concluded today...

When I got to radautoworks the ambience that greeted me told me two things:

1) The organization is serious and ready for business.
2) This is not the typical low-cost organization.

Combining those two gave me a bit of comfort because I thought spending in a serious organization should get my problems resolved. With the benefit of hindsight, I think this was where my problems with radautoworks began. My expectations of them were through the roof. If I am to pay top-Naira (from the standpoint of an average middle class Nigerian) then I should expect nothing but top-quality (or at least something better than what my previous technician was able to give me). I got in and noticed that their staff to a large extent (though I had issues which were communicated yesterday so I will leave those out) were very cordial and respectful. I got the sense that they would give an arm and a leg to get you the desired service you require. At least that was the impression I had when I first got in. My one year old (would be two in a few months) loved the place. He immediately started running around and got himself acquainted with the staff. I was happy seeing this so I made a mental note that the environment was family-friendly.

I approached the front desk officer who quickly asked a bit of detail about me and the vehicle, went out to take the vehicle VIN and mileage (about 118k miles currently) and later assigned me to one of their technicians who took the vehicle into the premises and ran a full scan, this was after I told them about some of the challenges I was having with the vehicle. Though I informed them of my primary concern (the engine) I also requested that they check other parts too so I have the full picture of what the vehicle needs to get back in shape. The scan was done and other inspections carried out. I must say that they took their time to get to the heart of the problem and explained every bit of the problem to me, even though this was a lost cause because I only understand how to drive the ‘damn’ thing and nothing else. I am sure the technician could tell I was struggling to understand what he was talking about. In order not to make him feel discouraged I asked one question:

Is my engine okay or do I need to replace it?

He assured me that the engine was in good health and I only needed an engine tune-up. He quickly informed me that there is something wrong with the ABS which they cannot fix but that it was a minor fix and would not affect the drive quality. He told me that the lights I have on the dashboard and the “low oil level” light pinging and the smoke from my exhaust would be a thing of the past after the tune-up. I was glad at their level of professionalism thus far and they seem to know exactly what they were saying (I am a novice so I wouldn’t know any better) and they sounded intelligent when it came to diagnosing the problems. At this point, they briefed me about the oil leaks under the vehicle and the other items I needed to change e.g. the vehicle control arms etc.

Getting rather long will try and conclude in the next post.

chapter 2 scene 2.... Gazzuzz exonerated.. Rad implicated.
Please let's make our comments brief like this.
Infact, Gazzuzz 0 - Radautoworks 1.
Bar man, rotate beer for men.

After what I felt was an expert diagnosis of the problems and the accompanying prognosis, we moved to the next phase: drawing up an estimate of the cost of repairs. The first cost estimate they came up with was approximately N1.37m. I did a quick analysis of the estimates to see if it was fair. I focused my analysis on the cost of parts because it was approximately N1.2m out of the N1.37m representing about 87.6% of the total cost. I decided to use the cost of an item I already purchased from radautorworks i.e. spark plugs.

The lowest cost of spark plugs (6x) @ radautoworks = N40,291.20
Cost on Amazon ($57.86 @ N480/$) = N27,772.80 (Includes cost of shipping)
Difference = N12,518.40

Considering the significant difference in cost I decided to opt for the option of providing my own parts. Thence, I requested for a revised cost estimate which quickly went from N201,028.78 to the final bill of N254,306.84 (most of this represents the cost of labour). Though there were some back and forth on this (which I have decided to leave out of my posts) I felt this was a small price to pay for the level of quality I expect from them. So they promised that my vehicle would be ready for pick-up in a condition I would be happy with.

I was now faced with the problem of providing good parts for the job. I did not want to risk ordering them from Amazon for two reasons:

1) I would not be able to tell which parts were genuine even if they came from Acura themselves.
2) I was not willing to wait another two weeks to get the parts to Nigeria.

So I buzzed GAZZUZZ to help out with this difficulty. I know it would cost a premium price because of the added professional services I would get from them. So the parts I ordered were inspected by the owner of GAZZUZZ autos before they came. I must say here that they came in timely without any issues and they were inspected by the technician assigned to my job before they were used. The only part (Something called Bushing) I had problems with (not supplied by GAZZUZZ) the technician helped to purchase and I paid for those separate from what was billed me. I believe I paid an extra 12k for those, to include some steering fluids.

To cut the very long story short, I, my wife and my son went yesterday to get the vehicle and we received a shocker. Some of the problems with the vehicle engine were very much with the vehicle. The engine oil light was still pinging as though no work was done. The steering seemed stiffer than when it came in, there were lights all over the dashboard area (to include the check engine light) amongst other issues. To make matters worse, no one was on hand to explain what happened. They simply handed the key and left us to our fate at the reception. My wife was so upset that she called the attention of the front desk officer and the technician who scanned the vehicle at the beginning. They took a look and concluded that we would have to come back some other time to get those things checked and fixed at no cost to us. To avoid making a scene I asked my wife to go with the vehicle while I follow her in our other car. We got home very disappointed and I decided to tell my story.

PS: I noticed smoke from the exhaust when we started the vehicle yesterday after the vehicle cooled off and we restarted it. I felt very bad about this but decided to check again this morning before I post something because I was upset. I did this morning and behold the smoke (heavy blue smoke) came up again from the exhaust. It is not noticeable when I drive. It only comes up when the engine is cool and at start-up. It made me a bit nervous going back to radautoworks, even when they offered to check for free. If the technicians could not notice something I found out within an hour after having the vehicle for over a week would it be logical to go back to them? This is what I struggle with currently.

Thank you.

Aunty ooooo, where are you? Radautoworks