₦airaland Forum

I hardly post here. I almost opened a thread when it happened to me too, but decided against it later. I don't know if Aunty Radu will remember my car, because I reached out to her at some point.

Had an issue with my Volkswagen Scirocco. Engine smokes and misfires. I have a brother in law who is a technician on Nairaland on the mainland. He recommended I take the car to Radautoworks because I was living right by their gate. I went there and got a long list of parts that will be used to rebuild the engine in addition to some parts I bought from Germany prior to that. I import parts for the car from Europe majorly. Of course, the bill was through the roof, brother in law said no issues as long as they did a good job, because I stayed in touch with him too throughout.

Not to bore with details, car was "completed", but apparently they could not set the timing. The big guy there suggested I buy one tool like that so they can use to set the timing and I can keep it afterwards. I felt I cannot do that since the tool is costly and I am not a technician. Brother in law doesn't have too. It just looked all wrong after everything I paid.

I eventually went to pick up my car from there with all the misfires and loss of power. I got there, and the lady at the reception insisted I must pay their balance before I be allowed to pick up my faulty car that is still faulty. After paying them over 300k for an engine rebuild for various consumables, considering that I imported majority of the parts from Europe. I was too tired by then, I just paid the money and picked my car. I lived right by their gate so I felt I can manage it home anyways.

I got home and had to reverse for the first time that evening so I can park properly, and surprise, my car doesn't go into reverse anymore. It just blinks the "R" light. I was so pissed. It was pushed into position that evening.

Rang up brother in law, blamed him for the entire mess, told him he must fix that car. The poor guy couldn't say anything. Towed the car to his place. My car is now fine, engine and transmission. Took some weeks but it is now fine. Oh! The car also stayed a long time at Radautoworks before I finally decided to pick up.

Now that I am not so pissed, I think they need to work on their process. We all learn everyday. I feel not all cars should be accepted by the workshop if you feel you cannot handle it. A few people here do that already. And I feel it's unfair to make a customer pay for repairs that are not effective.

Anyways that was my own experience. Apologies for the long read. I left out a lot of details, but it's still long anyways.

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