Hi Alfa Owners/Non Owners,
To start thanks for taking time to read,Im Matthew the only gentleman that deals with the Alfas at TCS which is nothing todo with THORNHAM CAR SALES that place was taken over by me and my brother James nearly 5 years ago, i have many happy customers, i myself choose to sell Alfa Romeos,i have done for some years from another garage, this is the only negative review i have ever had and tbh was upset by it. So here is not me slagging another human being off or trying to ruin a lively hood but a honest and genuine account of what happened from my side , i am sorry for the stress it seems to have caused Lawrence and wished i could have rectified his problem , if you've already read the rest of the thread this relates (thanks) to then you'll see I've him the £200 for the warranty so ive done all i can....
I am very disappointed to see that Lawrence has posted on at least 4 sites about the Black Alfa 159 LUSSO YE08 JHV which he purchased from myself a short while ago. This is what actually happened!
First of all the vehicle had covered 117,066 with a full mainly Alfa service history. It was checked by an Alfa mechanic before sale as is the case with all the Alfa’s that I sell. The car had a full service, new discs and pads all round, new power steering fluid reservoir (the gauze had collapsed) at a cost of £700.
The customer paid £4,250 for the Alfa plus an extra £200 for a warranty with WarrantyWise. I did explain to Lawrence that as the vehicle had covered over 100,000 miles there were possibly some things that would not be covered by the warranty. I don’t usually sell Alfa’s that have covered more than 100,000 but this one was immaculate. Lawrence left happy and it was nearly 2 weeks until he contacted me about the EML which he had wrongly diagnosed as the inlet manifold and had been told by the warranty company (WarrantyWise) that it wasn’t covered. He had got a quote from his local garage of over £1,000 to fix it which I said was quite pricey as the part only costs £250-£400. However I said that to help Lawrence I would pay for the inlet manifold and send it to him as he lived a fair distance away in the East Ridings of Yorkshire and we are in Lancashire. He decided that he wanted my mechanic to sort out the EML to which I, of course, agreed. I know that it can be difficult to find decent cost effective garages to work on Alfa Romeos. This was the first time he had returned the car to us at his request for us to repair the EML fault whatever it turned out to be.
When the Alfa was returned to me it was showing 118,386 so he had covered 1,300 in the vehicle as the EML wasn’t effecting its drive once it had come on, been switched off and then restarted.
It is a tricky issue and was throwing us lots of different faults which can sometimes be the case with Alfa electrics. Eventually we settled on fitting a new EGR and the helicoil was damaged and slight gasses were leaking out throwing false boost codes and readings. I noticed when driving the Alfa to the mechanic that there was a wheel bearing noise on the vehicle. I had already replaced the n/s wheel bearing for the MOT before it was purchased and gave Lawrence a courtesy call to ask him if he would like me to do the wheel bearing (which was now the o/s/f) for him at trade price but he told me that he was paying for nothing and that I should do it for free. Bearing in mind that there was no problem with that wheel bearing when the car was purchased and that Lawrence had covered 1,300 it was really a case of wear and tear. However Lawrence got very angry so for the sake of £50, and to keep the customer happy I did that as well, free. (with not so much as a ‘thank you’ from Lawrence). I had now spent a further £250 on the vehicle.
When the car was fully repaired my Alfa mechanic drove it for a day just to make sure that all/any problems were now rectified for Lawrence.
I was on holiday with my son (in an Alfa) whilst the vehicle was being repaired and still away when it was ready for collection. I had kept in contact with Lawrence with texts and phone calls even though I wasn’t actually in work and was on holiday!
When I told Lawrence that the car was ready for collection again I got no ‘thanks’ but just a moan that if it wasn’t right when he was travelling back with his wife and children then he wouldn’t be happy. Let’s be honest the last thing I wanted was for the car not to be right. I love Alfas, I drive Alfas, I specialise in Alfas, I want the customer to be happy, I don’t set out to upset people, I don’t have a crystal ball to know that a fault is going to occur on a vehicle after sale, Alfas can be temperamental, but I still love Alfas and also try to provide an excellent customer service.
My sister agreed to wait at the garage out of hours until 7.30pm for Lawrence to collect the vehicle. We actually shut at 6.00pm. About half an hour after he had collected the vehicle Lawrence returned and wasn’t at all very nice to my 22 year old sister who doesn’t really deal with after sales and was only trying to do both myself and Lawrence a favour by staying late. It appeared that the EML was back on even though I had done everything I could to solve the problem! There was nothing she could do at the time but promised that she would get me to ring Lawrence the next day.
I did indeed ring Lawrence the next day and immediately offered to refund the FULL purchase price of £4,250.
When I returned from my holidays I used the vehicle in question for a few days and found out that the propellers on the turbo were coked up and needed to be reworked. This has now been done had a cost of £250. She is now running and driving perfectly.
I am the only person @ TCS who deals with Alfas and I would like to point out that other negative threads about our garage relate to something which happed nearly 5 years ago and which were simply mistakes in adverts. When most people make a mistake at work it is usually quickly forgotten but for some reason people seem to like to keep dragging this incident up! The person who made the mistakes is now semi-retired in any case!
I wouldn’t normally post on these type of threads/forums but being an Alfa Romeo enthusiast, owner and now specialist I thought the other Alfa owners/non-owners should know that I am, and have been, doing things right from the start. I am a good guy and try my best to make sure that everyone is happy at every level of purchase when buying an Alfa Romeo from myself.
I do have all the relevant paperwork, receipts, bills etc.to back up everything I have put in this reply.
If you think I have been unfair then please let me know.
Happy Alfa driving!!
Matthew The Alfa Man @ TCS
To start thanks for taking time to read,Im Matthew the only gentleman that deals with the Alfas at TCS which is nothing todo with THORNHAM CAR SALES that place was taken over by me and my brother James nearly 5 years ago, i have many happy customers, i myself choose to sell Alfa Romeos,i have done for some years from another garage, this is the only negative review i have ever had and tbh was upset by it. So here is not me slagging another human being off or trying to ruin a lively hood but a honest and genuine account of what happened from my side , i am sorry for the stress it seems to have caused Lawrence and wished i could have rectified his problem , if you've already read the rest of the thread this relates (thanks) to then you'll see I've him the £200 for the warranty so ive done all i can....
I am very disappointed to see that Lawrence has posted on at least 4 sites about the Black Alfa 159 LUSSO YE08 JHV which he purchased from myself a short while ago. This is what actually happened!
First of all the vehicle had covered 117,066 with a full mainly Alfa service history. It was checked by an Alfa mechanic before sale as is the case with all the Alfa’s that I sell. The car had a full service, new discs and pads all round, new power steering fluid reservoir (the gauze had collapsed) at a cost of £700.
The customer paid £4,250 for the Alfa plus an extra £200 for a warranty with WarrantyWise. I did explain to Lawrence that as the vehicle had covered over 100,000 miles there were possibly some things that would not be covered by the warranty. I don’t usually sell Alfa’s that have covered more than 100,000 but this one was immaculate. Lawrence left happy and it was nearly 2 weeks until he contacted me about the EML which he had wrongly diagnosed as the inlet manifold and had been told by the warranty company (WarrantyWise) that it wasn’t covered. He had got a quote from his local garage of over £1,000 to fix it which I said was quite pricey as the part only costs £250-£400. However I said that to help Lawrence I would pay for the inlet manifold and send it to him as he lived a fair distance away in the East Ridings of Yorkshire and we are in Lancashire. He decided that he wanted my mechanic to sort out the EML to which I, of course, agreed. I know that it can be difficult to find decent cost effective garages to work on Alfa Romeos. This was the first time he had returned the car to us at his request for us to repair the EML fault whatever it turned out to be.
When the Alfa was returned to me it was showing 118,386 so he had covered 1,300 in the vehicle as the EML wasn’t effecting its drive once it had come on, been switched off and then restarted.
It is a tricky issue and was throwing us lots of different faults which can sometimes be the case with Alfa electrics. Eventually we settled on fitting a new EGR and the helicoil was damaged and slight gasses were leaking out throwing false boost codes and readings. I noticed when driving the Alfa to the mechanic that there was a wheel bearing noise on the vehicle. I had already replaced the n/s wheel bearing for the MOT before it was purchased and gave Lawrence a courtesy call to ask him if he would like me to do the wheel bearing (which was now the o/s/f) for him at trade price but he told me that he was paying for nothing and that I should do it for free. Bearing in mind that there was no problem with that wheel bearing when the car was purchased and that Lawrence had covered 1,300 it was really a case of wear and tear. However Lawrence got very angry so for the sake of £50, and to keep the customer happy I did that as well, free. (with not so much as a ‘thank you’ from Lawrence). I had now spent a further £250 on the vehicle.
When the car was fully repaired my Alfa mechanic drove it for a day just to make sure that all/any problems were now rectified for Lawrence.
I was on holiday with my son (in an Alfa) whilst the vehicle was being repaired and still away when it was ready for collection. I had kept in contact with Lawrence with texts and phone calls even though I wasn’t actually in work and was on holiday!
When I told Lawrence that the car was ready for collection again I got no ‘thanks’ but just a moan that if it wasn’t right when he was travelling back with his wife and children then he wouldn’t be happy. Let’s be honest the last thing I wanted was for the car not to be right. I love Alfas, I drive Alfas, I specialise in Alfas, I want the customer to be happy, I don’t set out to upset people, I don’t have a crystal ball to know that a fault is going to occur on a vehicle after sale, Alfas can be temperamental, but I still love Alfas and also try to provide an excellent customer service.
My sister agreed to wait at the garage out of hours until 7.30pm for Lawrence to collect the vehicle. We actually shut at 6.00pm. About half an hour after he had collected the vehicle Lawrence returned and wasn’t at all very nice to my 22 year old sister who doesn’t really deal with after sales and was only trying to do both myself and Lawrence a favour by staying late. It appeared that the EML was back on even though I had done everything I could to solve the problem! There was nothing she could do at the time but promised that she would get me to ring Lawrence the next day.
I did indeed ring Lawrence the next day and immediately offered to refund the FULL purchase price of £4,250.
When I returned from my holidays I used the vehicle in question for a few days and found out that the propellers on the turbo were coked up and needed to be reworked. This has now been done had a cost of £250. She is now running and driving perfectly.
I am the only person @ TCS who deals with Alfas and I would like to point out that other negative threads about our garage relate to something which happed nearly 5 years ago and which were simply mistakes in adverts. When most people make a mistake at work it is usually quickly forgotten but for some reason people seem to like to keep dragging this incident up! The person who made the mistakes is now semi-retired in any case!
I wouldn’t normally post on these type of threads/forums but being an Alfa Romeo enthusiast, owner and now specialist I thought the other Alfa owners/non-owners should know that I am, and have been, doing things right from the start. I am a good guy and try my best to make sure that everyone is happy at every level of purchase when buying an Alfa Romeo from myself.
I do have all the relevant paperwork, receipts, bills etc.to back up everything I have put in this reply.
If you think I have been unfair then please let me know.
Happy Alfa driving!!
Matthew The Alfa Man @ TCS