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I was going to post this up anyway, but having just read some threads about bad traders/bad garages, then I think it's definitely time to inject some positivity 
So, McLennans garage, based in Loanhead just on the south outskirts of Edinburgh, are quite simply the dog's ******** IMO :thumbs: I shall now explain why...
I first went to them for a service on my 166 around about Jan 2011 IIRC. I choose them as I'd seen other recommendations, whereas the other Alfa specialist in Edinburgh (which is more conveniently located for me) doesn't get such glowing reviews. When I went in to pick up the 166, Stuart Senior took me in to the office and spent about half an hour both chatting away and also going through the many points that they'd found with the car that were wrong. These were generally minor things like a missing exhaust heat shield, a front brake pipe routed slightly the wrong way in the engine bay, etc. Given that it only went in for a service, I wasn't expecting them to have gone over the car with a fine toothed comb and reported back their findings. But as I say, Stuart explained everything, and I remember him pulling a new upper wishbone off the shelf to show me when describing how the bushes on one of mine was on it's way out. He also explained to me about the common gear shift seizing up problem, which mine had to small degree.
A cynical person may assume that this was simply marketing tactics to encourage me back to get more work done, but it never felt like this. Instead I went away feeling very impressed with the service provided.
With my MOT due in Oct 2011, and knowing I needed to get a few suspension related issues resolved, I got back in touch with them around Sep. I had sourced most of the parts myself, and Stuart had no qualms about fitting customer supplied kit. But at that time it was proving difficult to get hold of Powerflex bushes for the back. Internet/ebay traders were listing them, but when contacted were all saying the same thing - none in stock, awaiting new stock from Powerflex, but they can't tell us when they are going to be available. This put a big fly in the ointment, as time was getting on. Stuart took the baton and proceded to try and source them for me. He kept me updated with phone calls, and seemed to go to quite a lot of effort contacting all his usuall suppliers and getting told the same as me, but he eventually came through.
So the 166 went in, was MOT'd, and had all the suspension work done etc. When I went to pick it up, I found Stuart Junior sat in the drivers seat with his laptop hooked up. Whilst he was waiting for me to arrive, he'd decided to read the ECU for fault codes because I've got a problem with my ASR turning itself off. Once again, I wasn't expecting this, but it was a nice touch. We had a chat - me, Stuart Senior and Stuart Junior - and they made some suggestions about what the problem could be. As per usual, I think Stuart Senior probably kept me there for a while talking over everything that was done etc.
A couple of weeks later I noticed something odd with the car. Not bad odd, good odd Back in the winter of 2010/2011 my paint had been damaged in a few places as I kept the car in an underground carpark, and one day it had been dripped on, with the water containing a lot of concrete dust. The concrete dust had eaten in to the lacquer. I had managed to hand polish out most of it, but I had a line down the drivers door that I just couldn't shift by hand. It had been like that for nearly a year, and yet, here I was one day looking at my car and realising it was no longer there I never actually asked them, but I'm positive that they polished that out whilst they were waiting for me, because the other thing McLennans have done every time my car has been in, is give it a wash before I pick it up :thumbs::thumbs:
My 3rd experience with McLennans has been this week. It was due in for the MOT anyway, but I had to make a more urgent call to them last week when my water pump failed. As per usual, I discussed the work with Stuart Senior on the phone, he gave me a quote, and in it went. Middle of this week, he called with good and bad news - good news being that it went through the MOT fine, bad news being that it was also going to need a auxilary belt tensioner as it was gubbed, so it was going to be more expensive. He went on to tell me that my water pump failure was one of the worst he'd seen, and that it was an unusual part as usually the plastic bit is a sort of orangey beige, but this one was more of a darker, reddish orange (for the record, a metal pump was fitted in replacement). It also had a sheared bolt. The tensioner mentioned earlier was badly grooved and the bearing was failing. This level of detail is assuring as I know I'm talking to someone who knows what they are doing. Another thing I found assuring is that when quoting for the work I'd asked him to include doing the plugs. Stuart told me they may not be necessary as they have quite a long service life. In my head I was thinking, I don't care, just do them anyway so it's a complete job. when it came down to it Stuart told me he'd checked the plugs and they were fine, so no point in replacing them, which I went along with due to the unexpected expense of the aux belt tensioner. He could have easily included that in the job and charged me, or worse still, charged me for replacing the plugs and not done anything at all! But he didn't.
I picked the car up tonight. This time Stuart couldn't get me out of the door quick enough - actually, that's bull****! :lol: It was the usual, bit of chat, talked me through all the work done, took me in to the garage to show me the old parts (without me having to ask to see them). But what made this visit even more special is that they had also waxoiled part of the floorpan due to a bit of corrosion, AND free'd up the gearshift mechanism as this had got a lot stiffer, both done free of charge, and without me having to ask them :thumbs::thumbs::thumbs: Gearshift is lovely and free oving now.
Now for all the chat, and the little extras (washing the cars, going and fetching the car when the customer arrives and leaving it at the entrance for you etc), you'd think they mustn't be that busy if they can "waste" time on stuff like that. But they're bloody not! They're in from pre-8am and stay open till 7pm or more it seems (I left there at 7pm tonight and another customer had come in behind me, and Stuart had tried to call me at half 9 last night about picking the car up), and they always seem to have a 1 week lead time on work.
So I sincerely hope that McLennans continue to be busy, but not too busy to continue the kind of service they provide at the moment. They are good old fashioned family business, friendly, welcoming, honest, well priced and - most importantly - they know what they are doing.
Stuart McLennan and family, I salute you
So, McLennans garage, based in Loanhead just on the south outskirts of Edinburgh, are quite simply the dog's ******** IMO :thumbs: I shall now explain why...
I first went to them for a service on my 166 around about Jan 2011 IIRC. I choose them as I'd seen other recommendations, whereas the other Alfa specialist in Edinburgh (which is more conveniently located for me) doesn't get such glowing reviews. When I went in to pick up the 166, Stuart Senior took me in to the office and spent about half an hour both chatting away and also going through the many points that they'd found with the car that were wrong. These were generally minor things like a missing exhaust heat shield, a front brake pipe routed slightly the wrong way in the engine bay, etc. Given that it only went in for a service, I wasn't expecting them to have gone over the car with a fine toothed comb and reported back their findings. But as I say, Stuart explained everything, and I remember him pulling a new upper wishbone off the shelf to show me when describing how the bushes on one of mine was on it's way out. He also explained to me about the common gear shift seizing up problem, which mine had to small degree.
A cynical person may assume that this was simply marketing tactics to encourage me back to get more work done, but it never felt like this. Instead I went away feeling very impressed with the service provided.
With my MOT due in Oct 2011, and knowing I needed to get a few suspension related issues resolved, I got back in touch with them around Sep. I had sourced most of the parts myself, and Stuart had no qualms about fitting customer supplied kit. But at that time it was proving difficult to get hold of Powerflex bushes for the back. Internet/ebay traders were listing them, but when contacted were all saying the same thing - none in stock, awaiting new stock from Powerflex, but they can't tell us when they are going to be available. This put a big fly in the ointment, as time was getting on. Stuart took the baton and proceded to try and source them for me. He kept me updated with phone calls, and seemed to go to quite a lot of effort contacting all his usuall suppliers and getting told the same as me, but he eventually came through.
So the 166 went in, was MOT'd, and had all the suspension work done etc. When I went to pick it up, I found Stuart Junior sat in the drivers seat with his laptop hooked up. Whilst he was waiting for me to arrive, he'd decided to read the ECU for fault codes because I've got a problem with my ASR turning itself off. Once again, I wasn't expecting this, but it was a nice touch. We had a chat - me, Stuart Senior and Stuart Junior - and they made some suggestions about what the problem could be. As per usual, I think Stuart Senior probably kept me there for a while talking over everything that was done etc.
A couple of weeks later I noticed something odd with the car. Not bad odd, good odd
Back in the winter of 2010/2011 my paint had been damaged in a few places as I kept the car in an underground carpark, and one day it had been dripped on, with the water containing a lot of concrete dust. The concrete dust had eaten in to the lacquer. I had managed to hand polish out most of it, but I had a line down the drivers door that I just couldn't shift by hand. It had been like that for nearly a year, and yet, here I was one day looking at my car and realising it was no longer there I never actually asked them, but I'm positive that they polished that out whilst they were waiting for me, because the other thing McLennans have done every time my car has been in, is give it a wash before I pick it up :thumbs::thumbs:My 3rd experience with McLennans has been this week. It was due in for the MOT anyway, but I had to make a more urgent call to them last week when my water pump failed. As per usual, I discussed the work with Stuart Senior on the phone, he gave me a quote, and in it went. Middle of this week, he called with good and bad news - good news being that it went through the MOT fine, bad news being that it was also going to need a auxilary belt tensioner as it was gubbed, so it was going to be more expensive. He went on to tell me that my water pump failure was one of the worst he'd seen, and that it was an unusual part as usually the plastic bit is a sort of orangey beige, but this one was more of a darker, reddish orange (for the record, a metal pump was fitted in replacement
). It also had a sheared bolt. The tensioner mentioned earlier was badly grooved and the bearing was failing. This level of detail is assuring as I know I'm talking to someone who knows what they are doing. Another thing I found assuring is that when quoting for the work I'd asked him to include doing the plugs. Stuart told me they may not be necessary as they have quite a long service life. In my head I was thinking, I don't care, just do them anyway so it's a complete job. when it came down to it Stuart told me he'd checked the plugs and they were fine, so no point in replacing them, which I went along with due to the unexpected expense of the aux belt tensioner. He could have easily included that in the job and charged me, or worse still, charged me for replacing the plugs and not done anything at all! But he didn't.I picked the car up tonight. This time Stuart couldn't get me out of the door quick enough - actually, that's bull****!
:lol: It was the usual, bit of chat, talked me through all the work done, took me in to the garage to show me the old parts (without me having to ask to see them). But what made this visit even more special is that they had also waxoiled part of the floorpan due to a bit of corrosion, AND free'd up the gearshift mechanism as this had got a lot stiffer, both done free of charge, and without me having to ask them :thumbs::thumbs::thumbs: Gearshift is lovely and free oving now.Now for all the chat, and the little extras (washing the cars, going and fetching the car when the customer arrives and leaving it at the entrance for you etc), you'd think they mustn't be that busy if they can "waste" time on stuff like that. But they're bloody not!
They're in from pre-8am and stay open till 7pm or more it seems (I left there at 7pm tonight and another customer had come in behind me, and Stuart had tried to call me at half 9 last night about picking the car up), and they always seem to have a 1 week lead time on work.So I sincerely hope that McLennans continue to be busy, but not too busy to continue the kind of service they provide at the moment. They are good old fashioned family business, friendly, welcoming, honest, well priced and - most importantly - they know what they are doing.
Stuart McLennan and family, I salute you
