> From: Zathras >
> Organization: NTL
> Newsgroups: alt.autos.alfa-romeo
> Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2004 11:55:14 GMT
> Subject: Outragous !!!
>
> On Wed, 27 Oct 2004 10:39:39 +0100, Tom Boltwood >
> wrote:
>
> <Snip>
>> You can always get the air con serviced by an independent specialist in your
>> own time.
>
> But you'll only save about 30UKP doing so. Not a lot of comfort if the
> bill is heading for 1000UKP. You also have the hassle of a service
> then another part of a day taken up while the indy does your A/C.
> YMMV.
>
>> Your dealer will only call one in anyway.
>
> Only the stupid ones! Mine (Reg Vardy) worked out that they could buy
> all the kit, train their staff and then offer a full A/C service for a
> cleverly pitched 100UKP and recover all their costs SO quickly the
> Service Receptionist could only smile when telling me about it. Good
> for them! 30UKP plus the convenience of being in a main dealership if
> any Alfa specific parts etc are required plus the convenience of
> getting everything done in one day is a reasonable temptation IMHO.

That sounds ideal. None of the main dealers round here sort the air con out
themselves but if they could I reckon they'd charge more than £100.

I don't use my dealer either as my car's out of warranty and they charge £65
an hour labour and they're crap! Last time I used them they charged me £130
to steam clean the engine to find the source of a leak that was due to their
incompetence in fitting a part they'd already charged the previous owner
£500 to replace a month before. Not to mention the fact that they left my
battery improperly connected after they'd finished.