Went last week for a service- £200 ok fair enough- anyway on the "Attention sheet" quite a few things needed doing:

N/s/r Both front wishbone split- quote £88.13 to do
N/s/f CV boot split £52.55 to do
o/s/r bump stop split- not urgent
All 3 rear brake pipes pitting
Rear axle bushes starting to crack

Anyway thought I'd take it to my local garage to do all of this- they told me they'd have a look at it first.
An hour later they told me there was nothing to do at the moment at all! Everything Gilders mentionned was VERY exaggerated! The only thing they mentionned was the brake pipes could do with changing for the next MOT. But thats it! So be aware and be careful, just stick to your local garage if you can!

May be a coincidence but I had a similar experience with a different VW dealer a few years ago.

Following a service; this, that and the other needed either changing or attention as soon as poss. etc etc.

Couple of weeks later sailed through its MOT and afterwards asked the garage to check on the things that had been highlighted.
Said they were totally OTT and could wait at least 6 months.

Result? Since those days bought Citroen and Renault with no problems of any sort.

French make good cars, shame about their letters though!!
(Sorry bout that one).

Originally posted by Sony
Went last week for a service- £200 ok fair enough- anyway on the "Attention sheet" quite a few things needed doing:

N/s/r Both front wishbone split- quote £88.13 to do
N/s/f CV boot split £52.55 to do
o/s/r bump stop split- not urgent
All 3 rear brake pipes pitting
Rear axle bushes starting to crack

Anyway thought I'd take it to my local garage to do all of this- they told me they'd have a look at it first.
An hour later they told me there was nothing to do at the moment at all! Everything Gilders mentionned was VERY exaggerated! The only thing they mentionned was the brake pipes could do with changing for the next MOT. But thats it! So be aware and be careful, just stick to your local garage if you can!

why don't you write to them and complain. I'm not shocked to be honest, I wouldn't use a dealer unless i had a very new car that would loose money from not having dealer service history.

Both my electric front window motors went one year (two years ago..a VERY hot summer..) at one point I can remember driving up eccy road with my mum and she was having to hold passenger door open! went for a quote at gilders (I have a little polo) and they quoted me £750!!! I got a friend to do it for £200, I agree it's a total rip off!... perhaps they thought I wanted my car valued??

One of my workmates bought a new VW from Gilders.
It was a new model and they were unable to get him headlamp masks for driving in the EU.
He had technical problems with it for months was was fobbed off by very polite counter staff. He was often getting an error code which Guilders couldn't solve.
He had to go to Chesterfield to get things done properly.
When he asked Chesterfield about the masks they said they could be download VW website. The image of them can be printed and used as a pattern for the mask. They didn't understand how Guilders didn't know this.

Originally posted by mrchinnery

He had to go to Chesterfield to get things done properly.
When he asked Chesterfield about the masks they said you can download the image from the VW website and cut the maks to fit. They didn't understand how Guilders didn't know this.

I wondered why Gilders bought the VW garage in Chesterfield :rolleyes:

Oh dear.
Poor Chesterfield.

Originally posted by Cyclone
why don't you write to them and complain. I'm not shocked to be honest, I wouldn't use a dealer unless i had a very new car that would loose money from not having dealer service history.

i have a new car and have just had it serviced but not stamped as a friend done everything for £50, does it lose value that much and as i plan to have it for next 4 years does it matter? this is an honest questions cos if it gonna lose most of its value i best getting it done properly

Every single time we've been there we've been ripped off 'is it insurance or cash'? I once went in to ask about buying a car - knew I was being taken for a ride so said I'd think about it - sent my brother in a week later - he got a quote for £500 cheaper.

Last time I was in there - they were telling the woman in front of me that they'd dropped her car off the ramp and dinted it - she wasn't a happy bunny!

Originally posted by savbaby
i have a new car and have just had it serviced but not stamped as a friend done everything for £50, does it lose value that much and as i plan to have it for next 4 years does it matter? this is an honest questions cos if it gonna lose most of its value i best getting it done properly

yes it does, a dealer will knock value of the px and a private buyer will be put of by the lack of history.
Once it gets a bit older it's less important.

Should also add that not having the service done and stamped immediately invalidates the manufacturer warranty.

I've just had my AudiA3 Serviced at Peter Gilders Audi, Woodseats.

£230 for the basic service... and a list of recommended extra work that comes to a total of £280 extra.

No way!

Have you been to P.A Autos (just behind BarS1 on West Street)? They are a proper garage. I got some work done and a MOT there last year. They actually fixed a few small things for free! (indicator light and rear brake light).

Give them a try.

Just seen this thread.
I'll add my 2 penny worth.
Took my A3 to an Audi dealer for its 40,000 service.
When I got it back the bill said that the car was hunting on idle and it couldn't be adjusted and was irregular on decceleration.
Needless to say the car was a bl....y sight worse than before it went in.
Took the car home and over the next 3 days my wife complained about my lack of driving skill, car very juddery on decceleration
I couldn't do anything about it as I was going on holiday a couple of days later so phoned them and to complain.
I was told it needed a new valvewhich got furred up with carbon deposits and which couldn't be cleaned.
Cost £427!!!!
After my hol. I went to a local garage who said that for£40 they'd remove and clean the valve.........it was a well known thing with A3s.
Got a letter from the dealer hoping I was happy with my service.
As a result of my reply the valve was cleaned and problem solved free of charge.
The Manager acted as if I was bit of dirt.
Audi dealer lost one mug customer.
Last service at local Garage £184..........less than half the Audi cost.
Also told that squeaky brakes needed new brake cable £8+ £192 labour(+VAT).
Local garage cleaned pads, lubricated brakes ...problem solved

Davyboy

If you buy a nice car and want to keep it in good nick and have genuine parts fitted then a dealership will always be more expensive but haas it's work g'nteed buy the manufacturer. The upside is that you'll have a genuine (in this case) VW dealer service stamp and also when it comes to resale you'll get what your asking for it.

Gilders have always been pricey and it's well known they charge over the odds, but I know very few people that complain about the work, it's always the price!!!

As a foot note if you want cheap parts and labour buy a ford and go to Dixons, not a VW or Audi.

charging slightly more for a good job and genuine parts is one thing, lying and doing work that isn't strictly required is quite something else.

A while ago I went to a dealer for a service on the old AX. They told me the clutch was going and would need replacing and quoted me a huge sum to do it. I declined at the time - couldn't afford it - 40,000 miles later , same clutch no problem...

Rip off merchants - always use your local independant garage..

Even the independants will try it on.

Last service I was told that my brake pads were 80% worn so should be changed.
There's 1/5th of the material left, at the rate they're going that's good for 8000 more miles, why should i change them early, they weren't offering a discount because they could do it during the service.

And kwik fit - I spit on their name - they ripped my girlfriend off to the tune of £400. Unfortunately she'd told them to do the work before she told me.

Gilders are a nightmare. Not so much the price - you expect that from a main dealer - but their service is absolutely cr*p.

My wife's got a Golf but we'll never have another VW because even though we love the car, its got to go to Gilders for any work on it.

I'm a bit confused here. How can you exaggerate things like a split wishbone or CV boot? They are either split or they aren't. They are things that definitely need doing if they are faulty.

Are you sure that the local garage didn't just see the look on your face and was extra nice to you? :confused:

Originally posted by RazorSHarp
If you buy a nice car and want to keep it in good nick and have genuine parts fitted

You don't have to go to a dealer to get genuine parts ;)

Originally posted by Tony
I'm a bit confused here. How can you exaggerate things like a split wishbone or CV boot? They are either split or they aren't. They are things that definitely need doing if they are faulty.

Are you sure that the local garage didn't just see the look on your face and was extra nice to you? :confused:

I was referring to this post when I mentioned lying and exaggeration, this thread was resurrected recently wasn't it?

I was told it needed a new valvewhich got furred up with carbon deposits and which couldn't be cleaned.
Cost £427!!!!
After my hol. I went to a local garage who said that for£40 they'd remove and clean the valve.........it was a well known thing with A3s.
Got a letter from the dealer hoping I was happy with my service.
As a result of my reply the valve was cleaned and problem solved free of charge.

Is this the same Gilders that's on Sharrowvale road? I need some codes reading and probably work doing on my Volvo and was planning on taking it there.
?

I have used both Gilders in Hillsborough and the one on Ecclesall Road and the service has been completely shocking both times. Non-returned phone calls, having to wait for 1/2 an hour for somebody to even talk to you, looking down their nose at you for whatever reason. Totally unprofessional, rude and incompetent. I would never buy a Volkswagen again solely because of the cr*p service I have received time and time again.

And yes, they will rip you off as well.

A few years ago I took my Punto for a service and MOT. They called to say I needed two new front shocks (not surprising with all the bloody pot holes in Sheffield :rant:). I informed them that the car was covered by the Gold service and thus all the parts where under their warranty. The guy scoffed and said he would call me back. When he did he agreed they would replace the shocks but he then rattled off a lost of other problems that would need looking into soon. He knew he couldn’t say they needed to be done there and then as that would indicate the previous inspection was flawed.

Felt great being able to get one back on a garage and was funny how they never mentioned these until they realised they would have to pay for the shocks :D I didn’t fix the other made-up problems and traded it in back to them a few months later :D

I'm going against the flow here.

We had one of the first Audi A2's which we bought from Motorpoint in Derby. We took it to Gilders at Millhouses for it's first service and I mentioned that the gear lever was vibrating a bit at 40mph in 3rd & 4th. We were very sceptical as we had bought it as an import.

Gilders were really good, we picked it up and they had contacted the factory who told them to replace the whole gearbox. Needless to say it went back for all it's services and we never had anything extra that needed doing in the 3 years we owned it.

Yeah same here have had 6 VWs from gilders hillsboro and had them all serviced there absolutely no problem at all. Bought a BMW from Sytner had it serviced there.....Gotta watch em like a hawk they are terrible for trying to get out of warranty work !!

As a foot note if you want cheap parts and labour buy a ford and go to Dixons, not a VW or Audi.[/QUOTE]

got to disagree with you here, don`t use Dixons, I bought a six month old ford Ka from Dixons saville Street 3 years ago, it went for it`s first service while we were on holiday this was so that i didn`t loose any business time once back as the car is used for driving instruction. after returning from holiday the car was not ready and stayed with Dixons for 4 extra days, complained by letter and did get some compensation, but nothing like what I lost by having to cancel lessons. second service came back with a list of things to do took it to a independant garage mechanic that we use for the family car where we were told didn`t need any of the things listed doing. In February this year decided it was time for a new car for the driving school business due to what had gone off with the saville Street dixons I decided to try the dixons at Sheaf gardens. oh! dear what a big mistake ordered brand new 07 car mid february hopefully to arrive beginning of March, delivery date moved to mid March by middle of April still no delivery and no explanation (poor communication) until I informed dixon head office about the situation, eventually told that car had got an electrical fault (dead battery?) dixons at sheaf didn`t think it was necessary to tell me. order cancelled mid April deposit returned mid may after many telephone calls from me. never will I use Dixons again. I`m now waiting for a peugeot 307 hope their customer services are better.
www.paulbennett-schoolofmotoring.co.uk

Try Gordon Lamb - we had two cars from them - great sales service - afterwards it was dreadful, they just didn't want to know. Even with warranty work they couldn't have cared less. It was so bad we ended up taking both to independent garages who sorted the work out. It wasn't the franchise either as one was a Daihatsu van (shudders at the memory), the other was a Lotus Elise.

Sytners were so aloof it was untrue, quoted about £1400 for four tyres (for a ZM Coupe) we eventually got them for about £850. The oil change service on that car was almost £200 cheaper at Bridgegate in Chesterfield than Sytners in Sheffield, bizzare.

Mmmm we love our Honda, but that's not the cheapest to service, however it's almost out of warranty.

Im not a mechanic but isn't 55 quid for a CV boot a bit steep anyway.

so you have pitted brake pipes but can wait 6 months? are you mental if the brakes leaks/breaks you will lose the braking to 2 wheels, is your life worth that little to you to wait 6 months?

Im not a mechanic but isn't 55 quid for a CV boot a bit steep anyway.

you have to remove the wheel, separate the hub to get to drive shaft, it should take 1 hour to do it, so £40 labour £15 for boot and grease, it sounds very reasonable

Wow! where did this thread come from! Thankfully got rid of that car ages ago now and got a 56 plate A3. No trouble so far!

Yeah same here have had 6 VWs from gilders hillsboro and had them all serviced there absolutely no problem at all. Bought a BMW from Sytner had it serviced there.....Gotta watch em like a hawk they are terrible for trying to get out of warranty work !!

Have to agree i have bought 4 VW'S through Gilders and i have had no problems !!

with my last Golf it was just out of warrenty, when it started to play up, i cannot remember exactley what the problem was however it did take them a while to sort it out, in the end they had the car for 3 days, which could have been a total nightmare as at the time, i was 6 months pregnant, had a one year old toddler to care for and my hubby was in the hospital :help:

When i explained this to Gilders the manager very kindly gave me his Golf V6 (i think) for the whole 3 days :hihi:

I was dreading the bill, but it came to a grand total on £76 quid, even though the car was out of warrenty, the service manager said that the part that had gone really shouldnt have, as the car was only just over 3 years old.

Just thought i would ad a few comments
Any vehicle which is under manufacturers warranty DOES NOT have to serviced by the dealer, it does however have to be serviced by a VAT registered garage and genuine parts used and detailed on the invoice.
We maintain many vehicles for our customers which are still under manufacturers warranty.
Whilst a service book full of nice dealership stamps might look pretty as long as your car has a service history with paperwork to back it up i personally think a dealer history makes very little difference to the residual value.

And finally if you find gilders too expensive but still want qualified VW technicians working on your pride and joy ( or even your old workhorse) then give us a call.

How much do you charge to replace brake fluid in a polo? The prices are not yet filled in on your site...

I used to go to Gilders at Sheepsbridge and coz it was a new car it rarely had any work needing doing, but as it got older they started to take the mick.
The last thing they noted was a broken bar under the car which stabalises the chasis. Told me £480 quid.
They said it was urgent , I said no.
Here i am with the same car 4 years later and 4 MOT's later and no one has ever mentioned it!
If i was you i'd go to Challenger Tyres on Rutland Road for tyres , exhausts and MOT or MOT work.
They're fair prices and they show you what needs doing and why and they even show you any worn out part they replace.
I have full trust in them and wouldn't go anywhere else now.
http://www.challengertyres.com/content.php

How much do you charge to replace brake fluid in a polo? The prices are not yet filled in on your site...

£25+vat for a brake fluid change

we all know the main dealers will rip us off with repairs wen we take our cars in 4 a service the minimum charge must be £90 an hour these days even for a small family car i work for vw so i get a good discount & i av bought 2 cars from gilders with which i av been highly satisfied i get an excelent discount as i only buy used vw's & the rate i get charged for a service & mot is very good i only ask for the basic service to keep my warranty valid so everything extra like fillin the screenwash bottle at an extra cost etc just say no. all the technicians are there to find as many faults as they can at the end of the day its all down to money like other people ave said on here a local vat registerd garage will keep the warranty valid & will do just as good a job if not better than a mail dealer i av worked for smaller garages you would be suprised how much they do more in a service than a dealer

Used Gilders many years ago on an accident repair to a Passat estate, it had to go back 6 times before they'd cured the problem, wouldn't touch them again.

Scrapyards, much better, I've had a radiator and a headlight from my local scrappies, fitted them myself, and bought a downpipe from a shop, not cost me £100, they're great places to get used genuine parts, would always recomend a scrappie for a fix, if you can do it, or know someone who can do it obviously.

A service book full of dealer stamps just proves that the owner has paid well over the odds for work done to the car. I understand that not everyone is capable of working on their own cars, but knowing where to go for quality work and parts does have its benefits. I own a VW Vento, and its one of the cheapest cars ive owned for parts (non dealer). £36 for a timing belt kit, £3 for an oil filter, £8 for oil. I fitted them all myself, plus many other parts, which is a massive money saver. I know people go to main dealers for a reason, but is part of that reason because they dont know where to get a good deal on parts and labour? Eurocar parts, GSF, Sheffield Imported Motor factors and FPS are a few of the many motor factors that can supply new quality parts for all cars under the sun. Try em, and you might save a penny or two!

its not just vw who make massive profits on servicing and repairs, my last lexus went in for service at a cost of £230 ended up paying £1200 which included new discs and pads some kind a joints on the steering, tyres and tracking and a few other bits,
i blame myself for having the work done as looking back i should have used a independant for the work,

£25+vat for a brake fluid change

what about a 3 series bmw, mines coming up for the brake fluid replacement soon

brake fluid change i ran a golf for 6 years the only time i changed the brake fluid was wen it failed the mot on a brake pipe so i changed them all the brakes never let me down before that its all in a schedule wat the manafacturer recomends certain things wat need 2 be done at certain intervals to get you back in the dealer workshops

Brake fuild should be change every 2 years as it absorbs water, water boil at 100% and you cant compress boiling water hence your brakes will be a lot less effective and you will crash and wonder why didnt you change your brake fuild sooner
£25 for a fuild change is cheap, sheffield mercedes charge £100 + vat,

Brake fuild should be change every 2 years as it absorbs water, water boil at 100% and you cant compress boiling water hence your brakes will be a lot less effective and you will crash and wonder why didnt you change your brake fuild sooner
£25 for a fuild change is cheap, sheffield mercedes charge £100 + vat,

And water in the brake pipes eventually rusts up the ABS parts, and if that happens you have a very expensive repair job to pay for .

It's not that you can't compress steam, you can, a lot. Which is a problem when you want the motion of the foot pedal to be directly translated into motion of the brake pads/shoes. If the fluid gets hot and water starts boiling off then all you can do is compress that steam and your brakes don't work very well (or at all).
Just because you can drive for 5 years without a problem (as per a few posts ago) doesn't mean that you should. It probably just means that you never did any heavy braking and got that much heat into the fluid.

:):):):) a few people accutly agree with what i said:):):)

Brake fuild should be change every 2 years as it absorbs water, water boil at 100% and you cant compress boiling water hence your brakes will be a lot less effective and you will crash and wonder why didnt you change your brake fuild sooner
£25 for a fuild change is cheap, sheffield mercedes charge £100 + vat,

do you know what your talking about the problem is brake fluid is hydroscopic which means it absorbs water and when this boils it make the brakes spongy because it CAN be compressed it is brake fluid that cannot be compressed hence why it is used perhaps this is why they only charge £25 because they dont know what they are talking about

3 years ago I bought a J reg 1.1L Fiesta 4-door in nice condition for £100, just wanted a steering column knuckle joint (£7.50) which I fitted and it passed test. Poor performance on the Motorway (4 speed box), although you could get 60mpg taking it steady (40-3mpg around town) but great around city. It was very reliable, and no rubber cam belt to change. Had it for 12 months until someone hotwired it and then recovered it burnt out. My point is, although not a car to show off in, no need to go to garages with this one.

I'm just about to take delivery of a new VW. Are there any good independents out there? We have a Saab at the moment and have always taken it to Phil Smith Saab, not the Saab dealers. It's always been well serviced and looked after at a very reasonable price.

Just realised we'll have to have it serviced with VW for 3 years or it will invalidate warranty - but thinking ahead...

Just realised we'll have to have it serviced with VW for 3 years or it will invalidate warranty - but thinking ahead...

I don't believe that is the case.

I don't believe that is the case.Thanks I'll double check the small print but I still know of no independent VW garages/mechanics in Sheffield

i have a new car and have just had it serviced but not stamped as a friend done everything for £50, does it lose value that much and as i plan to have it for next 4 years does it matter? this is an honest questions cos if it gonna lose most of its value i best getting it done properly

Ive been a car dealer for 15 yrs....to sell a top end 4 yr old car worth 15k at that age..needs dealer history....if its a run of the mill car..vectra etc...Full dealer history might add £200 to the value...it will add to the sales platter more than anything.....Get your mate to stamp it....even a signiture will do with the milage and date written in and keep your receipts for the filters etc...having something there is service history...nothing there is no service history which will makes the difference.

I belive that....to comply with your warranty....your car must have been serviced by genuine dealer parts...not nessasarly dealer mechanics...think this is right..but dont quote me on it