cycle & carriage service centres

How screwed up can a service centre as large and "professional" as Cycle & Carriage become ??? VERY screwed-up in fact. Since the 1st year I bought my Smart ForTwo, I have been complaining that the rear screen was leaking. First it only leaked when I wasked the car. They "fixed" it but the problem persisted. Made another and another and another complaint but everytime the problem persisted if not worse. Finally about a year back, the service centre decided to replace the rear spoiler and claimed that it was the cause of the leak. Then it was dry weather and I never knew if the problem was finally resolved. After that, I noticed the spoiler was loose and it rattled quite a bit. This time, I was referred to the other service centre near Jalan 222. Again, the claimed to have fixed the problem. We are now experincing the wet season and I found that my rear screen was leaking again and this time it was worse !

Yesterday, I finally sent my car to a new workshop, GERMAN MOTORS. German Motors is owned by Fritz Imbacher, the person entrusted with the Si Khiong service centres. After his retirement, he decided to set up a business in Malaysia and German Motors was born. Prior to his retirement, Fritz has been working with Mercedes Benz for 32 long years. German Motors is about 6 months old.

I was and still am impressed with their service. It's very personal and the Service Manager, Thomas together with Fritz actually took the time to listen to my complaints and asked many questions to make sure that they understood the reason for such complaints. It's a first and I am grateful for the attention.

I arrived at the workshop a little past 9.30am. Registered my presence with the sweet lady there, Mandy and a short while later, Thomas attended to me. I explained that during my past visits to C&C, my complaints were never rectified though they were claimed to have been "fixed". Fritz walked in shortly after I sat down with Thomas and he enquired about my complaints.

At about 11am, I walked over to Jaya 33 to pass some time. Met up with a friend there who later gave me a ride back to the workshop. As I was finishing my lunch, Thomas called and enquired when I could get back to the workshop. They had discovered some disturbing problem about the rear screen leak and needed to explain and show me the problem. When I got back to the workshop, both Fritz and Thomas attended to me. I am greatly disappointed with C&C for what they did and failed to do......

a) Rear spoiler fitting was forced during a repair visit and became detached from the rear screen.
b) Rear spoiler clip broken.
c) Screws missing.
d) 3rd brake light seal missing.
e) Rear spoiler not sealed during replacement.

Fritz and Thomas were both sympathetic. I had to decide if I wanted to return to C&C and offer them a good piece of "advise" or if I should bear the cost and have someone reliable to rectify the persistant problem. I decided on the latter. I was already there, the car was too and I was greatly impressed by the effort taken to show and explain the problem, what could be done and the sincerity shown throughout.

They would need to carefully and slowly detach the spoiler from the screen. Then the sealent (whatever is left) will need to be thoroughly removed and cleaned and re-applied. Hopefully the plastic will not crack and will work. Thomas will see if the seal for the brake light is available otherwise I have told them to just seal it off permanently.

C&C......thanks a million for the shitty work. And to Fritz and Thomas, my heartfelt gratitude for the effort and most of all the concern and sincerity.

For those of you owners of BMW, Mercedes Benz, Smart cars, I encourage you to try GERMAN MOTORS.