Originally Posted by Mr M

Pete, you gotta be kidding? Right?

What's wrong with a 'kid' changing the brake pads on your car? He has to start somewhere, and even the lead technician or foreman could drop a few springs and bits on the floor. Brakes can be fiddly. The reason the kid is doing the brakes is because that is all they will let him do. Do you think he is allowed to do engine overhauls or high-level diagnostic jobs? No way! Because there is a heirarchy in dealers, the young guys do the dirty work and the experienced guys do the difficult stuff, that's how a dealer makes money (the young guys get paid less), and gets your car fixed quickly when you really need it!

Honestly, you shouldn't watch when people are working on your car. When you watch, you look for things to criticize (it is human nature!), and frankly, a working technician does not need a customer's criticizim when he is just trying to get a job done. For example, do you know how tight the nut is holding the eccentric shaft pulley is on your engine? Around 200 ft/lbs! Just as a comparison your wheel nuts are about 75 ft/lbs. You have to swing really hard on a really long bar to get that nut off, sometimes the bar slips. Is that bad training too? It takes experience to reduce the probability of the bar slipping, and more to do it in a way so you don't break all your knuckles when it does slip, but you cannot gaurantee that bar is not going to slip.

My request to you is not to criticize the way the technicians work, or the way they are trained, but to criticize the results they produce. If the brakes work worse after the repair than before, then complain to the Service Manager. If your bodywork was damaged at the workshop, then complain. Likewise for your oil level, I agree with you on that one. But going into the workshop and criticizing the way the technicians work is not going to achieve anything.

Try speaking to the Service Manager again. I think you caught him in defensive mode when he said "Not my fault". If he doesn't attempt to understand your concern, then maybe you need to consider further action.

Keep cool, man, keep cool. :D