Peugeot Servicing Centre At Koswatte

[RLan]

My Peugeot 406 is had an accident. I took it to a Peugeot service centre at Koswatte. Gotta tell you guys that I'm extremely disappointed about his service. Car took nearly 4 months to get fully restored. Partly due to his incompetence and partly due to insurance company's fault. Wouldn't recommend him to anybody.

[jdnet]

what exactly disappointed you?

[RLan]

what exactly disappointed you?

Well many things really. There were parts just placed (literally, no screws, no ties or anything) in the engine compartment. Painting job was poor. I don't really wanna reveal all things. But gotta say this guy is extremely disorganized.

[Watchman]

Well many things really. There were parts just placed (literally, no screws, no ties or anything) in the engine compartment. Painting job was poor. I don't really wanna reveal all things. But gotta say this guy is extremely disorganized.

For one its not fair on him for you to say something like "he's bad but i dont wanna tell why he's bad"; and two, makes your post look less credible too..

[VVTi]

Is this the Pelawatte guy? Thats strange, all who use him are rather happy with the service. Perhaps HArshan might be able to clarify?

[VVTi]

Dude, you bought the car recently, right? How did you manage to crash it so bad so soon?

[harshansenadhir]

My Peugeot 406 is had an accident. I took it to a Peugeot service centre at Koswatte. Gotta tell you guys that I'm extremely disappointed about his service. Car took nearly 4 months to get fully restored. Partly due to his incompetence and partly due to insurance company's fault. Wouldn't recommend him to anybody.

sorry to hear that mate. Just tell me what exactly are his incapabilities. I'll pull all the strings i can if there's anything wrong he had commited. Further, he even delayed the recent repair of my car due to the fact that he wanted to find parts cost effectively although i insisted to buy a whatever the price, just to save some bucks he waited and did the right thing. He's extremely honest and try level best to save money and hassle of customers as oppose to rip off mechanics. Either pm me or buzz me on 777683405 and tell me what exactly went wrong.

No vvti, this isn't palawatta place. I don't have hands on experience with that garage.

[RLan]

For one its not fair on him for you to say something like "he's bad but i dont wanna tell why he's bad"; and two, makes your post look less credible too..

Well, I get your point. But my intention was to inform others that I had a bad experience with this guy and if you're approaching him do so with caution.

Is this the Pelawatte guy? Thats strange, all who use him are rather happy with the service. Perhaps HArshan might be able to clarify?

No bro, not the Pelawatte guy, I've never been to his place.

Dude, you bought the car recently, right? How did you manage to crash it so bad so soon?

Well, shit happens. This is my first accident in 10 years of driving. And it wasn't that bad, but for some reason or the other I wasn't able to get the parts quickly enough.

sorry to hear that mate. Just tell me what exactly are his incapabilities. I'll pull all the strings i can if there's anything wrong he had commited. Further, he even delayed the recent repair of my car due to the fact that he wanted to find parts cost effectively although i insisted to buy a whatever the price, just to save some bucks he waited and did the right thing. He's extremely honest and try level best to save money and hassle of customers as oppose to rip off mechanics. Either pm me or buzz me on 777683405 and tell me what exactly went wrong.

No vvti, this isn't palawatta place. I don't have hands on experience with that garage.

Bro, I'll PM you.

[RLan]

Ok f*** it. Here is what happened. I'll name the person as A.

I directly approached him because I read several posts on AL and he was well recommended. He seems like a nice guy. But his niceness isn't of any use unless he solves problems.

From the start of the accident repair I felt he tried to cheat me some money. (Complete opposite of what Harshan was saying) I was gonna get the Bonnet (second hand) from a friend of my brother in law for Rs. 35,000/=. When I told him the price, he told me that he could get it cheaper so no need to pay that much for the bonnet. Then there were some problems with the insurance (getting labour charges approved and such) after all of them were solved, I asked A about the bonnet, he said his supplier doesn't have any bonnets right now and I better buy from the same guy I got the quote from. And when I approached my BIL's friend he had already sold the stuff to another guy who had a similar accident. He told me that if I could wait 3-4 weeks he could bring down all the parts I need. Then I told A about the situation. A, told me he has a brand new bonnet for Rs. 65,000/= but he said it's a Taiwan (or Sing'pore or something I can't really remember) made. I told him no thanks and I waited the 3 weeks. (Insurance company would never pay that amount and it was only one part). Then I gave him all the parts he initially requested.

After the 1st stage was completed it was time to the second stage. To check what's damaged inside the engine compartment and such. A needed to send an estimate stating parts he required and his labour charges. A said he sent it. But insurance said that they haven't received it. I told A that insurance hadn't received the estimate. Then he told me he is gonna send it again. The next day I called up the insurance company, they still haven't had received the document. Then I had an argument with the insurance company, then they agree to send an assessor to the garage. When assessor guy went there, A didn't have the document he said that he faxed to the insurer. Some how he gave a hand written document to the assessor. I thought everything is sorted now. Few days later, I wanted to find out what prices A had told insurance for parts required for the second stage of the repair. A told me he can't remember all the prices but told me few approximate prices. I went to A's garage to get the document he said he faxed to insurer, but he said he doesn't have it anymore and it's probably at the communication he use to send the fax. Then I called up the insurance company asking whether prices for the parts has been approved by the insurance. They said they don't have any part approved for the second stage of the repair they only have labour charges approved. I asked them how they approved the labour charges without required parts for the repair, they were dumbfound. Then I requested all the documents they had related my accident from the insurance company. They didn't have the estimate that A said he sent. However they had a hand written document stating only labour charges for the second stage of the repair. (Which I believe the one A handed over to the assessor) Then I called A and asked him for the original copy he faxed to the insurance. Then only he told me that he asked somebody to send the fax for him. And he never sent the fax. Up to this point he was blaming the insurance company. He never admits his mistakes. He lies too much.

At the second stage of the repair he needed 5 parts. But he said he's got 4 parts out of 5 I only have to bring him one part. I promptly brought that to him. Then he tells me that he requested 2 parts from me, I don't know if he thinks I'm an idiot or something. I asked him the part no. for that part, he doesn't know it. He said he has the part but only brand new which was Rs.9500/= I said go ahead and install that one. At that point I was exhausted with the whole process. I just wanted to get it finished quickly.

Then I went to get the car. I wasn't all satisfied with his work. But I didn't wanna leave the car with him any longer. There was a part in the engine compartment related to airflow, just placed. It was supposed to get locked in place with another part, but it's just there without no attachment, no screws or no ties at all. I had to asked him to tie it with a cable tie or something. And the car battery won't hold the charge. He said it's because it's been there so long without running. (I thought they were suppose to take care of the car including all the parts while it's with them, may be not so in Sri Lanka). I had to replace the battery for Rs. 12,700/= (at a discounted rate).

The car had a problem with the silencer (Not related to the accident). I went to a silencer place to repair the car. He found a glass A had used to mix paint underneath the engine. And he also found a metal pipe rusted so bad, it needs replacing and water was leaking from it (don't know much about inside of the car so can't exactly remember what it's called.) I gave the car to A several times to check properly all the time he said car is in excellent condition and no need to worry. Car also had a slight oil leak before the accident. I asked A to fix it but he said replacing the oil seals would solve it but he didn't do it despite he had the car 3 days with him. (He said he couldn't find the seals or something)

After all this I got the car checked at Carmart, which I should have done earlier. It revealed all the problems with the car, which A, couldn't find. I'm still not sure if I want to give it to Carmart for the repair. But I definitely don't wanna go back to A. May be I should try the place at Pellawatte. Hope this clears up Dilesh's and other people's doubts.

[Sifaan]

few clarifications / observations; not trying to pass judgement on A or RLan...

1/ did you get any work done by A before the accident repair? Because you wrote

I gave the car to A several times to check properly all the time he said car is in excellent condition and no need to worry.

were you satisfied with the previous work?

also in my experience when agents/mechanics talk of vehicle condition they only mean the expensive-to-repair stuff like engine, tranny, suspension and maybe electronics. everything else is just taken as par for the course.

2/ This is possibly a very stupid question... but I don't understand why to wait until the bonnet is replaced to start work on the engine compartment?

From the start of the accident repair I felt he tried to cheat me some money. (Complete opposite of what Harshan was saying) I was gonna get the Bonnet (second hand) from a friend of my brother in law for Rs. 35,000/=.

After the 1st stage was completed it was time to the second stage. To check what's damaged inside the engine compartment and such.

3/ I don't think there's any such thing as revealing all the problems in a car... if u get an estimate from carmart it'll probably have a clause that if additional problems are detected during repair that will be subject to a separate estimate (which means they do not take guarantee that there are no other problems). some problems are just not going to visible unless you take things apart and you don't want to do that unless you suspect there's a problem.

After all this I got the car checked at Carmart, which I should have done earlier. It revealed all the problems with the car, which A, couldn't find. I'm still not sure if I want to give it to Carmart for the repair. But I definitely don't wanna go back to A. May be I should try the place at Pellawatte. Hope this clears up Dilesh's and other people's doubts.

4/ AFAIK owners' contribution on insurance only applies for parts, not labour. If that's the case you could have got the work done at carmart at no extra cost to yourself, plus you have a receipt to show what was repaired when it comes to selling the car. (but not sure if carmart allows customer supplied parts though)

[harshansenadhir]

What was the agreement between the garage and you on spares, replacement parts? If you had said that you'll source parts it's very likely that garage would only submit the labor component to the insurance company. All in all in accident repairs it's usual that amount you pay to the garage is higher than what you get as the claim. How it went with you in this repair tell me. I got the other side of the story from the guy and it's completely different to what you've mentioned in your lengthy post and

seems like you haven't settled the bill in full after getting a hefty claim more than the repair expenses as per him. You can't have the cake and eat the cake, quality will be equivalent to what you were willing to spent and what you have spent.

This is based on the other side of the story i heard and i of course have a say on this fella coz i've helped him a lot to get certain things on board such as software stuff, so as i said i'll take this very seriously if he had done what you have claimed. However, if he's right in his explanation, then it's not right to use this forum to tarnish someone's image just because things didn't turnout in favor of you.

Edited September 16, 2010 by harshansenadhir

[RLan]

few clarifications / observations; not trying to pass judgement on A or RLan...

1/ did you get any work done by A before the accident repair? Because you wrote

were you satisfied with the previous work?

also in my experience when agents/mechanics talk of vehicle condition they only mean the expensive-to-repair stuff like engine, tranny, suspension and maybe electronics. everything else is just taken as par for the course.

2/ This is possibly a very stupid question... but I don't understand why to wait until the bonnet is replaced to start work on the engine compartment?

3/ I don't think there's any such thing as revealing all the problems in a car... if u get an estimate from carmart it'll probably have a clause that if additional problems are detected during repair that will be subject to a separate estimate (which means they do not take guarantee that there are no other problems). some problems are just not going to visible unless you take things apart and you don't want to do that unless you suspect there's a problem.

4/ AFAIK owners' contribution on insurance only applies for parts, not labour. If that's the case you could have got the work done at carmart at no extra cost to yourself, plus you have a receipt to show what was repaired when it comes to selling the car. (but not sure if carmart allows customer supplied parts though)

1. Yeah, like I said I wasn't satisfied with previous work. If I remember right, A kept the car one time 2 days and the second time 3 or 4 days to fix the oil leak which was never done. He gives you lot of hope, but work is not upto the standard.

2. No it's like this, after an accident, you get an estimate for parts damaged externally and labour. Only after it's been approved by the insurance company they give you the go ahed to remove those parts. Only after that you check what's damaged internally. I only mentioned bonnet there, but there were other parts involved as well (front bumper, headlights etc.)

3. Yeah bro, I understand that, but I wasn't talking about all problems. I was talking about known problems which A never fixed. And most of the european cars have their own computer software where you can hook the car to a computer and findout problem you don't normally see. May be A doesn't have them. (Well, if he doesn't have them, it'd be my fault for not finding out if he got the equipment to properly check a car)

4. Main reason I didn't wanna take the car to Carmart was their bad reputation. And A had a good reputation. But now I feel I would have been better-off if I took the car to Carmart.

[RLan]

What was the agreement between the garage and you on spares, replacement parts? If you had said that you'll source parts it's very likely that garage would only submit the labor component to the insurance company. All in all in accident repairs it's usual that amount you pay to the garage is higher than what you get as the claim. How it went with you in this repair tell me. I got the other side of the story from the guy and it's completely different to what you've mentioned in your lengthy post and

seems like you haven't settled the bill in full after getting a hefty claim more than the repair expenses as per him. You can't have the cake and eat the cake, quality will be equivalent to what you were willing to spent and what you have spent.

This is based on the other side of the story i heard and i of course have a say on this fella coz i've helped him a lot to get certain things on board such as software stuff, so as i said i'll take this very seriously if he had done what you have claimed. However, if he's right in his explanation, then it's not right to use this forum to tarnish someone's image just because things didn't turnout in favor of you.

Hey Harshan, well we didn't have an agreement on the parts. Most of the parts I provided him, few parts he provided. It's irrelavent who supplied parts, first the garage has to let the insurance company know that they need these parts for the repair (In the form of an estimate where he only put prices for his labour charges). Then only you forward a quation (including the prices) for parts. If he agreed to supply parts he should forward the quotation, if I agreed to supply the parts I should forward the quotation. I have to say bro, this guy is a one bloody liar. I have taken the 1st estimate A sent to the insurance company. There he is listed all the required parts along with the labour charges for those. But I supplied all the parts, so I took a quotation and gave A to forward (which he promptly did). Repair delay at the second stage only because A kept saying he sent the fax but insurance compnay kept saying they never got it. Funny thing is A never had the original fax he claimed he sent. Because he never sent one in the first place.

Bro, I'm 200% sure A's story would be completely different (being the liar he is). Do you think he'd let me take the car away with a balance to settle. Could you ask him how much I owe him? (what a f***ing liar). Look bro, I've paid all his bills. I have all the labour charges requested by A and how much approved by the insurance company. I'll forward them if you need them. I don't get a penny extra from insurance for labour charges. Infact I have to pay extra from my wallet for labour charges. I still don't know how much I'd be getting from insurance.

You say quality will be equivalent for what you pay. I agree with you. But if both parties agree on a certain price does one party have the right the change the quality of the work? For example, a painter quotes Rs.100,000/= to paint a car, the car owner says it's too much and asks him if he could do it for Rs.60,000/=. If the painter agrees for that amount, can he say after painting 60% of the car this is what you get for what you paid? It's a similar situation with A, I don't have the documents right now, but I'll give you an example. For some work A quoted Rs.22,000/= (can't remember exact price) but the assessor only approved Rs.6000/=. Then A quote again with a price of Rs.8000/=, the insurance only gave him Rs.7500/=. I gave him the go ahead for that part. Did he mention that quality of the work would be inferior, no. If he said he can't do that work for that amount I would have gone to a different garage. If he says after the all the work is done, this is what you get for what you paid. That's true marks of a cheater.

Look bro, I don't wanna tarnish anybody's image. I don't have any personal vendatta against this guy. But I felt so disappointed I couldn't help sharing this here. If I go to somebody expecting a service and it's not upto the standard, I have the every right to share my experience. I understand your situtation as you've helped him a lot. Bro, but you gotta tell this guy to get his attitude straight.

[Sifaan]

All in all in accident repairs it's usual that amount you pay to the garage is higher than what you get as the claim.

slightly off-topic but I thought it was the other way around with small garages? you get them to give higher estimates and make a profit on the claim?

@RLan - thanks for the clarification on how the insurance process works (have so far only dealt with external damage)

[RLan]

<!--quoteo(post=134212:date=Sep 16 2010, 11:17 PM:name=harshansenadhir)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (harshansenadhir @ Sep 16 2010, 11:17 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=134212"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->All in all in accident repairs it's usual that amount you pay to the garage is higher than what you get as the claim.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

slightly off-topic but I thought it was the other way around with small garages? you get them to give higher estimates and make a profit on the claim?

@RLan - thanks for the clarification on how the insurance process works (have so far only dealt with external damage)

My pleasure. By the way I used to think same way about small garages. Seems like insurance companies know the trick.