Mr Clutch - please be warned.

[radiodaley]

Hello fellow Peugeot enthusiasts. I have a cautionary tale for all car owners not just those who own a Peugeot. First is my letter of complaint to Mr Clutch, (i received a waffle full reply to which I replied) second is the 2nd reply I got from what is laughingly called "customer relations" and third is my last reply to which I have received no reply.

Please do not take your car to Mr Clutch.

I would like to share my recent experience of purchasing a new clutch for our 52 plate Peugeot 607. I obtained 3 quotes, the cheapest being that of our regular mechanic who, unfortunately, was chock-a-block with work having just returned from holiday. As the clutch was slipping badly we decided to go with the next cheapest quote of £450 from Mr. Clutch of Penistone Road, Sheffield, who could replace the clutch straight away. With the dearest quote being only £38 more we felt comfortable that we were getting it done at the right price and that with the name of Mr. Clutch we would be giving the car to a trustworthy specialist.

I took the car in on Monday morning and at 12 o’clock on the same day Mick, the manager, rang to say that now that they had the gear box off he could see that our car was the type that had a dual mass flywheel which was integral to the clutch and therefore must also be replaced. He said he could do this for me that day, the labour would be £35 and the part another £395. With his original quote of £450
for the clutch, our car would now cost £890.

I first asked him why he didn’t know that our car had this type of clutch when I made my initial enquiry, as I had given him the registration for him to obtain all of the details of the car from the DVLA. He said that some Peugot 607s had the clutch he had quoted me for but not ours. I later discovered that all 607s have the same clutch with a dual mass flywheel. He explained to me that the flywheel
was essential to the clutch and must be replaced at the same time. He hadn’t warned me of this because he did not realise this until the gearbox had been removed.

I was extremely unhappy at this point and told him that I would not have considered carrying out the work had he quoted me £890. The car is only worth £1500-£2000. He maintained that the situation was not his fault and asked me what my instructions were. At this point I lost all confidence in Mr. Clutch.

I told him to put the old clutch back and I would collect the car. He said that that would cost me £300. After I told him I would not be paying him a penny, he also informed me that he would not release the car to me and he would charge me £15 per day until the dispute was sorted.

My car was now in his possession with the gearbox and clutch out. It would cost me £300 to put it back as it was with no repair or £890 to have it fixed.

Trading Standards informed me that Mr. Clutch were in breach of contract as they had not exercised the skill or expertise I was entitled to expect. However to recover my car they said I would have to pay the £300 writing on the invoice/payment that I was only doing so under duress and then to pursue a refund and/or compensation afterwards.

I rang both of the other companies who had quoted for the work and both of them, without any prompting from me, completely contradicted Mr. Clutch. The flywheel was not an integral part of the clutch and did not need replacing with the clutch. It’s function is to dampen vibration and as there was no vibration, was unlikely to require replacing anyway. I also found out that all Peugeot 607s had been fitted with the dual mass flywheel. Peugeot had not “messed about experimenting with different clutches in the 607s” as Mick had told me when I asked him why he hadn’t been aware of what type of clutch was in my car when I rang for a quote.

I checked the cost of the flywheel with Euro Parts (which, incidentally is no more than 500m from Mr. Clutch) and the retail price of a replacement flywheel including VAT was £254 although Mr. Clutch were going to charge me £395. A £141 mark up on top of whatever trade discount they would have got when buying it.

Given all that I had found out I rang Mr. Clutch and told them to fit the new clutch and not to touch the flywheel. Mick still maintained that the flywheel should be replaced at the same time as the clutch but accepted my instructions. Due to the lateness in the day he said it wouldn’t be ready until Tuesday. Mick rang me on Wednesday at 4.30pm to say it was finished. We collected the car on Thursday morning. After I had paid by credit card Mick slipped my invoice into a Mr. Clutch folder without showing me the proviso he had written on it “Customer advised of badly worn dual mass flywheel and the possibilities of poor clutch performance. The advise was accepted and the
replacement was declined”. How does this phrase affect the warranty on their work considering Mick’s initial insistence that the clutch would not work unless the flywheel was replaced at the same time?

The car, to date is working perfectly well. The clutch is much improved with none of the slipping Mick insisted would occur if the flywheel wasn’t replaced. To say I am disappointed by the service and advice I received from Mr. Clutch would be a monumental understatement and my advice to anyone that will listen will be to avoid them at all cost.

Reply from Mr Clutch to me

Dear Sir.

Thank you for your most recent email.

Firstly I apologise if you feel our manager has failed in his explanation.
Unfortunately his story differs which puts us in an impossible situation
with one story against another but in coherence with your details we can
offer our sincerest apologies and a Senior Manager will challenge the
manager internally and take whatever action he feels necessary.

Regarding the advise you have received elsewhere, we are well aware that
several Peugeots have DMF's and I can confirm that through our 46 centres we
have had 607 return to us with Solid State flywheels not all DMF's.
Aditionally whilst it is possible if a DMF fails it can be changed
independently what we are saying is that if it does subsequently damage the
clutch we are unable to honour our warranty on that part.

Finally we apologise if you are not happy with the quoted DMF price. I have
double checked the figures and am happy with what was quoted and cannot
accuse the branch of any ill practise.

Unfortunately we are unable to assist you in your claim any further.

Assuring you of our best intentions at all times.

Blah Blah BSc Hons
Mr Clutch Customer Relations

My last email

Mr Blah,

Given my previous contact with your manager Mick you can hardly expect me to be surprised that his version of events would be different to mine. I offer you my sincerest apologies for the "impossible situation" I have placed you in, however I'm sure your employer Mr Clutch will have an in-house counseling department who will help you cope with your trauma. You might be (though possibly or probably not) interested to know that of the 112 reviews of Mr Clutch on the website Consumer Reviews only 3 people gave Mr Clutch more than 1 out of 5, (zero and minus scores were not available). Your company has let a lot of customers down in almost exactly the same way as I was.

Considering the contents of your responses to my complaint I assume the Senior Manager "challenging" Mick will castigate (tell him off) for failing in his efforts to part me from my £440 for the DMF I didn't need. Do you have a retraining department for managers who fail in their efforts to fulfill the Mr Clutch ethos (policy) and let the odd sucker escape?

You evidently contacted on my behalf all 46 of your branches for a straw pole on 607s and their problematic flywheels. I would be interested in the statistics for my research. To date, I haven't been able to find a single 607 that left the production line equipped with a solid state flywheel. I'm not sure I can trust Peugeot though, as to paraphrase (sort of quote) Mick "it's because they're French", which was his explanation as to why he was unable to get my car started after fitting our new clutch which, as you know, now has no warranty because like a fool I failed to listen to Mick's advise. It is odd, don't you think, that one can not purchase a solid state flywheel for a 607 unless it is part of a flywheel conversion kit which, as you know, comes with a clutch as well. Even more curious is the number of 607s which, having been converted, that your depots have had in to have their clutches replaced again for the 3rd time. Were these 607s unfortunate enough to have had Mr Clutch change their clutches and solid state/dual mass flywheels previously? Perhaps a warning should be given to the UK's 607 owners that Mr Clutch are a bit jinxed when it comes to 607's and their clutches/flywheels? Don't
concern yourself though, you can leave that job to me, you have already suffered enough with your "impossible situation" trauma.

Just returning for a moment to the quality of a Mr Clutch warranty, like many of your other victims/customers who shared their experiences of your companies unique motor services on the Consumer Review website (you really should take a look at it, it will show you what a difference Mr Clutch makes to the quality of peoples lives) I wonder why you bother. Obviously just using the car negates (voids) the warranty.

Finally, the price quoted. You are happy with your pricing policy. Well that's also no surprise. Who wouldn't be happy with getting away with charging £140 (55%) more than the most expensive retail price quoted on the internet. Sleeping at night?

Thank you for your best attention, you have at least been prompt with the rubbish you have sent me in reply to my moanings. I assume I have been receiving the best attention I could expect from Mr Clutch in all my dealings with your company. Pity.

[john_h]

that made me laugh, ive heard loads of things bad about mr dont know clutches so it doesn't surprise, i got a quote of £200 labour to replace my clutch but i already had the part from eurocarparts £117. ended up going elsewhere for £120 labour and £15 tow. responds alot better now so i am happy.

i hope u get them for this and it works out 4 u.

[bettyswollocks]

So thats where Mick from the Big Mac place got too, wondered where he went .

The Reviews-the second one is from Mick himself

http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews95849.html

[john_h]

i think 1.9 out of 5 says it all really....another over priced garage that seems to know feck all about cars...shame really...its those types that give the trade its bad reputation. I looked at the 2nd review and it defo seems as tho an employee wrote that.

btw cheers for the parcel betty never had guiness before haha got a taste for it now

[Charlie]

Kinell, I drove past that place yesterday - that confirms some of the suspicions I've always harboured about that sort of place really.

Sorry about the shit and hassle you've encountered mate, by posting this up on the forum you may just save someone else from the same hassle though.

I dont suppose you have sent a letter to the Beeb about that ? They love to get their claws into all that sort of stuff for Rogue Traders and the like, particularly with all the other bad reviews

[bettyswollocks]

Originally Posted by cck2k9

i think 1.9 out of 5 says it all really....another over priced garage that seems to know feck all about cars...shame really...its those types that give the trade its bad reputation. I looked at the 2nd review and it defo seems as tho an employee wrote that.

btw cheers for the parcel betty never had guiness before haha got a taste for it now

Christ mate should have said don`t drink that its about 20 year old.

[john_h]

:O i did wonder a little bit

[radiodaley]

I've sent everything to watch dog but I hadn't thought about Rouge Traders. I'm in the building game and of course we're often branded as crooks. I've tried to dis them everywhere I can.
Trading Standards apparently feel that lying to a customer to get them to spend twice as much as they were quoted whilst holding their (in bits) car to ransom isn't illegal.

[chopper1192]

That's what happens when you automatically go with the cheapest...

[john_h]

theres a good website, goodgaragescheme.co.uk or something and i sometimes go on there to see what people recommend in my local area...seems pretty decent aswell.