[fatbob]

Reconditioned-engines.co.uk aka Heathrow Engines aka Brentsouth Trading. If you are considering using a company by any of these names PLEASE DO NOT, I implore you. Read all the reviews you can on the internet, and heed them! I put a car in there recently for a replacement engine - the quote you will get, by phone will be £795 for a replacement engine, 60,000 miles or 5 years guarantee. They will also collect your car for free. You will be treated very well on the phone, and you will be excited at the prospect of your beloved motor having a new lease of life.. BUT, you WILL then get an email stating that the engine is not recoverable, and there are many other faulty parts (mine "apparently" needed a new radiator, new water pump, new fuel pump, new battery, new wiring, new pipes AND a new clutch. But they would gladly do it for £2,500!!! Of course, you will say "NO WAY"! This is where things get messy - they are professional heavies - I was threatened with . £10 per day compound charges up to 30 days, ay which point I would be charged for the recovery of the vehicle £150, the removal of the engine £310, and the recovery back to me £150. If I failed to pay, I would have to face bailiffs appointed by them, and in their words "Some bailiffs are kinder than others, you take your chances with these guys!!".
I immediately jumped in the car (not mine, mine was in bits!!!) and visited them, unannounced. The office has a 2 inch thick bullet proof glass fron to it, you speak through a grill (does that sound like a friendly, trusting company to you?). I walked into the workshop - don't believe the pictures on the internet, this place is a stinking filthy place littered with scrap cars) and was immediately challenged. I found someone who would come and show me the problem with my engine - they showed me a head that was not from my car (I have the engine number!) and the "mechanic" told me the problem through an interpreter (ie was Indian, with no English). I'm an Engineer, the head of my car was serviceable, but to them, it wasnt. My car was oin a compound, and I wasnt allowed to recover it myself, until I have paid them the fees they demanded. Eventually I negociated and paid them £450 to scrap the car themselves - they are heavy, and you just want to get out of there and cut your losses. So, they now have my lovely car, they have £450 of my hard earned cash, and I need to buy a new car. I met another gentleman there, who had a story far, far worse than mine ... please . they sound so good, they are wonderful salespeople, and if you visit you will find the filthiest garage you have ever seen, compounds full of scrap cars. If in doubt, visit them first - you will not put your car there afterwards.
There are lots of reviews about this company. Please heed them. I didnt, and compared to some, I feel I came away lightly.
Thanks for reading - if one person who reads this heeds it, and doesnt take their car there, I feel my time writing this review will not have been wasted

[smudger]

Welcome to the site fatbob, its a pity your first post had to be warning to others, but they can be very useful for anyone looking for a reconditioned engine.
Hope it all works out OK for you anyway, good luck;)

[Rolebama]

Heathrow Engine Centre have been 'known' for at least twenty years. I have had no end of personal experience with them and their products, and am surprised that they are still being used. I would suggest to anyone on the hunt for a recon engine that they seek professional advice as to who not to get a replacement from.

[MrDanno]

Most reconditioned engine suppliers have always been a bit dodgy. The word 'reconditioned' can mean anything from just replacing a cam cover gasket. You are more likely to be better off just buying an engine from a scrap yard.

Unfortunately there are many companies that still operate in this way.

[Mike Gray]

I slightly edited the original post here to remove a couple of claims that I don't believe the original poster could realistically substantiate with regards to the legal status of employees.

[Hometune]

In which case he could get some satisfaction if it turns out to be true by informing the UK Border Agency. And if the garage is so untidy, dirty and a shambles, a nice letter to the Health and Safety executive and another to the Environment Agency - waste oil etc - may give the OP some revenge?

[Wesley]

the last verbal experience, with a punter about this company, was about 20 years ago, their engine change times were about 20 mins, and their warranty? guaranteed to get you off the forecourt!!

I am surprised they are still in buisness!:eek:

[muddymotors]

Originally Posted by fatbob

Reconditioned-engines.co.uk aka Heathrow Engines aka Brentsouth Trading. If you are considering using a company by any of these names PLEASE DO NOT, I implore you. Read all the reviews you can on the internet, and heed them! I put a car in there recently for a replacement engine - the quote you will get, by phone will be £795 for a replacement engine, 60,000 miles or 5 years guarantee. They will also collect your car for free. You will be treated very well on the phone, and you will be excited at the prospect of your beloved motor having a new lease of life.. BUT, you WILL then get an email stating that the engine is not recoverable, and there are many other faulty parts (mine "apparently" needed a new radiator, new water pump, new fuel pump, new battery, new wiring, new pipes AND a new clutch. But they would gladly do it for £2,500!!! Of course, you will say "NO WAY"! This is where things get messy - they are professional heavies - I was threatened with . £10 per day compound charges up to 30 days, ay which point I would be charged for the recovery of the vehicle £150, the removal of the engine £310, and the recovery back to me £150. If I failed to pay, I would have to face bailiffs appointed by them, and in their words "Some bailiffs are kinder than others, you take your chances with these guys!!".
I immediately jumped in the car (not mine, mine was in bits!!!) and visited them, unannounced. The office has a 2 inch thick bullet proof glass fron to it, you speak through a grill (does that sound like a friendly, trusting company to you?). I walked into the workshop - don't believe the pictures on the internet, this place is a stinking filthy place littered with scrap cars) and was immediately challenged. I found someone who would come and show me the problem with my engine - they showed me a head that was not from my car (I have the engine number!) and the "mechanic" told me the problem through an interpreter (ie was Indian, with no English). I'm an Engineer, the head of my car was serviceable, but to them, it wasnt. My car was oin a compound, and I wasnt allowed to recover it myself, until I have paid them the fees they demanded. Eventually I negociated and paid them £450 to scrap the car themselves - they are heavy, and you just want to get out of there and cut your losses. So, they now have my lovely car, they have £450 of my hard earned cash, and I need to buy a new car. I met another gentleman there, who had a story far, far worse than mine ... please . they sound so good, they are wonderful salespeople, and if you visit you will find the filthiest garage you have ever seen, compounds full of scrap cars. If in doubt, visit them first - you will not put your car there afterwards.
There are lots of reviews about this company. Please heed them. I didnt, and compared to some, I feel I came away lightly.
Thanks for reading - if one person who reads this heeds it, and doesnt take their car there, I feel my time writing this review will not have been wasted

I went to that same compound you say is full of scrap cars ??? to my supprise there was 2 surrey police cars and i counted 6 range rover sports all 56 plate 58 plate along with alot of high class cars i would be interested as to where all this scrap is and after some digging i found out thay do all surrey police and sussex amb service how can all this be true thay quoted me 995 for my car and yes it went up another 495 with a unservicabul head i did suspect this as i cooked the engine i payed and got the car back yesterday its A1 runs like new.
my mate put me on to them his astra was done there good job done
i cannot understand what happend there did you not read the t&c thay seem to mirror all the other engine manufactuers this is how it works like the other poster said recon the word is a very gray area you need to know the game to get involved thay all work the same

[wagolynn]

Why should servicing police or ambulances make any difference? The purchasers of the servicing do not drive the vehicles and they are spending public money.

[muddymotors]

Originally Posted by wagolynn

Why should servicing police or ambulances make any difference? The purchasers of the servicing do not drive the vehicles and they are spending public money.

What iam saying is if the engines are no good and there is truth in what the poster said why are goverment bodys been using them it is public money this means thay could go anywhere the engines must be good enough for amd service ??? scrap engines ?? i also got one of the so called scrap engines it runs like new so does my mates and i saw no scrap cars ??
i also delt with an indian but you seem to be doing this at tescos vodafone and most other call centers these days its the way things have have gone in this country why should thay be differant
Dont want to **** anyone off jus putting my findings

[wagolynn]

No,No, I was just intrigued muddymotors, it's a bit like people saying it should not breakdown because it has a current MOT.

[jaguar]

recon engine

the definition of a recon engine is just that if it has had new piston rings new valves n ground in etc new gasket set all round timing chains if fitted water pump then yes i would say it had been reconned but there r ways of telling a simple compression test will show alot and new plugs would of been fitted etc new gaskets u can tell if they r new by looking @ the outer edge of them

[Rolebama]

I don't know if they have changed their policies, but when I had dealings with them, they stated that they held the right to provide a second-hand engine if they did not have a reconditioned one. So the comment about 'scrap' engines does make sense to me, as they were probably seen before being cleaned for fitting.
I am also fully aware that there were customers who were extremely safisfied with the quality of their work, and the quality of parts/engines provided.

[azadx]

thanks loads mate , i booked my car to be collected on 23/08/10 . i thought id go on net and go to reviews on this company , after reading this i changed my mind . thanks once again . mind you you done a good thing walk away , i would of paid tham a visit with a couple of lads find there backgrounds and sorted it . i supose you done them a favour also .

[VeeDub]

Totally agree!! Do not use them, i got conned aswel!

I have recently encountered Re-Conditioned Engines, Southall, aka Heathrow engines, aka Brent Road Engine Centre, aka, The Engine Centre, aka Bray Engineering, all the same company, all in the same building! And i need to make as many people aware as possible...DO NOT USE THEM!

The turbo blew on my Volkswagen Phaeton, and therefore damaged the engine, so i needed a new engine, with a VW dealer was way above what i could afford as its a 3.0 V6 TDI. I did some looking around on the web and found this place that reconditions engines, i sent in an enquiry, they phoned me within a few hours of sending the enquiry and were really helpfull and sounded very professional, they emailed a quote and said they would re manufacture my engine for £4000 including VAT, Recovery, Oil, Gaskets, Seal etc etc, i decided to go with this company and they collected the car.
48 hours later i got another email saying they had removed my engine, stripped and diagnosed that the cam chain had snapped, and snapped 4 con rods with lots of other bits and pieces, the bill came to £6000! I questioned their diagnosis as un known to them i am a qualified mechanic, therefore knowing that if my cam chain had snapped the head would be damaged and the con rods not even 1 would certainly not be snapped, and i challenged the price because they quoted me £4000. They would not budge and would not even talk sensibily to me now, so i told them to stop the work and i would come and get it, they said i would have to pay £800+Vat to get the car back for the work they had already done. I got told to read their terms and conditions if i didnt agree, so i did and it states on there that a reasonable amount would be charged for the work carried out if you did not want to the repair to be carried out and that could be between £50-500. They stuck with their £800.
A few hours later i got another call from the company but a different person offering to buy my car!!!!! I said i was not looking to sell it hence why i sent it to a repair company! They obviously thought i was a young girl who had no clue and saw a market for my car.
I called them back the next day to let them know i was coming to get the car, the bill then went up to £950+vat! At this point i was getting quite angry and frustrated, asked why and they said because of the recovery charge, which intially was free. It was just never ending, so i phoned back and asked how much they would give for the car, we agreed a price and i stated, does that mean the bill will be wiped if i sell you the car, yes was the response i got, i felt i had no other choice to sell the car, i dont have all this money they were demanding! I went down there the next day to collect the money and hand over the log book, i could have cried when i saw the actual place, dirty horrible warehouse with cars everywhere with no engines in, the reception was seperated by a perspex peice of glass and to talk through a hole that was no more than 3cm wide, to a bunch of people that just stare at you. I was presented with the bloke i had spoken to on the phone, he said he would go and get the money off the breaker that was buying the car, which was then £1000 less than he stated on the phone, so i asked why obviously, and he replied, because of the bill that was outstanding!! Angrily i replied he said that would be wiped and he just denied all knowlegde of that coversation and bare faced lied to me. So i walked away and said i would be collecting my car and i wanted in writing how much it would be and a date it was valid untill, this totalled £1116 and the payment had to be in CASH!!! Even though the website says they take all credit and debit cards, i then asked to see my car and was not allowed untill the bill was paid. I left that place totally heart broken. I am lucky enough to know someone with a recovery lorry who agreed to collect the car for me.
My friend went to collect the car today, they would not let him near it until the bill was paid, so handing over £1116 to these people, and after pushing alot got a reciept, which says on it pending VAT number, so they are charging vat when they are not even registered! The car was then dragged out by a battered old jeep, of a compund which had at least 150 cars in it with no engines. The gearbox was on the floor, the drive shafts on the back seat, half the engine in the boot, some still in the engine bay and lots of parts on the passenger seat and footwell.
Since having my car back the relief is amazing, however, there is a foot long scrape down the sill, all 4 19inch alloys are badly scrapped and have been used a step because there is dirty footprints all over the wheels, the car is covered in dirty greasy handprints, they have just totally wrecked my car. I have had the engine assesed and the cam chain is fine (funnily enough!), the turbo has failed (like i said) and caused slightscoring to one piston liner, no broken con rods, no broken cam chain, well nothing they said was wrong with it! I have kicked myself over and over about not reasearching this company before hand so this is why i am now trying to make as many people aware as i can to NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!! I was lucky i think, there are some horror stories worse than mine that people have paid lots of money to these con men. They saw a young girl, with a big car, which at one point someone there said to me 'thats big car for a girl aint it' and thought they could rip me off, to an extent they have ripped me off because i have paid them £1116 to wreck my car, but at least i have got it back.
I work in the motor trade and it realkly upsets me that i have challenges every day in proving the work we do is right, correct, honest and trustworthy, its companies like this that are still allowed to operate that make this country and trades bad. No wonder our country is in the situation its is with conning, dishonest, robbing people and compaines like this, everyone is having to spend money with them! If one person reads this and doesnt go there ill be happy. I am hearbroken by whats happened to me and would not want anyone else to feel the way i do.

[smudger]

Aye! that's the kind of experience that stays with you for ever, I had a similar experience, though not as bad as yours, a few years ago, when I was at war with the local Fiat dealership, that still haunts me to this day:mad:

The only good thing to come out of of it was, I heard that they lost the dealership and went bust, a couple of years later;)

[wagolynn]

Have you thought about relating your story to Consumers Direct, VeeDub their web site is, http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/ they will point you in the right direction. I would expect trading standards have a file on this outfit and your input may well help others if nothing else.

[VeeDub]

Thank you Wagolynn, i have spoken to them and they didnt seem all that keen to help, but that was before i got the car back, now i have it back i have more evidence so i have written to them today. I hope they do have a file, and me adding another one will hopefully get them shut down! Something needs to happen.

[Hometune]

Go online and get the Inland Revenue contact number. They MUST be vat registered with an operation that size as their turnover must exceed the £70000 or so for the threshold. If you can get them interested they will give the cowboys some real grief. You could always contact the Border Agency and say you think they employ some illegals...... Revenge can be sweet.

[GBIKKR]

REconditioned Englines LTd

Please tell me it is not true. We have just shipped our Smart car to them and got a call saying crank was out of limits so needed a new crank and lots of other bits that were perfectly OK. This was after talking to them and disccussing the work. Relecutantly said OK knowing it does not need it and asked for all the bits back. Funny Crank was service exchange so no. Now we are being blackmailed to pay for work up front. Can't take credit card (would have given some guarantee) or pay for it to come back in pieces. Waiting to here how much. This after being let down by others who said they would do it..

:mad:

[GBIKKR]

Is this the same company as would not want to slate off a perfectly good company from similar location and where our car is.
Re-Conditioned-Engines. co.uk
The Engine Center
169 Brent Road
Southall
Middlesex
UB2 5LE
Their web site looks good as does the works tour not as described in previous postings but have uncomfortable feelings

:confused:

[GBIKKR]

Reconditioned-Engines.co.uk and Bray Engineering

To all of you who hav been conned by Recondittioned Engines, Bray Engineering or what ever name they went under before. The VAT office would like to hear from you if you were charged VAT but did not have a VAT number on your invoice. It is illegal to do so even if they are pending but it does not take 6 months for a VAT number to come through. One I have has an application number which is not a VAT number so not allowed to charge VAT as a line item. Contact Freephone 080059500 or 08451019000.
Did anyone get threatened in any way as police would like to know as well.
Has anyone gone to court as we are advised their practices contravene the sale of goods act 1982. Call trading standards.
08454 04 05 06
Does anyone know how to contact Google anf other web hosts to request their site be removed as it depicts premisses and services they do not provide so connng people like us.
We are out of pocket by more than we should be and I was a fool to not research first but willing to join in any claims action.

Merry Xmas every one but don't feel very much like it at present

[GBIKKR]

Reconditioned-Engines.co.uk and Bray Engineering

Further information. Please can anyone who has been conned by Reconditioned Engines, Bray Engineering etc please post a complaint ot Google adsense explaining the web site does not repesent what the comapny really is and request they be de-listed.
http://www.ehow.com/how_6320604_comp...sored-ads.html.
It may not get your money back but it will do a service to others and prevent them picking up the web site in the first place.

We finally got our car back with what looks like all the bits after paying £500 cash and it is now with a specialist Smart engine rebuilder who has all positive feedback.

[bobtail47]

Near miss

Thank you so much for stopping me from using this company. They were so close to taking my car. But now I am back to square one and need my Hyundai Santa Fe 2litre TDi back on the road. Can anyone out there recommend where I can get a new engine or recon fitted at a sensible price. The Hyundai main dealers are at a loss and not coming up with anything sensible. The car is 7 years old and has been great until the oil filter in the sump blocked up and BANG on the M25 two weeks ago. As I need the car for my work I am getting desperate. Any help please, Ray

[Rolebama]

Check out Vege Re-manufactured engines. They may not do an engine for your car though. We used to be Agents for them and sold 100s with no problem.
http://www.vegeuk.com/index.php

[MrDanno]

Originally Posted by bobtail47

Can anyone out there recommend where I can get a new engine or recon fitted at a sensible price. The Hyundai main dealers are at a loss and not coming up with anything sensible. The car is 7 years old

I would try and find an engine from a salvage company, In my opinion it is the best option. They are from accident damaged cars and usually they come with a 3month warranty.

[Harlequin]

Decent people

I have Land Rover which need a new engine as it was driven without sufficent oil in it ,
I looked high and low and received a quote from Reconditioned Eninges or what ever they call themselves . The quote was very tempting with free recovery and they were very professional on the phone . But as I did not want to give my pride and joy to anyone without doing more research I checked the forums on on the internet and boy I am so glad that I did.

[smudger]

Welcome to the site Harlequin, I am sure that a few folk will appreciate your post, especially if it saves them money, and gives them peace of mind;)

[Ronin_GTDave]

My one regret is not checking for reviews about this company first, i currently have a Mazda 6 with them, it went in for an engine rebuild after being quoted just over £1200. I had the same call and e-mail as most of you claiming that the crankshaft and con rod were beyond repair and none machinable, the e-mail read as follows:

Re: Mazda 6

We have removed and dismantled the engine from the above vehicle and, after discussion with you, report as follows:-


Minimum Items required to fit engine

Engine cou £ 795.00

Labour £ 250.00

Oil filter and gaskits £ 85.00

Recovery £ 80.00

Crank + 1 rod £ 375.00

Clean breather system (blocked) £ 48.00

Water pump (sines of leaking) £ 68.00

Sundries (various nuts, bolts, washers, etc. that require changing) £ 25.00

Sub total£ 1726.00

Vat£ 302.05 Total£ 2028.05

Additional Items desirable to replace

Regas ac £ 80.00

Radiator rottern £ 137.00

Clutch 85% worn£ 142.00

Gear boxoil £ 25.00

Anti freeze £ 18.00

To complete all above works would total to £ 2500.04 inc.vat

Please call me to discuss.


Regards,

Paul

Workshop

0208 744 7007


VAT TRACKER NO. 22280692509 COMPANY REG NO. 07094377

I managed to negotiate the price for the main work down to £1700 and was then quoted a week to ten days for the work to be completed. They recovered the car on the 1st of November, it's still there. Everytime i call to find out whats going on with my car either i get given a new date of completion or hung up on. I have no idea what else i can do, i live 89 miles away from their workshop and money is extremely tight. I know this is a review thread but if anyone has any advice, i could do with all the help i can get. Thanks.

[wagolynn]

Try talking to Consumers Direct http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/ they should give you some guidance on what can be done legally.