[dejavu594]

It was a very bad experience, I was looking for a cheap way to service and MOT my Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 engine size 2004 model , I booked my car in for servicing with Servicing Stop Ltd and I was quoted Engine Full Service £45 and MOT £35 totalling £80. I thought this was a fantastic offer. Afterwards I went to read their reviews and some customers said they were ripped off so I decided to cancel the booking but since they have got my details, their customer service continually bombarding with calls, persuading me that the negative reviews have been investigated and they are not true reflections of what happened and have been resolved. I was convinced and I rescinded my decision so I went with them. My car was picked up yesterday 30/3/2016 by a supposedly local garage but I later discovered my car was driven away to a garage about 40 miles away leaving a full Tank of petrol left in the car drained to Half tank at delivery. Apart from this, I got a call after 3hours that my car has failed MOT, stating these reasons, 1. The two front tyres =£140, 2. Broken Shocks Rubber Cover = £126, 3. Indicator switch socket is broken = £65, 4. Headlamp Realignment = £20, 5.Rear Shocks defected =£80, also they claimed my car uses a special oil thereby attracting additional charge of £20 totalling £451 + initial £89 = £531.
I was mad hearing this, I insisted they bring back my car, but he claimed since the 2 front tyres failed they cannot bring back my car and said whenever I made up my mind I should call them back hence I was stuck. I tried to ring back but no one answers my call hence I decided to investigate the local garage that picked up my car (MS Motors, Sleaford). I rang the garage and asked about my car MOT details fortunately I was lucky to get it, My car failed based on 3 Faults NOT 5 Faults as Servicing Stop Ltd claimed, These were the quotes from the garage The 2 front tyres =£80, 2. Broken Shocks Rubber Cover = £40.80. Indicator switch socket is broken = £50, plus VAT= £33 totalling = £202.80 compare to £451 claim by Servicing Stop Ltd. Having seen the difference, of £248, I instructed the garage to go ahead and fix my car. Servicing Stop Ltd sent a code and a web link to me to pay online for the Servicing and MOT but not aware that I have spoken to the garage, when I entered the code on the web link, I ended up paying £121 against the initial agreement of £80. My car was delivered today and the car came with a Used Tyre against the agreed brand new tyres, I put up an argument but they won’t release my car until I pay the £202.80 initially agreed on the phone, I ended up parting away with my £323.80.
Another Scam to top this, you will never receive a stamped copy of your car service history as stated by them. I have sent several emails to Debora Richard Customer Service Manager demanding for my car to have my service history booklet stamped or issue one to me but nothing was coming forth.
PLEASE DO NOT BOOK YOUR CAR THROUGH THESE GUYS THEY ARE CONMEN! SCAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Santa]

These guys have been getting bad reviews for years. You wonder how they stay in business, but I suppose that there are always people who will fall for their con in spite of the bad reviews, including a similar tale on this site.

There are some things that you don't really want to choose the cheapest offer for and MOT is one. If you don't have a relationship with a garage, take your car to a council test station who have no interest in failing it to get work, because they don't do repairs.

[alan1302]

Originally Posted by dejavu594

I was quoted Engine Full Service £45 and MOT £35 totalling £80.

Seeing as an MOT costs £55 leaving £25 for the service it was never going to go well...it's too cheap and you should have gone with your gut instinct.

[Motman]

£54.85 is the maximum charge for a class 4 MOT. There is no minimum charge. I see it was only an engine service so basically an oil and filter change. Still too cheap anyway - fully synth engine oil and a filter for the average car comes to around £25.

[alan1302]

Originally Posted by Motman

£54.85 is the maximum charge for a class 4 MOT. There is no minimum charge. I see it was only an engine service so basically an oil and filter change. Still too cheap anyway - fully synth engine oil and a filter for the average car comes to around £25.

Is £54.85 what the garage is charged but they can choose to discount if they want or do they pay less as well?

[smudger]

Welcome to the site Jajavu594, if you are going to make more posts could you please use paragraphs, it's hard to read when the text is all in one block?.........................As a few of us on here need reading glasses just to see the screen, so that would be much appreciated, thanks

[Motman]

Originally Posted by alan1302

Is £54.85 what the garage is charged but they can choose to discount if they want or do they pay less as well?

MOT stations buy MOT 'slots' which cost £2.00 each. What they sell them for is up to them. They can give 'em away if they want to.

[alan1302]

Originally Posted by Motman

MOT stations buy MOT 'slots' which cost £2.00 each. What they sell them for is up to them. They can give 'em away if they want to.

Ah, that's interesting - never knew that. Thinking about it though it does make sense they pay a lot less than they charge otherwise they would not make much money out of them!

[Motman]

Yeah, £2 a test seems cheap but factor in that first you need premises dedicated to MOT tests so, for example, you cant do repairs on the MOT ramp, £30-£40K for all the equipment to start with, plus staff, plus compulsory 6/12 monthly equipment calibrations etc and it starts to become less attractive!

[gnicivers pots]

All true & take heed

An enticing sales pitch and lure via the competitive price - undercutting their main rivals. The sting then follows via ... oh by the way ... you need to pay for the oil, brake fluid, battery, spark plugs, power steering fluid etc... bumping the cost up four to tenfold.
Is the company up front ?
Draw your own conclusions as unless you are a qualified mechanic, you are at the mercy of the garage who are under contract to Servicing Stop - some of their salary is paid by Servicing Stop.
Hidden costs - plenty ... followed by the sting !!!
EG. BRAKE FLUID CHANGE £ 60.00 !

Dragons Den Link still being used by the Company too !

And this is what Deborah Meaden says on her website…
*Important announcement re Servicing Stop*
Following a number of complaints regarding the service provided by Servicing Stop, Deborah would like to make it clear that although she made an offer in the Den, the investment did not go through and Deborah is not in any way connected with Servicing Stop.

[rajukaju]

Servicing Stop

Read the following - BBC Watchdog on sErvicing Stop on youtube, Guardian review ... do not use this company , they will rip you off. Their management motto for employees is "leave your conscious at the door when you come to work" ... steer clear of them

[Motorhead1340]

Servicing Stop experience

I too fell for the low cost servicing charges advertised by these guys. It was an interim service for my Audi A5, booked it in and had the car collected from my office. About mid afternoon I received a call claiming that a colossal amount of 'extras' were required: specialist oil (I had provided 5 ltrs of the required juice in the back of my car which they failed to use), new brake pads (?), engine flushing, anti freeze, you name it, they had apparently done it. I did try refusing some of these but was told by SS that it was essential work or they couldn't release my car. Yup, they had me by the short and curly's. I think the original cost was £80 and I ended up paying over £380.
When I got the car back the near side wing was covered in spilt oil and hand prints that they hadn't bothered to clean off (at least it shows they actually did something... other than me), the seats were filthy, hand prints all over the inside of the windscreen and as I said, for some reason they had replaced the brake pads and left the alloys black with hand prints. Not impressed. When I drove it home the servicing indicator still came on so I phoned the garage who apologised told me to bring it in the following morning so they could reset it.
To say that I was appalled by the conditions that confronted me at the garage the next day was an understatement: I know they're not generally clean places to work (they certainly can be!) but this place was utterly filthy. Piles of rusty scrap on the forecourt, oily tools scattered across the 'service bay' and workshop, various partly dismantled cars in every corner, a real mess, and along with all this I couldn't see any sign of a servicing ramp or lift so presumably they jacked the car up one side at a time to get to things like sump bungs etc. I couldn't believe that my car had been sat in the middle of this pigsty for a day. I did ask SS if they ever visited or even vetted their garages but didn't get a reply which ironically speaks volumes.
So: if you want to risk an unqualified grease monkey climbing all over your pride and joy with an adjustable spanner and whacking you with a ton of extras please do use them. If you want a proper job done at pretty much the same price use a recognised garage that doesn't need to pull in punters through a third party.

[Hometune]

Quote: "engine flushing, anti freeze, you name it, they had apparently done it. I did try refusing some of these but was told by SS that it was essential work or they couldn't release my car."

Oh really? I'd have been taking a couple of big mates with me to collect the car. Unfortunately they are still in business because too many gullible people put their trust in them. B******s.

Simple answer to anyone looking for a reputable garage is to use a Bosch Service Centre.

https://www.boschcarservice.com/gb/e...orkshop_search

[Motorhead1340]

Servicing Stop

Yeah, that was my first thought: to go round there with a baseball bat and collect my car. At that stage I wasn't sure of my ground with the garage or the additional items. To use them once is a mistake that anyone could make, to use them twice would be just plain stupid.

[MattNicholson]

Joined the forum specifically to add my voice to this. Servicing Stop are by far the worst company I've dealt with in all the years I've been driving.

Terrible, terrible service. Unbelievably expensive, loads of hidden charges (many of which are for things most garages include in their service as standard. £24.99 +VAT for oil?!). Impossible to contact them by telephone once they've taken your car and they just keep finding more "essential" work and hitting you with more and more requests for payment. Every time I thought we'd hit a final price, they'd send another email with another additional charge. My MOT & service, quoted at £111 ended up costing over £1200. For a 10 year old Peugeot 107. If it was a top of the range Audi/BMW/Merc, I'd maybe understand. Maybe. I usually expect to pay in the region of £150 - £200 for an MOT and full service, depending on what work is required. Even factoring in the additional exhaust repairs that I knew were genuinely required this time, that price is indefensible. I could have replaced the car for that! Genuinely horrifying experience. Never again!

[Lynne2021]

I am disabled and forgotten my MOT and when I checked it had run out. My mechanic couldn't fit me in for some weeks and in a panic I found Service Stop which could come and pick my car up and take it away to MOT would be ideal. I booked it in on the 26.03.21.

I booked my car in with Servicing Stop for an MOT and an interim service as they had a special deal on. I paid £57.24 for interim service and £18.00 for the MOT online. They state on their advertising that they may need specialist oil etc but will contact me before going ahead for approval.

They came and took the car and phoned later that day to say that my front spring had gone and it would be an additional £650.00 to get it replaced. I said that that was too much for me and thank you please bring back my car.

The man said they couldn't do that as the car was on the ramp being worked on and said I should have read the online web information.

I said I couldn't afford to pay that much and I wanted my car back as it was. He replied that they needed to put spealist oil in the car and I had to pay an additional £46.76 before I could have it back.

I specifically said to him are you refusing to give me my car back unless I pay the additional money and he said I should have read the information on the website. He then became very bully boy and kept repeating loudly that I should have read the website.

He then sent me a link to pay the additional money so he could authorise the garage to bring it back. The garage rang and said they couldn't bring it back until the following day as they were still working on it. When the garage brought it back I asked him whether he agreed that the spring would cost £650.00. He shrugged and said if that's what Servicing Stop had said.

I then had to wait some time before my mechanic could fit it in. He took the car for an MOT and it came back with the spring that needed fixing. For the re-MOT and the spring and labour the bill came to £159.00.

I paid £122.00 to Servicing Stop who wanted another £650.00 for the work to be carried out which would have come to £772.00.

The company are clearly trying to rip people off misrepresenting their costs.

[Foster123456789]

Giving one star because zero isn't an option. they will get your car picked and then will mention fine print because yours is diesel/ULEZ car. Also they will list down issues that your car has and will ask extortionate amount of money to fix them. Do yourself a favour and don't book them.

[Chaddster]

@dejavu594
Do not use this rip off service

Like lot's off people said wish I would
have did a bit of research myself
Stop start fault on the dashboard was still there when the car was returned so obviously the car never been plugged into a computer wouldn't be surprised if the bonnet was never opened

absolutely pathetic the garage doing the service needs to be demolished disgusting had to drive back there
( NOT HAPPY ) to get the service book stamped ( by law ) that was in the glove box (unbelievable) when I asked about the dashboard fault was told didn't see it but would be a charge to fix it
SERVICEING STOP
DO NOT USE THIS SCAM

[Santa]

This reminds me of the "Heathrow Engines" scandal from twenty years or so ago. This was a company that advertised cheap recon engines, including collection and delivery.

They would quote a reasonable price and collect your car after you paid a hefty deposit. A week or so later, they would call you and say that there were all kinds of problems and it was going to cost a lot more. If you said you didn't want to pay, they would say that the engine was already out, so you would have to pay more to have it reinstalled.

All of this was extensively discussed at the time and they "starred" on The BBC's Watchdog programme. I think that some directors eventually went to prison.

There was also the suggestion of a link to a Heathrow car park scam. They were taking low-mileage cars and swapping the engines for high-mileage ones while the owners were on holiday. Many people don't often look at their engines and it might be months before an MOT would show up the wrong engine number.

Say what you like about the bad things on the internet, but we all now have the ability, with a few clicks on a mouse, to check the reputation of these scam services.

[Rolebama]

My favourite Heathrow Engines story: I attended a Merc that had broken down. It had had a 'new' engine from HEC, and a condition of warranty was that only they can work on it. I showed the guy how they had done a basic steam clean on a secondhand engine. He wasn't prepared to listen to anything bad about them. He told me how they had fitted a new gearbox because the new engine's power was too much for the old one, similarly they had fitted a new axle and diff because of all this power going through the gearbox. I could see quite cllearly how the gearbox and diff had been steam cleaned in situ. He also told me that these kind gentlemen had 'only' charged him £6,500 for all this work. (This was in the mid '90s.)
Whenever I visited HEC I noticed how many 'minder-type' characters they had in the office when they were upstairs at Twickenham.
I first came across them as Hounslow Engine Centre in the '80s. It was obvious to me then that they were not exactly straightforward in their dealings with the public. They tried to selll a friend a secondhand engine as a 'remanufactured' one, but I did point out to them them that if you are going to steam clean an engine, at least remove the exhaust manifold and do a proper job.

[Mark07]

If it helps, you can use this link to find an RAC approved dealership near you.

[Hydraman]

@dejavu594
The Saga of using a Car Servicing Discount Web Site.
Now I live in a small rural village Near Kettering Northamptonshire and since my car, a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is no longer covered by Local Garages, I googled "Local PHEV Servicing Garages".
Google suggested I try Servicing Stop as a Booking Firm.
Their Website requested my Car Registration Number and correctly identified my make and model being an EV.
They Quoted for both Interim and Full Service and as an extra option also a MOT.
I opted for the Full Package of Service with MOT and being a disabled pensioner was pleased to accept that the "Local Garage" would arrange collection and delivery on the agreed day.
Now here is the first problem. The Garage that does the work is not disclosed until after you pay and a confirmation email sent.
The allocated garage for mine was in RUGBY Leicestershire. 50 miles away! Not exactly local! But the booking firm state in the small print that any cancellation will result in a charge?
So the CATCH is as follows.
The Booking Firm takes the money.
The allocated garage puts the car on the ramp and does some quick checks to fill in the Tick Boxes in accordance with the "Interim or FULL service agreement.
There is a clause that states there could be additional charges for "Special Oil" (low ash would be regarded as special).
The garage will then continue to do the MOT test if that is required?
Once the exercise has been completed by the Garage they send the results off to the Booking Firm.
The Booking Firm then get High Pressure Sales to ring the MARK (that's you) and nicely tell you that you car has/has not passed the MOT however "as per the contract" there are extra charges, ALWAYS because of the oil clause.
Now for the clever bit, "we also have some ADVISORY notices that we recommend be done now whilst the car is in the workshop"!
These will be worded carefully according to the well used script. In my case "a car of this age should have 1) brake fluid replaced. 2) anti freeze replaced 3) a full engine flush etc, plus any other options they can think up.
Now comes the RANSOM bit! Depending on how you hold out they send an email with a payment link to pay for the extras, and there are always at least one extra because of the oil! The link includes a short warning that any delay in payment may affect the timed return of the car (held until the funds are in their account).
Back to me having refused all but the "special oil" I waited the return of my car between the agreed CONTRACT time of 4 - 6PM. And waited, and waited etc. By 7:30 I was in a panic as none of the contact numbers were answering. Now the mind goes into every option case from they have crashed and burned on the M1 to it is already dismantled and shipped out.
Time to act with a few chosen words to every web site and email address that was available and no they were not complements. So with the new day comes the call from the Booking Firm manager explaining how there was no excuse why the Service Garage had failed to return the car last night and he would get it returned ASAP now.
Well 13:20 hrs it arrives. "Nothing to do with me mate I am only a contract driver they called me today" I restrain myself and enquire "have they reset the service light and stamped the book?" Yes all done! I check the dip stick and comment that whilst the level is correct I have no way of checking the quality? All other fluids are where they should be but then again they were before it went anyway.
I check my car computer which confirms the collection and delivery mileage and also that 3 gallons of fuel has been consumed.
Further checks of the on board computer show that whilst the Service Warning Light has been reset none of the other settings have been reprogrammed. My Dashboard Display keeps telling me that a Service will be required in 400 miles!!!!
The paperwork required for my Service History consists of a Tatty Photocopy of an MOT certificate and some emailed PDF files listing the car as a Petrol Outlander and no mention of any EV checks or testing?
Gutted.