I recently had my 1965 Spitfire MkII fully serviced at Quiller Triumph, in
Plumstead, London, as is advertised for #80 in Club Triumph magazine.
I asked the proprietor to keep me informed of all repairs made and parts
installed, so I could be sure of knowing the running bill and not be
surprised by a large final total. Apart from not having had a service for
quiet a while, my car was smelling quite badly from petrol whilst running,
which I took to be a possible leak from the fuel pump, which I told them
about, and asked them to take special consideration to this particular
problem. After 2 days and still no word from Quiller I called them, to be
informed that the total bill was #274. They said they had found a leak, and
had fixed it. Notwithstanding the fact I was aghast at the final bill, as I
hadn't been warned it was getting that high, after picking up the car, I
then discovered they hadn't fixed the problem, and had replaced the fuel
pump using the old 'olive' valves, so it was leaking more than before I took
it in. Taking off yet another half day holiday from work I took the car
back, to have a new 'olive' valve installed. On picking it up I was yet
again patronised by the proprietor, which he seemed fond of doing,
particularly over the phone.
They have not managed to locate the cause of the petrol smell, which is
still apparent. I was under the impression that a Triumph specialist would
know to pay particular attention and test the float chambers on a Mk2
Spitfire if petrol smells are bad, in that the float bowls often need to be
at different heights, which is a peculiarity in MkII's. Surely a Triumph
specialist should know about this sort of idiosyncrasy?
I will not be using the services of Quiller again. I have also since heard
other people complain about the service they receive from this garage and
thought it important to bring this to the attention of other Triumph owners.
I would be interested to hear if anyone else has used their services and
experienced difficulties.
With regards
Rachel Dixon
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