I've only been driving a year, so I'm not experienced with cars and having them fixed. I don't know if this is bad service or one of those things you get with cars.
Last week I noticed that I was leaving a trail of oil behind me, and as much as I like leaving little rainbows behind me wherever I go I took it to my local garage on Thursday. By that time the engine was smoking a but as well from leaked oil burning in the engine.
I picked the car up on Friday and was told the Oil Filter had needed changing, which had been done, and I took the car home. It still smoked a bit, but I assumed that the oil that had leaked needed to burn off. Then I didn't use the car til Sunday,
Sunday, my husband and I were heading into town, but only got 6 miles or so before the car filled up with smoke and a burnt oil smell, so we pulled over, realised it was still leaking oil and that nearly all the oil in the car was gone. So I called out the AA, who confirmed the filter had been worked on, but the AA guy said it was obvious that the oil wasn't coming from there. So he towed me back to the garage, where I left a stern note.
The next day, Monday, I called and the mechanic told me that looking at it further it was the sump plug that was to blame, and he could get it done by the next day. As I had to work that evening, they lent me a courtesy car.
So yesterday (Tuesday, I went back and was told everything was fixed. Again. But lo and behold, by the time I got home it was obvious I was still leaking oil, it was all over the road, and the engine was still smoking. At this point I got pretty upset, and ended up getting my husband to take the car back as I gave myself a migraine.
They told him that the problem would be deeper in the engine, and that it will take til the end of the week to get it fixed. They were apologetic, but seemed to imply that it was one of those things, and assured us they took it for a test drive each time (seeing as it was leaking within 2 miles the second time I'm not sure I buy that). But they can't lend me the courtesy car for that time, so my husband has gotten his motorbike out and I can use his car for the time being.
The garage has a really great reputation locally, my family has used it for decades, but this has really upset me. I'd take it elsewhere but my husband seems to think that's a bad idea. I'm dreading getting the bill for all this too. But is it bad service, or do things turn out like this with cars sometimes? Surely they should have investigated the issue fully before 'fixing' it each time, especially the first time whe it seemed the leak was nowhere near the bit they had fixed.