I finally got the response from the finance ombudsman earlier today and it was not the news I was hoping for. They rejected the claim on several grounds, including the car’s age, the mileage at purchase and he said he was satisfied reported issues had been sufficiently fixed…

How he could possibly come to this conclusion I will likely never know. There is no point in me appealing as he already has all of the information I can possibly give towards the case.

So here I am now, stuck with a car that is broken, is going to cost me potentially thousands to fix when the clutch and gearbox finally go, and I still have £1,700 to pay on the finance. Selling the car will only get me back about £2,000 part exchange if I’m lucky – so in essence I’ve lost at least £3000 on this piece of crap car.

I thought from the beginning I was at least in with a chance with the finance ombudsman given that they are the governing body for finance, and they are government operated meaning it’s not in their interest to “fix” the outcome of the case. I would have thought they’d be a little more forthcoming especially given all of the evidence supplied. Apparently not.

My advice to everyone is research your future car and be absolutely sure you want to buy it knowing it’s common faults etc before you commit. This is exactly what I will be doing for my next car.

You live and learn.

It occurred to me a few days ago that this issue with my car has been going on for almost 10 months now, and that I will have owned the car 1 year in around 1 month from this post… How you’re probably wondering, has this not been resolved yet? The answer is time wasting by several parties.

I originally opted to reject the car 4-5 months after purchase when I found out I had the right to do so under the sales of goods act. From that point, everything has been slow. The finance company admittedly were fairly quick, organising the report within 2 weeks, but their report took a further 2 weeks to come through and was ultimately pointless because the finance company said no to my rejection request.

I then went to the finance ombudsman and this took weeks to even get rolling. Every time they contacted the finance company it was at least a week before they got a reply from them. When they did finally get the reply it was up to me to wait for the ombudsman’s decision. They kept asking for more details, which is good, because I want them to know the whole story. But the information they had was, in my opinion, more than enough to conclude in my favour (though I would say that, but you should see the evidence for yourself).

So here we are months later and I think we’re finally getting somewhere, and then they ask for another report to be done on the car. In my eyes this will prove nothing because what they want to know is the faults that existed at purchase, but all they can prove now with this test is what faults it has now. In any case, they won’t proceed without it so I have no choice. Thankfully for me, they’re making the finance company pay for it.

That brings me to yet more set backs. I contacted my local garage who got back to me quickly saying they couldn’t help. Fair enough, it was worth a try. They directed me to a local company who could do the reports so I got in touch. That’s where more problems started. They were far from professional. I had to keep chasing e-mails because they weren’t replying, I had to call them to give more details only to be told “oh, well, I’m not sure we can help, let me review the information again…” etc. 3 weeks down the line I’m growing impatient and my last 2 e-mails have gone ignored for over a week. I sent one last e-mail asking them to make a decision or I would go elsewhere. Later that day they said they’d spoken to their MD and they were not able to help me. 3 weeks to be told they couldn’t help me!!! Gah!!!

So now I have to find another local company I did a search and quickly found one. They are just down the road from where I work making it ideal. I sent them an e-mail and an hour later they said they were able to help me. I sent all the information I had and they said they were definitely able to help as they deal with such things all the time. Fantastic! I’ve got a quote off them and it’s been forwarded to the ombudsman who will forward it to the finance company next week for approval. Once I have their approval I can finally get it booked and done. At this rate I might actually have a decision by the end of the month or early March. Fingers crossed!

So what’s to learn from this experience? Well, don’t be so patient if you want things to move quickly. If you’re not getting the answers you’re looking for, move on to someone who will give you them. Oh and don’t buy a VW Passat either…

The title is describing what happened to my car this evening. Yes, another fail-wagon fail. Well, for a short time at least as I got it fixed quite quickly. Let me explain what happened…

I was on my way home from a friends when I turned a corner as normal. As I went round it felt like the car hit something but I thought nothing of it as the roads around here are terrible as it is. As I carried on up the road I put my foot down a bit to speed up when suddenly there was a loud “pop” followed by a very horrible “exhaust has fallen off” gurgles and rumbling. I noticed the lack of power as the turbo was no longer working and the first words to pop into my head were “FFS, now what”. I pulled over to investigate.

Before I even stop my mind has run over possible things it could be. It’s either exhaust related or it’s the intercooler pipes. It only took my about 10 seconds to realise it was an intercooler pipe that had popped off. Not knowing how to go about putting it back on properly I called the friend I had just left to see if he would come and sort it for me. He agreed. The car was still drive-able but the noise coming from it was pretty damn loud! I decided that since it was almost 11pm to take it very easy and keep the noise down.

10 minutes later, my friend turns up. His first words? “The fail-wagon strikes again!”. Yeah, cheers for that. No need to rub it in anymore than you already have previously! Anyway he gets underneath the car to have a look. Some mumbling could be heard from underneath followed by the odd profanity, until eventually he needed tools. We jacked the car up for better access and armed with a screwdriver he managed to put the hose back on in no time. We still don’t know how it managed to come off in the first place so I guess that mystery will likely go unsolved unless it happens again.

Once he had fixed it we went for a quick test drive with lots of flooring it to make sure it wasn’t going to pop off under pressure again. I booted it down the road several times through several gears and it seemed fine. So this time it wasn’t serious and the car could still be driven in it’s “broken” state, albeit with no turbo. And let me tell you, in a car that big you really do need that turbo to move quickly! Without it, it probably has about 70bhp, with it, that doubles to 140bhp and that makes a massive difference. I wouldn’t like to drive on the motorway like that (already did once when I got limp mode, but that’s another story).

So yes, I continue to own this fail-wagon, but hopefully in a month or two I won’t any longer. The whole situation with returning it is progressing, but slowly.

I realise it’s been over a month since my last post and in that time we’ve had Christmas and New Year but I’ve found it difficult to remember to write something here sometimes. That said, it’s been a good year and a lot of things have happened. Some have been good, some have been bad, but overall it’s not been a particularly bad year at all in the grand scheme of things. I’m not entirely sure where to start or what I should even mention here. To be honest my mind has sort of gone blank as to what happened in 2012 that’s worth mentioning at all.

I suppose the best place to start is the biggest “crapper” of 2012 was this stupid car that I bought. If you’ve been following my blog you’ll know the pain I’ve suffered ever since I got it last March, and it’s still not over even now. Hopefully this will be resolved soon but I’m not keeping my hopes up given how long ago this entire escapade even started. The moral of this story is research more before jumping in and buying, something that won’t be easily forgotten from this ordeal.

That was probably the only bad part of 2012 worth mentioning. Sure I got annoyed a lot at silly things but I won’t bore you with those. Some of the better parts of 2012 involved some personal projects which I’ve also mentioned here and another successful camping trip.

A successful project of my own has involved the charging box I made for camping/emergency use. It involved a fair amount of research and prototyping, but I learned a lot along the way which has boosted my knowledge for future projects. Although this started in 2011, it wasn’t finished until June of 2012 primarily due to laziness on my part. Despite that it was finished in time with some help from friends (both in ‘real life’ and Internet friends) and was successful in doing the job it was designed for.

I have also got into Arduino programming and circuit design which will hopefully yield something actually worth using this year. I have a few things in mind that I want to use it for but not quite enough knowledge yet. My friend John over at www.vwlowen.co.uk has made a half dozen projects in 2012 that all had a good purpose. He mainly does it to pass time but I’d like something that is going to be of use for years to come. Some of them include an internet controlled power strip for rebooting my server remotely and a battery capacity tester which I actually just thought about recently. Again more knowledge is needed but I won’t learn until I do it either!

For camping in 2012 we went to an entirely new camp site, Shell Island, that was over 75 miles from the one we used to go. The entire area for most of us was new and we still didn’t manage to explore it all. We enjoyed the camp site so much we’re going back again in 2013 for another go! Even now almost 6 months away some of the guys are already excited for it. I think this year we need to go exploring more of the local area and the camp site itself. We only ventured up to the sand dunes once and they’re huge. The sand on bare feet is really nice and gives them a good sand scrub. When you come off you feel like you’ve had a sort of massage!

 Another upcoming year…

So what have I got to look forward to in 2013? Hopefully I will get this whole issue with my car sorted once and for all so I can get rid of something I never should have bought and buy something else. Wish me luck with that one.

Another item that has been on my mind for practically the last 2 years on and off is BT Infinity broadband. One of my friends already got it in 2012 and it’s insanely good. Unfortunately it’s been slow to roll out in nearly all areas so it’s been a waiting game ever since it was announced my area would get it. However today I finally found out that I should, and I emphasise ‘should’, have it available to me by the beginning of April 2013! They estimate I should get 65Mbps down and 20Mbps up so fingers crossed! The only part I really want is that insanely nice upload speed (20x what I have now) but the download wouldn’t go amiss!

Camping is of course another on my list to look forward to. As I said above several of the guys are already looking forward to it and I’ve already booked the time off work. Nearer the time my own excitement will grow but until then it’s just a distant event.

Since I bought my digital SLR camera just over a month ago (oh no, another expensive hobby!) I’ve been waiting for a good opportunity to go out with it and get some decent still shots. Unfortunately the lack of tripod until Christmas and the awful weather has made it impossible to do so. So this is definitely one of the items on my agenda for 2013 – to get out and get some brilliant snaps and most of all get practice/experience in doing so. There are some guys I know on Facebook who I’ve been following for a while now who get some stunning shots when they go out, so I want to try my hand at doing the same. Unfortunately if I start getting good I fear this could become an expensive hobby, buying lenses, filters, new cameras, etc, but hopefully what I have now will be enough for the foreseeable future.

What else? Well who knows what the year will have in store? I can assure you of one thing and that is some good parties with friends, LAN parties, bike rides in summer and general mucking about that we all get up to. Whatever happens I’ll be sure to try and write about it here.

I hope you have had a good 2012, and I hope you have an equally if not better 2013!

It probably didn’t go unnoticed but a few days ago was Halloween. How many eggs did you get thrown at your windows? I got none, since I live in a flat and little brats can’t throw that high up! But in all seriousness, none were thrown and I didn’t get any trick or treat-ers either. This is just as well since I didn’t buy any sweets. This is not to say that I don’t like Halloween though, this weekend myself and friends are having a fancy dress Halloween party to celebrate. Pictures of our costumes will follow another day (maybe!) as they’ve all been kept secret until the party.

—

One of the other more interesting parts of the week occurred tonight on the way home from work. Traffic jams are fairly frequent at the moment as people suddenly suffer the inability to drive in the dark with daylight saving time ending last weekend. However this traffic jam was caused by a rare occurrence. Someone in a white van (a guy I’ll presume) suffered a horrible failure somewhere in his engine and suddenly found it providing power even when his foot was off the throttle pedal. He managed to pull over safely but it was already too late.

This was the point I came up to the traffic jam wondering what was causing it. A minute or two later as the traffic crept forward I noticed smoke coming from the hard shoulder. Oh dear I was thinking to myself, a car is on fire. I couldn’t see it clearly at this point, all I saw was smoke. A minute later as I got closer I saw it was this van with thick black/gray smoke pouring out of the back. I immediately knew what had happened. Something in the engine, either the turbo seals, or other engine oil related item had failed and the engine was now what is called “running away”, consuming oil instead of fuel.

This is what happens and what it looks and sounds like when a diesel engine “runs away”:

In this condition, turning off the ignition does nothing – the engine is running on pure compression and self feeding oil into itself. The only way to stop this is to put the vehicle in a high gear, foot as hard as you can on the brakes and release the clutch. The engine will stall and the engine is saved. Well, I say the engine is saved, but only if you do this straight away. In a “run away” condition the engine will be “over-revving” or “red-lining”. If you have a tachometer this is where your engine revs into the red zone. If you do this for more than a few seconds the engine is outside of it’s safety limits and things start to go wrong quickly. The valves will start smashing into the pistons, the engine will rapidly overheat and seals will get blown. If you manage to stall the engine quickly enough you’ll limit the damage and save most if not all of the engine. If you don’t, you’ll be looking at a new engine or at the least new valves. It’s worth noting this can happen to any engine, but primarily happens to diesels because of their huge compression compared to petrol engines. Turbo engines suffer more often too because turbo seal failure is fairly common.

Anyway the point of this story was that the driver did not know what was happening or how to stop it. He let the engine run away for at least a few minutes. I’d already passed so I don’t know the outcome but I can only imagine that engine is now completely toast. As I went past the smoke was so thick I could barely see the car in front and the noise coming from the engine was saddening. As a diesel engine lover you get to know what a healthy engine sounds like and that was not a  healthy diesel at all! So please, if you own a diesel or know someone who does, pass on the advice above and make sure they know to use it if it ever happens to them. It could be difference between a new engine or just a cheap repair.

It’s been almost a month since my last blog and a similar amount of time since I contacted the finance company, so here is an update on what has happened since then. Bare with me, it’s a bit wordy.

I opened a complaint around the same time as my last blog and since then I’ve not had great news. The finance company had contacted the dealer and they refused to fix any issues on the car. This is hardly surprising given the fact that they’re not a very large company. Because of this the finance company was obliged to investigate further. In light of that they arranged for an independent mechanic to come out and assess the car. Basically this involves confirming the faults I have mentioned as actually existing. Of course when he assessed it they all existed without a doubt.

The most annoying part about this so far, is that the mechanic agreed with everything I said. You’d think that would be good, and don’t get me wrong it is. I was happy to hear that he agreed with me, it’s what I expected. Given the history of the faults you can’t deny it. Whilst driving he mentioned the fact that he had owned the same vehicle not long ago and admitted it did not drive properly because of it’s faults. This was great, the finance company can’t say no now.

How wrong I was. When I spoke to him he said the faults were clearly inherent because they occurred such a short time after purchase and that faults keep developing. However when he wrote his report and sent it off to the finance company, he wrote completely the opposite. I have a copy of his report and it says the faults are not inherent. That really pissed me off reading it. He had lied to me, and he has lied to the finance company. I can only imagine he has been paid a bonus to say they weren’t inherent because that’s cheaper than them allowing me to reject the vehicle.

I received the final letter from my finance company who were “not upholding my complaint”. What struck me was the fact that they also noted down the mileage I had done since I got the car. Bearing in mind that I do about 1000 miles a month, of which 95% of it is commuting to work 30 miles a day, I thought it was odd. They had tried to use is as part of the excuse for not upholding the complaint, stating that because I had done around 6,900 miles since purchase the faults are due to normal use and not due to any inherent faults. Hello?! The faults began less than a month into my ownership!!! You obviously have NOT read any of the information I gave you and went on the word of a single person! Absolutely ridiculous.

As you can imagine I was fuming after reading that letter. I was angry for several days and I may have even taken it out on friends/colleagues (sorry by the way!). Thankfully just because they have told me where to shove my complaint it doesn’t mean that’s the last of it. There is a service called the Financial Ombudsman Service that is there to regulate and deal with complaints about businesses who offer finance or other monetary services. I have now opened a complaint with them in the hope that given the evidence I have to support my complaint, that they will over turn their ruling and turn it to my favour. Given the fact that these issues started so early, and so many have developed, I whole heartedly believe they will go in my favour, but given my luck recently I’m not holding my hopes up just yet.

I’ve sent them a full detailed account of everything that has happened between myself, the dealer and the finance company to date and I’m asking for them to uphold my original request for rejection of the car and a full refund of all money paid minus reasonable costs. This means I should get back at least the £2,000 deposit I paid, plus extra for the part exchange, and perhaps some money back from the finance company too.

In terms of what I’ve sent them, almost everything I said to the dealer is in e-mails as that was how we communicated most of the time. I also had phone call recordings from the dealer but these didn’t have any useful information in them (yes, the dealer was aware I was recording calls as I did ask for his permission. I did white lie saying that it was for other reasons but he still agreed). Given everything that has happened, including the dates they happened of which most were in the first 3 months, I can’t see how they can turn around and say the faults are not inherent.

The only thing that concerns me now is that if they turn around and say no, I’m stuck. I can’t do anything with the car until I pay the finance off, of which there is around 18 months left, or if the finance company agrees I can sell it on and keep paying the finance (unlikely). Slap that on top of the repairs needed to keep the car on the road (most likely the clutch/dual mass flywheel which costs £1000 on it’s own), we’re looking at a minimum of £1000 and up to silly money if I need to go as far as gearbox replacement/rebuild, diagnostics of the electronics to find the fault with that, and diagnostic of the air intake or whatever it is causing the air noise. Keeping the car at this point isn’t really worth it. I’ve invested in this car on the understanding that it was in good condition. On the outside it certainly looks it but under the bonnet and underneath it certainly is not.

I wish I had researched this model of car more before I jumped in and bought it. I wish I had test driven a few more other cars rather than jumping in and saying “I want X car and nothing else”. I do blame myself partly, but at the end of the day these faults weren’t my fault. My faithful old little Peugeot 306, RIP =(, never had anywhere near the problems this car has had in its entire life. As they say, they don’t make them like they used to…

I’ll keep the blog updated when I hear back from the Ombudsman, but in the mean time please keep your fingers crossed for me so I can get rid of this God awful car and get something worth my investment.

Remember the car I bought back in March this year? The very same one that broke down twice within 2 weeks of getting it? Well it’s come to the point where I just can’t stand the damn thing any more. Let me explain…

Ever since I got it I’ve had nothing but trouble. First it was the parking brake (electronic, don’t ask why they did it that way), then the emissions light and injector failure. I thought I had the problems ironed out pretty quickly as they were both common faults that would be resolved easily by a trip to VW and a new button. Oh how wrong I was. Each month there was a new problem. First it was the clutch giving me problems that resulted in it being difficult to change into first and reverse gears, then the gearbox started to whine whilst decelerating in 5th gear. The next month the mass air flow sensor packed in, and the list goes on. Suffice to say since I got the car it’s had 13 faults. 13… In the entire time I owned a Peugeot 306 I never had that many problems.

To be honest I only have myself to blame. Before I got the car, I knew I wanted a Passat for some very good reasons. Firstly 2 of my friends had 2 different older models and they never had trouble with them. Secondly I test drove it and I loved the way it handled and drove (and I still do, sadly). However it wasn’t until after I bought it that I started looking into it’s common faults, and that took me by surprise.

The most common complaints were the electronic parking brake failing and the injectors failing randomly. I thought I’d had these resolved (and I have so far, touch wood). But other less common complaints were still “common”, if you get what I mean. Lots of people talking about similar issues but none of them quite the same as the others. The car was in good condition and looked like it had been well treated and maintained – it was one of the strong points I took on board when buying. However the big let down was that it’s modern, electronic, and a lot can go wrong. When they do go wrong, it’s all £££ to fix – sorry, ££££, since a lot of things are 4 figures to fix it seems.

Obviously this isn’t the sort of investment I would have made given I knew about this before hand, and it’s my fault I didn’t research the history of these models. That said, and the trouble I’m having I decided it wasn’t right that I continue to own it. I didn’t know early on that I had rights under the Sales of Goods act and that I could reject the vehicle because it was sold to me unjustly. I.E. it had inherent problems right from the date of purchase which can be proven in the number of faults it’s had since that time.

I contacted my finance company a few weeks ago who are currently investigating the sale and the condition of the vehicle (they’re yet to send a mechanic to look at it). The place I bought it (naming no names) has been given a short time to correct ALL faults on the vehicle free of charge. If they don’t come through then the finance company will look into the issue and make a decision from there. Given that the problems present are pretty significant (dodgy clutch, engine warning light, etc) I am confident that they will go in my favour. If this is the case I’ve been told by friends and family that I’ll get the full £2k deposit back that I paid, and I’ll be free from the finance agreement. The finance company will repossess the car and then deal with the dealer I bought it from directly. That’s then the last I should hear of that car.

So what am I going to go with next? Well I was thinking of going with a Ford Mondeo. They’re nice cars and my friends Dad has one. That same friend also has a Mondeo Estate. The problem is all cars are going to have common faults and will go wrong in some way, so it’s impossible to escape. I just wished I hadn’t got rid of the Peugeot 306. Sure it cost me a little money but it never ONCE let me down. Not once. It always started first time and it always got me home. Of all the times it did break it did it at home or was an issue that could be taken care of in a short time with no damage done. And best of all, that car was fully mechanical – nothing electronic on the engine to go wrong, it just worked. I’ll miss that car. Sadly I discovered it was recently involved in an accident with it’s new owner, so it’s likely in scrap yard now rotting away…

Still, life goes on. These things are here to test us, and test me it has. Now it’s time to move on and get something new. New heights, new challenges, and plenty of anger to go with it. Sounds like the perfect recipe for life.

It’s been well over a month since I last posted so it’s probably time to update you with going’s on.

Late last month I went on my annual camping trip for a week. I say annual, because I’ve only been going once a year the past few years. It’s a nice holiday and doesn’t cost much either. The general crappy economy these days makes it hard for anyone to save up and go abroad, so I just don’t bother (not that I ever tried to anyway). I’m happy holidaying in the UK because there’s still so many places I haven’t been.

This year we had a slight change of scenery and went to Shell Island in West Wales. We had never been before but we had heard all sorts of positive reviews about the place. However being a group of 9 guys we were worried we might not be able to get on the site. Their rules do state no single sex groups, but having read reviews online they seemed to accept groups anyway. We decided to take our chances. The next thing stopping us getting on was the fact that they’re so popular. Even though they have 300 acres of fields to camp on, they still get full all year round. We kept an eye on the numbers on the site by keeping up to date with their Twitter/Facebook pages. The day we left they were 85% full and expecting to go full before lunch, and we didn’t get there until late. Thankfully, we did get on. How close it was I don’t know.

First impressions of the site weren’t brilliant but as the week went on we grew to like it. Even though there were some issues regarding facilities, we always worked around it without much fuss. There weren’t many toilets for hundreds of people to share, and those that were around, besides the main block, were all porta-loo’s. And believe me now, they weren’t very friendly looking or smelling! Showers were also lax, but we never had to wait long providing we went at least an hour after they opened. Their opening times for the showers was a bit odd too – 8am-1pm and 4pm-10pm, the rest of the time they were closed for cleaning or for night time. I’d have expected them to be open more hours than that.

The facilities shop wise on the camp were brilliant. They had a fully stocked shop fully of food, they also had a supplies shop for camping equipment including gas/charcoal etc. They also had a gift shop too which I’m told sells pretty nice chocolate, fudge and other sweets.

The one thing that we thought would annoy us but didn’t was the fact that the tides affect whether you can get on or off the site. The road in and out is tidal, but we were lucky enough to hit on a week where it wasn’t flooding during the day, only early morning/late evening, so we missed it whenever we went out. Had we hit it, we would have had to wait up to 4-6 hours for it to subside! That wouldn’t have been fun.

The weather that week wasn’t perfect but it wasn’t horrible the whole time either. The first half of the week was really hot, and I got sun burnt the 2nd day we were there. There was a modest amount of wind as well but that didn’t bother us too much. We just had to make sure the tents were well anchored down. We did a good job I think, nothing ended up blowing away even with the strongest gusts.

The 2nd half of the week it turned nasty – it rained on and off every day with little sun in between. It rained so hard one night that the guys in the main tent woke up completely soaked! We ended up having to move the tent about 10 meters away to a drier patch in the wind and rain. That was an experience I hope we don’t have to repeat because it was an absolute pain. The sleeping bags and clothes had to be taken to the launderette, which thankfully there is one on site with driers and washers. Had it not been there it could well have ruined the holiday for those in the main tent.

Small issues aside, it was a good week. We had some good laughs and visited a couple of nice areas. We did keep ourselves to the campsite most of the time though as everyone was always busy doing something else that it was hard to get everyone together.

I have to say I did particularly enjoy one part and that was the windy roads. They were really nice to drive on – challenging but not so overwhelming that it tired you out too quickly. The drive home was exceptionally nice as we didn’t have to wait for anyone. Going there we travel together, on the way home we split up. Which is just as well, because the trailer suffered a flat tire and we had no spare. The guys towing it had to hunt for a replacement. They were lucky a random guy offered them his for the cost of a new one because nowhere was open that time of the day. He saved the day!

We’re definitely considering going back there next year though. It wasn’t expensive and there was still loads to explore that we didn’t get chance to do.

Wow, what a week it’s been for me. You’ll have to excuse the length of this post, there is quite a lot to say.

Anyone who knows me and has me on Facebook will have been following this (or perhaps not, maybe I annoyed you so much you blocked my statuses, who knows!). This has been the worst week of my life so far this year. Doesn’t sound bad really but for me it’s been a royal pain in the arse and a huge let down and disappointment.

So that new car I got just over a month ago? Well on Monday I hit a dirty great pothole which managed to snap one of my suspension springs. Sure these things happen and we get over it. Well, we usually do. This time for me however the garage has severely let me down. Let me explain…

Monday

On the way to work this morning I took the route as I normally do. I was minding my own business and navigating a round about as you do, when suddenly *BANG*. What the hell was that?! The car was still moving, I still had engine power and there were no odd noises coming from it. Then it clicked. That noise was the sound of a suspension spring snapping. It wasn’t a bang as such, more of a twang instead. I pulled over to investigate, but upon inspection I couldn’t see anything obvious. Regardless I took it easy all the way to work just in case. It might not have been a snapped spring. It could have just been dirty great big stone.

When I got to work’s car park, turning the corners I heard some rattling. That was the dead give away that it was the suspension spring. With that, I sent an e-mail to the place I bought the car asking them to book it in for repair. Later that day they told me to take it to the garage in the morning. I arranged with a guy at work to pick me up from the garage and get me to work.

Tuesday

After a careful journey home yesterday I had to make the same careful journey back towards work but diverting off to the garage. I made it in one piece anyway.

The garage called later in the day to confirm it was a broken spring and said they would order the part, but it wouldn’t arrive until the next day. That was fine, and I arranged a lift home with one of the guys at work for the cost of fuel. It also stated that their main mechanics wife had gone into labour so he would be on maternity leave for a week now. This left only a single mechanic to do the work which meant delays were possible.

Wednesday

The next day at about 2pm I got an e-mail to say the part was delayed and had not turned up in that days delivery, so it would now be the next day before it turned up. I was a little annoyed but there wasn’t much I could do at this point. I did however receive the news that my air conditioning was now repaired. Brilliant! With the weather heading towards summer temperatures shortly it’ll come in handy.

Thursday

By Thursday I was getting pretty impatient. They’d had the car 2 days now and it still wasn’t fixed. At about 11am I got an e-mail to say the car should be ready today as the part had arrived. Brilliant! I was feeling pretty happy by that point.

3.30pm came around and I received an e-mail to say I would not be getting the car back that day, but there was no explanation as to why. I was very annoyed now as I had been told it would be back today. Very annoyed, I accepted the fact and looked forward to the next day.

Friday

Finally the end of a very long and irritating week. Well, in 8 hours it would be anyway. I was looking forward to the long weekend getting out and going places again given I couldn’t go any great distance all week. 10am I received an e-mail stating that the garage promised I would get it back today. The owner of the garage had even said so (the guy who was off on maternity leave) and that it would be prioritised.

At lunch time my Mum messaged me asking for a lift out that evening, to which I said not to rely on me as I may not have the car back. Yes I’d been promised but some how I knew that was going to go wrong.

3pm

I got an e-mail saying it would be ready to collect at 5.30pm. Brilliant!

4pm

I got another e-mail saying it now would NOT be ready by 5.30pm. WHAT?! By this point I was absolutely livid. I went and made a phone call to the garage to try and find out what was going on because this was turning into one huge piss take.

I was on the phone for about 5 minutes in total. The words that were spoken were very concerning. I was told that the guy doing the work didn’t like anyone who worked there, and nobody liked him either. He had no regard for his work, didn’t stick to deadlines and generally couldn’t give a crap. Woah, stop. That is NOT the kind of person I want working on my car at all.

I asked what they were going to do. I was told it might be done tomorrow, it might not be. Not good enough. They’d had the car 4 WORKING days now. That’s 36 WORKING hours for a 2 hour job to replace a spring! I told them to make sure the car was in a condition where it could be given (i.e. not in bits) and I would collect that evening and take it somewhere else to be repaired. They agreed.

5pm

5pm came around and I got to the garage to collect the car. My friend who gave me the lift stayed with me to make sure I got it alright. While we were there he asked how long the 2 cars inside the garage had been there. The guy in the garage asked what he was getting at. Why are those two cars in there and not mine was basically what he meant. He replied saying they’d been in there hours, and that any work they do is, and get this…

Work is prioritised by the amount of money they will make!!!

I was shocked at hearing that. I couldn’t even speak to him any more so I left and headed to the place I bought the car. I had an air conditioning repair report to pick up and a conversation to have with them.

When I got there I was greeted with apologies, even though it wasn’t their fault. I told him exactly what he’d said and he was as shocked as I was. He said they would likely fall out over this issue, and to be honest it’s probably doing them a favour as well. After some general conversation he advised me to go to another garage to have the repair done, to which I agreed and had already decided to do anyway if they would not choose another garage themselves. I was paying for the repair anyway so it didn’t really matter that much since it wasn’t a warranty job.

The guy phoned the garage to advise them to give me the spring so I could take it to another garage and get them to repair it, that way it saves time ordering the part. However when he called, he was greeted with “I’m busy call back later” and then he hung up. He tried again from another phone and got the same again. He was obviously pissed off, with a customer, or both. He told me to go there anyway and ask, and tell them to put it on their bill for now. I’d pay them when the spring was fitted. I agreed, we left and I picked the spring up without incident.

I thanked the guy from work for his help all week. He’d been a life saver to be fair! He was totally OK with it and said he didn’t mind if I needed help again, which was good to know. But despite the offer I didn’t want to rely on his help, it’s not fair.

6pm

On the way home, driving slow like a granny, I went to the garage I intended to use for the repair. When I got there I explained the situation and they were dumbfounded by the whole ordeal. Anyway I got the car booked in for Tuesday afternoon straight after the bank holiday, which was fantastic. However, when I mentioned the fact I had the part, his face dropped and he shook his head. He told me they can’t use customer supplied parts because of insurance reasons. Alright, I was OK with that as I had heard a few other places do the same. I hadn’t paid for the new spring anyway so it didn’t matter. I asked them to order it and I’d bring the car in for repair.

It would cost me a bit more but at the end of the day if you need a job doing properly and in good time (and that was practically “same day” service if it wasn’t for the long weekend), then you do pay for it. Anyway, that’s where we stand at the moment.

Oh, I almost forgot, I had to let my Mum down as well. She was disappointed but it wasn’t a big issue. She got her husband to drive them there and they had to leave the car and get a taxi back, and then pick it up again the next day.

Well, this is the longest full text post I’ve made so far I think. I think I’ve been very patient waiting all week for this very simple job to be done. Any other garage would have had it done in no more than half that time even with the delay on getting the part. Still, we live and learn, and I will definitely not be using that garage that’s for damn sure.

Those who know me will know that I run a few websites, most of which I’ve designed myself over years gone by. What most of you won’t know is that most of these sites have gone through dozens if not more designs before I finally settled on one I actually liked. This is a common problem, and not just for me but for other developers as well.

Let me give you an example. BetaArchive, my main website of focus these days, is far overdue a new template and various other updates. Over the last 2 years I have tried to design something new that will give the site a new edge in it’s little corner of the Internet. Unfortunately I have what is called “Designers Block” most of the time I make designs. This is the act of designing something from an awesome idea but it never quite lives up to that standard. And because it’s not to the standard of the original awesome idea, you scrap it before it’s finished.

To put this in perspective, in 2 years I’ve come up with 9 designs, of which all have been pretty much scrapped. I’ve kept them in my archives because some ideas I could re-use, but the designs as a whole just don’t work. I’ve had this same problem with other sites as well, even this current personal site which took 3 designs, then I stuck with the “Facebook Look” site.

What can we do about this problem? It’s simple. You get a proper website graphic designer to do it for you. The company I work for specialises in many services and one of them is Web Design. We have people in that specifically design graphics and websites, specific people to code the designs and specific people to do the back-end coding. That way, the graphic designer just creates the look of the site to the clients needs, then it gets passed to the coders to break it up and create the template. All while the back-end coders (sometimes the same person as the template coder) works on the back-end functionality.

Now trying to do all of these jobs yourself is hard. You can’t be your own client, designer and coder, it just doesn’t work well. You know what you want but you can’t express it properly, and this is the issue I have. I’m one person with one set of ideas, but using the business model above you get the ideas and expertise of several people throughout the creation of the site.

What can you do to avoid designers block when you only have yourself to do all of the jobs? Well, if I knew I wouldn’t have designers block! However a quick search on the web brings up some valid points that anyone could try.

Design it on paper or in a graphic design suite first

Going straight to the coding is never a great first step. You might have the ideas in your head but unless you have something visual to work with your ideas can go off track. Make sure your ideas solid before you begin.

Find inspiration

Nobody can think up the best ideas on their own. Sometimes you need inspiration from someone else, just like the business model. The best way to do this is go and search the web for your theme and see what those site have to offer. You could find a design with certain areas you like the look of and can utilise (with modifications) into your own design. Never copy someone else’s design though, this won’t end well!

Time

Lets face it, if you want this design to work you won’t do it in a single day. Take your time and spread your work load over as long as it takes. Don’t rush any stage.

Take a walk

Walking is a great way to clear your mind and think about new ideas. Fresh air always does you a world of good, so give it a try.

Deal with it another time

No this doesn’t mean walk away and forget it all, just move away from that aspect of the design and onto something else. Come back to it later with a fresh set of eyes and fresh ideas.

Ask a friend

Asking friends for ideas is a great idea, but don’t overdo it. Friends are more likely to be truthful about a design, so don’t ask them what they think of the rest of the design just yet, just ask them to contribute ideas for a certain section instead.

In conclusion if you’re on your own you’re going to encounter designers block at some point. Don’t let this tempt you into giving up as this is only going to make it worse. Just find the courage to carry on and look for more ideas.