MILESTONE AUTO SERVICES in Dartford

I booked my Mercedes SLK in at 8am for a quote to repair a central locking fault. By 11am I'd received a call quoting me a price for the repair, I gave them the go ahead. By 1pm, I'd received another call saying it was not what they first thought, and they had to get in an auto electrician to diagnose, (they do not have one on staff) then they tell me that they had accidentally broken my drivers door window and that they were waiting for a company to come out to repair. I received a call at 5.15pm to say the car was ready to be picked up. I immediately picked the car up as they were closing shop. When I got home, I checked my window was working and it did not shut properly, the window dropped back down again 3 inches when closed with the auto switch. If closed and held manually, the window stayed up. I called the next morning to report. They asked if I could 'put up' with it until I came in again when I was booked in with the auto electrician - 5 days later! I reluctantly agreed, but when driving the vehicle later in the rain, I discovered the window was leaking. On my own inspection, I noticed the window was not closing inside the 'gutters', it was closing outside of them - explains the leak. I had also noticed a large chip in the door handle woodwork, which obviously, when I showed it to the manager - Peter Marriner - he denied all knowledge, and even claimed it could have been there before I brought it in!
I brought the vehicle in on the day I was supposed to have the auto electrician in, and explained I did not want the central locking problem looked at until the window was fully repaired. I was not going to hand over any money until the bodge that they made was put right. This agitated Peter because he had to 'book' and now cancel the electrician. I explained that it was pointless fixing a problem when the one he created was not fixed first. Peter called and explained the problem to the window replacement company - Budget Windscreens' (more like bodge-it)! but they could not come in until the next day! I delivered my car to Milestone the next day and asked Peter to call me when Budget arrived because I wanted to check the window myself before them leaving so I could ensure it was fixed properly. I arrived when they were working on my car, I was watching them the whole hour and a half I was there. I saw him getting the right hump with the car, slamming hell out of my door and banging the window! He eventually admitted defeat and told Peter he could not get it right. Because no-one knew what to do, it was booked in to Mercedes. Peter had the right hump with this because he knew this was going to cost him. I explained I was extremely unhappy with his service and all he kept saying was "accidents happen" and "I'm doing everything I can, I'm even paying for it to go to Mercedes and that's gonna cost me a fortune".
It was dropped off at Mercedes in the afternoon with the intention of it being done that day. It was not, I got a call from Milestone saying it was ready late the next morning. Apparently windows need to be electronically reset when replaced. Shouldn't a window fitting company know that? Mercedes just put it on their machine and it was done. A few days later, when driving in the rain, I noticed the window leaking again. Upon closer inspection, I noticed the door card was not on nice and tight like the other side. I went straight to Mercedes and said about it. They said we can't authorise the work unless Milestone give the say so. I called Milestone and they said bring it to us and we'll take a look at it, I asked if I could bring it in now, he said NO, Friday, 2 days later! He even said that as it was done by Mercedes, it should be fine, and that theres no proof the leak was not there before! Later that day, I got a phone call from a man from Budget, he wanted to come out and look at it. I refused. I explained to him that they did not know what they were doing, so why would I let them look at it again. He slammed the phone down on me. Peter later called me and asked when was I letting Budget look at it, I said I was not going to let them. I also explained to him that I was not willing to let him look at it as clearly they did not know what they were doing, and that he should authorise Mercedes to look at it, he flatly refused and stated that he had done everything in his power to help me. I obviously disagree.
From the day of taking it in to Milestone, to the day of collection from Mercedes, took 15 days! My original problem of a central locking fault is not repaired. Instead I now have an inferior after market window with a leak, along with the expense spent of having to be without my car for the days it was in the garage. I am now in a worse position from when I started. For a garage to create major problems rather than fix them is wholly unacceptable.
If you have an upper market car, (mine is 8 years old, hardly state of the art), do not take it to this garage. They have no skill or knowledge within their staff. They have no idea what they are doing should you have an electrical problem. They deny damaging your vehicle, and they get attitude should you call them on it. They create problems then get the hump when they have to pay to correct it.
15 days for them to break my window and not get it repaired properly.
What a joke of a company. Totally inexperienced and incompetent.
When Peter started giving attitude regarding the expense he was undergoing to fix my window he broke, I started taking a dictaphone to every visit. I have him clearly recorded and have proof of everything should he deny the situation.
I am considering taking my car to Mercedes, getting a proper window fitted along with the leak problem getting repaired and taking Peter to small claims court to get reimbursed.