A1 Clutches - www.a1-clutches.co.uk

I had work done on my car after I had an issue putting it into gear and they collected it from another garage willing to carry out the job but I choose A1 due to reviews, costing £400 more than previous garage but I thought it would better going with an apparent award winning (specialist) I couldn't of been more wrong if I tried, got the car back the first time after paying £950 and asked how did the gear box look expecting a diagnosis to the fault but got you told us it was the gearbox in response!! So they didn't even check it over to see if it was just a cylinder that needed replacing but they advised me to change the clutch?? And gave me the price without VAT so it seemed good and added it on after the works done which is sneaky to say the least, but that's not even the start I got in my car and put my foot on the clutch, straight away I knew it wasn't right and asked the manager if that's how a new clutch should feel, he said yes he TEST drove the car and it will stiffen up over time so I drove up the road 2 minutes and the clutch was sticking and the gearbox was clunky and nothing like it was before the job and then the gearbox locked again but I managed to get it into gear after a minute, I took it back the next day and they said it will be fixed soon but I wasn't very optimistic at that point, I returned again to collect my car and again I was told it been test driven so off I went to collect materials for a job I just took on thinking it must be ok now, I got from the garage in Birmingham to stechford and the gearbox completely locked again the exact reason I had them look at it in the first place but with a new gearbox and clutch, so they had to recover it from stechford, so I had a refurbished gearbox new clutch and slave cylinder that I paid for but I have the problem I had before they even touched it, so now I know myself I didn't need a new gearbox clutch or slave cylinder I paid for I needed a master cylinder that's it! because now they changed that it drives perfectly, I called to advise them of the inconvenience and asked if they would rectify the issues but they advised nothing will be done apart from fixing the car!! I trusted A1 but they took advantage of me big time and I wouldn't reccomend them to my worst enemy. 0 stars unfortunately it was a horrendous experience and I massively regret choosing A1 and I'm dreading the mandatory services to keep my warranty that I'll definitely need I wouldn't trust them to service my lawnmower so I'll have to call head office and see what can be done

After reading all the positive online reviews of this company I decided to use their services to have the clutch replaced on my car (Cannock Branch).

At first this company was very polite and professional when i booked my car in for the clutch change, however after i picked the car up on completion the central locking no longer worked, they had missed two nuts off the lower gearbox mounting and had damaged the LH CV Boot whilst trying to separate the bottom ball joint, this resulted in the CV Joint losing its grease & both of which are a M.O.T failure.

I made the company aware of these faults and they said if I dropped it off they would give me a courtesy car and fix all the faults, I declined the offer of the loan car as I didn’t think the car was safe to return back to them so they arranged collection which was done in a timely manner.

The car was with them for 4 days, when I went to collect the vehicle I was told that they had fixed two of the issues but could not fix the central locking, instead they tried to make out it was a intermittent fault??

Whilst they had the car I had some advice from a Citroen main agent, who said the body control unit (BSI)software had been corrupted due to the way A1 Clutches had removed battery which did not allow the BSI to shutdown correctly, hence data had been lost and that’s why the key fobs no longer worked.

As it needed to be rectified at a Citroen Main dealer / Specialist with manufacturers diagnostics I told them that I would take the car and send them the invoice for the repair when done, I then took the vehicle and drove about 1 mile before I realised I had not been given my Mcgard locking wheel nut key back, I searched the car and could not find it anywhere so I phoned them to let them know and headed back to their business premises.

When I got there I spoke to the guy on the front desk and he said he would go and look for it, when he returned he said he has looked for it and that they do not have it?? I reminded him that the technician needed it to remove the wheel to replace the CV Joint boot and that it couldn’t have just disappeared, he replied by saying that he’s had enough of me and used some very choice language and told me to get out of their shop, this was in front of two other customers!!

To cut a very long story short I got in touch with head office who at first got a customer service guy to call me who was very rude and arrogant, he was talking over me and would not allow me to get my point across, instead he just seemed to focus on silly insignificant details and tried to belittle me , finally at the end of the conversation he wanted me to book the car to rectify the further issues they had caused and to search the car for the locking key, I told him that I had searched it several times including once with one of their technicians and it is not in the car and that I would think about his offer of the repair and we ended the conversation.

Later that evening another customer service person emailed me to book my car in for repair at a different branch and said they would refund me for the locking nut if I emailed them the invoice, I declined due to the fact it needed to be done by a Citroen main agent and that they had been so rude to me, I did however agree to send them the invoice for the wheel nut key etc.

A week later I booked it in at a Citroen specialist who fixed the central locking issue by reinstalling the factory data into the BSI, however whilst reversing the car out of their work shop the gear lever went floppy and could not engage any gear, their technician looked at it and was his opinion that A1 clutches had damaged a gear linkage during removal and it required replacement, I asked them to order the part and fit it for me and then had to leave the car and catch a taxi 20 miles home.

I have emailed A1 Clutches on several occasions but have not refunded me for anything, just replied in a way to try to make out that I was the bad person and to detract from the poor service and the substandard workmanship I received.

It is with regret that I have had to leave this feedback, but I think it is justified and unfortunately cannot recommend this company!