"Don’t let Dragon ruin your car!"

Having posted a lengthy review elsewhere I would like to reiterate that Dragon Autos are incompetent and not to be trusted. I took my then 10 year old mini (62 plate, 63 registered) to them last year for a new timing chain. It was in excellent condition for the year and had FSH with a recent service, and had sailed through the last mot. Its only issue was the timing chain which is normal at 100k miles. It was discussed whether to replace the clutch pre-emptively though currently fine, and I was happy to go along with this to save future labour expense as Claire (receptionist) agreed the car was excellent for its age. In fact she said it would ‘be good for another 100k miles with new timing chain and clutch’ I was initially told the fly wheel was fine but then that actually should be replaced as well. Again I was happy with this as I intended to keep the car indefinitely. The repair went ahead but I was unable to collect the day it was supposedly ready so they kept it over the weekend. However by Monday they discovered a ‘small oil leak’. They assured me they would sort this and return the car to me later the same day but this didn’t happen and I tried, unsuccessfully, to contact them for the next 5 days to find out what was happening. I therefore went back only to find no engine in the car and was told the engineer had initially reassembled it wrong and it had to be done again. I think it is of note that on this day there was a queue of dissatisfied customers with various issues. A week later my car was ready. I collected it and it was filthy inside and out. On driving home the sidelight warning light came on. Having by now lost confidence in Dragon I took it elsewhere and it transpired one bulb was missing and other left with wire trailing.
The next problem was air con not working. I decided I would have to approach Dragon about this as nothing had been mentioned and it was a bigger issue than the lights. I went to Dragon and found an engineer who told me the unit was corroded so they couldn’t refill it. I asked why I hadn’t been told and he told me to ask Claire (receptionist) who was out. I waited for her return and began to ask saying ‘I’ve noticed the air con isn’t working and hasn’t been refilled…..’ only for her to interrupt aggressively to insist that it had. I said I had already been told by the engineer that it hadn’t and that he claimed the unit was corroded. I asked why, if that was the case, I hadn’t been told and asked if she thought the all round service I had received…..engine reassembled wrong, no contact, lights not connected, air con not refilled but not advised…,was acceptable. I asked this calmly, not in ‘Karen mode’ as she has claimed in response to my previous review. Her response was again aggressive. She stated mistakes happen and she didn’t know what I expected her to do about it. At that point I left. A few weeks later an oil leak appeared under my car. It wasn’t a significant amount and I was doing minimal mileage so I decided to monitor it rather than risk returning it to Dragon to do more damage and have to deal with Claire’s aggression. However the leak was picked up on the next mot as an ‘advisory’ and was getting worse so I took the car to a reputable garage to have it investigated. I was told that when the timing chain was replaced the timing chain cover was broken and there had been a bodged attempt to repair it with Liquid Metal. This has failed, causing the oil leak and repairing now would be very expensive. This damage and bodged repair could only have happened whilst the engine was in bits and Dragon are the only garage who have ever had access to it. It was 24/06/23 when I collected the car so Dragon’s ‘12 month warranty’ would still be valid so not ‘over a year’ as stated in Claire’s response to my other review. However as I wouldn’t trust them with a pedal car the warranty isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. I only wish I had read other reviews about the poor service, CCJ’s against them and Claire’s attitude before spending £2K there only for them to ruin my car.

"Even Dick Turpin wore a mask"

I have a Porsche Boxster S and intermittently the yellow “check engine light” has been coming on.

I contacted Llandow Tuning via their message App as I have put off having a full diagnostic as whenever I use my hand held system the upshot of it is that I either have a problem with the O2 sensors or there may be a leak somewhere in the system which under a full diagnostic could be found using smoke.

I was advised that they had a “rolling road” system and as they didn’t have capacity this week I could book my car in for this next Tuesday (24th October) for 9:30am, I live on the outskirts of Newport so getting to Llandow is not a leisurely stroll as it’s a fair distance away. I was aware that my car would have to be left overnight which I wasn’t particularly happy with but, expecting a full diagnostic I decided to roll with it.

I just wish now I’d delved deeper and did further due diligence but I’ll get to that later.

I arrived at the arranged time and spoke to Claire, she advised me that she was aware that the car was in for a full diagnostic. I explained that due to the distance/difficulty getting to the garage it was imperative that they kept me informed as getting there would involve 2 trains and a taxi ride. Claire acknowledged this.

Normally a customer is provided with an estimate of cost and given a rough time of how long things would take.

A young lad was good enough to give me a lift to the Llantwit Major train station and I commenced my journey home.

I am aware that a rolling Road system can take upwards to 1.5 hours to provide a report however when by 15:30 I’d received no progress report I thought I’d give them a call, which went to their system. I waited a further hour and rang again. This time I got through to Claire and was advised that the diagnostic was still not complete however I would get a call tomorrow morning (Wednesday) advising of the full report.

Wednesday morning came and went and I started to get a tad worried as I wasn’t being kept informed as requested.

I called at 12:30 and had no response. I called again at 1:30 and this time I spoke to someone who identified themselves as Ellie. I explained that I had been promised a call in the morning and was treated like I shouldn’t have dared pick up the phone, was completely talked down to with phrases such as “well this is how WE work, we provide ONE call a day” I was shocked as a diagnostic shouldn’t even take half a day however by the time my senses returned Ellie had disconnected the call. Customer service evidently isn’t this firm’s strong suit.

I was then left to stew as I had no idea whether the work had been completed however an hour or so later I received the following message from their WhatsApp system “ Diagnostics are still in progress, the ecu is in our electronics lab at the moment. We will advise on the conclusion as soon as possible.”

As I’m not fully aware of the process I wasn’t sure what the reason was why the ECU has been removed from the car and I’d received no follow up for the rest of the day. Don’t forget this was a diagnostic not any repair work.

By 10:30 the next day after having no calls returned I sent a message to their system advising that I had run out of time (and patience) and as I had to travel the next day to a funeral I would need the car back today.

I did not receive any response whatsoever so at 12 midday O sent a further message “ Following on from my detailed message left at 10:31 I’ve left a voicemail.
I need someone to call me back asap”

Did I get a call back? Of course not!

Don’t forget I’m also juggling work requirements as one cannot simply just take time off so these things have to be planned.

Still no call back so I started the journey to Llandow, I arrived, car parked outside so why no call?

Either way I went into the garage and pressed the green call button which advised me that “someone would be in reception shortly” 20 minutes later no one had arrived however another customer had arrived and he shocked me to my core when he advised me that his Peugeot 205 had been at the garage since 1 November 2022!

I then decided to wander as it had been 20 minutes since I’d pressed the button in reception and no one had arrived.

20 or so minutes later Claire came to reception and handed me the report, no smoke test, and comments such as “as the engine is in an inaccessible it limits the kind of testing that can be performed”.
So my car had been there for over 2 days and the engine hadn’t even been accessed???

Not difficult to get to a Boxster engine. The report was full of guesswork.

They only accept bank transfer or cash. Another red flag. Companies house ref no 13572971 tells a tale.

Poor customer service and a diagnostic check where no one had bothered to access the engine.

I view myself as lucky as even though I’m £96 down I’m thankful I did not arrange any repairs

Avoid like the plague as how can you charge for someone and not provide it?

"Wrong diagnosis and they had my car for 6 weeks!"

Diagnostics Specialists - Not in this case!!!!!!!

It cost me £650 at Dragon plus trailering costs for a wrong diagnosis on an airbag warning light on the dash, and they had my car there for 6 weeks! They concluded that the airbag control module was fried and needed replacing and they couldn't do it because they didn't have the right equipment to programme it to the car, so they told me that it had to go to a main dealer.

They wanted the car off site quickly for space and threatened to charge me £20 a day for every day that it was there (apparently its in their T&C) so we organised for the car to be trailered to the main dealer ASAP and they seriously insisted on payment in full before releasing my car!

The car arrived at the main dealer on the Monday, it went into their workshop on the Wednesday and they diagnosed and fixed the problem within three hours. It was a broken clip in the wiring in the airbag system that had pulled apart!!! The airbag control module was fine. It even cost less than dragons bill!

Experts, not in this case.... and I'm an additional £1k out of pocket and deathly silence from Dragon since.....

Make up your own mind!!

Thanks Dragon

"CCJ awarded, charge for parts not fitted, paint damage"

Avoid at all costs, also known as cowbridge specialists.

Claire is completely untrustworthy and lies constantly.

Had my maserati in for work, charge me upfront £2.5k for parts but after 3 months no work was done. There is paint damage to the entire side of the car and on both bumpers. I have pictures of this at their premises. I have taken them to court and been awarded a CCJ against them and the bailiffs are recovering the full costs. not money has been returned as yet! Read the reviews - we cant all be wrong

"Two ecus left unsealed and one was completely immobilised"

After I was blocked on Facebook messenger I thought it was time I shared my review of “Llandow tuning”

Before we get started, I am not bad mouthing their ability, I had no issue with them telling me the car was too much or too modified.

My issue was the fact my car came back with 2 immobilised ecus. It had one that was original to the car, and another ecu from another car. And neither of them came back sealed up after they opened them. Who knows how many of their customers ecus are left open to the elements ??

The owner of the company was very unprofessional and said he was not looking at the ecu that he had immobilised unless I paid him. His excuse was that I didn’t pay him for his time that he took on my car.

This is the exact response, quoted from the owner
“I iust think I am not the tuner for you.
I'll put the car back as it was on
Monday and you can come and collect
it. I dont want to spend any more time
on the vehicle”

He stated he was putting the car back to normal so why would I pay for the car to come back in the same condition? If anything a worse condition as I had to pay to fix his mistake.

Both of my ecus had been opened and neither were sealed back up, very poor mistake for a supposedly experienced tuner.

I have all photos of the messages between us to support this review.

"10/10 Service. Unfair comments about road - just drive slowly"

I hardly ever leave reviews but my experience at Dragon Auto was much better than expected. The work was very well priced - especially considering they can also update the online service record. I feel the comments about the area being a dump is unfair - yes the roads are quite run-down and I would also be sceptical to drive a Lamborghini down the road but I found driving slowly in my own M140i solved that problem with no issues. Plus they have really cool cars about and clearly have a passion for them. Good sign.

I for one will definitely never be going to BMW Sytner in Cardiff for any servicing again - they were going to charge over £100 for a simple brake fluid change and mysteriously found a problem with my callipers which they threatened to charge me over £600 each if they broke during the service. Then tried blaming me for not having an extended warranty when it wouldn't have covered it anyway as it would have been classed as accidental damage. Rant over.

Dragon Auto completed the brake fluid service with no issues and for literally less than half the price (£47.50). I cannot fault my experience at all - staff were all really friendly and helpful, prices are extremely competitive and even had Wi-Fi so I could work whilst my car was being serviced. Couldn't recommend them more.

"Thanks"

I have been a customer of Dragon for many years. I have found their service always very good and have recommended them to all my friends and family.

Having experience of using the dealer, I can say honestly that their service is superior in every way to that received by me from Sytner.

"Not what you’d expect from a bmw “specialist”"

I booked my car in for an MOT and oil change, when I arrived at the garage it wasn’t what I expected at all. The garage looks like a complete dump and not what you expect from a “bmw specialist” the road to get into the industrial estate isn’t exactly a road anymore and looks like downtown Baghdad, if you have a performance car, if your car is lowered or if you actually want to look after your car do not drive it down this road.
I went into reception and it was even more of a dump than outside. The gentleman working there was polite but when I asked him what oil and filter is used he said it would not be genuine bmw parts, but the next best alternative… the only reason I booked myself in with this garage is because they claim to be a bmw specialist and use genuine parts, but this is not the case. I also had asked for a courtesy car so the work could be done but it wasn’t available. Thankfully I decided not to leave my car there and ive had the work done at sytner bmw instead, yes they cost a little bit more but I have the peace of mind my cars been looked after.
I must stress I had no work done here so can’t comment on their workmanship but there is no way I would ever leave my car at a place like this.

** In response to your quite bitter reply, I made the appointment over 1 month ago, so again this doesn’t look good on your part that you hadn’t even bothered to book me in. I was polite to you but ended up doing the right thing and leaving, in regards to my car being the cheapest in the car park I think a 2019 top spec m140i is definitely a little more expensive than the banged up old BMW’s and Maserati’s you had in the car park!
I think your reply itself shows how unprofessional your business is! Glad you’ve left this reply for people to see.

"Great Customer Service"

I am absolutely thrilled about the service that I received from Dragon Auto Works. They are such lovely, friendly and professional people and I would definitely recommend them! :)

"Dropped in my old battered bmw for a…"

Dropped in my old battered bmw for a timing chain and boost issue, must admit I was apprehensive about doing so (because I had a low budget), however - the service I received was fantastic. I set a budget and it came in lower than I expected and they did more than I could have reasonably asked for, the car now performs much better and I am over the moon with it, thank you Claire for making the experience much better, and thank you to the technician for the work you did and the time you took to talk me through it afterwards, I could go on and on about the things over and above they did for me but I'd be here all day, 100% I will be back there should I have any more problems or routine maintenance to do, please ignore the negative reviews as I did, I'm sure if you're actually human you will have a great experience here, thanks again all.