Can anyone tell me if it's possible to have a car serviced and have it returned to you without finding something else wrong with it? Please, I'd really like to know whether this unicorn is actually out there, as I certainly haven't come across it yet. It seems, without fail, that anytime the car goes in for a service (you know, that pesky 15,000km check-up that's mandatory should you want to keep your warranty), not only do they find numerous things wrong with the car that didn't appear to be a problem in the first place, but they actually send it back with a couple of other problems. Oh, and this isn't just any arbitrary service centre - no, we're talking certified dealers here, folks. Another odd thing I've noticed is how often the service rep winds up playing the role of the mechanic and says things like: "Oh, your brakes are failing? They're probably just wet." Please, unless you look like you sleep in a grease pit and play with spanners and engine parts all day, spare me your 'professional deductions' and go back to pushing your pencil around your desk. Fortunately, not all reps are like this, so congratulations to those who have read their job description. Although there has to be something said for those times when they take your engine apart and tell you some major part needs replacing, when all that's really wrong is some little spring is broken or something else has been tightened too much. But there are hundreds of horror stories out there, some of my favourites being the ones where people tape their bonnets shut only to find the tape undisturbed after being billed a small fortune in engine parts and lube. So please, share some of your own nightmares with us, or if you know of any, some of the better ones. Or perhaps you'd like to share your woes with the "self-appointed expert on customer service" Rupert Barkoff who has created a website to gather such stories, with the aim to write a book about the findings to help people and businesses right customer service wrongs. Who knows, it might actually make a difference.

Shan Radcliffe, Retail editor retailnews@bizcommunity.com Responses to this column welcomed in our new online editor's column archive.