DMS Auto Services, Caldicot

I dropped my van off to have both front lower arms replaced (I only required the bushes replacing, however Dave advised me they would only change the full arm). No problem, I trusted his advice. Before going to DMS, I obtained two other quotes. 1 from the MAIN DEALER of £350 +vat worst case scenario if the bolts were seized, and another quote from a local independent garage of £280, again assuming the bolts would be seized as this is a common issue on these vans. Both of these quotes included parts. Ford advised me that this job would usually take around 45mins per side. I dropped my van off and within 40mins I received a call to advise me that the bolts were seized and was I happy for them to be cut off. Being an Engineer of 25yrs, I understood their problem and agreed for them to cut the bolts off. This is an extremely basic task, along with changing the lower control arms themselves. Later that day I received a call to advise me that my van was ready for collection. When I asked for the invoice amount I was told it was £550!!!!! Now…..being a fellow business owner, I am very familiar with the Consumer Rights Act 2015. At no stage did DMS (Dave) give me a price/quote/estimate etc for the works. As a result of this, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 clearly states that the consumer (me) only has to pay with I deem to be “reasonable”. I don’t deem DMS charging me £550 to complete a very basic job (essentially part swapping) to be reasonable. I do however, believe they should be paid for the parts fitted, along with a “reasonable” amount to cover their labour. DMS would not give me the key to my vehicle until the invoice was paid in full, so I had no option other than to pay the full amount. I will be taking this further. If DMS had phoned me and given me a price/quote for the additional works of simply cutting a bolt(s) off, I would have refused and done it myself in my own workshop. They only phoned me to asked if they could cut the bolt(s) off. Unfortunately, this isn’t my first poor experience of DMS and their poor workmanship and customer service. Previous to this, I booked my VW Transporter in for a suspension upgrade, however upon leaving their garage there was a VERY LOUD banging from the rear or my van. I drove my van straight to my workshop and inspected the rear suspension…….to which they had fitted various components upside down. I had to then strip down the suspension and refit it correctly myself. I contacted DMS and spoke with Dave about the above issues and it came to light that after replacing the full suspension system on all four corners of my van, they hadn’t even bothered to test drive it to ensure everything was fitted correctly and safe to drive. It wasn’t. Dave became very defensive over the phone and very reluctantly offered a free service……which brings me onto another instance where DMS ripped my partner off whilst booking our family car in for an oil and filter change. My partner (female) booked our car in for a simple oil and filter change as it had not done much mileage from new due to covid etc. When she collected the car she was presented with a bill for hundreds of pounds as DMS had also charged her for a full engine flush etc (which it clearly didn’t need due to the age and low mileage of the car). In my opinion, I don’t believe they actually carried this out and simply charged her for it. In addition to the above, I also trusted DMS with investigating a low power/boost issue on one on my Vauxhall Vivaros. Upon investigation, Dave called me to advised me that the issue was down to a failed turbo and advised me that it required replacing. I gave authorisation for this to be done and collected the van a few days later…….the problem was still there. I then put the van back into DMS and they then decided it was the injectors that needed doing. I very reluctantly gave them authority to get this done as I needed the van back on the road. Again, I collected the van a week later and it still wasn’t fixed (I was nearly £1000 in by this point and my van was still no better off than it was on day 1). Dave then decided it needed an engine remap, so again I gave him permission to carry this out as I just wanted the van fixed. I picked the van up and…..surprise surprise it still wasn’t fixed. After losing all faith in DMS’ ability to actually fix a vehicle, I popped the van along to another local garage who fixed the issue within 20mins. A faulty MAF sensor was to blame and was replaced for a genuine Vauxhall part. The van then ran for over 2yrs without fault. It’s very disappointing to see a local business conducting themselves this way, and after to speaking to numerous other locals it seems this is a VERY common theme. DMS’ website clearly states that their pricing structure is “Transparent, with no hidden fees and provide upfront, clear pricing for all our services”. This is yet another clear example of miss selling and gives a clear indication of their honesty and integrity. Their website also states that they “take customer service seriously, striving for continuous improvement in all aspects of our operations”. I think Dave needs to read and digest that statement. DMS have build themselves a very poor reputation in the local area for their inflated invoicing and poor workmanship. Recent reviews from other customers also point towards this. After expressing my frustrations and asking Dave what can be done with the invoice, his reply was “The bill is the bill, you’ve got to pay it” he then continued and told me to “not come back”. His attitude was extremely patronising, childish and d unprofessional. DMS are also part of the RMI and Trust my Garage Scheme. These are both independent regulating bodies within the Motor Trade Industry. I have contacted both of the above and raised my concerns. I would strongly advise people to steer well clear of DMS and opt for one of the many other garages in the local areas. DMS charge £70+vat per hour for their labour, well above the standard rate in this area. For that amount of money, you would at least expect to be treated with honesty and integrity.

We’ve broken down in the middle of nowhere on Saturday night, around midnight, 100 miles away from home. Got towed here by AA as “an approved AA garage”, paid over £200 to get the car investigated and fixed. Of course not at first, because after initially paying AA to investigate the issue and plan for further repairs, we’ve been asked to pay £350 to get the car towed to where we live as the garage “didn’t have time to investigate for the next two weeks”, despite us paying for “30-minutes assessment in the next 48 hours”. Of course we refused without knowing what the fault is, as we really didn’t want to spend £350 for something that might be more cost effective to fix at the garage. Anyways. After making a formal complaint to AA, the garage found time to investigated and we were happy to pay extra to do so. The next day, I’ve received a text message asking me to pick up the car ASAP. When asked for a report detailing the cause of a breakdown, I've received literally nothing, despite calling AA Smart Care and asking for details (the report only said “wires investigation” and “car parts fitted”). When I called AA, they called the carnage, and then got quite rudely told to “pick up the car as the garage phoned me already”. I’ve found an additional driver on Saturday, drove back over 100 miles to pick up the car as supposedly “there was no space on the yard” to pick up the car on Tuesday (the parking was empty when we arrived). As soon as we hit M4, the light engine came off and the car broke down again the very next morning (same issue as when we left the car at the garage). Being disappointed is an understatement and trust me when I say that I’ll be escalating this further. Do not recommend.

Steering rack sent for refurbishment (or perhaps local scrap yard and a spray can who knows) and within 9 months is leaking like a menopause comedy night and after trying to find some resolution in the matter got a defensive not my problem kind of feedback followed by abit of aggressive attitude topped off with a f*#k off and hang up. Was actually quite funny made my day but that aside the other works they did to the rear suspension had parts missing so was actually abit dangerous tbh so I certainly would advise against this place

I've been taking my Spitfire and al of the family's modern cars to Dave at DMS in Rogiet, near Caldicot for the past 10 years. MoTs, servicing, repairs and now tyre fitting they do everything on time and do a cracking job to boot. Highly recommended.