I am not suprised.
My parents have had a complete debacle with their 2000 Holden Commodore in the last 6 weeks or so. This is the story as far as I know...
The bulbs behind all the aircon and around the ignition had blown - fair enough, its a domestic car that is 6 yrs old as easy repair - no?
At the 130,000km service, they requested the bulbs to be changed. It did not get done, but they did not get charged for it. A couple of weeks later, the car was taken into Canobolas Holden specifically to get the bulbs changed. Were they changed? well, no, apparently they had ordered them, but when the time came to do the job they were missing for some reason.
Next week it went in again. The bulbs were done. However, whilst reassembling the dashboard, they had not reconnected the button module for the trip computer.
In amongst this, one of the bushes on the front sway bar had disintegrated, and the one on the other side was beginning to break up, too. Fair enough, car had done 130,000km. But, just a few weeks previously the car had been in for a roadworthy inspection. This problem would have been present, and should have been noted on the pinkslip as a defect, and should have been repaired. But, it wasn't.
All repairs were fixed for free in the end.
On top of this, my brother's 2001 Mazda 323 Astina hatch went in for its 'pinkslip'. They obviously didn't notice that the rear wiper blade was kaputt and was not wiping the rear window. This was fixed my me for $8 (new blade)
On top of that...
*My 1990 holden nova (clone of corolla) went in for an oil change. Sump plug became cross-threaded. We don't know who did it, but the mechanic (Ultra Tune Orange) charged us $90 to weld in a new sump plug. Then, whilst reinstalling the exhaust manifold, they left off a couple of bolts, creating a fluffy engine sound. Was rectified for free.
*My 2000 corolla went into Canobolas Holden (mid-2003) to get some rattles removed. I was assured by the service manager that the mechanics had been looking at it all day, taking things apart and putting them back together again etc. but when talking o the mechanic who was assigned my car, no such work had been doen. We weren't charged, anyway. Still, the service manager lied to my face.
*Again, my '00 went in for a $360 40,000km service at Orange Toyota. Only problem is the coolant was only half refilled, and the tattered wiper blades remained
*My '05 at its 30,000km service gained the wrong oil filter. I took it back to the mechanic (Northside Mechanical in Wagga Wagga). I was told that the mechanic only put on the aftermarket replacement for the genuine filter that was there. So either NM or Ultra Tune Orange (where i took it for my 20,000km service) screwed up. Or even the person at the spare parts counter where he bought the new oil filter. Someone did.
a long post, but now I have some things off my chest