Malen

Absolutely amazing ability to get a car through an MOT and then accept no responsibility whatsoever a week later when a vital part of the test is found to be beyond repair and should of never of got through in the first place, even having the audacity to then blame the customer!!! Bought a car from a secondhand car dealer next door to this so called garage and I said I wanted a full MOT on it prior to the purchase. The MOT was done at Malens, with a couple of minor faults to be rectified and an advisory of (and I quote) slight blow from exhaust backbox. The failures were sorted by the dealer and then the retest was done, albeit leaving the same advisory. I accepted this fact as the car was a Y reg, and would be used a runaround for my wife, and budgeted for about £75 for a new backbox as it was obvious it needed doing when you started it up as it was much louder than it should be for such a small engined car. When I took it for a quote on this the exhaust centre said it didn’t sound like the backbox when it was running so got it up on the ramp. Imagine my horror when it we found a hole in the backbox, every clamp rusted solid, a jammed in lamba sensor and a huge hole in the catalytic convertor, this is where the noise was bellowing out from. When I told the mechanic what I’d been told he said that it should of never of passed the MOT and to add insult to injury I was quoted £480 for a new system, plus £80 if the lamba sensor broke when removing it!!! The car dealer said he’d take it up with Malens who have today said well it passed on the day so there’s no comeback, and even tried to suggest my wife could of done it in the week she’s had the car! The cat has been damaged for months looking at the state of it and yet their MOT tester is obviously blind and deaf (although nice to see that they offer employment to the impaired) as he’s managed to get it through a test. So my suggestion is if you do have the stupidity to deal with these crooks then make sure you inform of any complaint before you even drive off their site or you’ll be blamed. In my opinion it’s seems that they’ll get it through if they need it to but don’t care about any follow up complaints. Even I, as a non-​mechanic, managed to understand the VOSA MOT test guidelines found online so I can see no idea as to why they can’t! If you’re reading this Malens you may want to read the bit about exhaust systems and emissions!!!