johnny_t said:
bear in mind there are two worlds - Our world, where everyone assumes you are dead if you don't post for three hours, and the real world. It is possible the OP lives in the latter.....
I take your point, but it doesn't really apply to me, since I'm also in the latter.
My frame of reference was actually in a third type of world, that being the OPs' world - you may have noticed that some people bump their own topics if they haven't had a reply to their problem within 45 minutes. Others, of a similar ilk (being one wherein people believe that they have a right to expect everyone else on the forum to do all the work for them, and to be psychic) get stroppy when we don't deliver, or when their integrity is checked, or when they're criticised for such phrases as "get ripped off".
I believe austin1 to be in the third world. He might come back for some more 'advice', but I doubt that, wherever he is, it's in the real world.
*Local Honda garage, where I would get charged a non-Honda parts sourcing supplement or something like that, every time, leading to me having a debate about whether I should, every time, given that the Rover 600 and the Honda Accord are exactly the same car and use exactly the same parts.
I've heard that Honda/Rover isn't the only combination that leads to this type of charge; the reasoning I've heard, which makes commercial sense (if not a marketing sense), is that one of the brands is cheaper to buy, therefore there is a premium to pay either in length of warranty, or cost of parts (or servicing), even though the parts are identical.
Obviously this is going to annoy customers, which is the flaw in the whole approach, but the UK car industry is not famous for its ability to work out how to make an honest buck.