andy180 wrote:

I think it is dependent on the dealer in question. I've dealt with good ones and bad ones Sometime you feel with a good Indy they just take that bit more care, as generating a bad reputation could ruin them.... many main dealers don't give a toss (particularly with older cars) as they're pretty much guaranteed servicing on most new (up to 3 year old vehicles)

Here here sir

I just took my wife,s car to a private service centre, what unfolded before my eyes was quite enlightening. The private service tech showed me the level of service that had been going on at the Main dealer service scheduled servicing as follows
#1 the sump plug had never been out, so no oil change for four years.
#2 air filters full of leaves and sand never been changed in four years.
#3 fuel filter never been changed in four years.
#4 spark plugs never been out in four years.
However I had been charged around $1600 for the last service by the main dealer where all of these items were apparently replaced. The private service guy stated that he had seen this a lot.
So I guess if you find a good trustworthy service provider go with it ! As for the dealer stamp in the book I don,t think it would beat private service stamp as long as you have all your documents to back up the service stamps.

jettec .. .if that's the case, I do hope you're going to tackle this with the MD.

jettec

on point 1 it is LR practice at some dealers not to remove the sump plug, but they suck out the old oil.
so old plug in place does not mean the oil has not been changed.

however, on the other points, sounds wrong to me.

I had similar experience with my Volvo xc90

Had always been serviced at local main dealer, at considerable cost.
As it got older, decided to use "Swedish motor Services"

The mechanic was a more mature gentleman ,took his time, he did loads of little extras that needed doing that I hadn't realised , for free. Gave me all the old disposables in a cardboard box . Said oil filter was a few years old

The car had never driven better in my 5 years of ownership. Alcohol and eBay is never a good mix

2006 4.2 Supercharged, Java Black