Blowed away whilst towed away! (Fred Henderson Ltd)

Member Name: SWSt

Product:	Fred Henderson Ltd
Date:	11/05/09 (85 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very friendly, efficient service; puts the customer first

Disadvantages: Little tricky to find

They say you need three things in life: a good doctor, a good lawyer and a good accountant. Thankfully, I enjoy pretty good health, so don't need to worry too much about the first. I'm a pretty law-abiding sort of guy so, so haven't needed the second and I wish I had enough money to worry about the third. So much for accepted wisdom.

One thing I definitely need, though, is a good garage. And finding one that won't rip you off is always tricky. When I moved to the north east, I asked around for recommendations and the name of Fred Henderson came up repeatedly. I'm here to wholeheartedly endorse that recommendation.

The trickiest part about using Fred Henderson is actually finding the garage. The easiest way to direct people is to say that it is under the railway bridge. But even that hides a whole manor of left and right turns and includes going up what initially appears to be a dead end to actually find it! Parking within the garage area is rather limited, with several spaces reserved for rescue vehicles, so finding somewhere safe to leave your car can be an issue. Other than that, it's plain sailing all the way.

One of the big nuisances about garages is that they often require you to drop your car off and collect it by certain times (say 8:30 in the morning and 5pm in the evenings). This can be quite tricky to arrange if you work. With Fred Henderson, this is not a problem. Since they also operate as a rescue garage, they are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and are perfectly happy for you to drop your car off any time - even the night before it's booked in, if you like. Similarly, you can pick it up again at your leisure, so there's no trying to race through rush hour traffic to get there before the garage closes.

Fred Henderson has been operating in the Durham area for over 30 years. During that time, he has built up a solid reputation for excellent customer service, and it's clear that he is proud of that. The whole feel of the place is that of a small(ish) family firm who pride themselves on an excellent friendly service. Their mantra is clearly that a happy customer is a good customer - and one who will both come back and recommend them to other people.

So far, I've had cause to use Fred Henderson on a handful of occasions and have been impressed every time.

The first occasion was Mrs SWSt's car broke down with a suspension problem on a Saturday afternoon. We contacted them Henderson's, describing both the problem and our current location. He was very efficient and friendly, even taking the time to reassure my wife that he knew precisely what the problem was and that it was fairly straightforward to repair. He promised to be with us within about 25-30 minutes and explained that the pick-up charge would be £40, which for a weekend, I thought was pretty reasonable.

In fact, barely 15 minutes had gone by before he pulled up, loaded the car onto the truck and drove off. The whole process took less than 5 minutes. Throughout, he was friendly and efficient and anxious to ensure we were able to get home (we had assured them we had alternative transport) and weren't going to be stranded on the roadside. From contacting them to the car being taken away took less than half an hour, which is pretty impressive. Obviously, how quickly they can get out to you will depend on where you break down and whether they have any vans free to come out, but our experience was very positive.

As the car broke down on a weekend, they told us they would work on it on Monday,. Once again, the level of service here was excellent. Around 10am, I got a call from the mechanic, confirming what was wrong with the car. Although he clearly knew his stuff, he didn't do the usual mechanic's trick of talking in jargon. Instead, he told me in plain English what the problem was, how it would be fixed and the approximate cost. Less than two hours later, I got another call to tell me my car was ready for collection, which was pretty efficient.

The second occasion again highlighted their excellent customer service. My own car developed a leak - not an engine leak, but water somehow getting into the car, leaving it with its own in-built swimming pool.

When I dropped the car off, they explained to me that they would do their best, but such problems were notoriously difficult to track down. Mid-morning the same day, I got a call from them to say that the car was ready for collection, but unfortunately, they weren't able to help. They had checked all the obvious things, but they were not causing the leak and they lacked the specialist knowledge and equipment to investigate further. Although this was obviously disappointing, I appreciated their honesty. They didn't attempt to do lots of expensive, unnecessary tests that would have achieved little and happily recommended another garage which might be able to help.

And you know the best thing of all? When I went to collect the car, there was no charge! Now, they must have worked on it for at least an hour, so I expected a minimum of around £50 for their labour costs. But no, all I had to do was pick up my keys and drive off. How many other garages would do that?

Nor are these experiences one-offs. Every time I've used Fred Henderson's I've been completely impressed by their level of service and focus on the customer. Fred Henderson's is a local, family firm providing an excellent, efficient and friendly service which puts the customer first - a real rarity these days. It's an absolute pleasure to deal with a garage which you honestly feel is not there to fleece you, but wants to provide the best service possible. If you live in the Durham area, frankly you'd be mad to take your car anywhere else.

Basic Information
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Fred Henderson Ltd
0191 384 6319
Web: http://www.fredhenderson.com/

© Copyright SWSt 2009

Summary: Why go anywhre else?