Steer clear of the Welspool Service center, the place is a joke and it will be at your expense.

Bought a second hand car and paid for a extended 3 year warranty. When I needed the warranty their was no information about if my warranty actually existed. I complained about an air lock for 2 years and after every service the airlock was still there. Finally after a service I was driving home and after 5 minutes my radiator over heated. I was told that it must be a faulty cap and to buy another so I did and same problem. I took the car back and they found a hole in the radiator and that it needed a new steering rack. My car was in for 2 weeks before they were able to find my warranty details. After they finally fixed my car I checked the radiator and discovered that the they had broken bolts off holding the fan. I took it back as the fan was loose and I wanted this fixed. After it was fixed I noticed that the wheel alignment was out and my brand new tyre was now wrecked. Who puts a new steering rack in with out doing a wheel balance? John Hughes service center did.

Another problem I had after servicing was and oil leak started. I called them to tell them about this, I was told it was normal for a car to leak oil after a oil filter change. I stated to the that this was not a little bit of oil that it was pooring oil on my drive way. When I took the car back they discovered a faulty sump plug and tried to state that it was not their fault and that car was old. I stated to them, hold on your mechanic changed the oil and removed the sump plug and if he can not tell when he takes it out and puts it back in that it is faulty then your mechanics are not trained to a very high level at all.

I havent been to the east vicotria park service centre, all my troubles have been with the Welshpool centre. I would never take a car their, nor would I buy another John Hughes car. You pay more for a secondhand car to get the piece of mind from John Hughes reputation of servicing. To bad that reputation accounts for nothing, when your staff are poorly trained and take no pride in their work. Steer clear of the Welshpool Service Centre, the place is a joke and it will be at your expense.

Approximate cost: $300

John Hughes himself is a professional and a gentleman to deal with. Unfortunately his staff leave a lot to be desired, especially if you are a female. I was given such poor service I was forced to complain to John directly- twice. Whilst he quickly fixed the problem each time it makes you wonder how much time he wastes every day making up for his staff on the ground! My advice is to call him immediately you have not been given good service or had your problem resolved- he genuinely wants to know your feedback I think and will go to some lengths to make it right. Or just go elsewhere- there are better dealers around service-wise

Approximate cost: $40,000

I Put my car (XR6T) in to have the stereo recoded this morning. This is a 10 minute job that I've seen done before that costs nothing but 10 minutes of their time. (In fact if you are not sure, there is a Youtube clip showing a VCM and the Ford IDS recoding the stereo ICC. The longest part of the process appears to be typing in the VIN number and PCM type/number. Then you just choose it from the Audio menu and almost instantly your stereo is decoded. )

They charged me $148. Just to plug the car into their computer and chose the option from the WDS/IDS menu. I've seen it done before and that is literally all there is to it.
The receptionist was nice and friendly and the place was run very professionally, but very high price was for me a show stopper. They also kept the car in for an hour and a half. This was despite them booking me in 15 minutes before the mechanics arrived at work to get it done early.

When I told the guy at the counter that I'd had it done before though work many times and it never took more than 15 minutes before, he tried to tell me that it took a while to hook the computer up. (It's one 16 pin ODB2 plug in the fuse box) They were polite and professional but they charge way too much for the service they provide.

UPDATE I , I got a call from one of their guys, he was very nice and understanding. They did not want anyone to leave unhappy so they lowered the price considerably and apologised for the time issue.

I'm very impressed that someone would go to that much effort to make sure someone wasn't unhappy with them.

UPDATE 2, Nearly month later the promised money never arrived. Since it only had to get a couple of kilometres down the street I think enough time has elapsed that it would have made it by now if it was going to.

UPDATE 3, I left another message to say I'd not received the cheque. They said they'd reissue and they did. So I did eventually get the money back that they promised.

I have a VCM cable and a FMP subscription now so I won't be needing their services again. But at least they kept their word.

Approximate cost: $148

Very friendly but left us waiting for a lift to the office for 20 minutes after taking 15 minutes to do paper work. They gave us a $30 wheel rotation and said they would fix a slow leak in a tyre, as they ran late after having the car for a whole day and not being able to fix it they said take it to 'company x' and left our car on the spare. For the high price I was disappointed.

Approximate cost: $545

Have dealt with John Hughes on a number of occasions and can only recommend that other organisations should take a leaf out of his book. The customer service and understanding of each individual needs is incredible. Well done you have got it right and all your staff know what standard you expect. It shows by the service given to each customer.

Bought my lovely Getz from John Hughes 2 years ago, and got a good price.
Had my service done there for the last 2 years without any major costs or issues.
Rick is probably the man you will like to speak to.
He is friendly and does not make u seem stupid asking all kinds of car questions..
How's a lady to know the bolts and jargon of what runs inside a car?!
Sometimes a long wait time though.. So hop down to the cafe strip in Vic park!

Like insurance salesmen and second hand car dealers, the Automotive Repairs Industry has developed a bit of a dodgy reputation for ripping off unsuspecting clients if they can possibly get away with it. Those of us who don't know a lot about cars can be easy prey for 'over-diagnosing' and unscrupulous service mechanics.

Twice recently the John Hughes Service Centre have saved me a lot of money by refusing to do unnecessary work on my car that my previous service centre told me was urgently in need of doing.

On top of that, they have gone out of their way to explain exactly what needed to be done and why - right down to going out to the workshop and retrieving the damaged part they have just replaced, showing me the damage and explaining how that was affecting the safety and performance of my car.

It's hard not to be impressed with this level of honesty and accountability, and also the speed with which they deal with warranty issues. Two thumbs up from me! :)