DragonAuto.Works 

I have a Porsche Boxster S and intermittently the yellow “check engine light” has been coming on.

I contacted Llandow Tuning via their message App as I have put off having a full diagnostic as whenever I use my hand held system the upshot of it is that I either have a problem with the O2 sensors or there may be a leak somewhere in the system which under a full diagnostic could be found using smoke.

I was advised that they had a “rolling road” system and as they didn’t have capacity this week I could book my car in for this next Tuesday (24th October) for 9:30am, I live on the outskirts of Newport so getting to Llandow is not a leisurely stroll as it’s a fair distance away. I was aware that my car would have to be left overnight which I wasn’t particularly happy with but, expecting a full diagnostic I decided to roll with it.

I just wish now I’d delved deeper and did further due diligence but I’ll get to that later.

I arrived at the arranged time and spoke to Claire, she advised me that she was aware that the car was in for a full diagnostic. I explained that due to the distance/difficulty getting to the garage it was imperative that they kept me informed as getting there would involve 2 trains and a taxi ride. Claire acknowledged this.

Normally a customer is provided with an estimate of cost and given a rough time of how long things would take.

A young lad was good enough to give me a lift to the Llantwit Major train station and I commenced my journey home.

I am aware that a rolling Road system can take upwards to 1.5 hours to provide a report however when by 15:30 I’d received no progress report I thought I’d give them a call, which went to their system. I waited a further hour and rang again. This time I got through to Claire and was advised that the diagnostic was still not complete however I would get a call tomorrow morning (Wednesday) advising of the full report.

Wednesday morning came and went and I started to get a tad worried as I wasn’t being kept informed as requested.

I called at 12:30 and had no response. I called again at 1:30 and this time I spoke to someone who identified themselves as Ellie. I explained that I had been promised a call in the morning and was treated like I shouldn’t have dared pick up the phone, was completely talked down to with phrases such as “well this is how WE work, we provide ONE call a day” I was shocked as a diagnostic shouldn’t even take half a day however by the time my senses returned Ellie had disconnected the call. Customer service evidently isn’t this firm’s strong suit.

I was then left to stew as I had no idea whether the work had been completed however an hour or so later I received the following message from their WhatsApp system “ Diagnostics are still in progress, the ecu is in our electronics lab at the moment. We will advise on the conclusion as soon as possible.”

As I’m not fully aware of the process I wasn’t sure what the reason was why the ECU has been removed from the car and I’d received no follow up for the rest of the day. Don’t forget this was a diagnostic not any repair work.

By 10:30 the next day after having no calls returned I sent a message to their system advising that I had run out of time (and patience) and as I had to travel the next day to a funeral I would need the car back today.

I did not receive any response whatsoever so at 12 midday O sent a further message “ Following on from my detailed message left at 10:31 I’ve left a voicemail.
I need someone to call me back asap”

Did I get a call back? Of course not!

Don’t forget I’m also juggling work requirements as one cannot simply just take time off so these things have to be planned.

Still no call back so I started the journey to Llandow, I arrived, car parked outside so why no call?

Either way I went into the garage and pressed the green call button which advised me that “someone would be in reception shortly” 20 minutes later no one had arrived however another customer had arrived and he shocked me to my core when he advised me that his Peugeot 205 had been at the garage since 1 November 2022!

I then decided to wander as it had been 20 minutes since I’d pressed the button in reception and no one had arrived.

20 or so minutes later Claire came to reception and handed me the report, no smoke test, and comments such as “as the engine is in an inaccessible it limits the kind of testing that can be performed”.
So my car had been there for over 2 days and the engine hadn’t even been accessed???

Not difficult to get to a Boxster engine. The report was full of guesswork.

They only accept bank transfer or cash. Another red flag. Companies house ref no 13572971 tells a tale.

Poor customer service and a diagnostic check where no one had bothered to access the engine.

I view myself as lucky as even though I’m £96 down I’m thankful I did not arrange any repairs

Avoid like the plague as how can you charge for someone and not provide it?

Diagnostics Specialists - Not in this case!!!!!!!

It cost me £650 at Dragon plus trailering costs for a wrong diagnosis on an airbag warning light on the dash, and they had my car there for 6 weeks! They concluded that the airbag control module was fried and needed replacing and they couldn't do it because they didn't have the right equipment to programme it to the car, so they told me that it had to go to a main dealer.

They wanted the car off site quickly for space and threatened to charge me £20 a day for every day that it was there (apparently its in their T&C) so we organised for the car to be trailered to the main dealer ASAP and they seriously insisted on payment in full before releasing my car!

The car arrived at the main dealer on the Monday, it went into their workshop on the Wednesday and they diagnosed and fixed the problem within three hours. It was a broken clip in the wiring in the airbag system that had pulled apart!!! The airbag control module was fine. It even cost less than dragons bill!

Experts, not in this case.... and I'm an additional £1k out of pocket and deathly silence from Dragon since.....

Make up your own mind!!

Thanks Dragon

Avoid at all costs, also known as cowbridge specialists.

Claire is completely untrustworthy and lies constantly.

Had my maserati in for work, charge me upfront £2.5k for parts but after 3 months no work was done. There is paint damage to the entire side of the car and on both bumpers. I have pictures of this at their premises. I have taken them to court and been awarded a CCJ against them and the bailiffs are recovering the full costs. not money has been returned as yet! Read the reviews - we cant all be wrong

After I was blocked on Facebook messenger I thought it was time I shared my review of “Llandow tuning”

Before we get started, I am not bad mouthing their ability, I had no issue with them telling me the car was too much or too modified.

My issue was the fact my car came back with 2 immobilised ecus. It had one that was original to the car, and another ecu from another car. And neither of them came back sealed up after they opened them. Who knows how many of their customers ecus are left open to the elements ??

The owner of the company was very unprofessional and said he was not looking at the ecu that he had immobilised unless I paid him. His excuse was that I didn’t pay him for his time that he took on my car.

This is the exact response, quoted from the owner
“I iust think I am not the tuner for you.
I'll put the car back as it was on
Monday and you can come and collect
it. I dont want to spend any more time
on the vehicle”

He stated he was putting the car back to normal so why would I pay for the car to come back in the same condition? If anything a worse condition as I had to pay to fix his mistake.

Both of my ecus had been opened and neither were sealed back up, very poor mistake for a supposedly experienced tuner.

I have all photos of the messages between us to support this review.

I hardly ever leave reviews but my experience at Dragon Auto was much better than expected. The work was very well priced - especially considering they can also update the online service record. I feel the comments about the area being a dump is unfair - yes the roads are quite run-down and I would also be sceptical to drive a Lamborghini down the road but I found driving slowly in my own M140i solved that problem with no issues. Plus they have really cool cars about and clearly have a passion for them. Good sign.

I for one will definitely never be going to BMW Sytner in Cardiff for any servicing again - they were going to charge over £100 for a simple brake fluid change and mysteriously found a problem with my callipers which they threatened to charge me over £600 each if they broke during the service. Then tried blaming me for not having an extended warranty when it wouldn't have covered it anyway as it would have been classed as accidental damage. Rant over.

Dragon Auto completed the brake fluid service with no issues and for literally less than half the price (£47.50). I cannot fault my experience at all - staff were all really friendly and helpful, prices are extremely competitive and even had Wi-Fi so I could work whilst my car was being serviced. Couldn't recommend them more.

I have been a customer of Dragon for many years. I have found their service always very good and have recommended them to all my friends and family.

Having experience of using the dealer, I can say honestly that their service is superior in every way to that received by me from Sytner.

I booked my car in for an MOT and oil change, when I arrived at the garage it wasn’t what I expected at all. The garage looks like a complete dump and not what you expect from a “bmw specialist” the road to get into the industrial estate isn’t exactly a road anymore and looks like downtown Baghdad, if you have a performance car, if your car is lowered or if you actually want to look after your car do not drive it down this road.
I went into reception and it was even more of a dump than outside. The gentleman working there was polite but when I asked him what oil and filter is used he said it would not be genuine bmw parts, but the next best alternative… the only reason I booked myself in with this garage is because they claim to be a bmw specialist and use genuine parts, but this is not the case. I also had asked for a courtesy car so the work could be done but it wasn’t available. Thankfully I decided not to leave my car there and ive had the work done at sytner bmw instead, yes they cost a little bit more but I have the peace of mind my cars been looked after.
I must stress I had no work done here so can’t comment on their workmanship but there is no way I would ever leave my car at a place like this.

** In response to your quite bitter reply, I made the appointment over 1 month ago, so again this doesn’t look good on your part that you hadn’t even bothered to book me in. I was polite to you but ended up doing the right thing and leaving, in regards to my car being the cheapest in the car park I think a 2019 top spec m140i is definitely a little more expensive than the banged up old BMW’s and Maserati’s you had in the car park!
I think your reply itself shows how unprofessional your business is! Glad you’ve left this reply for people to see.

I am absolutely thrilled about the service that I received from Dragon Auto Works. They are such lovely, friendly and professional people and I would definitely recommend them! :)

Dropped in my old battered bmw for a timing chain and boost issue, must admit I was apprehensive about doing so (because I had a low budget), however - the service I received was fantastic. I set a budget and it came in lower than I expected and they did more than I could have reasonably asked for, the car now performs much better and I am over the moon with it, thank you Claire for making the experience much better, and thank you to the technician for the work you did and the time you took to talk me through it afterwards, I could go on and on about the things over and above they did for me but I'd be here all day, 100% I will be back there should I have any more problems or routine maintenance to do, please ignore the negative reviews as I did, I'm sure if you're actually human you will have a great experience here, thanks again all.

Seriously people please read this Companys reviews and there disgusting replies to people.

I took my m140i to this garage they call them selfs BMW specialist. (far from specialist)

The customer Service is disgusting.
They returned my car after 3 weeks after I pacifically said to them “fix all the problems on the car I do not care about the price”.

On way to collecting my car I had a call and was told “i have to sort my kids so we will drop the car to you tomorrow”.

48 hours later my car was dropped with no answer off the phone every time I called to see what time they were coming it arrived around 19:30pm.

When I had my car returned the wheel arch cover was missing they said to me we need you to check for anymore problems I paid £2500 for nothing.

The wheel Alignment was that far out I thought they took off my spacers.

By my understanding a garage is meant to find detect and fix problems not hand a car back to you still broken.

So I returned my car made it clear about the problems and made it clear and stated “before you hand it back to me take somebody in it to test drive it, get somebody to do Donuts in it I don’t care I want it fixed 100% no problems”

The car was given back to me still broken with £1000 bill I am flabbergasted.
Obviously I am not happy with this so I just took my car and did not pay paid £1000 bill.

So I asked my mate and got recommended a good garage because theses bunch of robbers has fitted a wheel Nearside front wheel ball bearing due to the wrong bearing being fitted the bearing fitted was for an x-drive model

I drive an m140i, theses people shouldn’t be a garage because the fat woman called me crying and said “all Bmw drive different, my husband has shouted at me can you just pay for the parts”

I said “ it should be me crying, you haven’t fixed my car and it’s been over 6 weeks, go away I am taking it to another garage”

So from finding this out they’ve fitted wrong parts when I called them the obese woman on the phone acted like she never had my car and new nothing.

I am completely shocked as a Customer that’s taking my car to a garage and I’ve made it clear I do not want my car coming back to me with any more problems keep it as long as it’s needed I don’t care I just want it fixed.

Clair was straightforward and knowledgeable and provided an excellent service for my elderly X3

Went above and beyond. Had a gearbox oil and filter change and fuel filter change, reasonable price, my car was left in the same condition it went there and is now driving 100 times better. Will only be using this garage and would highly recommend. All staff are friendly and helpful well done :)

Went here to diagnose the fault on my x3. Left and hour later minus £55 with a long list of errors. I was fairly sure the fault was the rdc module and it was referenced on the printout. Took to bmw 50 quid later advised the problem was the rdc unit replaced and all sorted. So to be be fair it was a waste as I was none the wiser taking it here. Ps watch the potholes on the roads on this estate

Great Garage. I'm so glad I was able to talk directly to the mechanic that clearly knew what he was talking about.

I have a 335i with an N54 engine and it developed a rattle not to mention it was down on power. I've owned the car for about 4 years and I have been to another garage/tuner in Cardiff but to be honest it always felt like a disappointment.

Now with a fault and the previous poor tuning I decided on the advice of Dragon to perform a stage 2 upgrade to my car and get some hybrid turbos, intercooler and a custom tune.

The car is like an animal but I feel confident knowing the work put in on the dyno. The video I got showing the car on the dyno and detailed specifications and logs of what had been done is impressive.

The video I got of the car on the rolling road was excellent.

Clearly Dragon know a thing or two about about Bimmers but also the cost of the repairs and upgrades didn't break the bank. Everything was under the estimate price

I highly recommend Dragon and their technicians. They have been able to do numerous jobs on my M3 that other local BMW specialists declined to even attempt to do. I not only had a stage 3 remap and associated work but retrofited seats and newer idrive.
The level of knowledge and experience is reassuring, a quick chat with the technicians will reassure anyone that when they say expert they mean it.
CLAIRE is straight to the point and can be a little how shall I put it, Blunt lol

OVERALL great job and I have already recommended to friends.

This is the best BMW specialist - ever!, and Claire is very knowledgeable about the technical aspects of BMWs. I had a problem with my headlights, took it to another garage prior to this. They stuck me a £300 bill to say that they could not fix it. With dragonauto, the whole thing was fixed in a couple of hours with a proper check up of my vehicle. In short, these guys are honest, good value for money, and they know their stuff for sure!!!

I really wish I had read the negative reviews on here before I left my car with this garage. I had similar experiences to a lot of the negative reviews on here.

Dropped my car off on 10/08/2020 for a warranty job, which ended up being a gearbox replacement. Arrived at my allotted time at 9.30am. Spoke to mechanic, said the receptionist was running late and only she could deal with me. She finally turned up at 10.15am. I was given my courtesy car - a 1998 325i. Engine management light came on straight away and it was an auto which was stuck in high gear. Car was also filthy inside which was shocking given the current COVID situation. Car was unusable so parked it up when i got home and never used it. This was just the start of the issues and lies.

The fault was diagnosed quickly and with the help of my trader the warranty company were involved and gave the go ahead for the work - this took approxiametly one week to get sorted.

From this point I had no contact from the garage and ringing was pointless as you never get an answer. The trader rang 17 times in one day with no answer at all.

Finally on the 27/08/2020 i got a call from Claire from the garage to say the car was sorted over a week ago but she was still waiting for payment from the warranty company. She confirmed she had not contacted them as these things usually take time!! Why she waited over a week to contact myself or the trader is beyond me. I called the trader and within hours he had got onto the warranty company who confirmed payment would be made once he had paid the warranty. He did this straight away. he usually pays them in bulk monthly and as I had only just got the car his monthly payment was not due.

On 25/08/2020 at 3.30pm I had a call from Claire to say all was sorted and I could pick the car up Saturday. Confirmed they were open 10.00am to 4.00pm.
At 5.30pm on the Friday I had a call from Claire - she hadnt realised it was a bank holiday and told me they always close on the saturday before the bank holiday. I asked if someone could meet me there anyway for 10 minutes just to give me the keys as wanted the car for the bank holiday trip. No help at all. Said best she could do was get the car delivered to to me on Tuesday.

Tuesday comes, my wife phones to confirm the car would be delivered. Told by Claire the car cannot be released as the invoice was still unpaid. This was despite her telling me it was all sorted on the Friday and I could pick the car up on the Saturday.

After numerous calls from the trader and my wife, Claire confirmed they would delivery the car that afternoon, the invoice had not yet been paid, but she told me wife and the trader it was fine as it was a warranty company it would be paid eventually.
Taking no chances I went up to the garage to collect my car myself.

I was then informed by Claire she would not be releasing the car and that whatever my wife and the trader had told me was a lie. She denied ever saying it was OK for the car to be released despite arranging for me to collect it on the Saturday, and stating it would be delivered tuesday afternoon. She basically called my Wife and the trader liars. After keeping us waiting and calling the warranty company she disappeared in the back room without a word. 30 minutes later she re-appeared and handed over the keys with a bad attitude.

Claire is very rude, rarely answers calls, tells lies and has no customer service skills at all.

This is my first and last experience of dealing with this joke of a garage.

EDIT (Response to your reply)

Firstly the attitude of your reply speaks volumes to your approach to customer services.

"Your trader (Daniel James Car Sales) arranged an appointment with us to diagnose the problem for him. He did not book a courtesy car for you as we were only supposed to be doing an initial assessment so he could decide what course of action to take next"

This is a lie - The whole reason I had to wait for the receptionist was to collect the courtesy car. One had been arranged and Claire had done the paperwork which is why the mechanic advised me to wait for her.

"It seems strange that you made no mention of any problems with the car until the day you decided to pick yours up and interesting that it's apparently another gearbox problem"

I made no mention of it as I heard nothing from you for nearly a week after you had my car. I was also told by claire that there was an issue with the selector but it "should be alright" I ended up using my sons car so saw no need to make a complaint, it wasnt worth it.

"You decided to go home to west wales with our vehicle and when we rang to advise you of the diagnosis later the same day you refused to return and collect your car, preferring to wait and see what the trader decided"

Utter nonsense again - The whole point of the courtesy car was to enable me to get home while you sorted my car. Not enough characters left to reply to the many lies told in your reply.

I can't thank Claire and this garage enough for what they have done for me and my BMW. I had recently bought a BMW and had a problem straight away. I took it to one garage and spoke to the dealership and refused to believe there was a problem with the timing chain. So I took it here as it's a BMW specialist. They looked at the car and confirmed it was the timing chain, it needed changing!
I had problems speaking with the dealership who I got the car from and Claire was amazing giving me advice about the car and how to deal with this guy from the dealership. Claire took time out of her day for 3 days straight texting me and even spoke to the dealership herself. Claire sorted this out for me!! She went up and above for me! This is by far the best customer service I have ever received. Absolutely amazing and I can't thank her enough!!
I will be returning to this garage again and again for anything to do with my car!! Thank you so much!!!

Had my mini diesel collected as a service offered whilst this corona virus is at large. Dpf issues brilliantly sorted out by a mechanic who clearly has a wealth of knowledge. Car delivered and explained the issues rectified. Car drives quieter and getting more mpg. Give this garage 100% feedback as I myself cannot sing highly enough of them.

When I suddenly realised my mot had expired they took the car in the next day despite being obviously busy when I arrived. I found them helpful.