Almost Shafted by Cool Power Durban

I own a 1988 Toyota Land Cruiser. It is old and fairly simple, doesn't have any fancy gadgets or new technology. But everything works.

Then a few weeks ago the aircon needed another re-gas, something I'd been doing more and more often. So i took it to Cool Power in Stalwart Simelane Street, thinking "okay, may as well get it checked and get it fixed properly."

And that is where things get interesting. They told me it was "completely stuffed". I would need to replace just about everything and it would cost me about R10,000, ten thousand rand? I was shocked but thought it seemed reasonable. The aircon had been acting up more and more and it is an old car and things are bound to need fixing at some stage.

Luckily for me they couldn't get the parts they needed. I needed my car for a holiday. So I asked them to just re gas it, as I'd had done many times, and then I'd bring it back when the parts arrived. They said they could not just gas it. First alarm bell. I asked why not? They mumbled something about a shaft and all the gas leaking out.

I was at this stage becoming highly suspicious. Even my auto electrician had managed to re-gas it without any problems, so what were these guys, who claimed to be auto aircon experts trying to pull here?

I took it to somebody else for a second opinion straight away.

They had it re-gassed and repaired in 20 minutes, all it needed was some rubber o-rings, For R500.

Five hundred rand, vs R10,000...

So, in case you're still not sure what I am on about. Cool Power Durban are ***** and ******. They will tell you things are broken that aren't and will try to charge you a fortune for things that don't need replacing..

Do not be fooled by their mumbling ineptitude and impressive signage. They will shaft you and charge you a fortune for the privilege.