Dutton Forshaw Citroen, Maidstone, Kent

Both sets of keys to my 2001 Citroen Xantia 2.0 HDi were stolen in a burglary so I called this local main dealer, Dutton Forshaw, in Maidstone, Kent to order a new set. These arrived a week later and I booked the car in for the keys to be reprogrammed to the immobiliser on the vehicle and quoted £50 on top of the £170 I'd paid for a remote and master key. I had the car towed to the dealership and was called later that day to be told that they "couldn't get the computer to talk to the ECU" on my car. We are not sure why so we are going to get a specialist to come from outside, but that will cost you an extra £65.

I immediately enquired why a main dealer needed a specialist to get a key to work with a car and asked whether there was an assurance that the extra £65 would mean that the key would be programmed. They said no but I agreed very reluctantly to pay on the condition that the specialist would speak to me to explain what he thought the problem was of my ECU continued to not talk to their computer. Two days later I was called back to say that the specialist had gone, but he couldn't get it to work either. It might be a bad wire which would need to be chased through the loom or I might need a new ECU.

I then insisted that I spoke to the specialist and got his phone number. They were unsure of whether their computer was working correctly and were basically charging me to check it.

Long years of experience with cars have taught me to never throw good money after bad and never write a blank check for a dealer who appear to be incompetent, because they'll replace a lot of bits that don't need replacing. So I had the car towed to Medway Security Centre, an Auto Locksmith in Gillingham 10 miles away. They took 20 mins to program the new keys. £35, job done.