Has anyone any knowledge of the Beetle Barn in St.Ives Cambridgeshire. Need some welding and general engine repair and looking for someone local. Live in St. Neots. thanks Pammy
Personally I have not used them but have heard mixed reports. T2D come recommended but know how to charge for it. Try talking to Zed off here, he is based near Ely.
Just used them to do some work on my van, Tristian is a lovely bloke and I think he did a good job, but........ It took way longer than it should have done, he's busy and so I think he perhaps takes on too much, if you use him then nail him down on timescales and keep hassling....... I'm just up the road in Alconbury...
T2D at Burwell are good, there is also a small VW repair in Star Industrial estate Exning I heard Beetle Barn are slow more of a hobby.
Well, just to revisit this thread, turns out Tristian at The Beetle Barn wasn't such a lovely bloke, he's left his workshop owning thousands and leaves a wake of unhappy customers that appear to have been ripped off, all the work he did for me last year needs to be done again properly, he used thin bodywork 'tin' on structural chassis bits and a liberal application of black goo to make it look good.... Not happy.... There is a new guy ( Den ) taken over the same workshop who is 'making good' as we speak, from what I have seen he is thorough and seems to know his onions... I'll report back with whats what....
I'm glad someone dissed them. He fitted an engine for one of my customers and set the timing 40 deg BTC. I'm guessing he didn't have a timing gun and static timed the wrong end of the dwell. Good luck to the new bloke who hasn't inherited much of a reputation.
Only lived up the road from Beetle Barn, went in once, just to chat, phoned dozens of times with no response. Didn't like the guy or his mate. No loss
If I ever see this bloke in Tescos there will be a 'first aider to aisle 5 for spillage clean up' announcement... It seems that not only did he use a crap bit of tin spot welded into the Y chassis rail, most of the rest of it was newspaper and filler, heaps of it, May 29th 2012 Town Crier I think it was... FFS, I wouldn't have cared quite so much if it was a bit of bodywork, but this is a safety critical bit! To think I've been driving my kids around in that state.... What the fcuk was he thinking? It was going to get spotted sooner rather than later, apparently it would have taken almost as long to bodge it as do it properly..... Hey ho..... At least it's getting sorted now....
