How do you know a garage has carried out work

Can you somehow check if a new chain has been fitted without taking the car to bits , or if recent ask the garage for the old one , chances are they won't have it.

What car and engine is it? Most cars have belts now but I have seen cars advertised that I know have belts with "New timing chain" mentioned and vice versa. If its a 3.0TDI for example there are 6, I think chains. all at the back of the engine and from memory some are an engine out job to change. It should be the Garage's job to convince you that you are getting good service, if they can't do that I would go elsewhere. You shoudn't have to check upon them and getting the old parts back is fair enough but how do you know they are your parts, you need to trust them and if you can't, go somewhere else. My advice anyway, all the best.

My Wife had a Fabia VRS with full dealer history so to keep it up to date we booked it in to the local VW dealer. So this was for a full service, which was due and we asked them to change the brake fluid because we weren't sure it had been done regularly and an Air con re-gas. So flat rate fee for the service and two extra items charged in addition.
It started to look bad when I went to pick the car up and I had to show them where it was in the carpark as the didn't know what a Fabia VRS looked, certainly it was a wee girl form the service dept, so maybe some excuse.
I paid the bill, sounded right to me and drove about a mile up the road, whacked on the Air-con, no different so I U-turned in the road and headed back. next thing I get a Mobile phone call, we forgot to charge you for the Brake fluid change, can you come back, so I was heading that way anyway.
They had 'forgotten' to do the Air-con (but didn't forget to charge me) and so I had to pay for that and they asked me to bring it back next day and they would do the air-con, which I agreed.
When got home I thought about it and felt I couldn't really trust them, so I checked the brake fluid, which I hadn't even done before but it was very low in the reservoir and looked black. I took it to my local garage next day and asked them to have a look as I was suspicious they hadn't done it and thinking maybe I was OTT about it. They agreed from the look of the reservoir but also put it on the ramp and said no way had any of the bleed nipples been touched in years.
So back to the dealer, made a complaint, Service Manager comes out and assures me all the work was done. I asked him at one point what they do when they change the brake fluid and he told me they only do the fronts. I said there was little point doing half the job but he said it was VAG policy and wheeled out one of his Senior Techs to confirm. He confirmed what I had said that all 4 should be done and agreed to put it on the ramp and have a look himself.
He then did probably the best bleed I have ever seen taking about a litre of fluid out of each corner and admitted that it had clearly never been touched, by this time Mr Service Manager was stuttering and stammering and apologising. In the end we got all the work done we paid for, no offer of anything for free under the circumstances and we lost about half a day of our lives which we will never get back. They probably think I was happy with the outcome but to be honest I would never go back there, which is why in the main I like to do everything I can myself, then I know it's done and with good quality stuff, if you can get this kind of sh1t from a main dealer what chance have you got with a smaller Garage.
That's my worst story, there are others and it just seems for my sins I will regularly be on my back under the car in the freezing cold doing this that and the other repairs, trick is to buy a decent car in the first place, hence Audis now

The simple answer to the actual question is....


You sit and watch them work on the car

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Ah, you remind me of another story (shorter you will be glad to hear). Same garage, Parts Dept used to have a window through to the workshop. I was waiting for my parts to come through and watching the guys working on the cars. this mechanic suddenly took offence to someone's engine undertray ripped the last bit of it off and launched it across the workshop. He then looked round, saw me and looked decidedly embarrased.
Why did I go there later, I am wondering that myself now

Mine is very minor. A few years ago I had an evolution ix. I had steering vibration. So took it to the local quick fit. Had all four corners done. Drove out the garage, got to the national speed limit and the car and steering vibrates badly. Straight back to quick fit. They say all the weight must have fell off, they had had a bad batch, then why keep using them! As I was a bit particular I knew the inside of my wheels were spotless. You could see the old glue residue, but no new glue at all on any wheel. The job initially had taken 10 -15 mins. I questioned them about did they actually fit any. This got their backs up and the supervisor said he'd balance the wheels. 45 mins later with me watching success with the same supposed weight that all fell off. These weights were still on 8 months later when I sold the car. Never went back to kick fit.