Help! Daft Mechanic!

[Fishcake_Random]

Hey

I`m really cheesed off. Tuesday afternoon me and OH took the car to our local delership because everytime we pushed the clutch pedal right in we can hear a loud ticking sound (like marble dropping) shortly after this started the engine light came on. They took it in and said we`re do it first thing tomorrow and we picked it up this morning.We picked up and straight away noticed it was still ticking but the light had gone, we were charged £63 for one hours work. the job card said they had reset the oxygen in the engine which had caused the light to come on and oiled the spring on the clutch pedal.
We went straight back in and complained and they send a mechanic out to the car with OH to "show" him the noise we ment. They both came back after and the mechanic said the gear box needs to be taken out. At this point i was ready to hit someone.
The deprety manager sat us down and spoke to us. Looked at the job card and it says "ticking noise comming from clutch" which they took as meening pedal. I said well thats not what we said when we brough it in. The DM said that after the work has been done we can see him tomorrow evening and sort something out. he also said that it takes 3 hours to undo the gear box in our car which is £290 labour alone. I repeatedly told him we`d already paid him to do this once. He said he couldnt do any more untill after we knew the "damage"

Well im really cheesed off as you can imagine does anyone have any numbers or advise on this stuation? I really dont think we should be charged anything at all if they didnt get it right the first time, or at least just paying parts. We asked how soon we should get this problem looked at and they said ASAP it probally wasnt safe on the road.
What names, numbers, and non-threating threats can i make?

love fishcake.

[TheTrueKing]

Sounds like you need a new clutch

BUT without looking I'm guessing here, so I would take it to another 2 garages and see what they say.

[Cumbrian Male]

I would only expect them to knock 1 hours labour off the bill, sorry not the answer you want.

[waster]

I agree with Cumbrian Male. If they'd done the job “correctly” in the first place you'd have paid for three hours labour. You've paid for one because, allegedly, they have not addressed the problem. So, you should not be out of pocket which means a balance of two hours labour due.

However, the one hour labour that you've already paid also includes the work to solve the engine light issue. From what you've said this would account for most of the one hour charged, as oiling the clutch spring takes seconds.

If you want the problem sorted by this garage (and I would get some other opinion's first) then I would try and negotiate a reduction with them on the basis that anything you get will be a bonus.

[Jazzyjeff]

Sounds very expensive to me, I pay £20 an hour labour at my local garage. So thats £60 for 3 hours work, less than your paying for one hour!!

[balsingh]

[QUOTE=Jazzyjeff]Sounds very expensive to me, I pay £20 an hour labour at my local garage. !!/QUOTE]

Wow! Thats really cheap. From what I can remember, I used to pay more than that in labout from my local garage 5 years ago. Where is this so called garage?

[Jazzyjeff]

Yes he's really good, very glad I found him as I take both mine and my partern's car there.

He's a one man band in Portswood, Southampton.

[Quinny]

Dealership!!!!!!

Nooooooooooooooooo...........................

Dealers charge stand and deliver prices.Find yourself a reputable local garage by asking someone you know,and then pay them a visit.

Take the car to them,tell them what Dick Turpin,er,I mean the dealer told you,and ask them to quote for the job,but don't say how much you were going to get ripped off by.

Let us know what the outcome is.

Ken.

[doublegandt]

"Dealership!!!!!!

Nooooooooooooooooo..........................."

Could not agree more.

My experience (and I had a company car for 15 years - now, thankfully, out of that tax nightmare) is that dealerships have 'fitters' and not 'engineers'. They are there are revenue generators. Replace bits till it is fixed - don't diagnose the problem fully - invoice for everything - including the 'few seconds jobs. I once had a BMW dealer attempt to charge 30 minutes (at £60 per hour) to 'fit' new wiper blades - just the blade - not the arm!

I would only use a dealership for warranty and 'special order' parts only.

Get an independant proper mechanic - ask around.

If anyone wants an honest, reliable, trustworthy garage in the Knutsford area, just pm me.

[Wig]

To OP,

Your problem is a 3 hour job. They have worked seemingly unessarily on the car so far not adressing the fault they were supposed to (and hired to do).

You can't expect them to now do your clutch for free, it is a 3 hour job! you've only paid for one hour. You can ask them to refund the first hour already paid, and just bill you for the job at hand which is the clutch and is 290 pounds minimum. Surely your figures are wrong somewhere?
60 pounds per hour 3 hours = 180 pounds not 290 pounds :confused:

I also don't understand people who use stealers (dealers) find a cheap garage and pay a lot less.