MOT con uneccessary work!

starstruck1

haveagoade wrote:

As for not being ripped off by BETS in Cardiff..............how do you know?, they gotta make some money for the cheap mot's sometime!

I don't know about all the MOT's done at the Cardiff branch. As I said "speak as you find"
The six MOT's I have had there have, in my opinion, been carried out by the book, no iffy failures and no long list of "advised" either.

I'm not sticking up for BETS in general, just expressing my opinions of my local branch.

Poppy9

Try being a woman going for an MOT; the pound signs are clearly visable in the garages eyes!!

In the past I made a complaint to VOSA over a car I bought from a dealer that had a new MOT. Couple of days after driving it I nearly crashed the car due to it having no brakes. Had it reinspected and it was a complete MOT failure and would never have passed earlier in the week according to VOSA. The problem was they said proving it as the garage would say that I had deliberately put defective parts on the car after the MOT. I think they just had a black mark against them but carried on testing.

The current system while left upto private garages that carry out repairs is always going to be open to abuse. MOT testing should be truely independent.

haveagoade

starstruck1 wrote:

I don't know about all the MOT's done at the Cardiff branch. As I said "speak as you find"
The six MOT's I have had there have, in my opinion, been carried out by the book, no iffy failures and no long list of "advised" either.

I'm not sticking up for BETS in general, just expressing my opinions of my local branch.

Well there you have it, you are a regular customer and there is a degree of "TRUST" between you, but what about first timers to the garage like me or others the garage see as an easy touch!.........they will try it on, as proved in my case, it depends on whether the MOT tester is feeling lucky and wants to try it on, or in my case going on holiday the next week........I kid you NOT!

haveagoade

The answer is to use Council MOT centre's .......I will in future!

Fraserca

I put my old Mondeo in to the local garage for an MOT in August as I wanted to sell it. I was told it failed due to need new front disks. I told them the disks were changed only 3 years ago but they said braking was uneven. They also said the back brakes needed adjusted but may need more work than that as they didn't dismantle them to see what was the problem.

I took it home as I wasn't wanting to spend much money an old car only worth £500.

After a couple of weeks thought I decided to go ahead and get it fixed so I could sell the car. I had a bad feeling about the first garage - I really felt that what they said wasn't true as there was no problem with the brakes when driving the car.

I went to another garage this time for an MOT so I could get a list of work to do and to my surprise it passed. The mechanic said how impressed he was in its condition in spite of its age !!

£44 wasted being given what was d***ed lies at the first garage.

There seems to be no proper standardisation or quality control in the MOT. On the whim of a mechanic who is under pressure to create work for the garage the poor customer may have a bill for hundreds of pounds for unnecessary work.

devoncat

I had similar problems with Budget Tyres in Paisley. My little "Bonnie" failed on 1. back wheel bearings 2. front lights not aligned 3. tyre (knew this one) 4. my turn signal lights were white and needed to be yellow 5. My brake light was out. They quoted me 260 plus the tire, but for me, they would do it at 220. I thought the lights were funny as I just replaced the brake light, but I just assumed it was a short. I stated I would replace the bulbs myself, but they discouraged me and when I think about it they were quite weird about it.

I am a student and dont have that kind of money, so I decided to just park her until I had money, and to fix what I could myself.

I replaced the tyre from one at a car breakers. While I was picking up the tyre, I just stood looking at my car when it hit me. Those white lights the mechanic said were turn signals and needed yellow bulbs were really position lights and the turn signals were already yellow lensed. I was furious. I admit, I dont know much about cars, but to lie about the lights...no wonder they were weird when I wanted to change the bulbs myself! I then had the car breaker man to look at my tail lights when I applied the brakes-of course my break lights worked-as I said I had just replaced them!

That got me thinking about the back wheel bearings...so I went to my friends mechanic Sprint Tyre in East Kilbride. I got my wheel bearings checked, they only needed to be cleaned, not replaced and the lights were all fine and aligned correct. I had the bearings cleaned and got new MOT as well--total price 75 pounds. Of that only 35 pounds was repairs and the other 40 was for the new MOT.

I now am going to write a letter to Budget Tyres and point out the lies they told me and request the price of the MOT be refunded as it was basically fraud. Three of the five failures were lies and 1 failure needed a much less costly repair. All I have to do is take a picture of the front of my car and the light configuration to prove they were telling porkies about the lights. I hate it when I feel that I am being taken advantage of. Does anyone know if Budget Tyre-Plus Autoservice is a chain with a headquarters? They have branches throughout scotland, but cannot find a hq to complain to? Who else can I report them to?

mr_accountant

devoncat wrote:

I had similar problems with Budget Tyres in Paisley. My little "Bonnie" failed on 1. back wheel bearings 2. front lights not aligned 3. tyre (knew this one) 4. my turn signal lights were white and needed to be yellow 5. My brake light was out. They quoted me 260 plus the tire, but for me, they would do it at 220. I thought the lights were funny as I just replaced the brake light, but I just assumed it was a short. I stated I would replace the bulbs myself, but they discouraged me and when I think about it they were quite weird about it.

I am a student and dont have that kind of money, so I decided to just park her until I had money, and to fix what I could myself.

I replaced the tyre from one at a car breakers. While I was picking up the tyre, I just stood looking at my car when it hit me. Those white lights the mechanic said were turn signals and needed yellow bulbs were really position lights and the turn signals were already yellow lensed. I was furious. I admit, I dont know much about cars, but to lie about the lights...no wonder they were weird when I wanted to change the bulbs myself! I then had the car breaker man to look at my tail lights when I applied the brakes-of course my break lights worked-as I said I had just replaced them!

That got me thinking about the back wheel bearings...so I went to my friends mechanic Sprint Tyre in East Kilbride. I got my wheel bearings checked, they only needed to be cleaned, not replaced and the lights were all fine and aligned correct. I had the bearings cleaned and got new MOT as well--total price 75 pounds. Of that only 35 pounds was repairs and the other 40 was for the new MOT.

I now am going to write a letter to Budget Tyres and point out the lies they told me and request the price of the MOT be refunded as it was basically fraud. Three of the five failures were lies and 1 failure needed a much less costly repair. All I have to do is take a picture of the front of my car and the light configuration to prove they were telling porkies about the lights. I hate it when I feel that I am being taken advantage of. Does anyone know if Budget Tyre-Plus Autoservice is a chain with a headquarters? They have branches throughout scotland, but cannot find a hq to complain to? Who else can I report them to?

i would have thought VOSA would be intrested, also trading standards too

matty_c608

haven't read through all of the thread, but I heard that going to your local council car centre or something will give you best results. They are not out to rip you off, only to tell the truth.

Well might not make a lot of sense, didnt exactly understand it all myself, however I'm sure someone can shed some light on it!

ohreally

devoncat wrote:

I had similar problems with Budget Tyres in Paisley.

devocat,if it helps you i can recommend a garage in Wishaw.I realise this is a little out your way however i personally worked with the garage owner for 14 years and his integrity is without question.As a point of interest for others his trade background is in comercials and diesels but nowadays his 'bread and butter' is cars and class 1V MOT testing and servicing...in fact he has a couple of customers regularly come to him from your town for servicing (car servicing that is ).

haveagoade

I have just had a written reply from BETS Llantrisant, a Mr N Lang the company secretary.

Whilst still maintaining the discs were "WORN to EXCESS as Presented", Mr Lang has offered me the amount I calaimed for the unnecessary work ,ie the cost of te disc's, as a gesture of GOODWILL.

I've accepted, as all I'm concerned about is the unecessary cost's, they can try to deny they were worn if they want.

I've still been greatly inconvenienced, having done the work myself, for which I did not claim, only the cost of parts was claimed.

But hey!.......perhaps BETS will have learned a lesson and be a bit more carefull in future!