esure (Car) + Morley Slater (Body Shop, Derby) = Nightmare! Please Help!

digi-tal

Hello All,

I am writing today to assist a friend who is in desperate need of help!

My friend had another car crash into him on a roundabout, the other driver caused damage to the drivers door and rear panel. He promptly contacted his insurance company, esure, to claim to get his car fixed. esure arranged for Helphire to come and drop of a replacement car and for the body shop, Morley Slater, to collect his car. The repair began and all went well until last Friday.

On Friday he recieved a telephone call from Morley Stater to advise the repair was almost complete, during this telephone call he was asked if his central locking was working before the accident. He replied yes, as it had been.

A short while later he received another telephone call from Morley Slater to advise they had checked the central locking and it could not have ever worked as there were some components missing! The missing parts were part of the locking mechanism from the door that has been replaced and the switch from inside his keys! Morley Salter said there was nothing more they could do!

Quite shocked by this my fried immediately got on the phone to esure to ask for help. esure advised they already know about the situation but would get the engineering department to contact him to sort things out. Another lengthy phone call with the engineering department and my friend was basically called a liar and that he was trying to get something fixed that has never worked. The engineer did say he would have words with someone and make a final decision.

Today the final decision has come from esure, it is not good news, they are not going to fix his central locking. They want the hire car back and if he wants a car to drive he is going to have to pay the excess and collect his car back still faulty!

He really does not know to do now, the central locking did work before it went in for repair. I even have CCTV footage from less than an hour after the accident when he came to my work to show me the damage. This video shows him reach into his pocket, remove his keys and press the button, then the hazard lights flash on his car!

After esure were told about the CCTV he was again called a liar and told that he has fabricated the recordings! Why would he do this?

Thanks in advance for any advice offered, I really hope we can get this sorted for him!

Paul.

Tygermoth

Advise your friend to put his complaint in writing to the insurance company and send a copy of the cctv footage.

Should they not listen to reason and not resolve the matter to your satisfaction write to the regulators (their contact information will be provided once you have made your complaint)

I would not recommend talking to them via the phone further as the call operators are not invested with the 'power' to make these decisions only a complaints handler or manager can.

Kind regards

Tyger

lisyloo

Well an obvious explanation seems to be that bits have been lsot in the impact.

Your friend could write a letter (by recorded delivery 75p) asking them them to fix the car within 10 days, after which he'll take them to the small claims track in the county court, then a judge can decide if your friend is lying.

The cost is fairly small, however he may need a day off to go to court and I believe the defendant can have the case heard in their local court, so he should check where there offices are to make sure he isn't going to have to travel the length of the country.

lisyloo

ah......it's like buses, you wait an hour and then two come.

Pros of complaints service are:
no time off or travel or cost involved

Cons are:
It can take ages especially if you have to get the ombudsman involved

pros of county court are:
much quicker

cons are:
small cost, time off and possible travel

digi-tal

Many thanks to you both for the quick replies!

Tygermoth - I agree that the next step would be to write in making an official complaint. I have also let him know about the Financial Ombudsman should he need to take it that far.

Lisyloo - Would he need to pay to have the repairs completed before he would be able to claim the money back via small claims?

I would think the component went missing from the door when the car was disassembled by the bodyshop. They then decided to take the key appart and lost the switch out of it, they didn't really have any need to touch the key. Now they appear to be trying to cover it up.

We were hoping to try and sort things out before he has to accept the car back. Will he have problems in the future if he collects the car?

I really can't believe it is happening, what happened to 'The customer is always right!'?

Paul

lisyloo

Will he have problems in the future if he collects the car?

Well for one thing, he has to think about how he's going to keep it secure without locking.
Wheel clamp might be a good idea short term.

digi-tal

lisyloo wrote: »

Well for one thing, he has to think about how he's going to keep it secure without locking.
Wheel clamp might be a good idea short term.

The car will still lock by sticking the key in the door, he just cant press the buton on his keys and do it the lazy way. He will also have to go round and lock each door instead of them all locking at the same time.

At least he can still use the car!

Paul.

lisyloo

Ah well in that case, he might be better off going the complaints route and jsut putting up with the inconvenience.
There is no risk or cost associated with this route.

The only problem is that if you do get as far as the ombudsman then it takes time.
So it could take quite a few months.

I would recommend sending letters by recorded delivery (75p).
It's not just that things get lost in the post, but companies also cynically use it as an excuse. A small cost will probably stop them using that excuse.

digi-tal

Hello All,

We have just been to pick the car up, the story is getting even more unbelievable.

Previously my friend has been told that the drivers door could never have locked electronically as there was a component missing from it. How surprised were we when we pressed the 'Lock/Unlock' button on the dashboard and the drivers door locked! So this is the first lie that Morley Slater has told.

Looking at the key it is obvious that it has been opened, were were shown picture of the circuit inside where the switch should be and is missing. Even after their other lie had been exposed they refused to back down and continued to say the key never had a switch in! Morley Slater had no need to open the key and their incompetence has caused this to happen.

esure said they would not do anything because there were two components missing and if there was just one they would give the benefit of the doubt. Now we have found there is only one component missing maybe they can help?

One thing is sure, there will be a hefty complaint to both Morley Slater and esure!

I will keep the thread updated with any further developments.

Paul.

mattymoo

Did the car have a second key with central locking controls on? They can't have tampered with both and, using the second key, he could prove beyond doubt that the body shop have lost something (the plot - it would seem).

Niki_at_esure.com

Hello - I work for esure in the Corporate Communications department. Have just read your posts and wanted to let you know that I am fully aware of this particular claim and we have been in regular conversations with our customer since the accident. I'm unfortunately not able to disclose any of the details of this claim or our findings on this forum for privacy reasons - particularly as our customer hasn't directly posted a comment here - but I do want to let you know that as part of our complaint handling process, we always do give full details of how our customers can contact the Financial Ombudsman Service if they are unhappy with our handling of a complaint. Really sorry I can't give any more specifics. Niki