VENT: Nationwide Autocentres

Unhappy_Bunny_3

Hi All,

Back in August, I heard a rattling from my engine. I took my Vauxhall Corsa to Drive Vauxhall and it was identified as a slack Timing Chain that required replacement. I phone around and Nationwide came out the cheapest. I took the car to them in early September and they did the job and I paid up.

The following day I noticed my car was very sluggish and would "bunny hop" down the road when I was travelling at a constant speed. The engine would also occassionally cut out whilst braking. I took the car back to Nationwide and I asked them to find out why as this only started happening since the Timing Chain replacement.

Nationwide identified a faulty Air Mass Flow Meter and charged me £167 for the replacement, labour etc etc. On testing the car, it still presented the same issues as before. Nationwide told me not to pay up until they had run dignostics and got the car 100% again. Nationwide help the car for a further 2 days and admitted defeat and told me to take the car to Vauxhall for more in-depth testing.

Vauxhall charged me £50 for the diagnostics and found nothing. I was annoyed but decided to ring around and get a third opinion on my issues. An independent garage said they had a belief that it was a faulty Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor, it would cost me £40 in total but the felt quite positive that would sort everything out. It didn't.

Vauxhall took the car back in and were able to finally find a fault (Faulty Exhaust Gas Recirculation Valve). For £200, the did what was necessary and sent me on my way. The car failed again. Vauxhall once more took the car in today and stripped the engine for me and finally found the fault............ Nationwide had fitted the wrong Air Mass Flow Meter for my engine and it was causing the engine to fail. The Temp Sensor and the EGR Valve were never faulty and only threw up error codes because of the AMFM being incorrect.

I am currently having a complaint investigated by Nationwide and I am trying to claim compensation for:

• Extra petrol used (about £100 since AMFM was replaced) - £100
• Diagnositc work by Vauxhall (not required if Nationwide had done their bit right) - £50
• Replacing the Temp Sensor - £40
• Replacing the AMFM with the right one - £200
• Stress, annoyance and agrivation caused by Nationwide not doing their job - £300

TOTAL - £700 give or take.

I am going to return the AMFM Nationwide fitted so they are unable to hold the £167 outstanding over my head. Am I doing the right thing by claiming for compensation?

I would not recommend Nationwide to ANYONE after this fundamental screw up!!

I will keep you updated.

Neil

Pound

I certainly think you have a good case for compensation if it's been verified that it's their part that caused the problem.

I remember on my last visit to NA after picking up my car they showed me a LONG list of things wrong with my car that they recommended I got fixed. One of the alleged problems was that my oil was leaking and the dipstick showed it to be very low. I'm not too good at car maintenance but one thing I checked just by chance before I took it in was the oil, and it was fine. Of course, NA claimed to have refilled the oil for me free of charge meaning the dipstick would show correct if I checked it.

Unhappy_Bunny_3

Hi Pound,

Vauxhall have said that the AMFM is definately the issue here. I am not that great with cars but understand I have a Z10XEP engine block and Nationwide fitted an AMFM for a Vauxhall Z10XE engine. A difference, yes. Enough to cause me all my problems? Vauxhall believe so and will back me up on that.

I am going to ask Vauxhall to provide me with the AMFM that NA fitted and a document stating why it is the wrong part........

Volcano

Your problem probably stemmed from:

I phone around and Nationwide came out the cheapest.

This forum is full of complaints about this company. Have a search as I know there's at least one person in the process of taking this company to court. There's a motoring forum here that has lots of people willing to give advice on car repairs.

emmas42

I would never use NA again. During a service and MOT on my old car a spark plug was rammed in at a strange angle, which was discovered at my next service at a garage a friend had recommended. They decided to leave it where it was as there was a risk they would cause expensive damage if they tried to remove it. I had also been charged to replace things that were nowhere near the end of their usefullness. Grrrr!!

Unhappy_Bunny_3

Hi All,

This is where I am now........

NA asked for the report from Vauxhall regarding the AMFM and a covering letter stating my compensation claim. I did that and stipulated a 5pm GMT deadlin on 13/11/2009.

NA called me this morning and explained the following:

On identifying the issue, NA bought a new AMFM and fitted it to my car. On realising that the issues I had didn't go away, NA fitted the original AMFM in to the car and returned the new AMFM to the supplier and have a credit note showing this.

I apparently owe NA nothing and they feel they have no obligation to me due to the fact that they did not end up replacing the AMFM.

Vauxhall said that this is nonsense as the AMFM in my car is clean and "looks brand new" due to the fact that the AMFM has not discoloured or accumulated any dirt on it. Vauxhall are basically saying that the AMFM HAS been replaced recently but apart from NA doing their work on it, I have never had any work done on that specific part.

The conspiracy theorist in me wants to believe that NA broke my original AMFM and replaced it but are covering their tracks on this.

Where can I go from here? It is apparent that the AMFM that was in my car is not the original one that was fitted when the car was built but I have no proof of this.

Neil

kev_min

Just a thought, the ident plate on the AMFM may have a batch No or manufacturing date coded on it. Vauxhall should be able to decode this and give a date of manufacture, if this is recent (a LOT newer than the car) it may help your case.