Mechanics taking advantage

babyontheway

I didn't know whether it's allowed to just vent here but I have just had a shocking experience with the garage down the road who are servicing my car.

They rang to say that one of the spark plugs was rusted in and that if it broke when they were removing it they would have to remove the cyllinder head at considerable cost.

Having learned some lessons from this site I asked for a definate price from them and in the meantime looked it up on the internet and discovered that if there isn't actually a problem with the spark plug they can just leave it in. We don't know how long we are keeping the car for so it may outlast us owning it.

So when they called back with a definate price of over £250 I said I didn't want to go ahead with the work. They rang back 10 minutes later to say that it was too late, they'd started and broken the plug.
The only alternative they have offered me it to have a half-job where they try and remove the bits but if they missed a bit it could damage the engine at my own risk. Not only did they not point out that this wasn't essential work but they have also forced me into having it done against my wishes.

I hate to think he was taking advantage of the fact that I'm a heavily pregnant woman but when he responded to my complaint by explaining what a spark plug was it makes me wonder.

Anyway, I wanted to say thank you to everyone on the site because a year ago I would have just accepted it and paid up but I'm putting up a fight!

Anihilator

babyontheway wrote: »

I didn't know whether it's allowed to just vent here but I have just had a shocking experience with the garage down the road who are servicing my car.

They rang to say that one of the spark plugs was rusted in and that if it broke when they were removing it they would have to remove the cyllinder head at considerable cost.

Having learned some lessons from this site I asked for a definate price from them and in the meantime looked it up on the internet and discovered that if there isn't actually a problem with the spark plug they can just leave it in. We don't know how long we are keeping the car for so it may outlast us owning it.

So when they called back with a definate price of over £250 I said I didn't want to go ahead with the work. They rang back 10 minutes later to say that it was too late, they'd started and broken the plug.
The only alternative they have offered me it to have a half-job where they try and remove the bits but if they missed a bit it could damage the engine at my own risk. Not only did they not point out that this wasn't essential work but they have also forced me into having it done against my wishes.

I hate to think he was taking advantage of the fact that I'm a heavily pregnant woman but when he responded to my complaint by explaining what a spark plug was it makes me wonder.

Anyway, I wanted to say thank you to everyone on the site because a year ago I would have just accepted it and paid up but I'm putting up a fight!

No one is taking advantage at all.

You put your car in for the service. Due to previous poor maintainance a complication arose.

Either go for the full fix, the part fix or ask for it back and risk breaking it or going elsehwere.

Tbh the tip you got wasnt that good. The fact is the garage arent going to waste their time etc whilst you decide whether to go ahead with work they had already started.

Its unfortunate but all part of owning a car.

dacouch

Or the other option is, they rang you to advise you the spark plug could possibly break after they had actually broken it.

I would not be surprised

babyontheway

Anihilator wrote: »

No one is taking advantage at all.

You put your car in for the service. Due to previous poor maintainance a complication arose.

Either go for the full fix, the part fix or ask for it back and risk breaking it or going elsehwere.

Tbh the tip you got wasnt that good. The fact is the garage arent going to waste their time etc whilst you decide whether to go ahead with work they had already started.

Its unfortunate but all part of owning a car.

Actually, the tip I got was from another mechanic which confirmed what had been stated on several discussion threads discussing this problem with my particular make and model of car.

The garage contacted me to ask if I wanted to go ahead and I asked for a confirmed price before they went ahead. Now if they weren't willing to wait, they should have said so at that stage but they didn't.

I'm glad you can put £250 down as just part of owning a car but I'm not in strong financial position and decided to wait until I could afford to have the work done.

As it is, my car has a full service history and it is a regular problem with Fords that the spark plugs rust in place.

Anihilator

babyontheway wrote: »

Actually, the tip I got was from another mechanic which confirmed what had been stated on several discussion threads discussing this problem with my particular make and model of car.

The garage contacted me to ask if I wanted to go ahead and I asked for a confirmed price before they went ahead. Now if they weren't willing to wait, they should have said so at that stage but they didn't.

I'm glad you can put £250 down as just part of owning a car but I'm not in strong financial position and decided to wait until I could afford to have the work done.

As it is, my car has a full service history and it is a regular problem with Fords that the spark plugs rust in place.

Sorry but a "confirmed" price is a load of !!!!.

I refuse to believe any mechanic would say this is possible as there are always uncertainties with cars.

Crabman

Anihilator wrote: »

Sorry but a "confirmed" price is a load of !!!!.

I refuse to believe any mechanic would say this is possible as there are always uncertainties with cars.

My mechanic gives me a quote and I always pay that price, never had a problem. Once he messed up and put it right at his cost. Are you saying that when someone sends a car for service they are liable to pay whatever the garage asks for even if it's above and over the agreed quoted price for the work?

Anihilator

Crabman wrote: »

My mechanic gives me a quote and I always pay that price, never had a problem. Once he messed up and put it right at his cost. Are you saying that when someone sends a car for service they are liable to pay whatever the garage asks for even if it's above and over the agreed quoted price for the work?

But as shown there can be complications. Of course if a car goes for a service and the job is complicated due to an issue with the car the extra should be paid.

A quote isnt always exact in mechanics due to uncertainty.

Raksha

A quote is a quote, an estimate is a different beast.

If a car goes in for a service, aren't there Trade Association rules which say that work which takes the cost above what has been agreed should be further agreed with the client before proceeding? I seem to remember a BBC programe (Don't get done get Dom?) where this issue arose recently........

kaya

they are taking the mickey, if the porcelain part of the plug snapped off it was nothing to do with rust(porcelain doesnt rust as its ceramic), the only way it broke is if they were ham fisted with it and twisted it at an angle with the socket , if they did break the porcelain then the plug would have still been rusted in(ahem) so nothing could have got into the engine through the plug hole(so there is no need to remove the cylinder head), i have never heard such rubbish in all my life, if they cannot remove a spark plug they have no business going near an engine, if the plug was rusted in(extremely unlikeley) then they need to apply a little heat to free it up or use a bigger ratchet(lever,basic physics), what they have more than likely done is cross threaded the new plug when they were fitting into your car and need to remove the cylinder head to helicoil it(drill it out and insert a new threaded part in order to fit a plug in), there is no water present near a spark plug so how can it rust into place? also the heat produced by an engine would evaporate any rust causing water within a few minuits, the only time i have found rusted plugs is where the car has sat for many years without being used and has got damp, sorry but it sounds like you are paying for somebody elses incompetance

bear1969

will cost a lot more now as they have to remove the head to be able to drill out brken part of spark plug plus you will need new gaskets and prob a new timing belt they should have just left the plug in or ran engine to heat it up make them easier to remove

colino

I'm going to hazard a guess that this is a small Ford and the reason the sparkplug has seized in place is that it has had little recent maintenence. Sometimes a few tricks can be deployed to get the old one out with the head in place, but it can't be 100% risk free as some of the old plug might get down the bore and cause future problems.
I think the garage is being reasonable and aren't over the top in doing what they are doing. Did you want a car part serviced?