Wrong diagnosis of car fault cost us over £300. Do we have any rights?

rosie383

As some of you may have seen on another thread from a couple of weeks ago, our '91 VW Polo had broken down and we took it to a franchised VW dealer for a diagnostic check. They told us that the fault was with the diesel distributor pump and would cost £1550 to repair. as this was about the value of the car, my husband took the car back, paid for the check and sourced and fitted the part independently for a price of around £300.
Unfortunately the car still wouldn't work, so eventually the dealer took it back in for a further check and had agreed to do it for free. However, after 1 hour, they said it needed more extensive diagnostic tests and this would cost £90 per hour. They agreed on a price of £70 per hour, and after this further hour, stated that the problem was with the 'controller' and never with the diesel distributor pump.
My dh, understandably was not happy with this as he had paid for the part and fitting and asked how they had diagnosed it wrongly in the first place, costing us an unnecessary amount of money.
The Group Director told him that if he felt they were at fault, to remove his car from the premises, and they would not look at the car again.
My dh took the car and had it towed back home. He contacted VW, who tried to arbitrate between him and the franchise, but he got a call from them, stating that the franchise were refusing to do anything about it and we could not have any refund.
we feel that we have been treated unfairly. If we had paid them £1550 to do the initial work, and still had a non-driveable car, it would be worse, but we can't see how they can get away with this.
Is it worth contacting the Citizens' Advice Bureau? Do we have any rights in this case? Has anyone been in a similar situation before and had any joy?

Wee_Willy_Harris

It doesn't matter of it was wrong, but if it was negligently wrong. Fault tracing can be a bit hit and miss at times and, of course, there is no evidence that there wasn't a fault with the distributer pump as well.

forgotmyname

Diagnosing faults = start with the most expensive bits 1st. Fairly common. They would probably have replaced the faulty
part and still be in profit from the pump you bought and didnt need.

Small claims? Pop along when they are busy and hand over the court papers yourself, Speaking very very loudly for all
customers to hear.

"CAN I SPEAK TO THE MANAGER, I WILL BE TAKING YOU TO COURT FOR MY MONEY BACK"

"I WOULDN'T BUY A CAR FROM HERE" "I THINK THEY RIPPED ME OFF"

rosie383

Does anyone think we would have a case for the small claims court? Don't want to go down that route with an unwinnable case and find we were out even more money.

Wee_Willy_Harris

Your local Trading Standards should be your first port of call. Hope you kept the old pump?

rosie383

Good point about the old pump. Not sure. I will check with DH. So you think maybe trading standards rather than the CAB?

Wee_Willy_Harris

I think TS have the expertise for this. But there's nothing stopping you speaking to both.

TiTheRev

As previously stated, fault finding is not an exact science...especially on a 20year old vehicle, but I'm sure that they genuinely felt that that was the fault, otherwise they wouldn't have quoted you for it. Let's face it, if you've got a 20year old car, who genuinely would spend that kind of money on it?! And who's to say that the pump you sourced isnt faulty too??

There is no way a dealership would tell you to take your car away if you didnt want the work done unless you'd been at least a little bit rude to them in the 1st place. VW have customer call-backs (CEM) that rates the level of service, and those ratings in turn effect the dealer's ability to trade as a Volkswagen agent, and also the bonuses for the staff, so I'm sure telling you to take the car away would only have been a last resort.

£90 p/hr is the going rate, and for them to agree £70 is a goodwill gesture in line with the inability to find the fault on an older vehicle.

If you look at it objectively. You've agreed a fee for diagnosis, they've diagnosed what they believe the fault was. You then take the car elsewhere. Your old part doesnt fix it, so you bring it back to them. They then diagnose something else in the belief that your second hand part is not the fault, and you take the car away. You've not actually given them a chance to prove themselves right (or wrong), and if you'd left the car with them in the 1st place you'd probably have a fixed car by now and only a small bill, as they would not charge you for a part that didn't fix the car.

You've shot yourself in the foot, and burnt the bridge with the dealer by taking your car away twice when they've tried to help!!

sp00nz73

I think you may find that even if they diagnosed the problem incorrectly you took your car to another gargae and had it repaired. Unless you have proof that they said this part was broken it may just be a case of your word against theirs. If you would have had it repaired with them then maybe you would have a strong case but go see your citizens advice and see what they say

rosie383

Sorry, my mistake. It isn't a '91 car, it's 2001. Bit different. As far as rudeness goes, I honestly cannot comment as I wasn't there. My dh assures me that he wasn't rude to them.
Are you seriously telling me we should have left the car with them to fix originally with an estimate of £1550?????? We would have been completely mad. That's about what the car may be worth on a good day. So to say we should have left the car with them in the first place..... well, that was never going to happen with such a large estimate.
Yes, we got a reconditioned part from a vehicle parts service. Best we could do in the circumstances, I think. I don't want to argue with anyone, but we are still in the position of having a car we can't drive, and £300 less in pocket.

rosie383

OH, btw, we do have it in writing from them what they initially diagnosed as the fault.