Costs Incurred Due To Shoddy Work

dh247

Hi All,

I had problems with my car in November 2009 and took the car to the dealership that I got it from - and have warranty with.

They completed a few bits including fitting new spark plugs.

Last week I had problems driving the car, and it felt like all power was disappearing. As it is a Mazda, and I was down the road from a Mazda dealer, I took the car in for a once over to check that I was ok to drive it etc.

They advised that I was not ok to drive it and it needed a few bits doing. One issue was that one of the HT Leads had not been connected properly and had burnt out a spark plug. The last time the spark plugs were touched was when the original work was done.

I've now had to pay £50 to have this sorted, because of what appears to be shoddy work in the first place.

Can anyone advise what I can do in this situation?!

Thanks
dh247 :money:

jaggyjumper

Phone Consumer Direct and ask for advice,they are very helpful. My timing belt snapped on my car after 8900 miles and they were fab at helping me take the garage to the Small Claims and my car ended up being repaired. They have great advice on their site.
hth

colino

9 months later , a connection works loose and you blame the garage?

garthdp

stuff happens

get over it

Hammyman

dh247 wrote: »

They advised that I was not ok to drive it and it needed a few bits doing. One issue was that one of the HT Leads had not been connected properly and had burnt out a spark plug. The last time the spark plugs were touched was when the original work was done.

I've now had to pay £50 to have this sorted, because of what appears to be shoddy work in the first place.

Can anyone advise what I can do in this situation?!

Thanks
dh247 :money:

Sell your car. You've just paid them £50 to put the spark plug lead back on the plug. If the lead isn't on the plug, it can't burn it out. In fact, the whole statement is a load of rubbish.

And as others have said, afer 9 months you've no chance.

Its about time things like cars and computers have mandatory technical competence tests before people are allowed to buy them.

Paul_the_Painter

£50 is not unreasonable for Main dealer diagnosis, spark plug, check HT lead for degradation, refit etc.

But on a more important note as 1 cylinder has not been sparking, the fuel will not have been ignited, which means the catalytic converter will have subjected to over-rich exhaist gases.

Spend £20 to have an MoT place do an emmissions test on it, if it fails you have a problem that you have PLENTY of tiime to fix. If you wait until MoT time, you will be under time pressure to have the MoT place fix it. If you find out now, you have lots of time to shop around.

On the original problem ANYTHING could have caused a loose HT lead, forget about it, especially 9 months on! If you had just had a service, and they had replaced the plugs and you had a roblem a week later, it would be a different situation - but 9 months! If they had done something wrong it would almost certainly have happened WELL before now.

Paul_the_Painter

With regards to what hammyman says, don't sell the car......

things can get confused between the mechanic, the receptionist, and the owner. If the plug lead was loose, but the connections were still near each other, you can get arcing across the gap. In that case I would probably replace the plug (they are cheap) in case it had caused damage, if I could get individual leads I would probably replace that too, but wouldn't bother if I had to buy a whole set, if the original tested OK

Hammyman

Paul_the_Painter wrote: »

With regards to what hammyman says, don't sell the car......

I was being sarcastic as in the OP being too stupid to own one hence the comment about technical competency tests.

cyclonebri1

Hammyman wrote: »

I was being sarcastic as in the OP being too stupid to own one hence the comment about technical competency tests.

Does that help anyone but you??