Mis Sold Goods in November 2004

rst-ste

Hi,

I don't think I'll be entitled to a refund or replacement on this one as I purchased the goods over 6 years ago, hopefully someone here will be able to shed some light on the situation.

I purchased a set of forged pistons for one of my project cars (a hobby of mine) in November 2004 from a well known company at a cost of £458.72 plus VAT. The pistons was sold to me as 'forged pistons machined for running 1.5 - 20 bar of boost' (boost is pressure from a turbo) - that's what I asked for, and that is what it says on my invoice. However, I got the car on the road 3 months ago & in that time the car has gone through 2 head gaskets.

I did a compression ratio calculation and discovered that the pistons I was sold can in no way run 1.5 - 2.0 bar of boost (as described), and aren't even suitable for turbo application! There is nothing faulty about the goods here, they are simply not what I asked for & not what is shown on the invoice...the part numbers match though. Therefore I've been mis sold the pistons.

I spent £475 on the pistons, £300 having the engine built up with the pistons fitted, and a further £100 on head gasket replacements due to the pistons being incorrect & now I'm left approx £875.00 out of pocket with an engine I cant use.

What should I do? Is my only option to cut my losses & build a new engine?
Thanks for your time.

Steve

vuvuzela

I suspect even if the company is still going, you would be better to cut your losses and move on. Have you contacted them about this at all ? It might be worth a speculative email but be prepared for them to say sorry but it was 7 years ago and there's nowt we will do about it.

rst-ste

Thanks for your reply, I suspected it may be too long ago to still have any sort of consumer rights.

The company is still going & I've sent an email to them this morning with a copy of the invoice & my calculations proving the goods were never up to the job, like you say though I'm prepared for the worst.

somethingcorporate

Way too long OP unfortunately.

redped

It's unlikely you'll get a positive outcome, but for the sake of a phone call you should ask the company. Our oil tank started to leak recently after 8 years - I phoned the local manufacturer, who told me they actually have a 10 year warranty. It also turns out they've replaced a lot of these tanks due to a poor design. So you never know, the manufacturers of your pistons may have had other complaints, and may give you some goodwill towards new ones.

Biketrials08

How have you determined the pistons are at fault? Could be many other factors. On replacing the head gasket were the pistons inspected for detonation damage? I'm assuming these were dished pistons in order to lower the CR. £300 sounds quite cheap for a rebuild on an RST -assuming that's what it was on.

McKneff

Probably too long but as youve written to them just wait for a response.

Don't ask, don't get is my phylosophy

Annie

rst-ste

Biketrials08 wrote: »

How have you determined the pistons are at fault? Could be many other factors. On replacing the head gasket were the pistons inspected for detonation damage? I'm assuming these were dished pistons in order to lower the CR. £300 sounds quite cheap for a rebuild on an RST -assuming that's what it was on.

No they were not dished thats the problem. They are a forged piston with thicker crown desined to be machined down to your desired c/r. I specifed the c/r & boost when ordering (7.5:1 & 2 bar), when I removed the head I calculated the c/r (which was supposedly done by the piston suppliers) at about 10:1 qhich is waaay too high - the pistons havnt been machined enough. £300 was for bottom end work incl. being bored out, new seals & oil pump so yes, it was a good price...I did the rest myself though. Luckily there was no damage from det as i had the boost really low while running in & never went over 3000rpm...I did hear pinking a few times though.

Its been sorted out now, I followed up my email with a phone call & the company have agreen to machine the pistons to the corrcect c/r...which I'm very happy with given its been over 6 years sinse I bought them. Thanks to all of you for your advice.

vuvuzela

That's extremely good customer service, might be worth naming them here after the work has been done and giving them a bit of rightful praise.

halibut2209

Good on them! An excellent result and worthy of praise.