car repairs not fixed problem

pregnantmummy

Hi,
I hope someone can help me, I'm new to this site but thought it is the best place to go. I booked my car into my local garage today and asked them to investigate a noise it is making all the time and give me a quote. After hearing nothing from them, I rang them at 3pm and was told they had fixed the fault and it was only 1 hour labour charge. Pleased with this I picked the car up and paid £60 in total but as soon as I started the car before even driving, it was obvious nothing had changed.

I had to pick my son up from school so couldn't immediately go back to speak to someone, but was back within 1/2 hour of paying saying the fault was just the same and it is now booked in again on Monday. How do I stand with the £60 I have already paid for what seems like nothing? They said they investigated and changed an alternator bush and test drove it but that the noise must have come back. I paid on credit card.

Thanks for any replies.

pendulum

It is often hard to pinpoint where a noise is coming from on a car and what is causing it.

Unless the garage were negligent (e.g. they changed a part which a reasonably skilled mechanic would know was not the cause of the fault), then you still have to pay for work that is carried out whilst trying to fix the problem, even if it is unsuccessful. So far, the garage seems to be taking a reasonable approach by identifying a possible cause in a cheap component and replacing that cheap component (it is generally better to swap inexpensive parts which are suspected faulty first to see if that fixes the problem before moving on to expensive parts). You have to pay the £60, but many garages would knock something off the final bill as a goodwill gesture. They don't have to.

shaun_from_Africa

Don't forget that the OP didn't ask for the car to be repaired, They asked for the fault to be investigated and for a quote to carry out the required work.
Any reasonable mechanic should be able to tell if its an alternator causing the noise by either using an engineering stethoscope on it or possibly removing the drive belt for a short time.

bod1467

The garage would be entitled to charge for their investigation time, yes?

arcon5

Yes, but this would need to be clear when taking the car in -- otherwise a reasonable person would assume when you asked to be quoted to rectify something it would be free from charge

pregnantmummy

Thanks for your replies. The problem I have is that my car is 19 years old and not worth spending a fortune on, I wanted a quote so I could decide whether to bother getting it fixed. I would be happy to spend a small amount on investigation costs in order to diagnose what is wrong but don't want to start throwing good money away on endless repairs that may not even solve the problem. I will make this clear on Monday when I go back.

pregnantmummy

Just thought I'd give an update on what has happened. Went back to garage on Monday with my husband who wanted to speak to the mechanic. They refused to speak to my husband, the receptionist said they were waiting for parts and they would ring me, no call so far and I think they were just trying to get rid of us. I was told that the mechanic knew for definite it was an alternator problem and was safe to drive. There was no mention of parts being ordered on Friday when they booked my car in for Monday in the diary.

In the meantime being suspicious I took my car to another garage for a second opinion. His initial thoughts were the noise was not coming from the alternator it was coming from a different place. I left the car with him, he investigated and it turns out the fault is the water pump. He has ordered a new water pump and has in the meantime managed to quieten the noise down a bit. He said it was not safe to leave the car like this for long as potentially the water pump shaft would break and the engine would overheat.

I am not happy with my original garage who charged me £60 and are refusing to deal with my complaint. Also looking through my old receipts they actually fitted a new alternator two years ago! I don't think I have any chance of getting my money back though. What would you do in these circumstances?

steven504

This reminds me of when I went to get my car MOT done and was told I need a new Exhaust as the one I had on was incorrect and my catalytic converter was not working. I just said yes replace the whole thing and when I went to collect it I was presented with a bill. I just handed over the Mot money and their invoice showing they replaced the entire exhaust 11 months before.

pregnantmummy

Unfortunately when I paid I had forgotten about the new alternator two years ago. An alternator should last longer than that and anyway there isn't anything wrong with it, it's the water pump. They are not going to want to refund me when they won't even discuss the problem.