after a bit of advice do i have a case

Silk

To be honest this is where it becomes cat and mouse.

If the instructions were to diagnose what the fault was and for them to say seized engine then you sort of have a case.

If you asked them to look at the timing gears to see it there was a fault then you don't have a strong case.

The fly in the ointment is that it was the starter that was actualy at fault although IMO if it's the one that bolts face down onto the gearbox they quite often seize due to clutch dust ...esp on models with the dual mass flywheel.

A Ford mech with experiance would/should have known that

The problem you have is that you need to get a recognised engineer to do a report and get legal help.

The worst that could happen is that you should be able to get the money back for the diagnosis and the best would be compensation for expence caused.

beckydee

Ghostrider wrote: »

I am missing the point here, but effectively ou now have 2 cars, albeit one with an easily remedied problem.

Why don't you fix the starter motor, keep that car.

Sell the one you bought and pay your relative back.

Then file a complaint against The dealer.

Simple isn't it?

the old cars all stripped down the new car we had we had to get it all plated up to run as a taxie we started stripping the old car just for spare parts my point is if the dignosed the car as the starter motor i wouldnt be £4000 down it would only have costed me about £100 to fix the started motor. we didnt know the started motor was at fault till all the car has bee stripped

Ghostrider

So tell them to put it back together and take you car to somebody else (or yourself) that can replace the starter motor. Don't let them charge you a penny for the fault diagnosis, but don't tell them you won't until after your car is back in one piece.

Sell the new car, pay off your debt.

Work out your net debt position once you have paid your relative back, which will be, the cost of putting the taxi livery on the car + any loss you made on the new vehicle from selling it + time and costs wasted at and getting to and from the dealership + any other costs you can think of related to the situation = the amount you want to be compensated for.

Write to the dealership or Ford (I assume it's a Ford franchised dealer?) telling them the whole story and that you need to be compensated for the amount you worked out from the paragraph above because of the the hassle and mis-diagnosis by one of their dealerships. You will probably have to fight the case a bit and write several letters (probably not a bad thing) before you have the result you want.

cyclonebri1

beckydee wrote: »

paper work reads engine locked up suspect timing /tensioner fault STRIP DOWN BOTTOM OF ENGINE SIEZED REQ NEW ENGINE
bottom of engine is ok once starter motor taken off the pistons are all moving up and down

That can be read a couple of ways to be honest. Can you detail exactly, with punctuation and without added capitals, what was written on the report sheet as any case will rely entirely on the advice they gave you.

You paid for the diagnosis, but no doubt there will be a disclaimer however that doesn't excuse them from missing what now appears to be a simple unrelated problem.

I have to say you jumping to conclusions and telling them what you thought the fault was seems to have thrown in a red herring, it shouldn't really have done.

beckydee

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

That can be read a couple of ways to be honest. Can you detail exactly, with punctuation and without added capitals, what was written on the report sheet as any case will rely entirely on the advice they gave you.

thats how it written down on the sheet with the capitals

SailorSam

Ghostrider wrote: »

Write to the dealership or Ford (I assume it's a Ford franchised dealer?) telling them the whole story and that you need to be compensated for the amount you worked out from the paragraph above because of the the hassle and mis-diagnosis by one of their dealerships. You will probably have to fight the case a bit and write several letters (probably not a bad thing) before you have the result you want.

I'd certainly do a letter of complaint to Ford, but the Op needs to get someone else to write it for her.
Start with a visit to your local Trading Standards office and get their opinion, they may have standardized letters that you can copy.

colino

As AC have Ford dealerships, it reads to me if only AC garages have been involved. If that is the case, forget it. You would have to be a Philadelphia lawyer to compete with those guys and from reading the above, you are not. While you could try a letter to "The Judge", remember that group of newspapers are heavily used by AC in ads.

funkycoldribena

beckydee wrote: »

.we got aa out witch said it was asuspected timing chain fault.

Never trust those witches,goblins are much more trustworthy.

LandyAndy

beckydee wrote: »

Hi all. I'm after a bit of advice. 4 weeks ago my husbands car, a ford mondeo 55 plate, is used as a taxi. It's our living.

4 weeks ago my hubby went to start his car and it made a rattling noise and wouldnt start. We got the AA out and they said it was a suspected timing chain fault.

We thought 'oh no not again as this car has had 2 timing chains on and we just spent over £3.000 on getting a new turbo and injectors and the year before we spent £2.000 on timing chains etc.

We took it to Ford's main dealers (Arnold Clark) to sort out as the timing chain we had on was only 13 month old (they fitted it ).

We took the car in on the Monday by the Thursday the car hadn't even been looked at so we complained and asked why hadn't the car been looked at as it was a working car.

The service manager said the car shouldn't have been booked in as they didnt have the staff to do the job as they where on holiday, not our fault.

So on the Thursday we got a phone call from them saying the bottom of the engine had seized up and there was nothing wrong with the timing chain but it would cost us £4.500 to get a new engine for the car.

Well we couldn't afford to pay this and the car wasn't worth this, so we decided to buy another car, same year, same make and model.

Because we've spent so much money on the car we thought we could break it for parts in case anything happened on our new car.

Today while stripping the car down the cylinder head was taken off and we have now found out the engine was not seized at all. It was the starter motor at fault.

I just feel Ford wanted rid of us because they didn't have the staff to do the job. So now I've had to go into debt of £4000 to get a new car on the road for us to make a living to feed the kids and pay our debts.

If it wasnt for a family member lending us this money we would have had to go bankrupt. We could of bought a starter motor for less than a £100. I've been to Ford today and got the fob off treatment but I think we might have a case to take this further

Hope that makes it a bit clearer for anyone else.

Apologies to the OP if I've got any of it wrong.