Problems with Mr Clutch

suzannestaite

I am at my wits end with Mr Clutch. I had a new clutch fitted in May 2010 with a 2 year warranty. Part of the warranty condition was that the car went back to Mr Clutch periodically for 6 warranty checks, this was duly completed, the last check being completed on 21/6/11. On 7/7/11 (16 days after the final warranty check when Mr Clutch said all okay) we went on holiday to Cornwall on our first night the car broke down, the clutch had failed, I phoned Mr Clutch who wanted us to get the car towed back to Bristol at our own expense (£225!) for them to have a look at as they did not have any branches closer to Cornwall. We refused this and Mr Clutch agreed for a local garage to replace the clutch on the understanding that the faulty clutch was returned to them for inspection, this was done on our first day back from holiday 18th July. It is now 30th November 2011 and I am still waiting for Mr Clutch to make a decision on whether they are going to refund the £922 it cost us to get the clutch replaced. Mr Clutch are saying the delay is with their suppliers and their hands are tied. They have hinted that they feel the clutch failed due to driver error, this I catagorically deny, I have been driving for 18 years and never had a clutch go on me before. The cluch was under warranty, I complied with warranty conditions and feel it did not last a reasonable time. The flywheel was also damaged which according to the garage who took the clutch out would not have happened due to driver error, also a ball joint had cracked again this could not have occured due to driver error. I have now issued claim papers to the small claim court, Mr Clutch have the gaul to defend this action (I am waiting to see their defence). Any help would be most apprecaited.

George_Michael

You seem to have done everything that you can, so all that you can really do now is to either wait until the court date and see what happens then.
Hopefully though, Mr Clutch will decide that a court appearance isn't in their best interest and will decide to settle before then.

mikeyace1982

Hi there i have had a bad experience with mrclutch. I started to notice a burning smell and a grinding noise in my car so i asked around of what it can be and i was told it is the clutch that is burning out or old and worn so i phoned around for a few quotes and found mrclutch to be the cheapest so without hesitation a popped down for them to fit the clutch and also some new front brake disk and pads.

All was well for few hundred mile then i noticed it was starting to have problems going into different gears while driving so i checked my receipt and found that the car was due a check at 500 mile and i was at 478 mile so i took my car back a few mile early to have it checked and notified them of the problems..

I waited whilst the guy went to check my car and noticed that he just sat in it put it in gear checked if it moved then put it in a different gear and checked if it moved then came back to me and handed me the receipt and said all was fine..

With them being a big garage i took their word for it and took the car home. a month later my cars mot was up and due to be re-tested so i took the car to my local mot station for a pre mot after the mot was complete and i took the car home..upon parking outside my house i felt weird movement in the gear stick and all of a sudden the gears had change and the gear stick went all loose and it wouldnt move but my mot was up so i couldnt drive my car to mr clutch so i rang head office to get them to recover the vehicle only to have an argument with the woman who said its down to me to pay for it to be recovered which i couldnt afford so i ended up with a car on the drive ruined by a car repair company.. all this had happened under its 500 mile first check.. anyway a few months passed and i was determined to get them to sort it so i saved the money for the recovery only to find no one could tow my car as it was so low (modified) so i had to take the complete front end of my car off (lights cross member bumper etc) just so i could get it to them to fix.

i took the car down this morning and though at last my car will be back on the road by end of the day and felt propa chuffed! only for my happiness to be broken by the person who answered the phone when i rang for an update and they told me its not been looked at and the earliest would be tomorrow if they can squeeze it in :O

through this whole process i have been looked at like im the bad guy because iv asked them to fix the work they did.

Why are repair centres getting away with ripping people off and not taking pride in fixing a customers pride and joy??

my car is a limited edition modified peugeot 206 and i have looked after it just for it to be ruined by the people who are supposed to fix your car!

i am now having to fork out more money to have my front end all refitted because of this company!!

where do i stand?? i feel backed into a corner and i am worried they will turn round and refuse to fix my car that was in mint condition when i took it too them.

mattyprice4004

Well, for a start you won't be able to make them pay for the cost of removing and refitting the front end - it's not their fault it was modified or that no recovery agent could tow it.

I'd just keep at them, they should sort it out. The amount of horror stories I've heard about Mr Clutch is worrying though.

vaio

The way I read SOG if the garage are due to sort the clutch out under SOG then they are also liable for any consequential costs

rk660

Here is a copy of the complaint email I sent to the managing director of MR CLUTCH
Dear (text removed by MSE Forum Team)

I unfortunately find myself writing to you as your company has let me down with the work carried out...then proceeded to explain the poor workmanship as a known fault...and then when I have complained I have received nothing but a dead end where the franchisee has the last say and his word is better than mine....effectively calling me a liar.

I have tried to reason with (text removed by MSE Forum Team) from the complaints department but her answer is basically get stuffed as we have policies and whatever the franchise owner says is law and you as a company have no power over them leaving me in the wind with no way getting satisfaction.

Effectively she is saying the franchise can behave as it pleases with no control. This is not how a franchise works!...you are responsible for their behaviour and level of service.



I was sent away from your garage in Wimbledon with a £500 clutch that does not work properly with the explanation that the fault may or may not go away and it was a Vauxhall design fault known by everybody???...the van is un-driveable!...when I returned the van to the mechanic and explained that I called 3 garages and the Vauxhall dealer to verify his claim and that they had all said that he talking nonsense and trying to explain away mr clutches poor workmanship...to which he replied and I quote "Vauxhall don't know anything, I have been doing this for 20 years"... implying they are now lying...everybody is in the wrong but the garage it seems!

When I brought this poor service to (text removed by MSE Forum Team) attention she has been of no help and has defended the company without listening to me....she also claims that she has no authority over the franchisee and therefore I beg the question ...WHY BOTHER WITH A COMPLAINTS DEPARTMENT THAT CANNOT DO ANYTHING as they have no power....leaving the franchise owner to rob and lie at will.

I expect you will investigate this complaint and for the sake of your company get a leash on your franchises and resolve my situation by fixing my clutch properly without lies and by accepting responsibility for poor service and workmanship.

As you can see this company is corrupted and has no intention of dealing with their poor service.:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

KWo

Rude, unhelpful and incompetent company! I had a clutch replaced by me clutch and it broke again twice after repair. The second time I collected my car the clutch became sticky and stopped lifting properly when I drove round the corner. I rang up the shop and was instructed it was normal and to continue trying to drive. The car then broke down completely and I had to pull over. I rang back the shop and the mechanic who answered the phone said, whilst he thought the phone speaker was covered, "I wish I hadn't picked up that phone it's that bloody last customer". Very reluctantly he then came to pick up my car and it then turned out that the clutch had not been checked properly before I collected and the cylinder had burst.
When I went for my free clutch check up a few months later I was told in no uncertain terms that I was late for the check and so he wouldn't check the car. Very unhelpful, very rude attitude. Not impressed at all considering I spent souch money here as clutch repair would have been cheaper elsewhere!
I will never be returning nor would I recommend to my worst enemy'

DissatisfiedMrclutchcusto

Please tell me you have got somewhere???

I had my clutch fixed last year.
After a so called new clutch, I had to take it back 3x for them to stop a rattling sound when i drove. Every time i went they insisted that i had imagined it, and they couldn't hear anything.
I drove round untill they heard it.
They took the car back and finally got rid of whatever it was.
Now today year and a bit later, more issues have become.

I have been getting a whirling sound on my car for a few weeks now.
As of friday i drove to Reading and being stuck in traffic, i found that my clutch started to stick, as it came up was sticking and not releasing properly.

When tried to put into gear would not go, had to take foot off clutch and try again.

called my guy at the garage who said that my clutch bearing was on its way out and would need a whole new clutch.

new clutch i had one fitted last year???

so i called mr clucth.
Nice gentleman advised that i rode my clutch, unmmm did he see me drive nope just assumed.
I advised i had been driving 14 years and that i had only done 5000 miles and is that possible to burn a clutch out so soon?
Wait he changes his mind...
no sorry did i not know that Peugeots are prone for this!!!!!

so i decided to take to another mr clutch see what crap they would say...

oh joys here.
15 minutes later waiting in reception as hes on a very important call.
One of his work buddies couldn't use the computer and needed a step by step of how to close a job down...
finally i advise him that my car needed to be checked over for the warranty of my clutch.
I advised that at time of my clutch being fitted they had entered someone else's mileage.

Unless i could twiddle my mileage.

I had my MOT the week before, they had wrote i had done 9000 miles less than the week before at my mot reading!!!

finally he comes to my car, sits in puts his foot on the clutch.

He's saying the cable is stretched and that's what needs to be replaced.

When i had my clutch fitted they didn't fit this cable and its not to do with the clutch??
clutch cable not part of clutch????

oh and the squealing which i have read about (again to do with the clutch bearings) Says he can't do anything unless it makes that squealing noise.

where do i go from here????

devastated1

Mr Clutch fitted a poor quality clutch to my car. When you phone them and ask, they claim they fit proper brand parts such as Sax, LUK or Valio, and say explicitly that they "do not fit generic clutches as these are inferior and do not last as long" (I have 3 seperate recordings of them saying this) . But a non brand , generic clutch is exactly what they fitted to mine and presumably to 1000s of others. Mine didnt last very long (I have a written statement from the garage that removed the clutch they fitted, that it is a non-brand inferior clutch).
In other words Mr Clutch lie about the service they provide. Like other people I have experienced the woman called (text removed by MSE Forum Team) at the complaints department who is no doubt employed for her dishonesty and harshness. She talks over you and wont listen and is an agressive defender of all that Mr Clutch do and are. They are crooks.

tinux

MY worst nightmare with Mr Clutch in Chingford.

I was driving my Kia Caren and the car stopped. I called Recovery Green flag who recommended Mr Clutch to me and said your master cylinder gone(cost between £120-£200). that day i was quoted £490 and even Green flag driver was puzzled . in the afternoon i had a call claiming the Flywheel in the gearbox gone and the price went up to £856. I was not happy but caved in and accepted.
The following day Saturday i went there to pick it up. i was told all good and all the lies about checking everything else were showered onto my face etc...... I got into the car, started it, it felt good and smooth so i thought " hold on let me reverse and drive around before i join the motorway. bingo the car stopped outside their door. a mechanic came out and looked at it and said to his colleague the caliper must have come off AGAIN.
I was told to go for a walk and hopefully it would be fixed. When i came back the manager a very rude and unhelpful creature tried to blame the car which still had manufacturer warranty(and i forgot about it). then said to me he would do me a favour and fix it for free but not until Monday . He claimed the driveshaft came off due to a Cv or clip that was lost inside the gearbox when putting it back on.
Come Monday no car. I was told no parts(strange why did i need a new part when the clip was lost inside?) afterwards i was told the part was ordered from Kia and repair would be done on Thursday.
Thursday came and i called and a new manager answered and said it will be done today just come and pay for the repair(pay???????) and he said we had to ordered it from a scrap yard as a second hand(what happened to Kia's order??). I complained to the Head office and they took charge and sent an inspector who reported that the repair was below the recommended level they normally offer and promised me the car will be ready on Friday and free of charge. and a throughout inspection would be done.
Friday i called and i was told 80% chance it would done on Saturday because they needed to check damage done to the gearbox. Later on i got a call stating they have found the part inside the gearbox and i can pick it up Tomorrow.
I honestly don't know what to do or who to believe. what a company

arcon5

http://s176.photobucket.com/user/bossman187uk/media/DSC05732.jpg.html

This is the part they lost.

They could have just bought a new inner cv joint.