Paid car repair bill... now garage wants more money

gill_side

I put my car in for repair and paid in full for all of the work done (£700ish) when I got it back. I have had the car back for almost two weeks and the garage rang today to say they forgot to charge me for a new battery and a tow to the garage. They are now asking me to pay an extra £80.

I feel I shouldn't have to pay as it was their mistake this wasn't included on the original invoice. Am I legally obliged to pay? It seems wrong that a firm can demand more money two weeks after you think you've settled the bill.

Weird_Nev

If you've got your car back I'd be tempted to tell them to do one.

Or, more civilly, suggest that as you've paid 90% and thought that was in final settlement ,and the bill was £700 ,you consider £80 off as a goodwill gesture in order that you consider using their services again.

And then never go back, as they'll just try and re-coup the money by ripping you off again.

McKneff

Have a look at your invoice though,

At the bottom somwhere legitimate invoices will have E&Oe which means Errors and ommissions excepted. So they have covered themselves and by you paying the invoice you have accepted that term.

If it says that you do owe it. They will probably chase a lot more for it.

pendulum

If you had the new battery and the tow, and you have not already paid (e.g. this is not covered by the first invoice which you paid), then you still owe the money and they are perfectly within their rights to send you another invoice. You do not have to put all of the costs on to one invoice like some people think! There's nothing wrong with issuing multiple invoices at different times if the money is genuinely owed.

However, it would be reasonable to request time to pay, as the bill was unexpected. Offering, say, £10 or £20 a week would be pretty reasonable, and would cause them a slight amount of hassle to pay them back for the slight amount of hassle they have caused you.

colino

Are you happy with the work? Do you feel overcharged? By all means open a dispute with the garage if you feel the work is shoddy or the bill over the top, but otherwise, why penalise the garage for getting a bit of admin wrong? If you don't pay up, feel free to trawl around in the future for a long time getting someone local and decent to let you back in the door.

waynedance

If you are happy with the garage I can not see any problem with you paying up. Not paying for services received is not money saving!!!!!

Someone made an error were all human lets hope the person who forgot to bill you does not get in too much trouble if you decide not to pay.

gill_side

Thanks for the replies. I guess I wasn't 100% happy with the service to start with, which has added to my annoyance at the surprise extra charge.

Part of the repair was to fix the ABS and since the repair the warning light has come back on. I was about to call them about it, but they beat me to it and called me first to ask for the extra money.

They have since offered a free service when they look at the ABS, which I guess is their way of making amends for the bill mistake.

mikey72

gill_side wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. I guess I wasn't 100% happy with the service to start with, which has added to my annoyance at the surprise extra charge.

Part of the repair was to fix the ABS and since the repair the warning light has come back on. I was about to call them about it, but they beat me to it and called me first to ask for the extra money.

They have since offered a free service when they look at the ABS, which I guess is their way of making amends for the bill mistake.

I would pay them, and take the free service, but tbh I would expect to pay after I had the car back again, to make sure the light didn't come back on after another week.

paddedjohn

Mistakes happen, take the car back for the service and ABS repair and pay what you owe, seems like you are getting a fair deal in the end.

mikey72

paddedjohn wrote: »

Mistakes happen, take the car back for the service and ABS repair and pay what you owe, seems like you are getting a fair deal in the end.

What about the fact the repair hasn't worked?
Any other job you be holding back a percentage until all the snags were fixed.
Seems fair to do the same here.

glasgowdan

Having a good relationship with local businesses, but also local people (assuming the staff also live locally) is always a good thing in my mind. I don't live life by the letter, by claiming my rights and taking what I can get, but a lot of people do!