What should I be saying to the Mechanics?

Badger_Lady

I recently took my campervan to a specialist garage to have it enhanced... basically it was 100% fine but the engine's air system, whilst doing the job adequately, was not as per the original design. It had a single carburettor which I wanted to replace with a twin, including all the other air filter changes etc to go with it. The garage quoted £850 for the complete job.

As time dragged on, I kept calling them for updates and being told that they were doing a full mechanical service in order to make sure it was top notch before they would release it. By the time I picked it up, they'd done a number of other minor replacements / repairs, such as changing gear brushes and fuel lines, although they confessed that the engine test report showed perfect running and no leaks, so it certainly hadn't been problematic beforehand (I was able to drive it comfortably enough and it had passed a new MOT without advisories). I ended up being charged an extra £400 on top of the original estimate.

Anyway, the van did seem to be running very smoothly and comfortably on collection, so I considered the spend to be worthwhile. Although I'd managed with the gear changes before, they were that bit easier now, so fine.

However, within a couple of hundred miles, I noticed that the fuel gauge was playing up for the first time ever. It was failing to accurately reflect the fuel levels and the needle was bouncing up and down in rhythm to the indicator lights which I'd certainly never noticed before. Of course, this was all confirmed when I actually ran out of petrol (with the guage reading 1/3rd full) on the side of a motorway.

So I called the garage and they booked me in for a diagnosis. I don't live anywhere near them, so I said I'd be bringing it by on my way through to the Channel Tunnel. The guy told me that if the sender unit had gone it would be a major repair and that I might just have to cope without.

On the day, I took the campervan in and explained the problem to a mechanic who was visibly pressured and stressed, shouting at his colleagues, and did not give the impression of listening to my explaination of the symptoms. He told me to go out for the day and that he'd call me.

At 5:15pm I still hadn't had a phonecall, and had no alternative accommodation (rather than sleeping in the campervan) so I rang up to ask what was going on. The guy on the phone said that they'd ordered a new sender unit. I was of course surprised and said "so it definitely was the sender unit then? In which case I don't think we have the time and resources to order a replacement..?". I told him I was coming back to speak in person.

At 5:40 I arrived at the garage and this time the guy told me they'd already replaced the sender unit and it was good to go. I expressed surprise and he explained "they already did it but no-one told me". He said it was £135 for the work. I was grumpy because they'd never even asked my permission to change it, but again I figured that if it was done and dusted then it would be worth paying for, so I paid and left.

At 5:50, still stuck in traffic, a fellow driver pointed out that one tail light was gone. It turned out a couple of fuses had blown so I replaced them with spares.

The next day, driving through France, I noticed the fuel gauge behaving strangely again, and in fact getting more and more eccentric, so I was careful to keep topping up with petrol and started making mental notes about the problem with the intention of calling the garage to complain. However, shortly after lunch the whole van stopped working and had to be carted off by a recovery truck. It turned out that some wires in the dashboard had melted and the ignition switch needed replacing (so I assume it was the faulty ignition switch that caused the wires to melt??). My insurance has popped me in a hotel for the weekend while the French garage waits for a spare part and an auto electrician to repair it.

Anyway, I'm now thinking that the electrical fault was causing intereference with the fuel gauge all along, and that if the garage had indeed replaced my sender unit at a cost of £135 (which there is a little doubt on, frankly) then it may have been a wasted effort, because the original probably had nothing wrong with it in the first place..?

So - sorry for the necessarily long story, but what should I do when I call them from France with this news? Should I be looking for some sort of partial refund? I won't be back in the UK until August so it's not as though I can pop back in and ask them to resolve the problem.

Or is it just a case of writing off that money as they did the best they could?

s_b

i think you were robbed from the day you showed up
you dont say what vehicle it is but seeing as its got a carb then its reasonably old and so the fuel guage would be run via a voltage regulator that normally was bolted onto the back of the speedo head and also regulated the temp guage,it cuts the voltage down to keep the gauges from fluctuating as you drive
i think they either messed with this or they sidestepped it and caused your small (luckily) wiring loom fire

what can you do?
not a lot but i would suggest you go on the appropriate forum that they might like to use to bull them selves and tell your story there as it is and keep updating the link ie if you have a Volkswagen camper find the sites on the interweb applicable

Strider590

I would have thought the fuel gauge would be playing up because someone had knocked, broken or disconnected a ground/earth wire.

As for changing carbs over, I don't know what they fitted, but it's hard and expensive to source a good quality carb these days.... Then setting them up (jet sizes etc), really takes some old school skills.

maninthestreet

Are you a member of the relevant owner's club for the camper van? I assume there is one.

Badger_Lady

I'm still a member of my old Daihatsu campervan club but have since upgraded to the VW. These guys are specialist classic VW mechanics - they had 4 other similarly aged vehicles parked up there when I arrived.

You're kind of confirming what I thought though. My heating never worked and I was quite happy with it being permanently switched off (I hate in-car heating). They switched it permanently on as a 'temporary fix' the first time I went there, again without me requesting it. S b from your post I'm guessing this is where they messed with the wiring that later exploded..?

In which case, they cost me £135 for unecessary 'work on the sender unit', £35 elsewhere to replace the fuses and now a proportion of my European breakdown cover not to mention 3 days of being stuck in the middle of nowhere finally getting the problem fixed.

Badger_Lady

It does also strike me as really suspicious, this whole business about 'ordering a sender unit' and then suddenly 'we already fitted the sender unit'. It's a bloomin' awkward job on those campers - vehicle up in the air, engine out job, from everything I've heard. Weird not to notice that and tell me a different story... :mad:

They saw me drive off without a tail light too, I know they did. I turned round at the end of the road and I saw two of the mechanics pointing and muttering to eachother in my rear view mirror, I just didn't know what about until 10 minutes later.

Valvoltec

Hi, you maybe should have asked for the old part I tend to keep bits for customers to see,obviously the part did not fix the fault so a wrong diagnosis and in the course of there work they disturb wiring which lead to further faults.
Inclined to agree with SB your description of the fault would have lead me to look at the voltage regulator.
As to the lost holiday,getting strandard,the extra cost of parts,and the original repair,yes, you are entitled to compensation.
Are you going to get a reasonable reception from the stressful and shouting boss,when you complain?
Its the same old plot,different story poor workmanship and shoddy ,and unnecessary repairs.
There are good guys and girls about,how to find them?
Lady motor mechanic, look for a girl that can mend it!