Error in garage invoice - chasing me for remainder

Obukit

Why don't you just tell them that they can have their tyre back, but as it was their mistake you expect

a) A refund on the valve/balancing etc. that you have paid for the second tyre.
b) The car returned "as it was", with the old servicable tyre back in place.

They will of course not agree to this as they won't have your old tyre, and won't be able to resell the tyre anyway. If they say they can put another part worn tyre on say you only want your old tyre back. That way they can't claim you are trying to "steal" the tyre as you said they can have it back, as long as they put you back to the situation you were in before their !!!! up.

peter_the_piper

Check with Trading Standards. When we had our septic tanks emptied they quoted me a price for the two, Emptied both, paid cash and got a receipt. Week later they came back to say that they made an error due to flooding in Uckfield that week. (don't know why that was germain) anyway as luck would have it I was meeting the TS that day and brought it up. Tough they said, they quoted, you paid then thats it.

Shiggaddi

Obukit, chances are they will still have my old tyre, which wasn't an MOT fail, since I picked the car up Saturday afternoon, and they e-mail me later that day, and with them expecting a fight, they might have retained the tyre assuming the tyre disposal team have been anyway. Not sure how often tyres get taken away.

Peter, This sounds exactly the same as the septic tanks situation, in that they quoted, received payment as quoted, realise their mistake, then ask for more. Had you been quoted for 2 septic tanks, you might not have gone for the higher quote, and in asking you to pay the new price, it denies you the option of challenging the price, or finding somewhere cheaper. I can only assume that you put it to them, and they dropped their claim for the extra payment.

I'm sure once head office get involved in this, their legal department will know they don't have a leg to stand on and realise it was a genuine mistake, and their options will be to either a) persuade me to pay up and threaten legal action and see if I cave in, or b) admit they were wrong, and see things from my point of view about the huge difference in price, and inform me correctly that my rights as a customer are that they don't have to ask for anything more, or c) as b, but offering compensation/voucher off next visit as well as a goodwill gesture to encourage me to have my car serviced with them again.

I'd be a bit wary of visiting them again though, as in my next service, they would remember me and might just find I need to replace my gearbox and clutch as a way of recovering their loss on the tyre.

Gordon_Hose

You paid the price they quoted, they don't have a leg to stand on.

The rusty sheriff's badge of the guy that quoted you is now doing 50 pence, 5 pence and he's gonna get in trouble with head office.

My advice, if they come back and honour the online price, pay them their £5. If they get all bolshy, tell them to jog on and never go back there.

s_b

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

You paid the price they quoted, they don't have a leg to stand on.

The rusty sheriff's badge of the guy that quoted you is now doing 50 pence, 5 pence and he's gonna get in trouble with head office.

My advice, if they come back and honour the online price, pay them their £5. If they get all bolshy, tell them to jog on and never go back there.

i found this in a car and wear it occasionally:D

peter_the_piper

""Peter, This sounds exactly the same as the septic tanks situation, in that they quoted, received payment as quoted, realise their mistake, then ask for more. Had you been quoted for 2 septic tanks, you might not have gone for the higher quote, and in asking you to pay the new price, it denies you the option of challenging the price, or finding somewhere cheaper. I can only assume that you put it to them, and they dropped their claim for the extra payment.""

Yep, they were trying to milk a situation as well as making an error.

Shiggaddi

Having spoken to consumer direct on the matter after being referred by my local trading standards, they came back and confirmed most of what I believe was true in the first place.

Firstly, I was given a quote on the phone, it was confirmed to be a quote rather than an estimate (the words quote or estimate weren't used during the phone call) because they told me the price I needed to pay for all the jobs that needed doing, and I agreed to the jobs at that price, and upon arriving at the garage, I paid the agreed price in full and left.

The quantity of tyres are not mentioned in the invoice, nor the quantity of valves etc.

I was advised that the next course of action would be to refuse to pay, as I agreed a fixed price and have proof that I paid the fixed price. The only option for them is to then pursue the matter through the courts, and if they choose that option, I can in my defence tell the courts exactly what happened, but they did say it doesn't guarantee it will be in my favour. I also said that if they were to persue me for the full amount in court, had I been aware of how much they really wanted for the work, their mistake has meant the difference between accepting their quote, or looking elsewhere, and I accepted the quote based on their mistake, and that point would definitely be ammunition if it went to court.

If I were working in Head Office, I'd rather just take the loss on the chin, which after all is nearly what they'd get if booked online, rather than risk negative publicity which could affect not only the one garage that I went to, but others around the country.

Shiggaddi

Just received a callback from them, and after the guy at the centre mentioned to head office what had happened, he basically said, "Well, it's our mistake, we'll put our hands up to this, and we won't be chasing the matter any further, and apologised for any inconvenience cause. We've also looked into our internet prices, and garage prices, and we're not here to rip anyone off, and we're hoping to later in the year bring our internet prices and garage prices inline with each other, so there's no need for people to feel ripped off"

Just shows that standing my ground, and not caving in to paying for the tyre has worked, and I'm sure head office knows full well they wouldn't have a case if they were to pursue this.