AA Halfords Autocentre ridiculous charges

Mrchafe

Hi Everyone,

Probably nothing I can do here but thought i'd pick your brains anyway.

I have a Golf GT TDI and the turbo was cutting out and going into limp mode. I bought an AA warranty with the car for 3 years at time of purchase which covers turbo replacement.

I called the warranty place who advised to go to AA autocentre near me which makes sense I suppose.

Booked it in and left it for the day, and at 430pm I had recieved no update so I had to call to get one and be told they were still looking at the fault / error code and they would get back to me.
I heard nothing more that day and no one bothered to call to tell me they were keeping it over night.

Same thing happened the next day which was the Thursday before the bank holiday Easter weekend so I called up earlier this time at 230 to be told that it was likely to be a 'gummed up turbo' rather than a broken one and that the warranty place wouldn't cover it if that was the case.

Again they said they'd get back to me and again they failed to do so, so I called at 430 to be told that they hadn't called the warranty company yet but they would probably ask to get my authorisation to take the turbo off the car to look at which for some reason would cost £200.

Of course I had no choice but to say yes otherwise they wouldn't look into it further so I said yes, thinking that it would be covered under warranty.

On saturday I believe I got a call saying the turbo was infact gummed up and the warranty place wouldnt cover it, although they didn't say they had bothered to call or not. They said to clean it was anotehr £150 ontop of the £200 they already charged me just to take it off and look at it!

At this point it would have been more expensive for me to tell them to put it back on and take it somewhere else to clean it so I said go ahead.

Easter weekend comes and goes without them bothering to tell me when it would be ready or that they were keeping it over the sunday and monday. Car is finally ready Tuesday and I am £350 lighter.

Sorry for the essay but basically do you think it's worth writing a complaint to someone? If so who and what is the best way to go about it?

I am unhappy about the price for 1, I cannot see how it costs £200 to take the turbo off, it is not a hugely difficult job, and £150 to clean it is also very steep.
I am also really annoyed at how little they kept me informed throughout. Given the choice I wouldn't have taken the car there in the first place, but was told to by the warranty company.

Any help appreciated!

johnsons_baby

I used to have a Golf GT TDi as my diesel run about as we also have a Scenic as well.
Our Turbo blew completely, we sourced our own from eBay, new, at a cost of £420, labour to fit the turbo was £180.
However, oil had got through somewhere and blowing clouds of black smoke out the exhaust, we had to get that cleaned through and that cost us £300 on top of the repair as the damage was quite substantial. We parted company with our Golf shortly after!

Would it be worth ringing your warranty company direct to ask if they do cover any costs in this instance, explaining what has happened?

Strider590

Any warranty not from the manufacturer, usually covers approximately nothing. It'll only cover parts of the car that cannot go wrong.

Mrchafe

Well if the turbo had failed this one would have.

The question is more whether you think if I complain to the AA Autocentre HQ whether you think I'd get anywhere?

Gordon_Hose

I think you'll come unstuck because you agreed to the work to be carried out.

The warranty is irrelevant now because they categorically told you that if the turbo was "gummed up" then the warranty wouldn't cover it.

Yes, you were between a rock and a hard place, but they will just turn around and say the customer gave authorisation for the work to be carried out.

Lifes_Grand_Plan

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

I think you'll come unstuck because you agreed to the work to be carried out.

The warranty is irrelevant now because they categorically told you that if the turbo was "gummed up" then the warranty wouldn't cover it.

Yes, you were between a rock and a hard place, but they will just turn around and say the customer gave authorisation for the work to be carried out.

I agree with this, there seems little room for complaint on the price of the job as they told you upfront and you agreed.

Might be worth double checking with The AA that this problem isn't covered on the warranty, but at I guess I would imagine it isn't as these sort of warranties are usually pretty rubbish.

It seems the only room for complaint is from their rubbish communication with you, but I doubt that will get you much, a letter of apology maybe and a goodwill gesture of a free service or £20 off your next service... hardly worth the effort IMHO.