Issue with Motor-Mate

mr3103

Hi,

I recently used the service of MotorMate (motor-mate.co.uk) to get my MOT done. They called me to let me know that the MOT failed and that there were a number of issues, like issues with the light clusters, the beams etc. I was surprised because my car had undergone a full service a few months ago and is not so old (2009 reg). The company said they needed to keep it overnight as they would only be able to work on the fixes the following day. The bill was £430 for repair. The following day when I got my car back, there was an extra 90 miles on my mileage. The test centre is max 5 miles away. I told the company about this and they said that I was wrong. However, I remember checking the mileage the night before and writing it down. When I told them that I was surprised about the extent of the work, the customer service was also rude, said that they were experts in cars and to let them do their job.

Is there any way I can prove that this company has been using my car? How can I show that they have charged me for unnecessary work? Also, is it possible to report such incident to the authorities?

Thanks

Sgt_Pepper_2

Other than your say so, what evidence do you have about the mileage?

Joe_Horner

There's very little you can do on the basis of "I say / they say" and the fact that the (alleged) faults have been repaired means that you can't put in an official appeal to VOSA about the test result I'm afraid.

What you CAN do is get in touch with VOSA (contact details available through Google) and explain the situation to them.

A big part of their work is making sure the MOT industry stays reputable but there are thousands of stations out there so catching out the (ver few really) dodgy ones is an uphill struggle. It's much easier for them to do their job if they have intel about where problems might be occurring because it lets them target resources (like "mystery shopper" visits where they're most likely to be of use.

forgotmyname

Check to see if the parts they failed have been replaced.

Other than that its your word against theirs. You know not to use them next time. And spread the word to family /friends work colleagues.

Sit in a busy area and have a pretend phone call about them?

Get the news spread? No slander though. Only what you can prove.

mikey72

Check on the MOT history database. You've got the bill with the details of the parts on, there should be a fail recorded, with the reason for fail, then the retest should be the last entry.

vaio

and I think both the test and retest should have mileages attached which might provide evidence of when the extra miles were done

waynedance

Please keep us posted on the findings of the mot history check regarding the mileage.

paddedjohn

What mileage is on the fail sheet and what mileage is on the pass sheet?

Mr_Thrifty

I bet those 90 miles were driven like it was a Forumula 1 racing car, too.

6,000 rpm gear changes, heavy on the clutch, hard braking, hard cornering, etc.

After all, nothing quite handles like a company car.

maninthestreet

A 2009 car fails it's first MOT because of it's lights?? Exactly what was wrong with them (other than blown bulbs, perhaps) ???

fivetide

maninthestreet wrote: »

A 2009 car fails it's first MOT because of it's lights?? Exactly what was wrong with them (other than blown bulbs, perhaps) ???

Only thing I could think of, especially as it was the 'clusters' specifically mentioned, is if the car is an import with the wrong beam deflectors in it.

That or someone has put some sort of aftermarket HID kit in there.

5t.