Car Repair Garage - do I complain?

lurch003

Ok, you might have to bear with me on this one !!!

Back at the start of the Year, my Picasso was making some funny noises so I booked it into a garage round the corner from work to take a look. I called them later in the day to see if they'd had a chance to see what the noise was and was told "all done and ready to collect" They'd replaced the front part of the exhaust - £100 or something. Little perturbed that they just went ahead but it happened and as far as I was concerned was dealt with.

A couple of months later, more exhausty kinda noises so I took it back , again for an inspection, but didn't say "call me before you do anything". Needless to say, they went ahead with the work and replaced the back part of the exhaust. A few days later I noticed it didn't sit in the middle of the gap in the back bumper and was knocking on the bumper so took it back and was told that was normal adjustment and it was adjusted.

A week or so later, it was back to knocking on the bumper and so I took it back in again for a cable tye to be used in "fixing" it in place. Around this time, when idle the car started making "dinging" noises. I asked when I was there and was told it sounded like the cat was on it's way out. Not being flush, I said I'd leave it for another day.

A friend of mine listened to the noise a few days later and said it sounded like bits of weld, and from the story I told him about the exhaust, said it's probably faulty. So I called the garage and asked if it could be bits of weld. He agreed so I asked them to confirm if the exhaust was faulty or not and to square up the back pipe again as it was still on the bumper - now rubbing paint off.

When I called to collect the car, I was told it WAS bits of cat and a bill of £48 was produced for their "inspection" time. I replied that due to the problems I'd faced and the fact it was 50/50 as to whether it was a faulty exhaust or not, I wasn't expecting a bill. The invoice was torn up and I was told never to come back again.

So now I have a Picasso with a loud banging noisy exhaust, that is still rubbing on the bumper and rubbing the paint off, and £250ish out of pocket. I do not trust this garage to do any work and am reluctant to go back (even though I've been told not to) as they have had it back 3 times to fix the exhaust and it comes back worse everytime.

What options do I have other than going to another garage and paying out for a whole new exhaust again, plus probably a cat?

thanks in advance for your replies

atrixblue.-MFR-.

put it down to experience, yes they should have asked before comencing work, giving you a cost and diagnosis before hand.

you need to go to another garage and ask them to inspect only the fitment of the exhaust, and if they believe the previous garage have ill fitted it, then with this report, take it back to that garage and ask them to rectify the damage to the bumper and the illfitted exhaust, or you can take it to small claims after rectifying the problem with another garage and the detail out exactly where it was ill fitted, ask them to photograph key area's of the exhaust and make the report refrence to the photo's by supplying the camera, (someone did this at garage i paid a visit to he wasnt happy with a national chain fitting his suspension springs wrong but wouldnt rectify).