Alloy wheels damaged by garage - Any help?

lemon26

Hi,

My fiancee took her car to our local garage as she needed four new tyres and they've damaged all four of her alloy wheels, including particularly bad chipping / scratching to two of them.

She took the car back and they told her to come again today, they have painted some of the scratches and sent her on her merry way. Back at home I had a look and they've left the big dents and scratches untouched. I can't go with her as I work 0830-1730 every day and the garage close before that.

Firstly, is there anything we can do? Is it worth her going back, yet again, tomorrow and pointing out what they've still got to fix - this will be the third time!

Secondly, she paid with Visa Debit, is there anything the bank can do (similar to what credit card issuers can do) to reclaim however much it will cost to have the wheels refurbished?

All the wheels were in as-new condition when they went in and, if it was my car, I would have refused to pay until they sorted it. Sadly, she missed it and left, but went back the next day.

Thanks in adavance,

L

Sgt_Pepper_2

Do you have any evidence the wheels weren't damaged before?

If you had to prove it how would you?

lemon26

Hi, thanks for your reply. Sadly, we didn't think to photograph the wheels prior to getting the new tyres fitted - what's the world coming to if you have to?!

The dents in the wheels are the exact same shape as a crescent from the alloy wheel key and the scratches are in places that couldn't have been curbed without damaging the rest of the wheel. So, without photographic proof, this is the best we've got - surely common sense should prevail!

forgotmyname

Common sense if not proof they did the damage and not previously damaged.

The fact they repaired them may stand in your favour though. I dont think a chargeback would work.

Complain and name and shame them locally and small claims is probably the way forward.

If you put the word out they are not very good it may cost them more than it costs to fix your wheels properly.

Strider590

To be fair a lot of people wouldn't notice any damage to their wheels before going to a garage, most people don't even wash their own car any more..... On coming back with new tyres, the wheel will have greasy marks around the edges, an owner might go look at the new tyres, notice the greasy marks and then think the damage was new.

arcon5

Go back again, they haven't denied it yet