garage negligence?

smokeyaces

Hi,

I am in need of a bit of advice regarding my rights after I was seemingly ripped off by a main dealership.

So last week my car was due a service, I only bought it 6 months ago, and the previous owner had the car serviced every year at the same VW dealership. I went online and (unsurprisingly) found them to be extortionate, around £70-100 more than other garages in the area offering the same major service. I noticed on their website it said "we will match any local offer" so I called them and explained the price difference of the other garages in the area and asked them if they could match it. They said only IF other garages used genuine VW parts... leaving me a bit baffled as the only parts used in the major service are plugs, air filter and oil.. Anyway i got it booked in and off it went to the dealership.

As I handed over the keys I explained to thy guy that I had had a bizarre problem with my car which was the engine management light would occasionally come on and then turn off after a couple of minutes or when the engine was turned off and then on. I was then told that if I wanted diagnostics it would be £80 on top of the service BUT he suggested if it was just a misfire problem when they changed the plugs, air filter and did the service there was a good chance it would solve the problem.

So I came back later that day and collected my car all the paperwork had been signed off and I was notified of advisory repairs (nothing major just wear and tear sych as fornt pads, rear shoes and 2 new tyres soonish)

AND then.... this weekend (my birthday weekend) I was due to set off to London on Saturday to spend my birthday with the family when the engine management light came on! However now the problem had worsened in that when the engine was idle and the engine management light was on the car was misfiring and sluggish. I had a friend who had a friend who had a diagnostics device so I got in contact and begged him to come and tell me what the problem was. I felt obliged to pay him £25 as I was panicking. Anyway after 20-30 mins the report came back 1 error... It was a misfire on cyclinder 2. He advised firstly changing spark plugs then cables and if it still persisited then to go into the garage again. I explained the plugs weren't the issue as I had the major service a week before. He said ok well in my experience in newer models something like old plugs are a common cause. So he takes out the plugs for inspection and...
Out pops rusting dirty plugs... NOT changed. He laughed and looking through my service receipt he starts looking around. Next to the air filter (signed off on the service paper as replaced) and suprise suprise COVERED IN CRAP!! just for good measures NO door hinges/bonnet catches are greased as signed off. The mechanic laughed and told me I'd been taken for a ride. On inspection the jobs signed off WERE NEVER DONE!!

So I call the dealership and spoke to a manager of the servicing department. He heard my complaint went off and returned to me to apologise as the mechanic had "overlooked some aspects" of the service... HIS offer was that I bring my car back in IN A WEEK and they would do it again. When I demanded to be compensated for this negligence they offered me a top up of fuel for my "extra journey". I declined that and said they would have to do better. The next offer was INSTEAD of the fuel they wanted to give me 20% discount on 2 ECONOMY tyres for my car.

I do not want to be unreasonable but what should I realistically receive for my troubles?? I don't wanna make demands for the sake of it but it is supposed to be a trustworthy MAIN DEALERSHIP and I feel as if im having the P*** taken out of me right now!! :mad:

marlot

Negligence is the nice word. Charging for work they have not done is fraud in my book. I'd be demanding a full refund and I'd take the car somewhere else.

And if they didn't pay, I'd use moneyclaim online to sue in the small claims court.

And I'd tell VW of my experience.

smokeyaces

I had orignally asked for the full refund (£259) and the manager said all I can refund you for is £107 which is the pricing for plugs and air filter replacement... I argued that I couldn't trust them to have done the rest of the service so would wanted a FULL refund which he said "was not possible"

vaio

"not possible" has different meanings depending on whether it's a customer on the phone or a MCOL form on the desk.

Trading standards might be worth a call too

anotherbaldrick

Get them for what you can but next time go to a recommended independant garage. Try looking on here.
http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?43-Reviews-amp-Recommendations-of-Dealers-Independant-Garages-amp-Breakers-Sponsored-by-Volks-Auto.

marlot

smokeyaces wrote: »

I had orignally asked for the full refund (£259) and the manager said all I can refund you for is £107 which is the pricing for plugs and air filter replacement... I argued that I couldn't trust them to have done the rest of the service so would wanted a FULL refund which he said "was not possible"

Of course its possible. Get on to trading standards!

smokeyaces

Had a call from the garage a few minutes ago their latest offer is to replace the air filter and spar plugs they missed plus a refund of £110 in the interests of getting it resolved quickly and being compensated I may accept but a part of me feels there is nothing stopping them doing this again to others?!

mattyprice4004

I'd not want them anywhere near my car
If that was me it'd be full refund then writing lots of poor reviews.

Absolutely shocking.

fivetide

Did you pay by credit card? If so I'd do a chargeback on them as you've paid for somethign you haven't recieved.

Is there another dealer you can go to? They should pay for them to do the work instead. I wouldn't be trusting them with my car again. Even if they refunded the bits they hadn't done and then did the whole lot again for free.

You are quite right OP - how do you know they've done any of the work they said they had?

Also, speak to TS as above and consider phoning your local paper if they don't play ball at the dealership. Nothing like a bit of bad publicity to get things going.

5t.

Gordon_Hose

How do you "overlook some aspects of the service" when the mechanic physically signed off the work he'd done (or didn't do in this case!)?

Personally I'd be demanding a full refund. How can they charge you for labour when the mechanic didn't even do the main parts that form a service!

It's no wonder mechanics get a bad reputation when even main dealers rip you off. I wonder how many other people have paid for a full service and they haven't done the work!!

shaun_from_Africa

One thing that I would suggest is that you send an e-mail to the service manager explaining exactly what happened and asking for a full refund.

The reason for this e-mail is so that the manager will hopefully reply via e-mail, in which case you will have some written proof of what has been offered by them.

This written proof may well come in very handy if you attempt a chargeback or S75 claim, or use the mneyclaimonline service as although you have been told that the mechanic made an error, it sounds like all of what you know was discussed on the telephone, something which the manager could well deny he stated.

Thye lied and have attempted to defraud you out of a fair amount of money, and if I was in your shoes, I would settle for nothing less than a full refund (followed by a letter to the VW headquarters).