Urgent garage ripping me off

custardy

COMPETITIONFANATIC wrote: »

I rang back the RAC and they state that they are not under the Financial Ombudsman as the warranty is not an insurance it is a maintaince and breakdown policy so not regulated by a body.
Have raised a compliant but cant see it going anywhere.

Thanks for all the advice so far .

not really sure what you expect?

Gearbox
Manual
All internal failures of gears, shafts,
synchromesh hubs, selectors, seals and
bushes, bearings, speedometer drive,
overdrive units (when fitted), solenoid,
internal failure of transfer box.

Automatics
All internal failures of gears, oil pump, seals,
shafts, bushes, clutches, brake bands,
bearings, governors, servos, torque
convertor, drive plate, valve block, computer
governor, modulator valve, speedometer
drive.

Parts which are included:
Only the parts specifically listed under each
heading are included. If a part is not listed then
it will not be included.

none of the failed parts are included

COMPETITIONFANATIC

The fact that the garage was doing extra work that I cant afford !! was going to get a mate to fix it if not covered now I have a large bill for an extensive stripping of a gear box and mehanics bill to pay of £600 on top !! Oh well morrow of the story never use or buy an Rac Warranty and I will never use a garage as long as I live!!!

TrickyWicky

COMPETITIONFANATIC wrote: »

Oh well morrow of the story never use or buy an Rac Warranty and I will never use a garage as long as I live!!!

I think there is another you are missing out on which is rather important:

Never leave a car with a mechanic unless you are prepared to let them work on it. They don't want it sat in bits on their 4 post lift / ramp for a week while you decide what to do with it. They want it in and out ASAP so that they can take on other work.

You leave a car for 'inspection' at any mechanics and its at your own peril as its a licence for them to print money. If you find any mechanic who has spare 4 post lifts / ramps that he doesn't mind having 'full' for a week while working on other things, then you may be onto a winner.

Joe_Horner

One thing I'd be concerned about is why they removed the gearbox and sent it as part of diagnosis when the fault turned out to be a cable.

With a gear change problem (as opposed to a noisy box, for example), checking linkages and cables should be done first. The linkage / cables have to be disconnected in order to remove the box in the first place, making that the sensible time to check them before running up extra work. That, to me at least, smacks of questionable competence.

Changing the clutch once the box is out does make a certain amount of sense, although it should depend on condition (it's not hard to check the wear on a clutch out of the car) and should certainly be advised before doing if it wasn't part of the original work agreed.

Wongsky

Joe_Horner wrote: »

One thing I'd be concerned about is why they removed the gearbox and sent it as part of diagnosis when the fault turned out to be a cable.

With a gear change problem (as opposed to a noisy box, for example), checking linkages and cables should be done first. The linkage / cables have to be disconnected in order to remove the box in the first place, making that the sensible time to check them before running up extra work. That, to me at least, smacks of questionable competence.

Changing the clutch once the box is out does make a certain amount of sense, although it should depend on condition (it's not hard to check the wear on a clutch out of the car) and should certainly be advised before doing if it wasn't part of the original work agreed.

Have to say - agree with you - I was wondering why all linkage and the cable wasn't checked before sending it off to a specialist.

mattyprice4004

All I can say is your complaint is with the garage, the RAC have done nothing AT ALL wrong. The item is clearly not in the list of covered parts.

Your complaint is with the **** of a mechanic who couldn't be bothered to check the selector cables. It's the first logical thing to check if you can't get some gears.

fivetide

Joe_Horner wrote: »

One thing I'd be concerned about is why they removed the gearbox and sent it as part of diagnosis when the fault turned out to be a cable.

With a gear change problem (as opposed to a noisy box, for example), checking linkages and cables should be done first. The linkage / cables have to be disconnected in order to remove the box in the first place, making that the sensible time to check them before running up extra work. That, to me at least, smacks of questionable competence.

Changing the clutch once the box is out does make a certain amount of sense, although it should depend on condition (it's not hard to check the wear on a clutch out of the car) and should certainly be advised before doing if it wasn't part of the original work agreed.

What a remarkably sensible post! Not very MSE

Joe_Horner

fivetide wrote: »

What a remarkably sensible post! Not very MSE

Yeah, sorry, I'll try again:

OP, you bought a used car, what do you expect? Things wear out, get over it.!

Apart from that, the garage and RAC are being completely unreasonable so you should see them in court, don't forget to claim for emotional distress and whiplash.

It's claims like this that put all our insurance premiums up and anyone who drives to the garage without checking every 5 minutes that their repair insurance is valid deserves everything they get!

Is that better?

BertTheRaccoon

You've got to wonder if the box has even been out of the car here don't you?

I wonder if there's an inspection plate on the bell housing on these that would allow you to see the clutch?

It's a nice bill there if all they've done is stick some new selector cables on.

Have you driven the car since the work was done? Does the clutch feel any different?

There's no point in asking to see the old parts if you don't know what you're looking at though as they could be showing you anything.

I can't see the RAC have any problem with this saga and realistically you have not authorised the work the garage have done, you authorised the removal of the gearbox for diagnosis reasons and that was it. Problem is they have your car and will probably have you by the bolleaux for now. I'd say this is more a trading standards issue. Anyone else agree?

colino

With a very specific fault such as only 2 gears available, even the poorest tech would check that the box was moving in harmony with the gearstick or that the engine or trans mountings weren't at fault obstructing the gearchange.
Be very clear on what you instructed the garage to do, either diagnose and get back to you, diagnose and repair or take heavy items off and replace at will to get a big bill generated and then go back to them.