Poor work by garage, paid by credit card...

Jeb1980

Hi,

First time poster so I had a look through the forum and can see others have had similar experiences but could not find an example specifically matching my situation.

Last year I sent the engine from my 'classic' car to be updated by a specialist company to improve its performance somewhat. I paid for this with my visa credit card along with subsequent invoices for additional work I elected to have done (mostly for new parts instead of reusing older ones)

They delivered the engine whilst I was away with work over the summer and on my return I noticed a couple of things that did not appear right and along with my mechanic we stripped the engine down discovering a number of basic faults which any amateur engine builder would notice. At this point I employed an independent engineer to inspect the engine and in his findings he told me that although the majority of the constituent parts were ok, the engine had been put together so badly that it would barely have run let alone be the high performance engine I had paid several thousand pounds to this company to produce. He said it would have developed catastrophic faults within the first few miles of running it.

I wrote to the company demanding a refund of the labour costs plus some costs of a couple of parts and for the time of my mechanic and the independent engineer. They have replied and said send the engine back and they will rectify the problem. Unfortunately I have absolutely no faith in their ability to now carry out this work, plus I would need to completely dismantle the engine a second time to confirm that they have done what they said they have. The CAB website says I do not specifically need to return to the same garage to have a fault put right and can get the fault rectified and bill the original company.

In the mean time I contacted the credit card company to see if I could get my money back that way and they have asked me to send all the invoices, the letter i sent to the company plus the report from the engineer and a quote for how much it will cost to fix.

Can anyone point me in the right direction as to how I should word the covering letter to the credit card company?

Should I cease contact with the original engine company at this time?

The credit card company said they would simply contact the engine company and ask them to refund but can anyone tell me how I can put pressure on them to refund me so I can get the engine issue rectified and back in my car?

I have since read other customers who have been in the same situation with this company and are trying to take them to court over it.

Thanks for taking the time to read all this, I appreciate any help you can give me.

Splott

It isn't Burton Engineering by any chance?

The CAB website says I do not specifically need to return to the same garage to have a fault put right and can get the fault rectified and bill the original company.

Unfortunately that only applies to work done, not parts supplied. The engine is treated as a supplied part so you can only deal with the manufacturer, the people you got it from. And if you send it to another company you pretty much void any warranty.

forgotmyname

Force them to refund. not really. You stripped the engine down which probably puts you in a poor position.

The engineers report. This was from your friend?

Fix it and send them the bill no chance. Stop communicating with them and it wont look good on your part.

Sorry to sound so negative but i am just pointing out pitfalls they could pickup on very quickly if you went to court.

So what did you ask them to do and what have they done and not done?
Finally what is the issue with the engine?

Jeb1980

Splott wrote: »

It isn't Burton Engineering by any chance?



Unfortunately that only applies to work done, not parts supplied. The engine is treated as a supplied part so you can only deal with the manufacturer, the people you got it from. And if you send it to another company you pretty much void any warranty.

I won't say which company on a public forum for obvious reasons.

The engine is my engine that I sent them and they have worked on.

The issue I have is with the work done, the engineer has reported that all the new parts supplied are correct and in good order (less one part which is incorrect but I can surely return that for a refund?)

Jeb1980

forgotmyname wrote: »

Force them to refund. not really. You stripped the engine down which probably puts you in a poor position.

The engineers report. This was from your friend?

Fix it and send them the bill no chance. Stop communicating with them and it wont look good on your part.

Sorry to sound so negative but i am just pointing out pitfalls they could pickup on very quickly if you went to court.

So what did you ask them to do and what have they done and not done?
Finally what is the issue with the engine?

Yes I stripped the engine down with my mechanic, because there were obvious small issues with it and I wanted to check everything else was in order and the engine would not blow up when started.

I had not met the independent engineer prior to employing him to inspect the engine.

In terms of communication I used the letter template from here quoting supply of goods and services act to complain about their workmanship and demanded a refund of the labour costs and the one part that was incorrect. I simply want to ensure I don't say something wrong if I continue to respond to them before my credit card company has looked into it.

The engine was sent to them to update the pistons, bores, heads valves, inlet manifold, carbs etc. so for example I have paid for gas flowed heads which on inspection look like they have had virtually nothing done to them, confirmed by the engineer who has checked them on a flow bench.

The issue with the engine that work I have paid to have done to it either has not been done or done to such a poor standard it's performance would have been worse than when I sent it. As I mentioned above if it actually ran without fluids pouring out of the gaps in the gaskets it would have wrecked itself pretty quickly.

withabix

You can't use S75 against the credit card company for this type of situation. The fact or allegation that the work was done badly is not their problem.

You have also stripped the engine down, which weakens your case altogether.

Was the 'independent engineer' a friend of yours? If so, this also weakens your case.

Your only recourse is a Small Claims Court action against the engine refurbisher.

Start with a Letter Before Action and take it from there.

Jeb1980

withabix wrote: »

You can't use S75 against the credit card company for this type of situation. The fact or allegation that the work was done badly is not their problem.

You have also stripped the engine down, which weakens your case altogether.

Was the 'independent engineer' a friend of yours? If so, this also weakens your case.

Your only recourse is a Small Claims Court action against the engine refurbisher.

Start with a Letter Before Action and take it from there.

So i can use the Section 75 template letter as my covering letter to the Credit Card Company?

I can't see how stripping the engine has weakened my case, if it was a dodgy paint job you could obviously see straight away but with the engine we did not know there was such an issue until we delved into it. If for example i had returned the engine due to the obvious cosmetic issues and they "rectified" this the inernal issues would not have been dealt with and the engine would have been wrecked if i had tried to run it.

As mentioned above i had never met or even heard of the independent engineer until i employed him to inspect the engine. The CAB website with regards to shoddy garage repairs says you can, at your own expense, employ an engineer to prepare a report so its not simply me going back to the original company and saying their workmanship looks poor in my amateur opinion. The engineer can quantify what is actually wrong by taking measurements etc.

Jeb1980

Sorry just seen you said i can't use Section 75?

The Trading Standards website says Section 75 covers for goods and services bought on your credit card

"If you pay for the repair or service by credit card, and if the work costs more than £100, you are protected by the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Section 75 of the Act makes the card provider as responsible as the trader for a breach of contract or a misrepresentation. You are entitled to take action against the trader, the card provider or both."

Has anyone else been in a similar situation where the garage won't give a refund and you paid on credit card?

cheers

steve-L

Sorry can't help further except to point out people didn't read what you wrote!

For Section 75 I'm not sure of the correct way to go about.
For a small claims track, the more written evidence the better but remembering as you know not to say the wrong thing.

The main issue is the difficulty in not having confidence that they can rectify the fault.... if you can get advice from CAB this would probably make things clearer.

I agree with you about stripping it to check but perhaps you could find a different word ... or say something you and your mechanic saw that prompted this and then say it was stripped back to confirm other items were not in the same state at which point you paid for an independent mechanic?

Jeb1980

steve-L wrote: »

Sorry can't help further except to point out people didn't read what you wrote!

For Section 75 I'm not sure of the correct way to go about.
For a small claims track, the more written evidence the better but remembering as you know not to say the wrong thing.

The main issue is the difficulty in not having confidence that they can rectify the fault.... if you can get advice from CAB this would probably make things clearer.

I agree with you about stripping it to check but perhaps you could find a different word ... or say something you and your mechanic saw that prompted this and then say it was stripped back to confirm other items were not in the same state at which point you paid for an independent mechanic?

Thanks, i have drafted a covering letter to the Credit Card Company based on the Section 75 template on MSE, i have included the invoices, the spec sheet and price list (at time of purchase) from the engine company, the report from the independent engineer including his estimate of what it would cost if i were to take it to a reputable engine company to rectify and a copy of the letter i sent to the company demanding the refund for the partial amount. I will also enclose the email response from the engine company which does not offer refund but does offer to rectify. As i said there is no chance the engine will be going back to them, even if it means i have to give up my claim. This is the second time i have employed what i thought were well established, reputable tradesmen with this car and been let down, i think from now on i will just do it myself!

colino

Would you like to restart OP and tell us what, on a built up engine, alerted you to the need to take it apart to find fault in it? Was it dry, did it not turn freely or did you have some other intuition?