Garage fixed car without permission where do I stand????

slg_sue

I really need some quite urgent advice on this matter. My husband took our ford focus for its yearly MOT and issues arose with the gear box and clutch. We understood that these would need to be fixed before it could pass the MOT and asked them every day for 3 days "how much is this going to cost" and each time we were told that they would let us know.

Yesterday day 4 of the story came and he gets a call "your car is ready", now at this point we had still not been given a quotation or even an estimate of how much this was going to cost and in truth whether we could afford it. We had discussed our options and knew how much we were happy to spend.

We got to the garage (run by some very big men!) and after what appeared to be a strange phone call to the "boss" with him leaving the office so we couldnt hear the conversation, we were presented with a lovely £700 bill.

Now to get the car back I have had to borrow money from my parents and it still has not passed the MOT as it needs a new tyre, which they have offered to do but I suspect it will be made of gold and cost a small fortune and I paid the rest on my pre-paid credit card, which was savings for my holiday. This is not what I was prepared to pay and I told the guy that had they phoned and told us the price I would have told them not to bother. To this I got a "sorry love, I hate being on the front line":mad:

Is there anything I can do about this as I really feel extremely quite distressed about the whole thing and wonder what would have happened if I didnt have the money??? Morally I believe it is wrong and nothing can be said to change my mind on that, but is there any law or governing body that I can complain to?

Quentin

You don't pay for any unauthorised work.

mrcow

So the work is now paid for? And you've got your car back?

Seriously, the best you can hope for is that they've not done a botch job. It sounds like a cowboy outfit. Have you used them before?

slg_sue

I was in such a state of shock and felt completely bullied into the transaction, thats why I put half on a credit card it may be pre-paid but is covered by the guarantee etc. We used them once before and the car flew through the MOT so not had any "work" done,

aliasojo

slg_sue wrote: »

We understood that these would need to be fixed before it could pass the MOT and asked them every day for 3 days "how much is this going to cost" and each time we were told that they would let us know.

Wearing my 'Devil's Advocate' hat....asking "how much is this going to cost" is most definitely not the same thing as "please let me know before any work is done how will it will likely cost as I want to ok it first".

It could be argued that simply asking how much it will cost doesn't necessarily imply a confirmation to go ahead is required.

/DA hat off

There's nothing worse than when people don't treat you with respect OP, it would only have taken a quick phone call.

Hope you get some resolution.