Scammed or just inept ?

eschaton

fivetide wrote: »

Sounds like they've had your trousers down.

Definitely pants as well I think.

fivetide

eschaton wrote: »

Definitely pants as well I think.

Bad news that. Sounds like the sort of place that would charge extra for the oil...

fiferjim

Was a local garage but part of a chain wannabe Kwik Fit is how my usual garage described them.

They didn't charge for the pipe or fitting the other garage told me it was a copper pipe they fitted (it's a 1.6 petrol Zafira) and will get them to fix it as don't trust these guys at all.

They are calling me tomorrow to discuss my issues, got a letter ready to send if they aren't forthcoming with any satisfactory compensation.

harveybobbles

fiferjim wrote: »

Car taken to a garage I don't usually use as better half had gotten cheap voucher for MOT

Informed car failed for emissions and rear bushes on both side required replaced.

Advised that rocker cover was probable cause of emissions and given a quote of 500 to fix this and the suspension issue.

Took car in on monday and left it with garage.

Phoned at night to see how things were and was told it hadn't fixed the emissions issue.
Went in on Tue morning on way home from work to be told they had stripped back the manifold to clean it and egr valve. Also told they hadn't been getting readings on Oxygen sensor at rear of exhaust so they had replaced (no permission asked or given). They were going to put it all together again and test it again.

Called later that night to be informed they had broken a water pipe whilst working on car and had ordered a replacement to come Wednesday.

Called on Wednesday to be told the water pipe ordered wasn't correct and that they had to re order the correct one and would come on Thursday.

Called on Thursday afternoon to be told car was back running but emissions were still the same but the mechanic who had been working on car was on holiday and he would be back Friday to have a further look.

Called on Friday to be told they were checking spark plugs and had ordered a coil pack to see if this helped.

Called back later on to be told none of this helped and that they were at a loss as to know what to do next. Suggestions were to strip engine to check stem seals and or send ECU away to get reprogrammed both with high costs involved.

at this point I assumed the car was not economically viable to repair and went along to pick car up.

Paid bill for work that had been done and went home thinking i'd have to get a new car.

On Saturday I thought I'd try my usual garage which I always had used before to see if they could suggest anything. Within half an hour they told me the Catalytic Converter was broken to the point where parts of the inside were going back into the exhaust. I asked if this was very noticeable and they told me it should have at the very least been spotted when Oxygen sensor was replaced. They even gave me the old CAT so I could see the damage. I still have this in the car as evidence if required.

I agreed a price for a new Cat and for them to then do a MOT test on the car. They done this and finished it Monday morning when they phoned to say car was ready and had passed MOT. I had told them about the bushes at rear prior to MOT and double checked when I picked car up that there were no issues. They said both sides were fine.

One of the advisory notices on the MOT though was that there was a copper pipe leaking water behind the rocker cover.

I am obviously upset that a garage I trusted to give me advice has missed such a glaring issue after having my car for 5 days and charging me 480 pounds for work that could never have fixed the actual problem. I could even have went down the route of more expensive repairs that would never have had a hope of fixing emissions as the CAT was broken anyway.

Garage in question is calling me tomorrow to go over my concerns unsure how I should approach this am I kidding myself that they will accept any responsibility or should I put it down to an expensive mistake ?

I can't help thinking I was diddled but possibly they just didn't notice the CAT was broken ?

Thanks god you had a voucher for the MOT.. Can you imagine having to pay FULL price?!

fiferjim

harveybobbles wrote: »

Thanks god you had a voucher for the MOT.. Can you imagine having to pay FULL price?!

Every cloud eh ? :beer:

waynedance

So you went to another garage to save £15-£25 and not to the garage you normally go to and trust.

Oh well live and learn cheapest not always best.