Tyre City have damaged my car - help

nij420

Evening all,

I am in need of some much needed help please

Please please please forgive me for the length of this post.

I have a Nissan Note, which was not sounding too good, so took it into a local garage 'Tyre City' on Saturday afternoon. They advised that the bearing needed to be replaced but whilst they were removing the bearing, they have broken the drum. I'm no car expert so I had no idea what a drum was til it was mentioned at the garage.

They have admitted they damaged the part while they were trying to remove the bearing.

The guy at the garage said this can happen when trying to remove the bearings, and said I will be charged for the both jobs - on the bearing AND on the drum which they broke.

They then claimed they could not order the drum til Tuesday (today), but I ordered one through Euro Car Parts who took my number plate and vehicle details to order the correct part available for Saturday - but the garage refused to accept it and said 'it's not the correct part' and were in a hurry to get rid of us, and make us come back today - and leaving the car with them til then.

Went back today 11am and waited around for over an hour and they had still not touched the car. At which point my father asked what was was going on. Only then they gave an update - they ordered the wrong part - the exact same part I ordered on Saturday and instead of them apologising, they were so shockingly rude and not once have they apologised, telling us to wait til it arrives.

Instead, when my father asked what happens if the wrong part is ordered again- he was greeted with 2 responses by their mechanic:

"Now you're just making assumptions"

When my father asked again he replied:

"I can't do magic and make it appear from my side or from my backside"

I was shocked and appalled by how he spoke to my father considering he is elderly and English not being his first language - but what he asked was perfectly clear and not even slightly rude or aggressive in way, and when I intervened and asked why he's being rude he refused to speak saying "I don't want to talk to you" and simply walked off

When I spoke to the manager, he too did not apologise and was very rude and instead claimed his colleague had done nothing wrong, and demanded we would have to pay all costs to fix the car.

As a result, I was so shocked and disgusted at the level of service I was receiving, I decided to enough was enough and made use of the breakdown cover I have and ask Green Flag to recover my vehicle from the premises, to my house where I will now seek a mobile mechanic (highly recommended by some of my friends) to carry out the required work.

I intend to send the brake drum bill to Tyre City as they are solely responsible for the damage caused to it - but I don't know where I stand with this. Is there anyway I can enforce them to payout the cost of the repair? And also is there any consumer watchdog like Ofgem. the energy watchdog, or the FOS for finance disputes - is there any such body for garages? Closest I've found is Motor Code - is this the equivalent or is there any other body or organisation? I desperately want to report them and express my anger and frustration how I have treated as a customer.

Once again - I am extremely sorry for my long thread, but for those who have taken the time to read it all, I will fully appreciate any help.

Many thanks

gilbert_and_sullivan

Can't help you with this, other than to re-iterate the general feeling here.

Do not use fast fit joints, ever, or things like this are the result as you've found out, presumably this is a city site, big cities and good manners, hmm maybe.

It can be a dickens of a job getting rear drums off if the adjusters are automatic with no way of releasing the adjuster to withdraw the hub past the wear ridge, created by the shoes wearing a ridge in the drum, sometimes the only way is force.

On some cars, notably small FWD models, the rear bearing now comes sealed into the rear hub and brake drum, so if a bearing is needed its part of the drum anyway.

When the mobile mechanic arrives to do the job, he will explain better than i if your car happens to have either of these poor designs.

topdaddy_2

Tyre city are probbably ok at fitting tyres. Nothing else.

forgotmyname

You will need to prove that they were negligent in breaking the part. But these things can happen.
More so if your in a rush and on a tight schedule to get the job done quickly.

The bearing may have cooked the drum onto the hub. Or they may have forgotten to release the handbrake. or adjust the shoes back.

They still make cars with drums?

gilbert_and_sullivan

forgotmyname wrote: »

They still make cars with drums?

Oh yes, and auto adjusters with no way of getting to them to slacken them off to facilitate removal.

Obviously at the budget end of the car market, which isn't quite so budget when a £30 plus fitting wheel bearing replacement actually ends up costing you £250 per side for a combined bearing/hub/drum assembly, plus fitting.

4743hudsonj

I cant say the way they have handled your case is the best however it is easy enough to damage a wheel drum when replacing the bearing especially when it is pressed. There are usually a fair few variations on parts, hence why they do not like customers buying parts and taking them in.

When you get the bill make sure all parts are itemised and the hours labour are listed then haggle on the labour taking into consideration the delays you have faced for what should have been a relatively simple job.

If they're doing your brake drum though id expect Brake cylinder and shoes to also appear on the parts list but not extra labour added as these must be removed regardless.

EdGasket

I don't think you can claim anything because in these sort of circumstances you MUST give the offending company the chance to put right the problem you are complaining about. As you removed the car, you denied them that opportunity. It does seem slightly unfair but that is the law as I understand it. They would also be entitled to charge you for work done until the point you removed the car.

Stoke

Drums are a real pain in the !!!! unfortunately. I've just had to have mine done as the shoe had come away from the adjuster causing it to rub on the hub and make a low rumble noise when going about <30, anything faster and you couldn't really hear it.

Discs are a doddle, but when I finally got the drum off (which was hard enough as it was), it looked a mess, way too complicated for me, so I had to pay a small garage to do it. £70 yikes!

AdrianC

4743hudsonj wrote: »

If they're doing your brake drum though id expect Brake cylinder and shoes to also appear on the parts list but not extra labour added as these must be removed regardless.

Wrong way around. The drum must be removed to replace the shoes and cylinder, but the shoes and cylinder certainly don't need to be touched to replace the drum.

And, yes, it can be difficult - even physically impossible - to remove the bearing from the drum without damaging the drum. Brake drums are a consumable, albeit long-life, anyway.

colino

Hands up every professional who has ever damaged a drum by removing it or extracting a bearing and fitting a new one?
That's right, absolutely no one.


They are cowboys who should have sucked up their incompetence and done the job that was initiated, but I really don't see, short of small claims, how you can force them to do the right thing.

EdGasket

I've seen tyre places use sledge hammers to get old discs off. Chances are this damages the wheel bearing and then that will need doing a few thousand miles further on. When I take my discs off, I feed in two M10 bolts and it pushes the disc off without any use of excessive force. I don't even trust those places to jack up the car correctly; I always take loose wheels in if I need tyres.