Damage to brakes caused by garage neglegence

Zogger

Hi,

I've posted this on another forum but thought here might be a better place!

I have a mazda 6 auto 2007, most years I've had it it's been serviced by a local garage (not main dealer).
Car was serviced & MOTed last month.
A couple of days ago we heard a noise from a rear wheel when braking so we took it by the garage for a road test.
We were advised not to drive it because the noise was metal to metal. However they didn't have space for us (and we have a flight booked on Sunday so need the car) so we had it towed to the local Mazda dealer instead.

They have discovered that the rubber boots from the o/s/r brake caliper pins were missing, and have asserted that this has caused the pins to seize and damaged the disc. They have replaced the disc, pads and pins and we've paid £312. They said that the fault is with the garage that last changed the brake pads, presumably even if they didn't lose the part themselves they should have realised it was missing, and there's no other reason for them to come off
I've now checked and found that they were last replaced 2 years ago by the local garage who normally service it.
3 months after they were changed it has also been in to the same garage to check for other unrelated brake noises which were coming from the front, but they also checked the rear at the same time and did not raise anything.
They have serviced it and MOTed once since then and not found the problem, however the mazda garage have also serviced it once last year and didn't find it either. It's also been MOTed at National

I'm going to complain to the garage tomorrow, but just thought I would check if anyone has had advce or any success getting money back from something similar.

tl;dr - garage failed to replace a part when changing pads 2 years ago which has now caused damage to the brakes. Paid to have it fixed at a different garage. How do I recover costs?!?!

Thanks

Geodark

One garage blaming another for bad workmanship - never heard that before... to be honest unless you have 100% proof that this is the cause and that it wasnt done I would forget about it. garages do this all the time for many reasons.

harveybobbles

Not actualy quite sure what or who the OP is going to complain to since three seperate places have all worked on the car..

OP - have you asked the Mazda garage if they would write down in black and white and on headed paper that they say the blame is with the garage who last changed the rear pads?

Rick.Clark

After this amount of time, it is probably going to be tricky to pin on anyone specific. They are unlikely to fall off my themselves, but anyone of them could've removed them. Did the last place actually show you, they could've just been on a money spinner?

colino

The rubber boots deteriorate with age/use but no one would go to the bother of taking them off. Remind me how long ago they were stripped down and the mileage since then, then refer to post 2.

straighttalker

With the passage of time, it's going to be difficult to pin down which garage could allegedly be responsible.

In any event, unless you've asked for a complete overhaul of the brakes, the sliding pins won't be removed from the caliper anyway. I know good practice dictates that the pins are removed, inspected, rubbed down and re greased, but most places will just loosen them enough for the caliper to come off, fit the new pads and then refit the caliper.

I doubt you have any real prospects of successfully pursuing anyone.

Nodding_Donkey

I think you are making the mistake of believing anything a Mazda Stealer tells you.

harveybobbles

Another posted who doesnt like what they read and wont bother coming back..

Zogger

harveybobbles wrote: »

Another posted who doesnt like what they read and wont bother coming back..

Not at all... my subscription stopped sending me emails because i was logged out when i last viewed the thread..

Unsurprisingly there are conflicting stories from two different garages . With no proof either way I dont really know who to trust but the local garage was more believable / made more sense. They've also offered to put a credit on my account eg for a free MOT (because they didn't make space for us when we came in with brake noise) and am reasonably happy with that.

harveybobbles

Free MOT? they'll soon get their money back on you dont worry ;-)