Vauxhall charging under warranty?

FrustrationFull

Hi all,

I just took my vauxhall Adam into the dealership because about a month ago I turned the car on, the entertainment system was just completely dead (no display or reaction at all). Nothing would get it back, but on the return journey the display and radio were working but the Bluetooth hasn't worked since.

So I rang them up and asked about the problem, they said to bring it in to be looked at. I've just dropped it off and the guy has said that I'll have to pay £69 for it to be diagnosed. Surely if my car is still under warranty then I shouldn't be charged for them to know what's wrong with it? Or am I missing something?

facade

If it turns out to be a warranty repair, they will refund you and fix it, although you would have expected them to say "If it isn't a warranty item you will have to pay £69", rather than demand £69 up front.

If it is one of the sneaky excluded items, or something that they can blame on you they won't.

motorguy

facade wrote: »

If it turns out to be a warranty repair, they will refund you and fix it, although you would have expected them to say "If it isn't a warranty item you will have to pay £69", rather than demand £69 up front.

If it is one of the sneaky excluded items, or something that they can blame on you they won't.

I would imagine its easier to get people to pay up front and then refund, rather than try to extract £69 from a customer after they've found out its not covered under warranty

motorguy

FrustrationFull wrote: »

Hi all,

I just took my vauxhall Adam into the dealership because about a month ago I turned the car on, the entertainment system was just completely dead (no display or reaction at all). Nothing would get it back, but on the return journey the display and radio were working but the Bluetooth hasn't worked since.

So I rang them up and asked about the problem, they said to bring it in to be looked at. I've just dropped it off and the guy has said that I'll have to pay £69 for it to be diagnosed. Surely if my car is still under warranty then I shouldn't be charged for them to know what's wrong with it? Or am I missing something?

From their perspective, at this stage it could be a problem with your phone or the way you are connecting, which wouldnt be covered under warranty.

They cant claim diagnostics that turn out not to be covered by the manufacturer.

prowla

If the car was turned on as per instructions and the entertainment system was dead, then that would imply a fault; I don't see how a garage could legitimately charge a fee for diagnosing it.

It would be all to easy for the garage to return the car with "no fault found" and pocket the fee.

I had a car some time ago where the A/C didn't work. It was returned to the garage who said no fault found. It still didn't work, so it went back again, to which they said it was repaired. It still didn't work, so it went back again; they got someone from Ford to look at it and it turned out that there was a bent pin in a connector from when it left the factory. I would not have paid a garage money to diagnose that.

Garages often use the "no fault found" tactic to fob off customers, and you have to be persistent to get things resolved; adding a fee as a disincentive would appear to be a move to strengthen their arm and discourage the customer.

Marktheshark

Tell them you are not claiming under the warranty, you are reporting a faulty product under the Consumer Rights Act.

Head_The_Ball

motorguy wrote: »

I would imagine its easier to get people to pay up front and then refund, rather than try to extract £69 from a customer after they've found out its not covered under warranty

Doesn't the fact that the garage/dealer has possession of the car and a set of keys act as a strong incentive for a customer to pay, even if under protest?

BykerSands

Marktheshark wrote: »

Tell them you are not claiming under the warranty, you are reporting a faulty product under the Consumer Rights Act.

How longs he owned the car? Longer than 6 months then he's have to prove an inherent fault to force everything back on the dealer.

motorguy

Head_The_Ball wrote: »

Doesn't the fact that the garage/dealer has possession of the car and a set of keys act as a strong incentive for a customer to pay, even if under protest?

Surely you can see that asking for the money up front as part of diagnostics is a much cleaner, simpler way to get payment rather than arguments and threats of not giving the customer their car back if it turns out not to be a warranty claim?

The problem is the customer doesnt "see" or choses not to see the time and effort thats required to do diagnostics.

The bottom line is, dealers get stiffed in the middle. Customer comes in with some "problem" - theres diagnostic time and time in a repair bay to be paid for, and if it turns out to be a non warranty claim chances are the customer will go somewhere else for a cheapie repair.

I'd say the amount of times your typical dealer has had to check out stuff that turns out not to be a warranty claim ads up to a fair few ££££ over the course of a year.

motorguy

Marktheshark wrote: »

Tell them you are not claiming under the warranty, you are reporting a faulty product under the Consumer Rights Act.

How do you know that at this stage? Could be a faulty phone?

motorguy

prowla wrote: »

If the car was turned on as per instructions and the entertainment system was dead, then that would imply a fault; I don't see how a garage could legitimately charge a fee for diagnosing it.

It would be all to easy for the garage to return the car with "no fault found" and pocket the fee.

Garages often use the "no fault found" tactic to fob off customers, and you have to be persistent to get things resolved; adding a fee as a disincentive would appear to be a move to strengthen their arm and discourage the customer.

I read it that the infotainment system had been faulty, had been fixed and the bluetooth hadnt subsequently worked.

Its not about "pocketing" money for no fault found work, its about covering mechanics time, admin and time in a bay only for there to be no problem able to found at that time.