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Car Garage Threatening Solicitors
Comments
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Hi everyone,
Just looking for some advice on an issue my fiancee and I are having with her car please!
Basically her car broke down a few weeks ago so it had to go into the garage. Before it went in we had some friends who are mechanics look at it and they said it was most likely an issue with the temperature sensor but they couldn't find it on the car so we sent it to the garage to get it done properly.
The garage took a look at it and it came up with some faults on their computer, they emailed us and said that they would fit two parts for us. We responded and asked if this would be guaranteed to fix the problem, they replied and said 100% it would fix the problem or there would me no charge. They fitted the parts and it wasn't fixed so they then fitted another part which then fixed the issue.
When we went to collect the car they tried charging us for all 3 parts instead of only the last one. We refused to pay for all three and told them we would pay for the last part only - We showed them the emails that they had sent us but the gentleman we spoke to wouldn't back down. He spoke to a manager who said to give us the car and they would contact us today.
So today we have been contacted and they are now threatening us with solicitors telling us to pay the full amount! Do we have a leg to stand on when they sent us emails telling us there would be no charge if the first two parts? We've said we're happy to pay for the labour and part for the third part but nothing more.
Can anyone please help as we're very worried about the threat of solicitors. Are they just trying to scare us?
Thank you very much in advance,
Kindest regards
Zander
from now on just ignore all communication from them, unless its through a court.
Sounds to me like they're trying it on- let you have your car back and 'we'll contact you later to threaten you to pay up some more'.If they wanted payment that badly they would have kept the car
You have an email which can be used as evidence, keep your receipts for everything else. After you ignore their calls i doubt you will hear from them again
I would never expect to pay for parts, working parts that are nothing to do with the cars fault i dont think anyone does. And some posters on here defy belief blatantly defending the garage when it is the OP who is clearly the victimEven a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day, and for once I'm inclined to believe Withnail is right. We are indeed drifting into the arena of the unwell.0 -
your joking aren't ya? Acting like the garage are the victims!
The garage trusted the customer to pay the bill? A bill that op isn't liable for or agreed to.
As for the poster suggesting give the parts back... Why should op get his hands dirty? What should he replace them with?
You're just like the rest if the chancers on here.
It's always someone else's fault0 -
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burlington6 wrote: »
It's always someone else's fault
Yeah usually the cowboy garages that are unable to diagnose a fault with a car despite having thousands of pounds worth of equipment for diagnostics machines and all the tools necessary to remove and test the parts if required,then start throwing parts at a car and expecting the customer to pick up the tab for their mistakes
The OP has done nothing wrong, they came to the garage and suggested a problem with the car on the understanding and written confirmation they wouldn't be charged for additional parts they didnt need.The garage 'diagnosed the fault' and replaced two parts which turned out to be incorrect. They then fitted a third part which turned out to be the correct part. At that point they should have replaced the previously working parts and charged the customer for the diagnostics,labour and cost plus VAT of faulty part-nothing more. The customer isn't liable for that, and good luck to the garage pursuing that one in courtEven a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day, and for once I'm inclined to believe Withnail is right. We are indeed drifting into the arena of the unwell.0 -
burlington6 wrote: »You're just like the rest if the chancers on here.
It's always someone else's fault
Well, is it the OP's fault that a representative of the garage concerned stated in writing that they "guaranteed 100%" that changing the two parts in question would fix the problem but if it didn't, there would be no charge?
How can someone be a chancer by insisting that a business stands by the terms that it set out for a contract?0 -
Why do you think that the OP would have to prove anything?An interesting paragraph in your linked page.
"However, as with other forms of evidence, the reliability of e-mail evidence will be subject to scrutiny. This can be a particular issue in the context of e-mail or other electronic evidence, since measures which may protect the integrity and/or authenticity of electronic evidence (such as the use of digital signatures or other forms of encryption) are not always used. As a result, the reliability of e-mail as evidence may be subject to attack."
Could you prove that the employee sent the Email for example?
If they were to present the e-mail as evidence and the garage denied that it was genuine, they would in effect be accusing the OP of fraud and perjury, accusations that they would have to prove.
If a copy of the e-mail was presented as evidence and this clearly stated the originating e-mail address, it's highly unlikely that a judge would rule that the OP hacked or arranged for someone to hack into the garage's system to send the mail and if the garage management did make this claim, a criminal investigation would probably follow and from this investigation it would be easy to obtain ISP records of the e-mail.
It would take a very foolish person to try to claim that the e-mail was not genuine or not sent by them as this claim would be too easy to disprove.0 -
burlington6 wrote: »But he'll stay in business.
People like you won't if you're ever in that position
Not for long he wont. Suprising how quickly word gets round about dodgy garages.
Plenty of garages in my area do a good job for a fair price and they've been in business for over 30 years, thats why their customers keep coming back. Dont be so naiveEven a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day, and for once I'm inclined to believe Withnail is right. We are indeed drifting into the arena of the unwell.0 -
Offer the garage to remove their two parts that didn't fix the problem, and they put your old parts back in.
Any chance we can have details of the car, fault and parts?0 -
burlington6 wrote: »You're just like the rest if the chancers on here.
It's always someone else's fault
I assume you own a garage or trade cars from the completly over aggressive/irrelevant posts you have made on more than one thread today.
To the OP - tell em to run and jump... if they promised a "fix or no fee" deal. They wpon;t take you to court for a couple of sensors costing approx £50.
OP - it is not your fault they misdiagnosed the fault first time round, if the garage wasn't sure they shouldn't have made such bold claims about the fix.
In fairness, I can almost get to an argument where you could offer for them to remove the 2x new parts (at their cost) and put the old ones back, but doubt they have the old parts and doubt you would want to leave your car with them.Life isn't about the number of breaths we take, but the moments that take our breath away. Like choking....0 -
burlington6 wrote: »But he'll stay in business.
People like you won't if you're ever in that position
He's a mini cab driver now and was only ever a driveway trader.0
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