Car Held To ransom

Flowel

I appreciate this company has been discussed before in 2010 but wish to share this recent incident with you. New member - please be considerate.

F1 Autocentre Hertford.
Car: Citroen C2
Problem: Exhaust – back pipe replacement.

I have delayed posting this to give F1 autocentre time to reconsider how this company has treated my son. But obviously they do not care, so please read this and see how profit and greed come before customer care and proper service.

This is a company which seemingly lies to its customers and uses immoral working practices so that their customers are placed in a “fait accompli” situation when it comes to having to accept more expensive work because their vehicle cannot be driven away.

On 23rd May my son took his car to the Hertford branch, having first rung round to get quotes. Due to a time issue, the best chance of getting the work done within an hour (that did not happen) was with this company. Prior to and when the car was taken to the F1 premises, it was stressed that he was aware the flange on the catalytic convertor was loose and that it would be dealt with at a later date as the car was being considered for replacement. Therefore just a new back pipe was needed.

The car was delivered at 15.30 with an agreement it would be ready in an hour. Again, it had been stressed that the car was vital to my son’s job as a full time firefighter. Received call to say that pipes were on the floor, off the car and they could not connect the back pipes to the original catalytic convertor as the flange was broken off and there was nowhere to bolt the new back pipe. Received a second call saying a new catalytic converter was needed and this had been ordered. This was a direct contradiction of what had been previously discussed. It later transpired that the first new tail pipe which had been delivered was the wrong part and the pipes had already been taken off prior to this discovery. Now the car is being held to ransom. The promised hour was long over.

The quote rises from £110 to £388 and the work goes into the next day. This involves my son having to rely on family driving him to his place of work where he is on call. Wednesday went by with no communication from the garage until 15.54 when information came that no delivery had been made that day from the supplier of the cat due to computer problems. Another 24 mile journey to pick son up from work.

Thursday, some three days on from a promised 1 hour repair and another 2 hour, 36 mile round trip to get my son to work. No communication from garage until 16.45 when told car was ready. My husband and I went to pick it up. First thing noticed was tie wrap hanging out of bonnet. On further inspection a plastic cover on a connector housing had been snapped off. The operative came and had a look and kept repeating “that will be alright.” It was only when my husband pointed out how, once the engine was switched on and the fan was running, that the wires which were left hanging would be shredded.

That was a minor problem compared to what transpired. The garage offered to put the car on the ramp to show the work done and this was inspected and accepted. It was only when they offered to show the old part, my husband noticed that the flange on the catalytic convertor was still in place, not “totally broken off with nowhere to attach the new back pipe” as we were repeatedly lied to over the phone. It was able to rotate, which is what we knew all along and had been told to the operative at the start of the repair. Again, the mechanic still argued saying it was broken off when it clearly was not. Had it been broken, the flange would have detached from the cat, and the car could not have been driven to the premises.

It is therefore obvious that from day 1 of this repair, lies were repeatedly told by the operative of F1 and by holding the car to ransom and then lying about the extent of problem, they secured a much more expensive job.

Letters have been passed between myself and the Regional Manager, without a satisfactory outcome. He has been assured that I will not let the matter rest, due to the immoral nature of his companies working practices and he has been given an inordinate amount of time to set about coming to a reasonable compensatory conclusion. Therefore I am now taking the route of posting on review platforms, writing to our local Trading Standards and involving prominent consumer programmes.

waamo

Is this a rant or is there a question in there?

tykesi

There's a specific forum for rants, a board guide can move it there for you.

pogofish

Really struggling to see the Consumer Rights aspect to this - Its PVW all the way!

firefox1956

waamo wrote: »

Is this a rant or is there a question in there?

No idea.....can't be bothered to read it all !!

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Flowel wrote: »

I appreciate this company has been discussed before in 2010 but wish to share this recent incident with you. New member - please be considerate.

F1 Autocentre Hertford.
Car: Citroen C2
Problem: Exhaust – back pipe replacement.

I have delayed posting this to give F1 autocentre time to reconsider how this company has treated my son. But obviously they do not care, so please read this and see how profit and greed come before customer care and proper service.

This is a company which seemingly lies to its customers and uses immoral working practices so that their customers are placed in a “fait accompli” situation when it comes to having to accept more expensive work because their vehicle cannot be driven away.

On 23rd May my son took his car to the Hertford branch, having first rung round to get quotes. Due to a time issue, the best chance of getting the work done within an hour (that did not happen) was with this company. Prior to and when the car was taken to the F1 premises, it was stressed that he was aware the flange on the catalytic convertor was loose and that it would be dealt with at a later date as the car was being considered for replacement. Therefore just a new back pipe was needed.

The car was delivered at 15.30 with an agreement it would be ready in an hour. Again, it had been stressed that the car was vital to my son’s job as a full time firefighter. Received call to say that pipes were on the floor, off the car and they could not connect the back pipes to the original catalytic convertor as the flange was broken off and there was nowhere to bolt the new back pipe. Received a second call saying a new catalytic converter was needed and this had been ordered. This was a direct contradiction of what had been previously discussed. It later transpired that the first new tail pipe which had been delivered was the wrong part and the pipes had already been taken off prior to this discovery. Now the car is being held to ransom. The promised hour was long over.

The quote rises from £110 to £388 and the work goes into the next day. This involves my son having to rely on family driving him to his place of work where he is on call. Wednesday went by with no communication from the garage until 15.54 when information came that no delivery had been made that day from the supplier of the cat due to computer problems. Another 24 mile journey to pick son up from work.

Thursday, some three days on from a promised 1 hour repair and another 2 hour, 36 mile round trip to get my son to work. No communication from garage until 16.45 when told car was ready. My husband and I went to pick it up. First thing noticed was tie wrap hanging out of bonnet. On further inspection a plastic cover on a connector housing had been snapped off. The operative came and had a look and kept repeating “that will be alright.” It was only when my husband pointed out how, once the engine was switched on and the fan was running, that the wires which were left hanging would be shredded.

That was a minor problem compared to what transpired. The garage offered to put the car on the ramp to show the work done and this was inspected and accepted. It was only when they offered to show the old part, my husband noticed that the flange on the catalytic convertor was still in place, not “totally broken off with nowhere to attach the new back pipe” as we were repeatedly lied to over the phone. It was able to rotate, which is what we knew all along and had been told to the operative at the start of the repair. Again, the mechanic still argued saying it was broken off when it clearly was not. Had it been broken, the flange would have detached from the cat, and the car could not have been driven to the premises.

It is therefore obvious that from day 1 of this repair, lies were repeatedly told by the operative of F1 and by holding the car to ransom and then lying about the extent of problem, they secured a much more expensive job.

Letters have been passed between myself and the Regional Manager, without a satisfactory outcome. He has been assured that I will not let the matter rest, due to the immoral nature of his companies working practices and he has been given an inordinate amount of time to set about coming to a reasonable compensatory conclusion. Therefore I am now taking the route of posting on review platforms, writing to our local Trading Standards and involving prominent consumer programmes.

I cannot see what you are after! I thought the car had been kidnapped!

SouthUKMan

Trading standards - to alert then to the alleged poor practice.

And small claims court is the way to go for compensation. However, you will need evidence - otherwise it is your word against theirs. Did you keep the old part which the company claimed was broken?

pinkshoes

Are you saying the bill has not been paid and therefore they are refusing to release the car?

k3lvc

pinkshoes wrote: »

Are you saying the bill has not been paid and therefore they are refusing to release the car?

Still can't tell from the post

Maybe little Johnny can come back and tell us rather than us getting the story from him Mum

Silvertabby

The way I read it is that:

Son asked the garage to do a bodge job on the cheap.

When the garage actually saw the car, they couldn't bodge it and so fitted the part it actually needed.

Son only wants to pay the bodge job price.

Garage won't release the car until the actual bill is paid.

forgotmyname

Silvertabby wrote: »

The way I read it is that:

Son asked the garage to do a bodge job on the cheap.

When the garage actually saw the car, they couldn't bodge it and so fitted the part it actually needed.

Son only wants to pay the bodge job price.

Garage won't release the car until the actual bill is paid.

Sounds about right. The OP or OPs sone expected the garage to fix an exhaust that could not be secured, potentially leaving the garage liable if the exhaust falls off before he gets it fixed.

Cars vital to his job as a firefighter, surely he would have an insight into why a broken exhaust is a danger?

Pay the bill be happy the jobs been fixed properly.