Groupon aircon deal

Mounters76

Hi all,

I recently purchased a Groupon deal for an aircon clean and recharge via ATS and subsequently booked it in for the work to be done.

Upon them connecting it to their machine they informed me that they could not complete the work as the system was not holding pressure.

Having spoken to a mechanic friend I then took the car to a Halfords autocentre who tested the system and told me the system appeared fine, and regassed it accordingly.

This was at a cost of £60, on top of what I had already paid Groupon.

Groupon have offered to refund the voucher, however I feel I’ve been misled a little by ATS. I’ve also heard that a lot of companies don’t like the Groupon deals as they make little or no profit on them.

I’m happy to accept the refund, however I purchased a discounted deal, and have ended up paying full price elsewhere as a result of what I believe to be dishonesty on the part of ATS.

Can i claim back the extra cost or should I cut my losses and just accept the refund.

Many thanks in advance

Herzlos

If you believe ATS were trying to fraudulently get you to pay for additional services, complain in writing to ATS and Trading Standards.


ATS might offer you something, and TS will probably do nothing, but at least it might help kill off the practise.

motorguy

Herzlos wrote: »

If you believe ATS were trying to fraudulently get you to pay for additional services, complain in writing to ATS and Trading Standards.


ATS might offer you something, and TS will probably do nothing, but at least it might help kill off the practise.

Where are you getting that impressions? I think ATS were saying there appeared to be a leak hence they couldnt regas it?

Whether or not their equipment was faulty OR more sensitive than Halfrauds, we dont know.

Kwikfit - from memory - dont charge you if they cant regas it.

I would have thought ATS wouldnt have charged either, however it was bought via a Groupon so its not within their power to not charge.

motorguy

Mounters76 wrote: »

Hi all,

I recently purchased a Groupon deal for an aircon clean and recharge via ATS and subsequently booked it in for the work to be done.

Upon them connecting it to their machine they informed me that they could not complete the work as the system was not holding pressure.

Having spoken to a mechanic friend I then took the car to a Halfords autocentre who tested the system and told me the system appeared fine, and regassed it accordingly.

This was at a cost of £60, on top of what I had already paid Groupon.

Groupon have offered to refund the voucher, however I feel I’ve been misled a little by ATS. I’ve also heard that a lot of companies don’t like the Groupon deals as they make little or no profit on them.

I’m happy to accept the refund, however I purchased a discounted deal, and have ended up paying full price elsewhere as a result of what I believe to be dishonesty on the part of ATS.

Can i claim back the extra cost or should I cut my losses and just accept the refund.

Many thanks in advance

What was the dishonesty?

Stoke

What was the state of the AC system before trying to get it re-gassed? Did it work a bit, a lot, not at all? A system not holding pressure must have been borderline useless before you took it. Even a 10 year old system that has never been re-gassed would provide cooling, so long as it holds pressure.

That's where you need to start.

Ant555

I would wait a while to see if the system remains functional and the gas stays in there - it might be that ATS are correct?

I had a regas last year with a Groupon deal at a back street garage that lasted a week - when it was in for an MOT later in the year a mechanic at a local independent said its likely there is a slight leak that they didn't test for and just recharged it with their fingers crossed.

"Ive also heard that a lot of companies dont like the Groupon deals as they make little or no profit on them"
Note that nobody forces a company to offer their services on Groupon.

loskie

did any of them carry out a dye test of the system? If not how do they know if it does or doesnt leak?

motorguy

loskie wrote: »

did any of them carry out a dye test of the system? If not how do they know if it does or doesnt leak?

Why would they dye test it? Its a regas service not a fault finding service.

Typically if its a bad leak they will see the pressure drop off visibly so on that basis, their machine must have been showing it as not holding pressure.

A dye test helps you find where a leak is, you dont need to do it to know IF you have a leak.

facade

motorguy wrote: »

A dye test helps you find where a leak is, you dont need to do it to know IF you have a leak.

The dye is added to the oil. Most of the time it doesn't come out with a slow leak, to find a slow leak you need a sniffer, which means an air-con specialist as fast-fit places don't have one.


ATS can pressure test the system with dry nitrogen and measure the pressure drop in a set time (should be zero), and the filling machine does a vacuum leakage test. Neither will find a leak that takes a week to empty the system.


(I know from experience )

motorguy

facade wrote: »

The dye is added to the oil. Most of the time it doesn't come out with a slow leak, to find a slow leak you need a sniffer, which means an air-con specialist as fast-fit places don't have one.


ATS can pressure test the system with dry nitrogen and measure the pressure drop in a set time (should be zero), and the filling machine does a vacuum leakage test. Neither will find a leak that takes a week to empty the system.


(I know from experience )

Then you would know they are offering a regas service not a leak finding service, so again - why would they do a dye test?

If it holds pressure to the level they need it to to be able to perform a regas then they will perform the regas. If it doesnt, they wont. Simples.

facade

No reason to, and they couldn't anyway if the machine wouldn't fill the system because it failed the vacuum leakage.