Brakes Fail After Being Replaced During Service

Meslee

Hi

Am looking for advice please as I am not very good at challenging things.

My car went in for a service on Monday, the garage identified that the back brakes needed replacing, but had to order the parts, expected return of car changed to Tuesday. When the parts arrived they were incomplete, so we had to wait for another delivery and therefore didn't get the car back until Thursday. A one day service turned into 4. Fortunately we have another car ut it meant we had to juggle work, shopping and hospital appointments between us.

After the car arrived back, we drove about 15 miles to visit family and then home again. There was an occaisional banging noise which sounded like the exhaust was banging on the underside of the car. We decided we would need to call the garage on Friday morning to get it checked out.
As we drove onto the drive and tried to stop the brakes failed completely; the pedal went straight to the floor. On closer inspection, we realised the rear brake calipper had fallen off. Thankfully this happened when we were on the drive, rather than as we were doing 70mph down the the local bypass. That could have been a whole different outcome, and I probably wouldn't be writing this now

This is where I need the advice, please.

Should I ask the garage for compensation, and if so, what do you think would be reasonable?

Should I report the garage?

Thanks in advance

Meslee

AdrianC

All that happened is that somebody forgot to properly tighten a couple of bolts. It's sloppy, and they should have checked before letting the car go. It should have been picked up when they road-tested it. But human error happens... and they were probably trying to make sure you got the car back asap after the parts delays (outside their hands, and they'd have been as frustrated as you at that).

Get the car taken back to the garage by your breakdown recovery people. They should certainly sort it FOC. 

Anything above that is down purely to how much they value your future custom. Have you actually spoken to them yet? What did they say?

But, really, when you heard this "occasional banging noise", you should have at the very least called them there and then - ideally turned round and headed back there to get it checked.

Who would you report them to?

Aylesbury_Duck

How much are you after?

ossie

"the pedal went straight to the floor."
Modern cars have split brakes by law so you still had a brake!
 You also have a handbrake.

v40vol

ossie said:

"the pedal went straight to the floor."
Modern cars have split brakes by law so you still had a brake!
 You also have a handbrake.

When you the bleed brakes, Pedal will go to the floor and with no disc to trap between pads, Pedal will go to the floor!

fred246

I am afraid that you will probably get nowhere unless someone was injured or property was damaged. IF someone had have been injured or killed and it could be proven beyond doubt that it was the mechanic's fault then of course you could get multi million pound payouts from the Gararge's insurance and the mechanic COULD be jailed. It would take a good solicitor to get money for your psychological trauma. You could report it to trading standards in case there is a known problem with that garage but they know that the industry is in an appalling state and can't do anything about it. You could try your MP as new laws really need to be brought in to improve the industry. Meslee I assume you have no knowledge of car servicing and repair? Well you have all the qualifications and experience needed to be working on vehicle's brakes in a garage tomorrow. You would not need to be supervised. It's interesting that the Gassafe register was started after an explosion in a block of flats in London in 1968. It's possible that if an accident was caused by the sort of incompetence that you have experienced that one day mechanics will have to pass some sort of competence test before they are allowed to work on vehicles.

[Deleted User]

Aylesbury_Duck said:

How much are you after?

Maybe it`s more a case of expecting a company to do the job they have taken payment for.

Aylesbury_Duck

treboeth said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

How much are you after?

Maybe it`s more a case of expecting a company to do the job they have taken payment for.

In that case, taking it back to them, giving them a rollicking and getting them to rectify their mistake FOC is the solution.  OP asked about compensation though...

Meslee

Thanks everyone for your advice. I have calmed down a bit now and put things in perspective. I have emailed the manager and asked them how it happened and what controls they will put in place to prevent it happening again. I don't want the mechanic to lose his job for what could be a one-off error, I have also found out that he is under a lot of personal stress at the moment due to the death of his baby. I think we will all chalk it up to experience. Thank you agan for taking te time to respond

Aylesbury_Duck

Good for you.  Hope it gets sorted quickly