AA and garage - very poor service

EdGasketTheSecond

My sister's Rover Metro wouldn't start so she called AA and joined Home Start costing around £145 as an upgrade. AA came and spent 1.5 hours on it and then declared it could not be started and would have to go to a garage. They delivered it to the garage who also said they couldn't start it and wanted over £1K to strip the head down as they thought the problem was low compression (it had run fine the day before). My sister called me for advice and I said get it out of there and back home; the car isn't worth £1K. So another £75 later the garage deliver it back to her.

Next I take a look at the car, don't try to start it as I think the battery may be low with all the attempts at starting, so I charge the battery a little, spray some EasyStart in the air intake and it fires up and runs perfectly. Can't believe that's all it took.

So my sister is out of pocket for around £225 (and could have been over £1.1K) when all it needed was a squirt of starting fluid for under £5. I'm thinking, why didn't the AA or garage try that and does she have grounds for complaint that the AA couldn't try a simple fix and that the garage wanted to rip her off for over £1,000 saying they couldn't start it either?

Any views on this?

MalMonroe

If I were your sister I'd have to complain to both places, in writing and I'd definitely ask for my money back.  She's nothing to lose and everything to gain (well, her money back anyway).  I'm sure that there must be an AA email address she could use to send a letter to. I'm not sure about the garage but what a rip off! Definitely in writing, though. 

This whole thing is absolutely disgusting - and as a fellow female (that's an oxymoron but I'm not sorry) motorist I'm really angry on her behalf!

AdrianC

A squirt of starting fluid is a bodge, not a fix. Why did that get it running? Why wasn't fuel being injected?

They said "low compression", presumably they actually used a compression tester?
You assumed the battery was low from all that trying to start - but didn't try it. You don't think either AA or garage would have jumped it if it wasn't spinning well enough?

Supersonos

EdGasketTheSecond said:

I'm thinking, why didn't the AA or garage try that and does she have grounds for complaint that the AA couldn't try a simple fix and that the garage wanted to rip her off for over £1,000 saying they couldn't start it either?

Any views on this?

My view is, why didn't you check the battery and try the starter fluid before phoning the AA?

The AA and the garage carried out diagnostics and came to their conclusions.  Just because their conclusions turned out to be incorrect doesn't mean they were trying to rip you off.

Cars cost money.

Supersonos

MalMonroe said:

as a fellow female (that's an oxymoron but I'm not sorry) motorist I'm really angry on her behalf!

What has sex got to do with this??  

Unless you're assuming the AA mechanic and the garage mechanics were all men.  Nasty men who are just looking to cheat women out of money, because women don't understand noisy, dirty engines.

AdrianC

Supersonos said:

The AA and the garage carried out diagnostics and came to their conclusions.  Just because their conclusions turned out to be incorrect

Did they? All we know for sure so far is it didn't cold-start normally, but did later with a squoosh of bodgegoop.

Thinking about it, with it being a Rover Metro, rather than a 100, is it even injected? Or is it carb'd?

elsien

Out of interest did she tell them her car had already broken down when she took out the cover? 

EdGasketTheSecond

Carburettor model. As she lives some distance from me, I couldn't help her out on the day it wouldn't start. Easy Start may be a quick fix but isn't that what AA home start should have tried? Isn't the point of home start to get the car started? We'll see how it goes from now with cold starts but I suspect it will be fine, it tends to play up in wet weather. We have some new ignition leads on order.
Ref. The garage diagnostic, I haven't measured compression myself but assume that is not a problem as once started, the car runs perfectly. Certainly no need to spend £1K taking the head off. The garage had also filled up the coolant to the very brim, way beyond the max Mark. No idea why they had done that but maybe the garage apprentice mistook the coolant tank for the washer bottle. I had to siphon almost a litre out!

oldagetraveller1

"Carburettor model". It could even be something as simple as that needing a clean?

If it started using Easystart then there must be a spark for it to ignite and enough compression?

Sounds like a fuel issue to me.

Depending on the age of the AA person or garage employees they might not have even seen a carburettor before!

Grumpy_chap

I am not sure where the claim for a refund is here.

OP's sister's car broke down so she had a choice:

1. Wait for the OP to visit, spray some magic fluid and the car works
2. Pay the AA for a breakdown service including home start and relay

She chose the second option.  AA attended and were unable to fix the car at the road-side / home.  She had a choice again:

1. Wait for the OP to visit, spray some magic fluid and the car works
2. Have the car taken to a garage by the AA for diagnostics

She chose the second option.  By this point, the AA have fulfilled their side of the bargain.  Nothing to complain about or seek refund against.  The garage undertook some diagnostics and provided a solution.  She had a choice again:

1. Do what the garage suggested (£1k)
2. Get the garage to return the car (no payment for the diagnostics but £75 charge for the transporter) and then wait for the OP to visit, spray some magic fluid and the car works

She chose the second option.  By this point, the garage have fulfilled their side of the bargain - they are "down" by the amount of time spent suggesting what to fix and £75 paid for the transporter / tow back home seems reasonable.  
The OP duly went to assist, sprayed some magic fluid and the car works.

Well done OP.  Maybe the movement of the car rocked a loose connection, or starter motor or similar, or maybe being in the garage workshop was warmer than outside and dried some damp.  So, maybe, exactly the same actions that  the OP took would not have resolved the issue when the AA first attended?  No-one can ever know.

For the OP's sister, running a car as old as the Metro does really require a bit of personal capability as a mechanic as any car of this age is going to start being temperamental.  My second car was a Metro, reliability was never it's strong point and it never liked cold or damp weather - not sure whether that was the specific car or typical of all Metros.

I still can't see anywhere that anyone should offer a refund.

facade

Probably the wire from the distributor to the ignition module. they break internally, and sometimes the car won't start for anything. Doubt if a modern technician could find that as they normally plug a tester into the obd port and do what it says.