Garage damaged my car

TadleyBaggie

You had plenty of directions" when you originally posted this in January:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6237082/garage-damaged-my-car#latest

Birkets

A spring had sheared. 
I couldn't work out why there was so much speculation and unrelated problem solving on parts of my question, but it's just occurred to me that you didn't have an answer, so you tried to answer other unrelated questions. For context I'm disabled and I have a disabled 8 yr old,  I was reliant on someone else to physically take the car on my behalf that day. It doesn't change the issue, my car was damaged, whether you think that damage is justified isn't relevant. 
Next time you get a question from someone looking for help, you could stand to focus more on the question and less on proving who has more unrelated knowledge, just exchange numbers so you can chat IRL and if you can't help, just say so and move on. 

JamoLew

Your options are the same as when you asked last time - you just didn’t agree with them.

AdrianC

A front spring...? So, yes, they absolutely needed access under the bonnet.

You sent the car to the garage with a spare key. That spare key did not open the bonnet. Those locks have a reputation for seizing.
They tried to contact you.
When they couldn't, they had a choice...

Assume the lock had seized, so get on with the job?
Or leave the car alone, and not do anything to it until such time as they did speak to you? Which, for all they knew, may have been when you came to collect it, expecting the work to be done...

You would clearly have preferred the latter. How many customers would have made the opposite choice to you?

HansOndabush

Garages quite often fix one thing and damage something else in the process.

mattyprice4004

I knew I’d seen this before! 

Why on Earth would the answer be different a couple of months later? 

To quote your last thread: 
‘If you have no helpful advice regarding recourse it's more helpful to simply remain an observer than to derail the conversation. I only sought potential remedies to the situation.’

Perhaps the same logic applies to pointless threads because you’ve already been given the right answer...  
The remedy is to engage brain before slating a garage for your own misgivings. 

soolin

I have merged these two threads for clarity 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

So based on the replies if the OP had left no keys for the car at all then the garage could just break in to the car? 

Surely the garage should have waited for the key with the OP possibly facing a higher bill for the time if the situation prevented the garage from doing work for other customers. 

David713

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

So based on the replies if the OP had left no keys for the car at all then the garage could just break in to the car? 

It's pointless speculating on "what if" scenarios.
What if the car had an electrical fault that caused a fire in the engine bay?
What if the mechanics noticed petrol leaking from the engine?

The fact is that the OP did leave a key and the mechanics were unable to open the bonnet using that key so they may have assumed that the lock had jammed and took steps to open it.

It doesn't matter how many times the OP asks the same question,  the answers are going to be roughly the same.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

David713 said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

So based on the replies if the OP had left no keys for the car at all then the garage could just break in to the car? 

It's pointless speculating on "what if" scenarios.
What if the car had an electrical fault that caused a fire in the engine bay?
What if the mechanics noticed petrol leaking from the engine?

The fact is that the OP did leave a key and the mechanics were unable to open the bonnet using that key so they may have assumed that the lock had jammed and took steps to open it.

It doesn't matter how many times the OP asks the same question,  the answers are going to be roughly the same.

The issue is they called the OP, presumably to either ask if they could break the lock or ask if there was a knack to opening it. 

If the garage hadn't of made the call then they could argue they "assumed that the lock had jammed and took steps to open it" but making the call and then thinking sod it we'll do it anyway could be argued as negligence. They knew they had a responsibility towards the customer but didn't put much effort in fulfilling that responsibility all. 

It's all well and good saying the OP should have given them the key and it's fine for the garage to make a decision but when it comes to consumer vs business the obligations fall heavily on the business.