Complaint letter to garage - Had vehicle for 5 months

AhWoof

Hi everyone,

Just after some advice on what to include/not include in a letter of complaint to our garage.
They took my husbands vehicle in on the last day of August 2021 for a water pump repair. That became a head gasket repair to which we were expected to wait another 3 weeks for the parts and fitting, fine. We luckily borrowed a relatives car to continue working. At about week 6 we were no further on and at this point had to give the car back to the relative. We were told by the garage that its not their fault if we don't have a contingency plan in place for getting to work. We got promised week on week that it would be 'ready the back end of next week' only to be let down every time. They eventually agreed to get us a hire van as this didn't cost them anything as they get their parts for the business from the same place. This is a van with 3 seats, we have 3 children, so while ideal for getting to work, the rest of family life just falls apart as you can't get everyone from a to b. (Which 5 months down the line really starts to become a huge inconvenience) 
The van sat outside in their car park for weeks on end doing nothing. 
We are completely non confrontational people which has led this to go on for nearly 5 months now. We have had every excuse, covid, too much work on, the  mechanic fixing the car works into the early hours of the morning and doesn't get to see his family, more covid etc...
We were told it'd be ready xmas eve, it was shut, now response to phone calls/messages. We were then promised it would be ready last Saturday, we went to pick up, garage was shut, no answer to phones calls. After speaking to them this week they have again said lads are off with covid, they haven't given any other date that it'll be ready. We should be lucky that they are paying for a hire vehicle for us (after previously saying it didn't cost them) to which we asked why that wouldn't be more of an incentive to get the work done and get it out of there.

We're just completely flummoxed by it all, they keep saying ah yes it only has 6 hours of work left to do on it, but we are in no way any kind of priority to them.  At points in time when we have visited the reception, customers have come in, booked in an mot or other repair, handed the keys over and been told their cars would be ready that same afternoon. I understand some jobs are bigger than others but 5 months?!

Anyway I have been advised that I need to send a formal letter of complaint before I can escalate this, so I wondered if anyone could help me to word it. I have been told it needs to include a deadline date of at least 7 days from todays date, but I would appreciate any input from anyone that can help.

Many Thanks

Sandtree

First of all take a step back... with the issues the vehicle has was it drivable? what has the garage actually done wrong?

If the vehicle was undrivable and the only criticism of them is that its taking forever to get parts which is an issue beyond their control and well documented in the press then its starts to be difficult to see what you can blame them for?

The letter needs to summerise the situation very briefly, contain what your allegations of wrong doing are to them, what resolution you want from them and a reasonable timeframe in which you expect the resolution and what you will do next if the resolution isnt put in place in time.

Where will you escalate it to? Its worth looking at that point when considering the time you are giving them.... for example in my world if I get a complaint letter that says "I;ll go to the financial ombudsman in 2 weeks if you dont pay" then its a hollow threat as the FOS only looks at complaints after 8 weeks if the financial institute hasnt come to a resolution. 

JJ_Egan

What is this part ??

AhWoof

Hi sorry, 

So to clarify a bit more, so early on, when they established that the water pump wasn't the issue, they identified the head gasket as the problem. They sent the head gasket off to be repaired/replaced as this wasn't something they could do on site. So they sent it off to a near by place and we were waiting on it coming back for a few weeks, to which we then thought, it must need a new head gasket, and that must be what the hold up is. Completely understood the global issue with the hold up on particular things so we were fine with that.

About 2 months in he said all the parts needed to fix the head gasket were back and ready to go, so we have literally just been waiting for him to do the repair all this time. A repair that apparently should only be a 6 hour job. 

Honestly I don't really want to escalate it to anywhere, my husband just really wants it back. It's just a really bizarre situation. They have all the bits they need to repair it, but are happily just renting us a hire van, and not repairing it. It's not a huge garage, they have maybe 3 mechanics and have literally no complaints anywhere that I have come across for bad service. 

We just have such terrible communication with them, and they are extremely defensive when we question what is happening/why it's taking so long. We have thought all sorts.... maybe it's personal?!? but that doesn't make sense... maybe something else has happened to the van and they don't know how to fix it? 

Honestly we're baffled. We're not the complaining type but we're running out of ideas as to how to get the thing back. We'd have just gone in and asked for the keys and to stop the job but obviously it won't run without the head gasket in.  
We're grateful for the use of the other van to get him to work but I just don't get how long we are supposed to just let it go on for.

Thanks for your reply by the way

AhWoof

Also they are a member of Trust My Garage, and through that site they have an Alternative Dispute Resolution company that you can contact to raise a complaint. That was my initial idea but as there hadn't been an official complaint in writing sent to them they couldn't help me, and in all honesty part of me doesn't want to make the situation any worse, we just want it back. Arrgghh!

Ditzy_Mitzy

JJ_Egan said:

What is this part ??

A head gasket.  It would be useful to have some more information, particularly what sort of car it is and which engine is fitted.  Replacing a head gasket on a basic four cylinder can be fairly easy whereas the same job on a quad cam V6 is an awful proposition, especially with some of the German engines with multiple timing chains.  That's assuming there isn't other damage too, such as warped cylinder heads.  
Some of the above work may be beyond the ken of a competent garage.  My best guess is that this outfit have got themselves into a real pickle with the OP's car; either they've dismantled the engine and can't put it together again or, worse, they've done something catastrophic such as damaging the block or head.  In either case, significant money and time will have been expended, leading the garage to give up on the idea of getting any profit from the job.  Ergo it gets low priority and the OP gets fobbed off.  
My first recommendation would be to ask to see the car.  

AhWoof

Its a 10 plate nissan navara. I agree, the only thing that makes sense to me is that they've done something accidently and don't know how to remedy it. I get that there'll be no profit in it for them now, especially if the hire van is actually costing them something, I just don't know how to go about getting it out of there, or the state it'd be in when we do.
The only other thing is the congestion charge is coming into force in may near us and we were hoping to trade it in against a newer one. If only they'd give it back!

sheramber

Go in and sit down with the manger/owner and ask how the situation can be resolved. Don't leave until you have  a definite answer.

You may have tog et eh vehicle transported to another garage if they cannot fix it.

Ditzy_Mitzy

AhWoof said:

Its a 10 plate nissan navara. I agree, the only thing that makes sense to me is that they've done something accidently and don't know how to remedy it. I get that there'll be no profit in it for them now, especially if the hire van is actually costing them something, I just don't know how to go about getting it out of there, or the state it'd be in when we do.
The only other thing is the congestion charge is coming into force in may near us and we were hoping to trade it in against a newer one. If only they'd give it back!

That's odd; the Navara is hardly the most complicated vehicle on the planet.  I assume it's the 2.5 turbo diesel in there, which I think has chain driven cams, but is fairly basic otherwise.  As @sheramber says, you may have to go there and grab the bull by the horns so to speak.