Front Brakes still faulty

brightondave

Hi   Recently my car had a front brake problem where the frint brakes were binding and really noisy. I've used this local company before who collect your vehicle and return it to you when done.
To book this service you input what needs doing (front discs and pads) on a 2017 Citroen and they give you a quote for the job ( just over £200) and then you book a day and a time and if they can for certain jobs (egr valve or something) they can do it on you drive if not they take it to a garage locally that they use.  I had the car returned to me after 3 hours and the first time of using it i found out it sounds exactly the same as when it was collected?
I messaged the tech that liased with me originally to do the job and his response was and i quote " Thats my worry, we did try to examine it but just couldn't in the time period, as we would need to remove parts and we did ask our office and they said just do what was instructed by the customer change discs and pads on the front". (end quote).
Your thoughts on the legality of their response and what sort of response i should give them?
I'm a fully paid up member of Which magazine (who have a legal dept) also the RAC. 
Thanks for any concrete replies i can respond with.

sevenhills

They have stated that the pads and discs have been replaced, so the problem must be something else.

WellKnownSid

It sounds like they did exactly what you asked them to do (replace front pads and discs), even though that might not have been what was actually required?

Grumpy_chap

It sounds like you requested that the mechanic changed the front discs and pads for an agreed price of £200.
It sounds like the mechanic changed the front discs and pads and charged you the agreed price of £200.
Is that correct?

OR, did you pay for the mechanic to investigate and diagnose binding and noisy front brakes?  Once the fault was diagnosed, you would have then had a second quote for whatever remedial work was required.

facade

Unfortunately you have fallen into the trap of expecting something other than what you asked for.

You asked for them to change the pads and discs expecting it to cure the problem.

They changed them and it didn't.

You'd think that a good garage would discover that there was a seized calliper or something when changing them, and 'phone you with the news and a quote for un-seizing it, or replacing it, but I suspect that the garage is engaged by the other company and they won't pay any extra or provide a means to contact you, so the garage do exactly what they are told and paid to do.

You should have taken it to a garage and said "There is something wrong with the brakes, they are binding and noisy, please find out what is wrong and tell me how much to fix  it"

They would then have done what you asked and told you what needed doing and how much.

Possibly if you'd gone direct to the garage in the first place they'd have cleaned everything up and fitted new discs & pads for less than £200, as there is no middle man taking a cut.

(The garage will not do any more than exactly what they have been told to do as if they spent more time on the job or fitted other parts then asked for more money there would be complaints along the lines of "They agreed to do the work for £200, now they are trying to charge me £300")

Bigwheels1111

Sounds like the brake calliper it’s hanger or pins are sticking.
Callipers are held on by 2 blots in general. The callipers slide left to right a little when breaking. 
The internal pins need cleaning and re lubing. The bracket the pads sit on need removing and giving a good wire brushing.
Then a light smear of copper ease where the brake pads sit.
If that easy fix does not work, all that’s left is the calliper.
I strip and clean the pins and brackets every brake change.
Does the car pull left or right on breaking. That would point to a calliper sticking.

Goudy

I have got to agree with everyone else. You have asked for a job and they have done it, there's nothing to argue about.

You'd probably argue if you asked them to replace the discs and pads for £200 but they replaced both callipers as well and charged you £600.

Your brake problem probably lies with one or both callipers.
As described, the pins the calliper slides on can seize but I would have thought when they came off the hangers the mechanic would have checked, hence the comment "we did try to examine it".

I'd have a guess at the pistons in the callipers have rusted up are no longer work freely.
As the brakes wear, more and more of the piston hangs out of the calliper which can start to rust as more of it is exposed to the air. (I presume by your username you are in Brighton, with lots of salty sea air?)

The mechanic has pushed the pistons back to fit the thicker pads and discs but they are hanging up in the bores.
They need to come off and inspected properly, then if they are bad either refurbished or replaced.