Scammed: paid for an MOT which was never done. Options?

SouthLondonUser

"I suspect there is confusion in that she asked for a service - meaning an MoT - and got a service"

I wasn't there so I cannot be 100% sure, but it seems highly unlikely:

 She checked the receipts and she had taken her car to the brand dealer less than 4 months before she went for this MOT. Who asks for another service so soon?

She has always taken the car to the dealer for annual services.

She has had this car for 6-7 years and always managed to get her MOT and annual services done correctly - meaning that in at least 12 other instances she managed to communicate the difference between the two correctly.

Lastly, the fact that this place still has an MOT sign despite not being a registered MOT centre is dodgy.

Goudy

I think this may be a mistake by the garage.

Since MOT's went "online" MOT stations can get questioned by the DVSA if they put too many through the system in a set time frame.
Yes, the maximum cost is set but they didn't want garages rushing them through to make more money.

The DVSA set a rough time for each MOT test (around 60 minutes), so if too many are logged by a garage in quick succession it raised a flag and the DVSA are on to them.

This has lead some garages to performing lots of MOT's as a lot of business is on demand and then booking them on the system later in the day to spread them out.
This has lead to some forgetting to go back and book them on system later. 

One of my in laws owns an MOT station and they only do MOT's. It's been a massive bug bear of theirs for a few years.
Even though they have three bays and three MOT testers most days, they have always an eye on how many they book onto the system which obviously cuts into the business.

WellKnownSid

SouthLondonUser said:

"I suspect there is confusion in that she asked for a service - meaning an MoT - and got a service"

I wasn't there so I cannot be 100% sure, but it seems highly unlikely:

What does her invoice say?

user1977

SouthLondonUser said:

"I suspect there is confusion in that she asked for a service - meaning an MoT - and got a service"

I wasn't there so I cannot be 100% sure, but it seems highly unlikely:

It seems even less likely that if they were going to scam customers, they wouldn't simply dish out the MoT and not bother looking at the car (and maybe throw in some fictional repairs on top).

It sounds to me like the most likely scenario is they did the MoT but failed to update it online - surely they'd expect even the most gullible customers to query the lack of an MoT certificate when they picked up the car?

SouthLondonUser

WellKnownSid said:

SouthLondonUser said:

"I suspect there is confusion in that she asked for a service - meaning an MoT - and got a service"

I wasn't there so I cannot be 100% sure, but it seems highly unlikely:

What does her invoice say?

She can't find an invoice / receipt

Bigphil1474

OP, why doesn't she get the MOT done at the dealers? - it won't cost any more and can be done on the same day as the service? (Unless they don't do MOT's of course). 

Herzlos

Does she remember any conversation about the outcome of the MOT? Normally they'd tell you if it passed or failed, and explain any issues they found. Especially if they wanted to make more money from it.

It could have just been a mix up - she's asked for an MOT when booking and it's got a mini service when someone picked up the job sheet. But that should have been apparent when she collected it because they wouldn't have mentioned MOT results.

With this much time passing and the garage phoenixing, I don't think there's anything you can do there. You can always contact the DVSA about an unapproved MOT garage displaying an MOT sign and offering to do tests.

Nasqueron

Bigphil1474 said:

OP, why doesn't she get the MOT done at the dealers? - it won't cost any more and can be done on the same day as the service? (Unless they don't do MOT's of course). 

The main Mazda garage I use for servicing books the MOT at a local garage - I have the annual service and MOT done together so they normally check for MOT failures before taking it to the place for an MOT

SteveJW

It sounds to me like the most likely scenario is they did the MoT but failed to update it online - surely they'd expect even the most gullible customers to query the lack of an MoT certificate when they picked up the car?

See my previous post with the details from the DVSA website

OT result	MOT certificate	Emissions test record
Pass with no defects or advisories	Recommend the customer can view the MOT test result and history online - provide a certificate if they ask for one.	Ask the customer if they want a paper record.

MOT certificate "if they ask for one"

Emissions test record "ask the customer"

user1977

SteveJW said:

It sounds to me like the most likely scenario is they did the MoT but failed to update it online - surely they'd expect even the most gullible customers to query the lack of an MoT certificate when they picked up the car?

See my previous post with the details from the DVSA website

OT result	MOT certificate	Emissions test record
Pass with no defects or advisories	Recommend the customer can view the MOT test result and history online - provide a certificate if they ask for one.	Ask the customer if they want a paper record.

MOT certificate "if they ask for one"

Emissions test record "ask the customer"

Fair enough - the place I goes to provides them both without asking. But I still think taking the money and doing literally nothing in return sounds an odd model for a scam.