Advive sought on pursuing Servicing Stop in courts

Macavaty

I am helping my friend who appears to have been overcharged by Servicing Stop (SS) and would be grateful for any advice regarding a claim against them in court.

They did work on her car that, contrary to their "best price guarantee", cost some £400 more than the (Toyota) main dealer would have charged.

We appear to have exhausted the SS complaints procedure as they have stopped replying to emails.

The next step appears to be a claim against them in court. I am thinking of claiming either breach of contract (they patently didn't give her the best price) and/or that their website negligently mis-stated that she would get the best price.

As it is now going to start costing money to pursue them, I would be grateful for advice on whether this course of action has a realistic prospect of success and also any further suggestions on how best to proceed.

Thanks very much in advance for any help.

Mildly_Miffed

First off, is it really SS you need to be going after?

SS didn't actually do any work. SS is just a website that puts you in touch with local garages. A cynic might think it's garages who don't have a full client load locally because their rep is abysmal...

That apart, I suspect the really easy defence is "Well, you aren't comparing apples with apples because we needed to do more work because of other problems with the car."

WellKnownSid

Macavaty said:

They did work on her car that, contrary to their "best price guarantee", cost some £400 more than the (Toyota) main dealer would have charged.

...

The next step appears to be a claim against them in court. I am thinking of claiming either breach of contract (they patently didn't give her the best price) and/or that their website negligently mis-stated that she would get the best price.

What does the contract actually say?

Which organisation did your friend actually pay?

Exactly what work was done on the car?

How do you now know that a main dealer would have charged £400 less?

tacpot12

Does your friend have any legal expenses insurance? Often people have this as part of their home insurance and don't realise it. 

Macavaty

Thanks very much for your replies. It's very useful to be able to discuss this before taking the plunge.

The possibility of claiming on legal expenses insurance is something I hadn't thought of and I'll ask her whether she has it. 

As regards who to claim from, my friend paid SS for the work (allegedly) done, so it looks like the contract is with them rather than whichever garage the car was farmed out to. 

The work (allegedly) done: there's a list of a number of jobs on the invoice from SS (for example "remove and refit auxiliary drive belt"). Toyota's website allows one to see the prices for each job (fortunately including the same jobs as in the SS invoice) for the particular model/year of car. So I have the evidence of what Toyota would have charged for exactly the same work, which is c. £400 less than SS did.

The SS "best price guarantee": there is a video on the SS website that is basically a sales pitch. Amongst other things, it says "our best price guarantee means you can relax knowing you are getting the most competitive price” and "save up to 60% off main dealer prices". The terms and conditions say "The statement advertising that Servicing Stop offer up to 60% off is based on a review and comparison of our own service prices against the prices advertised by main dealerships. We analysed the car makes and models which make up the majority of our job volume and found that a material portion of these were at least 60% cheaper than main dealerships". Nothing there about the "best price guarantee" as far as I can see, so the statement in the video appears to be it. They patently didn't charge my friend the best price as promised therein, thus they have not peformed the contract in terms of charging the best price. The main dealer prices seem a reasonable thing to aim for. 

Thanks again for your thoughts. 

WellKnownSid

Macavaty said:

As regards who to claim from, my friend paid SS for the work (allegedly) done, so it looks like the contract is with them rather than whichever garage the car was farmed out to. 

The work (allegedly) done: there's a list of a number of jobs on the invoice from SS (for example "remove and refit auxiliary drive belt"). Toyota's website allows one to see the prices for each job (fortunately including the same jobs as in the SS invoice) for the particular model/year of car. So I have the evidence of what Toyota would have charged for exactly the same work, which is c. £400 less than SS did.

The SS "best price guarantee": there is a video on the SS website that is basically a sales pitch.

You keep saying 'allegedly' done - do you have any evidence that the work wasn't carried out?  Have you spoken to the person who did the work?

What does the actual contract say?  I'm sure they make plenty of claims and guarantees on their website - but they will all subject to terms and conditions which will be written down somewhere in a contract which would have been supplied at the time of booking.

Lowest Price Guarantee - well they are guaranteeing that for a material portion of jobs that they are typically 60% less.  It doesn't sound like they are claiming anywhere that the final invoice will be guaranteed to be less though does it?  Just that a sample of work done previously was less.  My son moved from a small independent to a well-known popular German brand - where the hourly rate is 4x the independent he used to work at.  Standard servicing works out at easily 3-4x what the independent would charge but for some more complex jobs they are still half the price of an independent just by having the knowledge e.g. how to do a job in a fraction of the time without breaking anything, access to specialist tools and equipment, etc.

ashpan

Macavaty said:

I am helping my friend who appears to have been overcharged by Servicing Stop (SS) and would be grateful for any advice regarding a claim against them in court.

They did work on her car that, contrary to their "best price guarantee", cost some £400 more than the (Toyota) main dealer would have charged.

We appear to have exhausted the SS complaints procedure as they have stopped replying to emails.

The next step appears to be a claim against them in court. I am thinking of claiming either breach of contract (they patently didn't give her the best price) and/or that their website negligently mis-stated that she would get the best price.

As it is now going to start costing money to pursue them, I would be grateful for advice on whether this course of action has a realistic prospect of success and also any further suggestions on how best to proceed.

Thanks very much in advance for any help.

I’ve got similar issues with servicing stop - they initially quoted me £400 for special mini oil, renew brake fluid and engine flush which I said was outside of my budget, so they quickly reduced it to £300, which is still a complete rip-off according to two local garages
I want to pursue them for this and for them misrepresenting the charges Best price guarantee- it's disgraceful that they can do this
The garage has actually damaged my car inside and out, so I'm hoping my credit card company will take this on, if not I'm right behind you I'm keen to know how you progress

WellKnownSid

ashpan said:

Macavaty said:

I am helping my friend who appears to have been overcharged by Servicing Stop (SS) and would be grateful for any advice regarding a claim against them in court.

They did work on her car that, contrary to their "best price guarantee", cost some £400 more than the (Toyota) main dealer would have charged.

We appear to have exhausted the SS complaints procedure as they have stopped replying to emails.

The next step appears to be a claim against them in court. I am thinking of claiming either breach of contract (they patently didn't give her the best price) and/or that their website negligently mis-stated that she would get the best price.

As it is now going to start costing money to pursue them, I would be grateful for advice on whether this course of action has a realistic prospect of success and also any further suggestions on how best to proceed.

Thanks very much in advance for any help.

I want to pursue them for this and for them misrepresenting the charges Best price guarantee- it's disgraceful that they can do this

Caveat Emptor I am afraid.

A "best price guarantee" never means that a company are the cheapest.  It's an invitation to trade on the basis that they will attempt to match/beat said price should the consumer find a cheaper equivalent offer, typically this needing to be pointed out prior to purchase.

It does not mean that they are / will be the cheapest.

400ixl

ashpan said:

I’ve got similar issues with servicing stop - they initially quoted me £400 for special mini oil, renew brake fluid and engine flush which I said was outside of my budget, so they quickly reduced it to £300, which is still a complete rip-off according to two local garages
I want to pursue them for this and for them misrepresenting the charges Best price guarantee- it's disgraceful that they can do this
The garage has actually damaged my car inside and out, so I'm hoping my credit card company will take this on, if not I'm right behind you I'm keen to know how you progress

The time to have compared their price to local prices was before you agreed to their quote, not after. I can't see any valid case you have there.

If they have caused damage then that is a different case and should be treated seperately.

Macavaty

400ixl said:

ashpan said:

I’ve got similar issues with servicing stop - they initially quoted me £400 for special mini oil, renew brake fluid and engine flush which I said was outside of my budget, so they quickly reduced it to £300, which is still a complete rip-off according to two local garages
I want to pursue them for this and for them misrepresenting the charges Best price guarantee- it's disgraceful that they can do this
The garage has actually damaged my car inside and out, so I'm hoping my credit card company will take this on, if not I'm right behind you I'm keen to know how you progress

The time to have compared their price to local prices was before you agreed to their quote, not after. I can't see any valid case you have there.

If they have caused damage then that is a different case and should be treated seperately.

It's true to say that once one has agreed a price for some work it is not then possible to revisit the price because of overcharging. However, things are a bit different in the case of SS, which promises on it's website that it's best price guarantee "means you can relax knowing you are getting the most competitive price”. I suspect that this may turn out to be a term of the contract under which it's services are provided and thus enforcible in court if necessary. Unless anyone else has tried this and cares to let me know the result, it looks as if I may need to find a solicitor offering 30 minutes free legal advice to fly it in front of.

ashpan said:

Macavaty said:

I am helping my friend who appears to have been overcharged by Servicing Stop (SS) and would be grateful for any advice regarding a claim against them in court.

They did work on her car that, contrary to their "best price guarantee", cost some £400 more than the (Toyota) main dealer would have charged.

We appear to have exhausted the SS complaints procedure as they have stopped replying to emails.

The next step appears to be a claim against them in court. I am thinking of claiming either breach of contract (they patently didn't give her the best price) and/or that their website negligently mis-stated that she would get the best price.

As it is now going to start costing money to pursue them, I would be grateful for advice on whether this course of action has a realistic prospect of success and also any further suggestions on how best to proceed.

Thanks very much in advance for any help.

I’ve got similar issues with servicing stop - they initially quoted me £400 for special mini oil, renew brake fluid and engine flush which I said was outside of my budget, so they quickly reduced it to £300, which is still a complete rip-off according to two local garages
I want to pursue them for this and for them misrepresenting the charges Best price guarantee- it's disgraceful that they can do this
The garage has actually damaged my car inside and out, so I'm hoping my credit card company will take this on, if not I'm right behind you I'm keen to know how you progress

Well, I hope you get somewhere with the card provider, which would be the easiest route if it works. If not, then you may have a bit of a fight ahead. The internet seems to be full of similar horror stories with SS. You may already know but there's even a support group for victims of the company on Facebook. Provided that my friend continues to want me to help her, I'll post here when/if there are any significant developments. If you end up in the courts I imagine that it would be SS that your claim would be against, assuming that it was them that you paid for the work.   

WellKnownSid

A price guarantee is nothing more than puffery... like "the best a man can get" and "100% satisfaction guaranteed".  When were you last 100% satisfied?

It is an invitation to trade along the lines of "never knowingly undersold", subject to a ton of terms, conditions and restrictions, including you telling them and their acceptance.