Arnold Clark - Misleading Pricing?!?

goldspanners

they should have done that.
did you get a quote in righting? or was this just the mechanic giving you his estimate? or was this a verbal quote from the branches service manager?

sohurt

This was the 'audio specialist' giving me a quote, apparantly he's seen it all before with the Ford cd players not playing cd's and the cost to fix it is £100. I kept pressing this and asked for a written quote but he said its a 3rd party so cannot do that.. then he said ok £120 tops and emphasised that no more than that.

sohurt

Hi all

Looking for some more quick advice. Been trying to sort this out with Arnold Clark. CD player has came back as being £165 PLUS VAT PLUS £15 shipping and handling fee. The person I spoke to did not tell me at any time about the VAT OR the shipping/handling fee.

Apparantly the repair cost more because instead of being a 'level 1' repair, which he said he had seen numerous times similar to my own, it was actually a 'level 2' repair and this is why it is more expensive. My argument is that no one called me to ask my persmission to carry out this extra work therefore why should I pay more than I was quoted?

Any help on where I stand?

Thanks

sohurt

Anyone got any idea before I phone again tomorrow?

ckerrd

I wonder if you can go down the line of saying you had a verbal contract with them, at one price. They then changed that without your knowledge or permission therefore you are unwilling to pay anything over and above the original price.

I think you will be stuck with the VAT bit as they will say everything is ex VAT.
The shipping and handling should have been part of their quote so I wouldn't expect to pay that bit either

sohurt

What I thought was that if it's a third party company invoicing Arnold Clark for the work, surely they would already have added VAT on?

It just annoys me that the guy said over and over £120 max, tops etc. Then it comes back as £150 with vat, with handling charges etc. It's not right.

taxiphil

Regarding the VAT, Trading Standards say that anyone supplying goods or services to the general public is supposed to include VAT in any price indication, as it's a compulsory tax. I would say that a quote from a garage is a price indication and they blatantly failed to tell you about the VAT.

Maybe worth calling Consumer Direct for their advice?

sohurt

Thanks taxiphil, sorry if it sounds thick but what's consumer direct?

taxiphil

Basically it's the nationwide call centre for Trading Standards, have a look:

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk

(If you do call them, you might as well get their advice on the whole matter, not just the VAT thing)

soniason

I know it is a bit late but Arnold Clark charge £67 ph for labour, this is because the have such high overheads as they are usually connected to a dealership and the maintenence side subsidises the sales side. Much cheaper to find a reputable [:D ] garage in your area.