Misdiagnosis from garage

Chezbrookes

Hi, newbie here, looking for some advice regarding a misdiagnosis from our (previously) trusted garage 😁
I have a 13 plate Citroen C3 Picasso which took me a while to source at an affordable (financed) price, I've got 10 months left to pay. At the end of November, my husband used it for a trip 'up north', a regular occurrence and the round trip is just shy of 600 miles. Part way up, he said the car started making a 'funny' noise in 5th gear which continued but he didn't say a word until he got home 🙄. I drove it and the noise started at about 40mph. I contacted our regular garage, they asked me a few questions, including were there any lights on (there weren't), couldn't fit us in until after Christmas and said probably okay to drive locally. I only drove to work and back 3 times but the noise was then happening by 25mph. If course, I went on Google that said wheel bearing so I drove for the 4 time, coasted downhill, noise the same, and did a bit of slalom, louder on the left, which I assumed to be left, front wheel bearing.
Garage took the car the week after New Year but said it was a linkage underneath, part would be £170 and labour £280, but they couldn't do it for 10 days nor hold onto the car. At this point it wasn't drivable, so they would return it to us on a flatbed then collect to fix for another £40. Bit of a shock but we agreed. 10 days later, the car goes back and we get a phonecall to say it hasn't fixed the problem and the car needs a new gearbox 😮 They quoted £1700 for a reconditioned one fitted, or we could source one ourselves and they would fit for £700. They also said a second opinion would be a waste of money as any garage would say the same. He also said it was drivable but couldn't say when the gearbox would fail so maybe not do long journeys.
After doing maths etc, we decided we'd try and source a gearbox and get some quotes for fitting. Gearbox was £364 delivered and we got a quote for £330 to fit from another garage that was recommended by a friend ( could have been done for £300 'cash' but I wanted a proper receipt 😏). We literally dropped the car off, didn't ask for a second opinion as we trusted the other garage. A few hours later, got the call to say new gearbox in fine but still got the noise after test drive..................wheel bearing was shot😵. Another £140 to get that fixed and the car is now totally fine. Exactly the same to drive as it was pre gearbox change. The garage that did the gearbox were not aware of my initial thoughts of a wheel bearing issue.
My query would be, should the original garage have some accountability for the wrong diagnosis even though we didn't get them to do the gearbox work? Or, should we just suck it up and kick ourselves for not getting a second opinion? The garage that fitted the gearbox said the original didn't appear to have anything obvious, just looked like one that was 12 years old and been used for 108000 miles!
Any ideas greatly received, I can't get to the original garage for a few days as their opening hours clash with my work where I can't have my phone with me. Alternatively, use my tale to always think about 2nd opinions!

paul_c123

Its not necessarily a wrong diagnosis though.

Fixing one problem, can often reveal another. Its quite possible it had a faulty wheel bearing AND a faulty gearbox. Unlikely both occurred at the same time though.

You would need to prove the unlikely, didn't happen.

Chezbrookes

Thank you 😁
I know sometimes a problem isn't obvious and sometimes multiple things need to be done, but I specifically told the original garage I thought it was a wheel bearing. Their initial work, plus the new gearbox going in, didn't fix the noise, whereby a new wheel bearing did! I can't help but feel that they went for the most expensive rather than the most obvious. At no point did they say i needed a new gearbox AND a wheel bearing.
I shall always go for 2nd opinions in future🙂

Arunmor

My daughter's car went in for and passed its MOT in December, I was with her when we collected it and higher speed there was the rumble and I thought oh oh.  I asked her long it had been making that noise and she said awhile, I then asked what she had done about it and she replied turned the stereo up........arghhh!!

Anyway long story short I thought perhaps gearbox or wheel bearing, but in the the end discounted gearbox by coasting downhill in neutral, no noise.  I'm surprised your garage didn't do similar.

Not much help for you but might be useful for others in the future.

Goudy

Chezbrookes said:

My query would be, should the original garage have some accountability for the wrong diagnosis even though we didn't get them to do the gearbox work? Or, should we just suck it up and kick ourselves for not getting a second opinion? The garage that fitted the gearbox said the original didn't appear to have anything obvious, just looked like one that was 12 years old and been used for 108000 miles!
Any ideas greatly received, I can't get to the original garage for a few days as their opening hours clash with my work where I can't have my phone with me. Alternatively, use my tale to always think about 2nd opinions!

Yes, but how are you going to prove or get them to admit they made a mistake?

The old gearbox is probably long gone, there's no way to tell if it was good or bad.
Also you have to ask yourself why the other garage changed a "good" gearbox, if it was in fact good.

I think your only option is to suck it up, but hopefully learn something out of it.