Charged for unauthorised & unnecessary extra work carried out during motorbike service

snowy72

Hello,
I have searched for similar threads but not found an answer/advice for my situation.

I have a BMW R1200GSA which was due a yearly service.  I went to the local main dealer with my service book & asked what was required this year, the cost.  I was told just a fluids service (oil/oil filter, coolant, brake fluid & bevel gear oil) was required & it would be £360.

I was recommended a well known independent BMW specialist about an hour away & I contacted them requesting the exact same fluids service & was told £250.  On that basis I booked the bike into the indie.

When I dropped off the bike I spoke to the service manager, confirmed the work I wanted done, they confirmed this & said they'd ring if they found anything extra that needed to be done or when it was finished & that it would take about 4 hours.  The only call I got was to say the bike was ready.

When I'd picked it up they'd done a full 12,000 mile service including checking the valve clearances & my invoice was £446.  I queried this & was told whoever I spoke to on the phone didn't know the price of a service.  The service manager went away & I rode home.

My bike had the full service 2 years (3200 miles ago) so it was not due.  
I didn't ask for nor agree to any extra servicing work, I even left a note on the service book listing the 5 things to be done.

The company only accepts payment via bank transfer.  I have paid £250 of the bill & emailed them with an extended version of this info asking that they review the invoice. 

I got a 1 line email back just asking for the balance with no mention of my complaint.

I'm a bit stuck on where to go from here as I won't have enough money in the bank to pay the balance until the 1st week of Dec but I also feel aggrieved to be paying for extra work that didn't need doing.

Any advice/suggestions welcome.
Thank you.

Grumpy_chap

Do you intend to keep the bike long term?
Do you need to maintain a relationship with the independent service centre?

kimwp

It depends how you feel, but I don't think you should be paying for work that you didn't ask to be done. Saying that the person on the phone doesn't know the cost of a service is a cop out for two reasons; 1. If the company quoted that, they should honour it (or call you to agree a higher price). 2. You didn't ask them to do the full service - so if they've done more than asked/agreed, then you shouldn't be paying that full amount.

I once took my car for a service and it started at £300, they called me a couple of times to recommend additional things and I said "just do what's needed". The bill ended up being £1200+ (legitimately- the car hadn't been serviced for a while). That price increase was a shock, but I had agreed to it. If you haven't agreed to the work, then you don't owe them the money.

snowy72

Grumpy_chap said:

Do you intend to keep the bike long term?
Do you need to maintain a relationship with the independent service centre?

To be honest probably not on both counts. 

The rear shock on the bike collapsed while it was sat inside earlier in the year & I was quoted £2k for a new one to be fitted by the main dealer, that was too rich for me so the bike sat for 5 months until I could get the old shock refurbished. The attitude of the main dealer was what pushed me to look for an indie. I would've gone local but I wanted a recognised BMW specialist in the service book if/when I do sell it.

If the indie had engaged with me then I'd have been happy to use them again but they don't seem interested or communicative.  If necessary, I can always use a main dealer in future so I don't need to maintain a relationship.  Although they are also a big online supplier of BMW spares.

snowy72

kimwp said:

It depends how you feel, but I don't think you should be paying for work that you didn't ask to be done. Saying that the person on the phone doesn't know the cost of a service is a cop out for two reasons; 1. If the company quoted that, they should honour it (or call you to agree a higher price). 2. You didn't ask them to do the full service - so if they've done more than asked/agreed, then you shouldn't be paying that full amount.

I once took my car for a service and it started at £300, they called me a couple of times to recommend additional things and I said "just do what's needed". The bill ended up being £1200+ (legitimately- the car hadn't been serviced for a while). That price increase was a shock, but I had agreed to it. If you haven't agreed to the work, then you don't owe them the money.

Thank you, I agree but I don't have any recording of the phone call where they said £250 & all discussion when I dropped off the bike was verbal, nothing written.

Aylesbury_Duck

The ball is in their court at the monent.  You can't afford to pay the balance for another 11 days or so, so just see if and how they escalate their demand.

snowy72

Aylesbury_Duck said:

The ball is in their court at the monent.  You can't afford to pay the balance for another 11 days or so, so just see if and how they escalate their demand.

I have not told them that.  I simply paid the price I'd been quoted on the phone and explained why I wasn't happy with the extra service work done & asked them to review the bill.  They just wrote back asking for the balance payment.  I have not yet replied to that.

But I don't feel that is the point.  I'm unhappy about being billed for work I didn't ask for nor agree to & now them not even engaging with my complaint.

Aylesbury_Duck

snowy72 said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

The ball is in their court at the monent.  You can't afford to pay the balance for another 11 days or so, so just see if and how they escalate their demand.

I have not told them that.  I simply paid the price I'd been quoted on the phone and explained why I wasn't happy with the extra service work done & asked them to review the bill.  They just wrote back asking for the balance payment.  I have not yet replied to that.

But I don't feel that is the point.  I'm unhappy about being billed for work I didn't ask for nor agree to & now them not even engaging with my complaint.

OK, but so what?  They're asking for the balance, you disagree with what should be owed and now they won't engage with you. 

You have two options at this point.  Pay up, or don't pay up.  The former settles the debt but leaves you unhappy.  The latter leaves the ball in their court.  They'll either engage with you to chase the balance, or drop it.  If they drop it, you're happy.  If they chase you then come back for more advice.  What's the worst that can happen?  They send a letter before legal action, giving you some time to pay.  You then consider whether to pay (you'll have the funds by then) or whether to let them take you to court.  From what you've described, particularly if they've acknowledged that the person providing the price didn't know what they were doing, their case isn't particularly strong.  It will also take many months to get to court if it does go that far.

What do you think you should be doing right now, given that they won't engage with you?

snowy72

Aylesbury_Duck said:

snowy72 said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

The ball is in their court at the monent.  You can't afford to pay the balance for another 11 days or so, so just see if and how they escalate their demand.

I have not told them that.  I simply paid the price I'd been quoted on the phone and explained why I wasn't happy with the extra service work done & asked them to review the bill.  They just wrote back asking for the balance payment.  I have not yet replied to that.

But I don't feel that is the point.  I'm unhappy about being billed for work I didn't ask for nor agree to & now them not even engaging with my complaint.

OK, but so what?  They're asking for the balance, you disagree with what should be owed and now they won't engage with you. 

You have two options at this point.  Pay up, or don't pay up.  The former settles the debt but leaves you unhappy.  The latter leaves the ball in their court.  They'll either engage with you to chase the balance, or drop it.  If they drop it, you're happy.  If they chase you then come back for more advice.  What's the worst that can happen?  They send a letter before legal action, giving you some time to pay.  You then consider whether to pay (you'll have the funds by then) or whether to let them take you to court.  From what you've described, particularly if they've acknowledged that the person providing the price didn't know what they were doing, their case isn't particularly strong.  It will also take many months to get to court if it does go that far.

What do you think you should be doing right now, given that they won't engage with you?

All fair comments, thank you.  I am hoping that someone else may have had a similar experience would say what steps they took that I haven't thought of.

My plan is to reply to their email asking them to respond to the points raised in my complaint & to ask for the complaints process (if they have one) and to contact Citizens Advice tomorrow as that is where the trading standards website points consumers.

Aylesbury_Duck

snowy72 said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

snowy72 said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

The ball is in their court at the monent.  You can't afford to pay the balance for another 11 days or so, so just see if and how they escalate their demand.

I have not told them that.  I simply paid the price I'd been quoted on the phone and explained why I wasn't happy with the extra service work done & asked them to review the bill.  They just wrote back asking for the balance payment.  I have not yet replied to that.

But I don't feel that is the point.  I'm unhappy about being billed for work I didn't ask for nor agree to & now them not even engaging with my complaint.

OK, but so what?  They're asking for the balance, you disagree with what should be owed and now they won't engage with you. 

You have two options at this point.  Pay up, or don't pay up.  The former settles the debt but leaves you unhappy.  The latter leaves the ball in their court.  They'll either engage with you to chase the balance, or drop it.  If they drop it, you're happy.  If they chase you then come back for more advice.  What's the worst that can happen?  They send a letter before legal action, giving you some time to pay.  You then consider whether to pay (you'll have the funds by then) or whether to let them take you to court.  From what you've described, particularly if they've acknowledged that the person providing the price didn't know what they were doing, their case isn't particularly strong.  It will also take many months to get to court if it does go that far.

What do you think you should be doing right now, given that they won't engage with you?

All fair comments, thank you.  I am hoping that someone else may have had a similar experience would say what steps they took that I haven't thought of.

My plan is to reply to their email asking them to respond to the points raised in my complaint & to ask for the complaints process (if they have one) and to contact Citizens Advice tomorrow as that is where the trading standards website points consumers.

I wouldn't bother emailing them at this stage.  Why hurry the process if you can't afford to pay the supposed debt for another two weeks, anyway?  You already have evidence that you sent a lengthy explanatory email asking for a proper response, which they've ignored.  I'd leave it there for now.  Come back for advice if they chase you.