Garage carried out work without permission

Money_maker · 14 July 2017 at 1:01PM

Why does no one else find it odd that the OP didn't complain about it when they first went to pick up the car. Surely the first question should be 'why the heck have you done work to my car, it was only in for an MOT?' rather than 'how much was it?'. More to this than meets the eye.

Retrogamer · 14 July 2017 at 1:17PM

If i booked my car in for an MOT test on a particular day, all i'd be expecting is my car to be put through an MOT test on that particular day and then the results pass or fail, provided to me.

Nothing more, nothing less.

NessieGB · 14 July 2017 at 1:21PM

I've been 100% honest in this story money maker. Im not a confrontational person unless I really have to be so went along with what he was saying until I got home.

Anyways I checked the mot history today and it had been updated with a fail around about 11 o clock. It failed on 'front suspension arm severely corroded' and 'rear exhaust not adequately supported'

I went over to the garage not 20 mins ago and went up to the owner, here's roughly the conversation
Me: I'm here about my car

Him : ah is that the toyota? Its not ready yet, needs a front suspension link

M: has any work been carried out?

H: yes we've replaced both rear springs and we're about to start the link

M: I Never gave you authorisation to do that

H: what?

M: I didn't give you permission to fix it, I just wanted it mot'd, I'd rather fix the problems myself.

H: it hasn't been Mot'd yet

M: yes it has

H: it hasn't, we haven't put the link on yet

M: it has been Mot'd and it failed. It failed on the link and rear exhaust section (he seemed very confused that I knew this)

H: well what do you want us to do? We can put the old springs back in?

M: If you could do that it would be great, Ill still pay you for the mot but I'd rather do the repairs myself.

H: well we managed to get a good discount for the parts, I doubt you would find them cheaper, we had to source them from (city 40 miles away)

M: I'll get the parts and do it myself thanks. Out of curiosity how much does the springs and labour come too?

H: oh it's not a lot, just the springs and our time, shouldn't be a lot (still couldn't give a firm answer)

M: Okay then, when will the old springs be back on and car ready for me to collect?

H: Oh I'll try and get the boys to do it the afternoon, we'll give you a call when it's ready.

And then I left to go home for lunnch and type this. Hopefully the old springs are back on today and I can get my car back!

Nilrem · 14 July 2017 at 1:24PM

Kim_13 wrote: »

At a minimum the OP should have been kept informed. He took the car in for an MOT, it was perfectly reasonable to expect that he would have the car back the same day. It would not take a garage long to call and ask if the OP wants the springs changing or would like the car MOT'd as is either. Even if the car had failed in the latter case, the OP would probably go back. Now he/she won't be.

This I think.

The garage should not proceed with any chargable work without confirming it with the owner of the car.

My local garage will give my mobile a ring to check if there is any additional work to be done, regardless of if it's a £10 part that will take 5 minutes to fit, or a £400 part that will take all day.

If they've fitted the parts without checking it's pretty close to unsolicited goods in my mind.

Retrogamer · 14 July 2017 at 1:26PM

Just be careful when picking the car up as the parts that caused it to fail the MOT would likely constitute an offence on the road if you get pulled and the MOT garage might inform the authorities you're driving an unroadworthy vehicle away from their premises out of spite.

MrJones1 · 14 July 2017 at 1:41PM

Garages like this are not ethical. They should seek authorization from the vehicle owner before carrying out work. I don't know how many people they have done this on, but they seem to have done it for a good while and earned a lot of it on unsuspecting customers. It's good that @NessieGB was persistent. Hope you get your vehicle back today.

caprikid1 · 14 July 2017 at 1:53PM

I would not for one second take my car back for a retest to them ....

parking_question_chap · 14 July 2017 at 5:53PM

caprikid1 wrote: »

I would not for one second take my car back for a retest to them ....

I doubt they would want the hassle in dealing with OP either.

takman · 14 July 2017 at 8:59PM

parking_question_chap wrote: »

I doubt they would want the hassle in dealing with OP either.

I think the OP handled the situation very well.

The garage couldn't even provide them with a price when they went in and asked even though they said how cheap they got the springs for.

So not only did they do unauthorized work they couldn't even say how much they were going to charge the OP. So getting them to remove the springs will make them think twice before doing it again in the future.

Just remember the OP had booked the car in for MOT on that day with the garage and when they went there after work no MOT had been done and they had changed the Springs. I don't see how anyone could think that was acceptable?.

I have booked my car into a garage in the past for an MOT who don't do the MOT themselves. So they knew i was going to get them to do any work required. When the car failed they gave me a call with the list of work required and quoted prices before doing a thing. This is something they did with all customers unless something else was arranged beforehand.

Money_maker · 14 July 2017 at 9:11PM

NessieGB wrote: »

Im not a confrontational person unless I really have to be so went along with what he was saying until I got home.

Me neither but I sure as heck would ask why they have done that rather than wait until I got home. What difference did that make?

Garage carried out work without permission

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