Garage failing to road test work done.

[BusaMK]

Just picked the car up after having a noisy bearing and driveshaft replaced, which had been making a noticeably loud humming noise at speeds above 40. On the drive home the problem was still there - the garage has obviously misdiagnosed the bearing location and hadn't road tested the car. I regret not insisting on personally road testing the car prior to paying and driving home.

From the law point of view where do I stand with regard to getting a refund, or having the issue fixed at no further cost ( as I have paid for the issue to be fixed). Or am I better off claiming the money back through my credit card company? (If that's even possible in this circumstance)

[liner33]

You need to speak to the garage first

[Pet Troll]

Speak to the garage first (at your earliest opportunity, ring NOW and leave a message on the answer phone if no one answers), you really should have driven straight back there as soon as you noticed the fault was still there but that isn't always possible.

Don't claim the money back from the credit card company yet, you have to give the garage the opportunity to fix the matter first.

[73mark]

Pet Troll said:

Speak to the garage first (at your earliest opportunity, ring NOW and leave a message on the answer phone if no one answers), you really should have driven straight back there as soon as you noticed the fault was still there but that isn't always possible.

Don't claim the money back from the credit card company yet, you have to give the garage the opportunity to fix the matter first.

^Definitely This^

[gifdy]

As above. Don't get stressed about the law until you speak to them. You may be surprised - in my experience if you talk to them reasonably, they are usually reasonable back. Go in all guns blazing and you'll get a different response.

[littlebasher]

I had this on a Pug i bought earlier in the year - went in for a new OSF wheel bearing they'd diagnosed as faulty.

Collected the car and the noise is still there, so spun round and took it back. They'd changed the bearing on the NSF instead and didn't bother to test drive the car!

It was a warranty job anyway, so they took it back in and changed the correct bearing. When questioned as to why they didn't test drive it, they couldn't answer that. Lucky they remembered to tighten the wheel nuts i suppose.

[Red Devil]

littlebasher said:

Lucky they remembered to tighten the wheel nuts i suppose.

If I have reason to believe a garage has removed any of the wheels on my car, I always check and re-torque the nuts myself. For two reasons.

They forget, which has to potential to damage the centres and, in extremis, cause a wheel to detach itself
or (more likely)
They overtighten them with an airgun (which should only ever be used to loosen them).
If left uncorrected it can overstress the seats on alloy wheels.

[lbc]

The noise could be due to a worn tyre.

Some tyres can cause a hum type noise when they below a certain tread depth.

[BusaMK]

Thanks. Called them and am taking the car back today. I hope they either fix the car at their cost or give me a refund on the work done in error, we will see. Still not sure on what the law entitles me to ask for though.

[barker22]

BusaMK said:

Thanks. Called them and am taking the car back today. I hope they either fix the car at their cost or give me a refund on the work done in error, we will see. Still not sure on what the law entitles me to ask for though.

Don't be too sure on yourself getting a refund, even if they replaced something that didn't fix the problem If you suggested it needs replacing or they said we could try replacing this and you said yes then you can be charged.

[gifdy]

BusaMK said:

Thanks. Called them and am taking the car back today. I hope they either fix the car at their cost or give me a refund on the work done in error, we will see. Still not sure on what the law entitles me to ask for though.

If one side has a worn wheel bearing then the other side probably would've been close behind it. If they ask you to pay for the whole lot, a counter proposal could be that they cover the labour and you pay for the part. Once they sort the correct side you then have both sides with new bearings at a discounted price. In all likelihood you would have been back in the near future to get the other side swapped anyway.

If however the 'MK' in your username stands for Milton Keynes then I predict the nearside bearing is the one making the noise and the above doesn't apply