Actual cost well over garage's estimate
Discussion
Looking for a bit of advice please.
Sister-in-law took her car to the local garage for some work to get it through its MOT, which the garage estimated (not quoted) at costing around £300. She agreed to have the work done and requested if it was going to cost more that they contact her before continuing.
When she went to pick up the car she was presented with a bill for £600! She paid under duress to get her car back and complained to the garage staff. They claimed they tried to get in touch with her, but didn't get through.
The garage have made some sort of offer of fixing future work for free, but I'm not entirely sure of the details of this 'compensation'.
She can't really afford to take a hit like that right now, as she's moving house.
What rights does she have?
Thanks for any constructive advice.
Sister-in-law took her car to the local garage for some work to get it through its MOT, which the garage estimated (not quoted) at costing around £300. She agreed to have the work done and requested if it was going to cost more that they contact her before continuing.
When she went to pick up the car she was presented with a bill for £600! She paid under duress to get her car back and complained to the garage staff. They claimed they tried to get in touch with her, but didn't get through.
The garage have made some sort of offer of fixing future work for free, but I'm not entirely sure of the details of this 'compensation'.
She can't really afford to take a hit like that right now, as she's moving house.
What rights does she have?
Thanks for any constructive advice.
You need to provide details of the work done. Absent an agreed price, the garage is entitled to a fair and reasonable price for work done at the request of a customer. This sounds like a situation for a compromise, particularly if the garage did not communicate what was needed, but more than that I cannot say without more information on what happened.
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 14th September 07:47
The Red Baron said:
She can't really afford to take a hit like that right now, as she's moving house.
Let's assume they DID phone her. Her car's in bits, there's already £200-worth of work been done to it."Very sorry, but we've just found something else/it's taking a lot longer than we expected. The bill's going to be nearer £600 than £300. What do you want us to do?"
What would her reply have been? Here's the £200 so far, scrap it?
Is there any suggestion that the work done was really only £300-worth, and they've just decided to double the bill? Or is everybody in agreement that the job snowballed, due to any one of umpteen factors that couldn't easily have been foreseen, and her complaint is merely that they didn't break off part-way through to ring her?
How's the bill actually break down? Parts, labour?
OP get the details of work done and parts replaced - post them up here and I'm sure someone in the know will tell you whether the bill is reasonable or whether your sis has been ripped off.
If it is the former then the offer of free future work by the garage is an acknowledgement that they should have got in contact before the work was completed and is is in fact nice of them. Alternatively - if it was a rip off this is an attempt at appeasement and they know they are on dodgy ground.
Find out which it is before going any further.
If it is the former then the offer of free future work by the garage is an acknowledgement that they should have got in contact before the work was completed and is is in fact nice of them. Alternatively - if it was a rip off this is an attempt at appeasement and they know they are on dodgy ground.
Find out which it is before going any further.
TooMany2cvs said:
Let's assume they DID phone her. Her car's in bits, there's already £200-worth of work been done to it.
"Very sorry, but we've just found something else/it's taking a lot longer than we expected. The bill's going to be nearer £600 than £300. What do you want us to do?"
What would her reply have been? Here's the £200 so far, scrap it?
Is there any suggestion that the work done was really only £300-worth, and they've just decided to double the bill? Or is everybody in agreement that the job snowballed, due to any one of umpteen factors that couldn't easily have been foreseen, and her complaint is merely that they didn't break off part-way through to ring her?
How's the bill actually break down? Parts, labour?
What job would be being done for £300 that would involve the car being in bits to the point where it couldn't be rebuilt without additional cost? Bear in mind it was in for an MOT, so one presumes it got there under its own steam and hadn't blown a head gasket or snapped a cambelt."Very sorry, but we've just found something else/it's taking a lot longer than we expected. The bill's going to be nearer £600 than £300. What do you want us to do?"
What would her reply have been? Here's the £200 so far, scrap it?
Is there any suggestion that the work done was really only £300-worth, and they've just decided to double the bill? Or is everybody in agreement that the job snowballed, due to any one of umpteen factors that couldn't easily have been foreseen, and her complaint is merely that they didn't break off part-way through to ring her?
How's the bill actually break down? Parts, labour?
Their original quote of £300 would surely have included rebuilding the car, if they were taking it apart to begin with, so the notion that they couldn't do this without an additional £300 seems hard to believe. I'm more inclined to believe that they "discovered" something whilst doing the £300 work that was "advisable" to fix...
I'm not a mechanic though so I don't know how feasible it is that a garage could start doing a fairly large MOT job like that and discover along the way an additional £300 worth of work that needs doing, that was somehow missed on the original estimate.
I still don't think it's legit to proceed with the additional work bearing in mind the cost is double the original estimate. Fair enough if it was an extra £100 or so, but double?
Anecdotally I had a problem way back when with a Skyline that was knocking (due to a bad map by the same garage as it turned out), and without my permission they ended up completely taking the engine to bits and then telephoning me after to let me know how much it would cost to put back together. Ended up getting it trailered to another tuner (because I had no trust in what they were saying to me) and paying thousands for a full rebuild.
Edited by Durzel on Sunday 14th September 09:42
Durzel said:
TooMany2cvs said:
Let's assume they DID phone her. Her car's in bits, there's already £200-worth of work been done to it.
"Very sorry, but we've just found something else/it's taking a lot longer than we expected. The bill's going to be nearer £600 than £300. What do you want us to do?"
What would her reply have been? Here's the £200 so far, scrap it?
Is there any suggestion that the work done was really only £300-worth, and they've just decided to double the bill? Or is everybody in agreement that the job snowballed, due to any one of umpteen factors that couldn't easily have been foreseen, and her complaint is merely that they didn't break off part-way through to ring her?
How's the bill actually break down? Parts, labour?
What job would be being done for £300 that would involve the car being in bits to the point where it couldn't be rebuilt without additional cost? Bear in mind it was in for an MOT, so one presumes it got there under its own steam and hadn't blown a head gasket or snapped a cambelt."Very sorry, but we've just found something else/it's taking a lot longer than we expected. The bill's going to be nearer £600 than £300. What do you want us to do?"
What would her reply have been? Here's the £200 so far, scrap it?
Is there any suggestion that the work done was really only £300-worth, and they've just decided to double the bill? Or is everybody in agreement that the job snowballed, due to any one of umpteen factors that couldn't easily have been foreseen, and her complaint is merely that they didn't break off part-way through to ring her?
How's the bill actually break down? Parts, labour?
Their original quote of £300 would surely have included rebuilding the car, if they were taking it apart to begin with, so the notion that they couldn't do this without an additional £300 seems hard to believe. I'm more inclined to believe that they "discovered" something whilst doing the £300 work that was "advisable" to fix...
I'm not a mechanic though so I don't know how feasible it is that a garage could start doing a fairly large MOT job like that and discover along the way an additional £300 worth of work that needs doing, that was somehow missed on the original estimate.
I still don't think it's legit to proceed with the additional work bearing in mind the cost is double the original estimate. Fair enough if it was an extra £100 or so, but double?
Anecdotally I had a problem way back when with a Skyline that was knocking (due to a bad map by the same garage as it turned out), and without my permission they ended up completely taking the engine to bits and then telephoning me after to let me know how much it would cost to put back together. Ended up getting it trailered to another tuner (because I had no trust in what they were saying to me) and paying thousands for a full rebuild.
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 14th September 09:42
Are you suggesting they should, or she would have asked them, to rebuild the car with the problem they have found un repaired? All that will do is give her one bill and line up another.
Of course, they should have tried to contact her but, at the end of the day it's her car, her issues, and as long as the work needed doing and they haven't turned her over, she should pay.
Breadvan72 said:
You need to provide details of the work done. Absent an agreed price, the garage is entitled to a fair and reasonable price for work done at the request of a customer. This sounds like a situation for a compromise, particularly if the garage did not communicate what was needed, but more than that I cannot say without more information on what happened.
Though she has in effect stated don't do more than £300 worth of work nor proceed if it transpires the costs will exceed £300.Edited by Breadvan72 on Sunday 14th September 07:47
TooMany2cvs said:
Let's assume they DID phone her. Her car's in bits, there's already £200-worth of work been done to it.
"Very sorry, but we've just found something else/it's taking a lot longer than we expected. The bill's going to be nearer £600 than £300. What do you want us to do?"
What would her reply have been? Here's the £200 so far, scrap it?
Is there any suggestion that the work done was really only £300-worth, and they've just decided to double the bill? Or is everybody in agreement that the job snowballed, due to any one of umpteen factors that couldn't easily have been foreseen, and her complaint is merely that they didn't break off part-way through to ring her?
How's the bill actually break down? Parts, labour?
This info is needed first I think before a full reply can be given."Very sorry, but we've just found something else/it's taking a lot longer than we expected. The bill's going to be nearer £600 than £300. What do you want us to do?"
What would her reply have been? Here's the £200 so far, scrap it?
Is there any suggestion that the work done was really only £300-worth, and they've just decided to double the bill? Or is everybody in agreement that the job snowballed, due to any one of umpteen factors that couldn't easily have been foreseen, and her complaint is merely that they didn't break off part-way through to ring her?
How's the bill actually break down? Parts, labour?
Jasandjules said:
Breadvan72 said:
You need to provide details of the work done. Absent an agreed price, the garage is entitled to a fair and reasonable price for work done at the request of a customer. This sounds like a situation for a compromise, particularly if the garage did not communicate what was needed, but more than that I cannot say without more information on what happened.
Though she has in effect stated don't do more than £300 worth of work nor proceed if it transpires the costs will exceed £300.Edited by Breadvan72 on Sunday 14th September 07:47
The Red Baron said:
Sister-in-law took her car to the local garage for some work to get it through its MOT, which the garage estimated (not quoted) at costing around £300. She agreed to have the work done and requested if it was going to cost more that they contact her before continuing.
That's not quite the same as saying do only £300 worth of work and no more.Stating: "If it's going to cost more than £300 contact Me first before continuing" implies that she was possibly prepared to pay more than £300 but wanted to know how much more it would cost before authorising them to continue.
If we give the garage then benefit of the doubt and their story that they tried to contact her but couldn't get through is genuine, then what were they supposed to do? - Leave her car in pieces in the middle of their work place taking up valuable space, stopping other jobs from being done whilst they tried to get in touch with her?
If the garage in question is only a small place then they simply can't afford to just stop work for the day because someone's not available to answer questions about whether to continue with the work or not.
The fact that the garage have said that they are prepared to come to some sort of agreement about doing future work for free implies that they may well have genuinely tried to contact her and then continued as they thought it was the best thing to do. (Plenty of other garages would simply have taken a "tough s
t! - Pay up, we don't have to give you anything!" attitude).We need more details as to the work that was carried out, but experience has taught Me that it's very easy for costs to escalate in this sort of manner that can end up doubling a bill.
As Breadvan has stated, we need more information about what really happened to make a proper assessment of the situation (for example, did the sister in Law have any missed calls or calls she ignored on that day?).
pork911 said:
The original estimate was £300, I doubt the engine was taken out.
Welding work required?, wheel bearing requires replacing?, brake discs and pads need replacing?, suspension arms need replacing?, exhaust system needs replacing?, brake pipes need replacing? (look up how much it costs to replace the rear brake pipes on a BMW E36/E46 - That's an MOT failure that can easily eat up £300 due to what's required to do the job properly!).As I say, there are plenty of jobs that can ramp a bill up and when it comes to cars, £300 is not that much money to add to a bill unexpectedly!
pork911 said:
As always details are lacking, but they claim to have attempted to phone her so thought they should get approval. Their assessment of that need changed because...they couldn't get hold of her.
And how long should they have left a half-dismantled car on the ramp, blocking a significant proportion of their earning capability, for?If she'd turned up to collect it at the agreed time, and been told "Oh, sorry, it's not finished - we did try to ring you, but you didn't answer..."?
Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
How has this garage become a little guy just trying to make ends meet, with an apparently lone ramp that is the only thing keeping the wolves from the door, while the OP's sister-in-law is already alleged to have left her car there longer than was necessary?
Where are people extrapolating this stuff from?
Fundamentally pressing on with a job that is chargeable at twice the original estimate without signoff is shoddy imo. Again, the car was in for an MOT, and she was given no choice in whether the part(s) should be replaced there and then, or whether they could last a bit longer until she could comfortably afford it rather than having to make her kids go without food (if we're making hyperbolic assumptions)
Where are people extrapolating this stuff from?
Fundamentally pressing on with a job that is chargeable at twice the original estimate without signoff is shoddy imo. Again, the car was in for an MOT, and she was given no choice in whether the part(s) should be replaced there and then, or whether they could last a bit longer until she could comfortably afford it rather than having to make her kids go without food (if we're making hyperbolic assumptions)
Durzel said:
How has this garage become a little guy just trying to make ends meet, with an apparently lone ramp that is the only thing keeping the wolves from the door
So you know a lot of garages with plenty of spare space and ramps, do you? Which can just quite happily leave a car taking a ramp up, with no knock-on to a mechanic sitting on his backside twiddling his thumbs waiting for the sister to call back?Durzel said:
Again, the car was in for an MOT, and she was given no choice in whether the part(s) should be replaced there and then, or whether they could last a bit longer until she could comfortably afford it
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but weren't these jobs to rectify things the car had failed the ticket on? They'd already been ignored until they could be ignored no longer.Edited by TooMany2cvs on Sunday 14th September 14:48
The garage should have been much clearer originally, and also made sure that the customer called at an agreed time.
"We think around £300, but depending on what we find the cost could be as much as £600. Please call us at xx:xx because at that time we'll be in a position to give a bettre estimate"
They're in the clear, she knows he score, job's a good'un.
"We think around £300, but depending on what we find the cost could be as much as £600. Please call us at xx:xx because at that time we'll be in a position to give a bettre estimate"
They're in the clear, she knows he score, job's a good'un.
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