fuel used by dealer...
Discussion
I had this on a Golf VR6 i owned some years ago.
Went in to a local garage to diagnose a misfire (HT leads) with a full tank of fuel.
Got it back two days later with almost no fuel in it.
I suspected HT leads so firstly questioned two days (delivery of leads) and then why so much fuel had been used, why there was an odd tyre on my car now (Nankang in place of Vredestein) and why it had covered 400 miles.
I got no response i took it further and got the brush off. I ended up thinking life was too short and to spread the word that the garage sucked (despite the fact they where recommended to me).
In a pub a couple of years later i bumped into the mechanic who did the work. He complimented me on my (now ex) VR6 and how fast it was. I asked what had happened and he explained he took a day off and ragged it around. The tyre was replaced as he curbed it in a spin and buggered the sidewall.
I nearly punched him.
Lesson learnt? Always take the car in with almost no fuel and lay down the law before they start work.
Went in to a local garage to diagnose a misfire (HT leads) with a full tank of fuel.
Got it back two days later with almost no fuel in it.
I suspected HT leads so firstly questioned two days (delivery of leads) and then why so much fuel had been used, why there was an odd tyre on my car now (Nankang in place of Vredestein) and why it had covered 400 miles.
I got no response i took it further and got the brush off. I ended up thinking life was too short and to spread the word that the garage sucked (despite the fact they where recommended to me).
In a pub a couple of years later i bumped into the mechanic who did the work. He complimented me on my (now ex) VR6 and how fast it was. I asked what had happened and he explained he took a day off and ragged it around. The tyre was replaced as he curbed it in a spin and buggered the sidewall.
I nearly punched him.
Lesson learnt? Always take the car in with almost no fuel and lay down the law before they start work.
tigger1 said:
BaronVonVaderham said:
Half a tank of fuel, litre of oil and a few hundred miles?
High performance car?
3 weeks?
Balls, nothing takes three weeks.
Your car has been used as personal transport by some spanner monkey for a few dirty weekends away.
Main dealer or independant?
I'm wanting to know what high performance car will do a few hundred miles on super UL using only half a tank? Sounds like the OP owes the garage for more fuel...High performance car?
3 weeks?
Balls, nothing takes three weeks.
Your car has been used as personal transport by some spanner monkey for a few dirty weekends away.
Main dealer or independant?
Output Flange said:
What car is it?
panholio said:
WHAT CAR IS IT?
fjord said:
Did we find out what car it was?
I'll guess it's a Porsche 911. I have a hunch.joewilliams said:
If the fault was being repaired under warranty, then I'd expect all costs relating to the fault to be paid.
^this^It's not the OP's fault that his car wasn't screwed together properly, so it shouldn't be his problem either... And that includes the cost of any fuel consumed while diagnosing the fault. Manufacturer's fault = Manufacturer's problem. If they don't like that then they should build their cars better in the first place.
I've read a number of threads on here this morning where the responses imply that poor service is something which the average PH thread responder has sleepwalked into accepting as the norm, and now defends. Sad.
MitchT said:
I've read a number of threads on here this morning where the responses imply that poor service is something which the average PH thread responder has sleepwalked into accepting as the norm, and now defends. Sad.
I don't think it's poor service, though.I wouldn't ask them to refund the road tax for the days it's in with them, either.
If you owned the car on finance, would you expect the interest on the payments for those days to be covered by the dealer?
If not, why not? If the car wasn't so poorly put together you wouldn't have lost the use of it, so by that logic surely they should cough up?
I would agree with the OP to a degree.
I think it all comes to down to "What is reasonable?"
Yeah, if they put 20 miles on the clock and obviously used the petrol for that 20 miles then fair enough.
However the OP says a couple of hundred miles and half a tank of juice - to me that is not 'reasonable'
I would be saying to the dealer that perhaps they should meet me half way, so to speak.
I think it all comes to down to "What is reasonable?"
Yeah, if they put 20 miles on the clock and obviously used the petrol for that 20 miles then fair enough.
However the OP says a couple of hundred miles and half a tank of juice - to me that is not 'reasonable'
I would be saying to the dealer that perhaps they should meet me half way, so to speak.
Edited by PistonSmegs on Thursday 7th March 13:12
its black!
(james: i did ask, they said many tests were required to repair the vehicle!!!!!)
i have spoken / written to customer services. they have fobbed me off...
its a combination of things i guess. 3 week to fix a problem, hundreds of miles on the OD, 1/2 tank of fuel missing. like someone above said, for the sake of reputation why can't they just say sorry we used your fuel.
crap analogy but what if you put your mobile phone in for repair and they used your sim card to make test calls to make sure its working? you'd be happy with that?
like many have said, its only £40 of fuel, wear and tear on the car for few hundred miles, not much in the grand scheme of things, put it down to experience. sell up and move on. i hope the manufacturer is pleased they have lost a future customer, bad news travels fast. I'll just have to try another make. I hear KIA make good cars? :-)
(james: i did ask, they said many tests were required to repair the vehicle!!!!!)
i have spoken / written to customer services. they have fobbed me off...
its a combination of things i guess. 3 week to fix a problem, hundreds of miles on the OD, 1/2 tank of fuel missing. like someone above said, for the sake of reputation why can't they just say sorry we used your fuel.
crap analogy but what if you put your mobile phone in for repair and they used your sim card to make test calls to make sure its working? you'd be happy with that?
like many have said, its only £40 of fuel, wear and tear on the car for few hundred miles, not much in the grand scheme of things, put it down to experience. sell up and move on. i hope the manufacturer is pleased they have lost a future customer, bad news travels fast. I'll just have to try another make. I hear KIA make good cars? :-)
Output Flange said:
misterme said:
maybe i should have simplified the question, why should i have to pay the fuel bill for finding out the problem?
Because you might be wrong about it being a problem, so why should the dealer have to pay if you are?They're paying for the repair, you pay for the fuel.
There does seem a weird defence of car dealers here on PH, even when they're liable.
As we've pretty much covered so far in here a few quid's worth of fuel wouldn't be worth worrying about, but £40 isn't nothing, all things considered.
Reply to customer services telling them that you won't be purchasing another of their vehicles due to poor manufacturer support and leave it at that. Probably won't make any difference, but it might make someone in CS stop and think.
Reply to customer services telling them that you won't be purchasing another of their vehicles due to poor manufacturer support and leave it at that. Probably won't make any difference, but it might make someone in CS stop and think.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff