Is this terrible service or am I in the wrong?

[ClaphamGT3]

Yes it is terrible service and yes you are in the wrong

As others have said, your issue is with the garage that badly repaired the car and not with the recovery company/3rd party assistance provider who just applied their T&Cs

[vaud]

FYI I think the fire sévices will attend a fuel leak.

E.g

https://www.shropshirefire.gov.uk/incident-type/13...

[Lenovo]

vaud said:

FYI I think the fire sévices will attend a fuel leak.

E.g

https://www.shropshirefire.gov.uk/incident-type/13...

I did tell the orange van people petrol was leaking down a drain but they weren’t interested. I called 999 myself, they passed it to a Fire officer who passed it to the local council. The council called back and told me it was the dealerships responsible to report it. I did try as I was worried about the safety implications of filling a drain with fuel.

[vaud]

Lenovo said:

I did tell the orange van people petrol was leaking down a drain but they weren’t interested. I called 999 myself, they passed it to a Fire officer who passed it to the local council. The council called back and told me it was the dealerships responsible to report it. I did try as I was worried about the safety implications of filling a drain with fuel.

Fair enough though odd response from the fire service as it really isn't the dealerships responsibility if it's on public land into a public drain.

[V8covin]

You were in the wrong.

Your 1st mistake was not phoning the garage

Your 2nd was moving the car with fuel leaking.

[5s Alive]

OP you're taking a lot of flack here for perhaps not making the best choices but I would also be furious in the same situation. The garage have returned an unroadworthy and potentially dangerous car. I've had similar recently as a result of an airbag recall and can sympathise. Anger is draining so take a deep breath and move on.
P.S. I'm terrible at taking my own advice.

[Lenovo]

5s Alive said:

OP you're taking a lot of flack here for perhaps not making the best choices but I would also be furious in the same situation. The garage have returned an unroadworthy and potentially dangerous car. I've had similar recently as a result of an airbag recall and can sympathise. Anger is draining so take a deep breath and move on.
P.S. I'm terrible at taking my own advice.

Thanks at the time I was trying to make the best decisions

- head back to garage to let them look at it and get hire car back (I left the key to this at the dealer) so I could get to work today

- Call the assist line to get another hire car once I found the dealer was closed

The dealer called me this morning and first said I had to get the keys to them as their drivers were on holiday, when I said I can't get to you as I have no car they magically found someone who is able to collect them. I refused as I said I need a hire car arranged first. They told me they were going to call OEM assist and call me back. I've heard nothing so far. I also got a reply to my tweet to the OEM saying they were going to contact me.

Edited by Lenovo on Monday 21st June 09:43

Edited by Lenovo on Monday 21st June 09:44

[5s Alive]

Lenovo said:

Thanks at the time I was trying to make the best decisions

- head back to garage to let them look at it and get hire car so I could get to work today

- Call the assist line to get a hire car once I found the dealer was closed

The dealer called me this morning and first said I had to get the keys to them as their drivers were on holiday, when I said I can't get to you as I have no car they magically found someone who is able to collect them. I refused as I said I need a hire car arranged first. They told me they were going to call OEM assist and call me back. I've heard nothing so far. I also got a reply to my tweet to the OEM saying they were going to contact me.


and told me they can collect the keys from me but cannot provide a replacement car as apparently they dont

All caused by their original shoddy work. If I were them I'd be bending over backwards to get this resolved to your satisfaction asap but unfortunately few dealers demonstrate that kind of work ethic these days. Good luck.

[Pistonheader101]

Both

[surveyor]

I'd be speaking to the manufacturer. The Orange company is acting as their agent in dealing with their manufacturer breakdown scheme.

In fact I would simply an email to the CEO - [e-mail] Asking if he would expect his family to be dealt with in this way?

While the Orange company may have been technically correct, morally and sensibly this was an exceptional circumstance and someone should have sorted a taxi, even if the bill had to be paid by the dealer the next day!

[Bill]

Lenovo said:

The dealer called me this morning and first said I had to get the keys to them as their drivers were on holiday, when I said I can't get to you as I have no car they magically found someone who is able to collect them. I refused as I said I need a hire car arranged first. They told me they were going to call OEM assist and call me back. I've heard nothing so far. I also got a reply to my tweet to the OEM saying they were going to contact me.

Why refuse?? It could be an easy fix that has your own car returned today.

IMO you're being unnecessarily awkward. Similar to when you were stranded you argued with people rather than get a taxi and claim it back later.

[TwistingMyMelon]

st service, just one of those times when computer says no

Id just write a complaint to the dealer and escalate if needed

I would never drive with leaking fuel, death trap to motorbikes and cyclists (and zingaling types) and most of you yourself when it goers on the exhaust

[ashenfie]

You may have as well driven the car around the corner and parked it and then called them.

[stevemcs]

Also just because the hire car is there it doesn't mean you can take it back, they normally have agreements and once its off hire thats it, another job would need to be arranged.

Why not just let them take the keys and get it back on the road ?

[Alex_225]

Personally I think it sounds like a poor service.

I suspect many people would have limped the car back to the garage being less than ten minutes way in the hope they were still open. Yes I'm sure the paperwork says that as you're at a repair centre you're not stuck but clearly you are and as said it's a, 'computer says no' rather than a service maybe going a bit above and beyond to help a customer out. It's not like you were trying to pull a fast one!

[Wish]

Things do go wrong, but I’ll be honest you would like a nightmare.

Single car family, key worker all the cards being used.

Sometimes we have to help ourselves out of a bad situation.

You can’t just sit down sulk and want everyone else to help you. As for with holding the keys that’s just ridiculous.

[vaud]

The "key worker" status was arguably ok at the peak of the pandemic, but I don't see it's relevance right now given the low level of hospitalisations, deaths and high level of unlock; it grates a bit for many.

[Rushjob]

vaud said:

The "key worker" status was arguably ok at the peak of the pandemic, but I don't see it's relevance right now given the low level of hospitalisations, deaths and high level of unlock; it grates a bit for many.

It's funny but in almost 30 years of Police service I never once needed to use the "key worker" card. Broke down and had RTC's but just got on with it like a normal member of the public like 99.99999% of the population. Hey ho. Maybe a Daily Wail sad compo face photo would help get the response you seem to want?????

[Lenovo]

vaud said:

The "key worker" status was arguably ok at the peak of the pandemic, but I don't see it's relevance right now given the low level of hospitalisations, deaths and high level of unlock; it grates a bit for many.

It grates even more for me as although I don’t work for the Nhs, I worked right through the whole lot, whilst everyone was going on about how bored they were watching Netflix my colleagues and I were putting in hours and hours of unpaid overtime as we were so busy. I suppose it doesn’t really matter now so I’ll stop mentioning it. I think I only said it once?

Anyway the hire car company called me this afternoon as the orange van people hadn’t bothered to pay them for the nine days the garage had my car for the original ‘repair’. They told me to either get the orange van people to pay or I would be liable. I called back the orange van people, the person who took my call was shocked that I was left last night and said that was not right. She told me to make a complaint and gave me their complaints email.

I’ve now given up any hope of getting a Hire car to allow me to get to work or even get out of my village. The dealer was supposed to call me back but they didn’t so I just called and told them they could collect the key. As they’re so far away they are having to relay it via another branch. I now honestly just don’t care anymore, what will be, will be.

[vaud]

Genuine apology from me to assume NHS.