Garage Problem
Discussion
My girlfriend had a problem with her Ford Ka where you tried to remote lock it, it would lock, then immediately unlock and you couldn't open the drivers door with the key. The only way to lock or open it was with the key in the passengers side.
She took it to a local garage who told her they could only get the parts direct from Ford, all in it would cost £200+ to repair. As she's looking to get rid of it she told them not to bother and she'd collect the car.
They then rang her back to say they'd spoken to a local breakers who had the parts and they'd fix it for £110 inc the parts (about £20).
This was two days ago.
They've now phoned to say that whilst he's fixed the drivers door, the exact same problem has now 'appeared' on the passenger door. He could fix it, but it's going to cost twice as much.
So basically, he expects her to pay £110 to get the car back in the exact same state as it was when she took it to them, only the problem reversed.
What's the best course of action here?
Maybe it's me but I think they're taking the piss expecting her to pay £110 to collect it in the same state or to pay them double to do what they were supposed to do in the first place.
She took it to a local garage who told her they could only get the parts direct from Ford, all in it would cost £200+ to repair. As she's looking to get rid of it she told them not to bother and she'd collect the car.
They then rang her back to say they'd spoken to a local breakers who had the parts and they'd fix it for £110 inc the parts (about £20).
This was two days ago.
They've now phoned to say that whilst he's fixed the drivers door, the exact same problem has now 'appeared' on the passenger door. He could fix it, but it's going to cost twice as much.
So basically, he expects her to pay £110 to get the car back in the exact same state as it was when she took it to them, only the problem reversed.
What's the best course of action here?
Maybe it's me but I think they're taking the piss expecting her to pay £110 to collect it in the same state or to pay them double to do what they were supposed to do in the first place.
Oakey said:
Maybe it's me but I think they're taking the piss expecting her to pay £110 to collect it in the same state or to pay them double to do what they were supposed to do in the first place.
Well it's not in the same state is it? They fixed the problem she took it in with but another has appeared on the other door. A separate problem. Steve57 said:
maybe they swapped the parts from the other side. 
It does make you wonder.It's all a bit convenient. From the parts only obtainable from Ford until told not to bother, at which point the local breakers miraculously has them, to it originally costing £200+ and now it's going to cost that original £200+ quote to rectify.
Cynical much!
Or just tell them there was no problem on the Driver's side and as the problem has cropped up while in possession of the garage you expect them to fix it free of charge...?
Either that or you want a refund of the original cost as you are no better off then when the car was dropped off and you were never willing to spend over £200 fixing the problem.
Get the manager / Head Office involved if needs be.
Either that or you want a refund of the original cost as you are no better off then when the car was dropped off and you were never willing to spend over £200 fixing the problem.
Get the manager / Head Office involved if needs be.
Oakey said:
Steve57 said:
maybe they swapped the parts from the other side.
It does make you wonder.It's all a bit convenient. From the parts only obtainable from Ford until told not to bother, at which point the local breakers miraculously has them, to it originally costing £200+ and now it's going to cost that original £200+ quote to rectify.
Cynical much!
It came back with the most annoying wine in the heating system and when I mentioned this to them was told that could have a look at it if i wanted and that they suspected it was X part and would likely be about £Y00ish to fix.
Cut a long story short but my BS detector was going off the scale. Normal garage was able to remove the piece of paper that had been lodged in the system for about £20 worth of labour. Imagine how surprise both they and i were that the paper happened to have the logo of the first garage on it...
Joeguard1990 said:
Or just tell them there was no problem on the Driver's side and as the problem has cropped up while in possession of the garage you expect them to fix it free of charge...?
Either that or you want a refund of the original cost as you are no better off then when the car was dropped off and you were never willing to spend over £200 fixing the problem.
Get the manager / Head Office involved if needs be.
These are both the options I've suggested to her, I was just looking for other opinions.Either that or you want a refund of the original cost as you are no better off then when the car was dropped off and you were never willing to spend over £200 fixing the problem.
Get the manager / Head Office involved if needs be.
If it was me I'd be mortified that I'd fixed one problem only to then introduce that exact same problem elsewhere. I'd be worried about how it looks, like as some other posters have suggested, ie, swapped the parts from one side to another. Even if that's genuinely not the case, you'd be hard pressed to convince Joe Public who knows nothing about cars that isn't what's happened.
Joeguard1990 said:
Or just tell them there was no problem on the Driver's side and as the problem has cropped up while in possession of the garage you expect them to fix it free of charge...?
Either that or you want a refund of the original cost as you are no better off then when the car was dropped off and you were never willing to spend over £200 fixing the problem.
Get the manager / Head Office involved if needs be.
The garage is not responsible for any failures that happen while the car is in their care, the car still belongs to the OP and anything that is not caused by the garage doing something wrong is not their problem.Either that or you want a refund of the original cost as you are no better off then when the car was dropped off and you were never willing to spend over £200 fixing the problem.
Get the manager / Head Office involved if needs be.
Oakey said:
If it was me I'd be mortified that I'd fixed one problem only to then introduce that exact same problem elsewhere. I'd be worried about how it looks, like as some other posters have suggested, ie, swapped the parts from one side to another. Even if that's genuinely not the case, you'd be hard pressed to convince Joe Public who knows nothing about cars that isn't what's happened.
It is disappointing when something like this happens but it is entirely possible to fix a fault on a system and in correctly doing the fix a further problem can be uncovered. Regarding the garage deliberately pulling a fast one, chances are the parts and not swappable from side to side and even if they are does anyone really think that it's worth the effort of doing stripping two doors down for £110 knowing that they will then have to make the call to say that it needs further work - nobody wants to make that call even if it's not their fault, they are pretty unlikely to set up to do it deliberately!
If the OP had chosen to have the job fixed with new parts he'd be £200 in now and still needing the ongoing repairs.
This is going to sound harsh but I do diagnostics full time so all I see is problem cars and know how this goes; I appreciate that Joe Public doesn't understand cars which is why I would take the time to explain the ongoing problem in detail to my customer but I would then expect them to man up and be reasonable about it, not rant on about how much they wanted to spend on the car, I want to live in the Bahamas with Myleene Klass but it's not my customers fault that I can't so I don't burden them with it.
Edited by Steve H on Friday 11th September 08:25
She got the car back today, paid for the repair on the drivers door and left the passenger door as it is.
When she went to leave it wouldn't start! Dead battery.
She went back in and told them and they just smirked, then kept her waiting about 20mins before getting it started for her.
won't be using them again
It's a 10yr old Ka, it's not worth an extra £200+ on the asking price!
When she went to leave it wouldn't start! Dead battery.
She went back in and told them and they just smirked, then kept her waiting about 20mins before getting it started for her.
won't be using them again
It's a 10yr old Ka, it's not worth an extra £200+ on the asking price!
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