NCT tester broke it...

barthek

Hi everyone,

I had my car NCTed on Friday evening. To my greatest surprise it passed!

After receiving the disc I went straight home in shock and awe

Later did I realise that the NCT tester broke automatic mirror control (not sure about the name of it) - basically he had pushed it into the console and broke some plastic elements that held the knob.

Is there a come back now ? Or can they say it broke after the test was performed?

What would you do ?

I am afraid getting these plastics could be difficult (VW Polo 1997 'lux'...)

biko

Do you know the name of the tester?
You could try ringing but I don't think they will do anything "after the fact".

Mr Magnolia

Give them a bell alright. They get people to sign a disclaimer every so often, do you remember signing one?

barthek

Hmm should the name of the tester be on the report ?

And no, I did not sign any form of disclaimer.

The only thing I can prove is that it could have not been broken at the time of the test cause the mirrors operation is checked as well ?

Again, having passed the test I wonder if this was a way of saying 'sorry' by the tester and I should not be coming back for this single fact?

af666x

Doesn't matter - it's passed the NCT now, so if he even tries to cite "oh i passed his car even though it's unsafe" he'd most likely lose his job. I doubt they can strip the car of it's NCT either - if they try do that, then they'd get heaps of bad press and the commotion wouldn't be worth it for them.

If you signed no disclaimer, and the mirrors worked fine during the test (assuming they were tested/marked) then you should have some comeback on it.

barthek

Couldn't find their phone number - they only list central reg office ?

Anyway, I used the webform to inform them of the issue and ask for advise as to how to proceed.

I might drive over there to see my options but frankly I wouldn't want to spend another hour of my life to get there and return empty handed

barthek

Great!

I got a letter from them saying that
- "after a thorough review" (they did not even see the car nor tried to contact me)
- "we find no grounds"
- "the condition ... could have happened at any time during normal usage and is most likely to have occured as a result of normal wear and tear"

The freaking switch was broken into pieces! Normal wear and tear my ar*e!

I find it hard to believe how they can be so arrogant and bold without even contacting me or seeing the damages.

thats outrageous...

astrofool

To be fair, it's an 11 year old car, and I doubt the tester went out of the way to break it, if it was able to be pushed into the console at all, it means that the plastic holding it was cracked, behind the dash.

Quick fix might be to get another one in the wrecking yard.

barthek

Fair comment BUT the controller was broken into pieces - it was not just the plastic latches that keep the thing bound to the console. Too bad I did not take photos of it. And even for 11 year old car how come other things which are regularly used - to control the air vents, switches, levers etc never broke ?

Also, if you ever had chance to see the actual controller you would know there are two buttons which actually are not used to move mirrors around. I can easily imagine someone pressing them _HARD_ to move the mirror. But it wouldn't move!

I have already fixed the thing anyway but thats not the point. I am mad at them treating a customer like that.

jhegarty

I presume you can bring nct to small claims court ?

barthek

I think I could but what would the point be?
And if you think of time loss because of the appearance etc...

Gary ITR

Pain in the arse that it is I think you'd be better off to just wash your hands of it and move on

barthek

Thats exactly what I did eventually
Just wanted to share my deep disgust for the way NCTS treat their 'customers'