Do I have a leg to stand on?

bubblewrap

Hi guys,

Hows it going?

Well, I have an Audi TT, I am sure other owners are aware of the fuel guage being on drugs. Well, I had 100 miles to go on my way home from work and the bugger broke down (later found out it was out of fuel).

I broke down near a garage which belongs to a friend of a friend. He came down to tow us with my bf's work van. However, he was saying there is no towing eye, my bf was like course there is, every vehicle has one. So he was rooting around underneath and connected it, fine I thought, but my bf's mate said you can't put it there, it is on a pipe, so he went under, fiddled a bit then said it is right.

By that point I didn't care, I just wanted it off the road as I broke down in the worst place you could ever imagine and was getting abuse of other road users (like I WANTED to be there :mad:), I was shaking like a leaf surprised that no one went into the back of me.

Anyway, moving on...I was in the van whilst the mechanic was in my car with my bf. All of a sudden we heard such a thud, I thought the car had hit the van but we later found out that he didn't in fact find the towing eye like he suggested, he connected it to the pipe my bf's mate said don't.

They kept it overnight and the next day I called with a little brainwave saying check the fuel for me, it could be that. "Yeah fine, will ring you back in a bit".

2pm arrived, bf called saying the garage haven't even touched it...now it isn't exactly a dealer, it is a back street garage, had I not broken down where I did, I wouldn't have gone there but unfortunately that is what happened.

So we arranged recovery to another garage, turns out he mangled the power steering pipe, and I mean mangled! We ended up with a bill for £325.

Are they liable to pay? We really cannot afford this and don't see why his incompetance shouldn't be dealt with by this garage.

What do you think?

(sorry it is long!)

Anan1

Did you pay him for the tow and get a receipt?

MagicMarker

No way would I pay that, he damaged the car, he's responsible for the damages.

bubblewrap

No we didn't get a receipt or anything like that as my bf was fuming and got it took away as we didn't trust him to carry out such a big job.

AND he was originally saying it was the alternator, which would have been another few hundred! No way am I ever going there again, apart from to bring him the invoice. :mad:

Edit: Do you think I should write them a letter? How would you word it?

crosstownk

Anyone in the motor repair business who can't identify a power steering pipe from a towing eye should find some other career.

I wouldn't pay it.

The tow eye is in the boot and needs to be screwed into the bumper.

bubblewrap

And to add fuel to the fire, no pun - my bf's mate said the mechanic said I have no chance of recovering the money. Like hell, I will take him to a small claims court if it comes to it. :mad:

crosstownk

Be sure to get your hands on the damaged power steering pipe as proof.........

bubblewrap

Hey, don't worry, we have it in the boot!!

My bf and his mate are proper falling out over this. His mate is saying we have no chance because it wasn't a proper job, it would have been if the cowboys had even attempted to look at it! :mad:

No one damages Terry Tibbs and gets away with it. :mad:

trad

Shows the importance of having breakdown cover in the event of breakdowns / running out of petrol especially if you have no mechanical knowledge and above all there are insured for all mishaps. And you don't upset the OH.

bubblewrap

The ironic thing is, our insurance put complimentary breakdown on a while back and cos I was panicking, I didn't think and didn't have the details on me.

Although I wasn't well equipped, I would have thought I could rely on ANYONE to know how to tow a car, let alone a mechanic!

robtri

crosstownk wrote: »

Anyone in the motor repair business who can't identify a power steering pipe from a towing eye should find some other career.

I wouldn't pay it.

+1

also go to the small claims court, its only €15 to file the claim...
here's all the info you need
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/justice/courts-system/small_claims_court

MagicMarker

bubblewrap wrote: »

The ironic thing is, our insurance put complimentary breakdown on a while back and cos I was panicking, I didn't think and didn't have the details on me

Your details are on your insurance disc.

Anan1

Given the lack of any sort of a receipt and the fact that the OP's bf's work van was used for the tow, i'm finding it hard to see how anything can be proven, unfortunately.

DublinDilbert

bubblewrap wrote: »

Hey, don't worry, we have it in the boot!!

My bf and his mate are proper falling out over this. His mate is saying we have no chance because it wasn't a proper job, it would have been if the cowboys had even attempted to look at it! :mad:

No one damages Terry Tibbs and gets away with it. :mad:

So the "mechanic" tied the rope onto exactly where your BF wanted to tie it on to? If was being toed by your bf's work van?

To be honest it sounds like the guy cam out from the garage just to do a good turn. You don't really have any contract with him, so i'm not sure on what basis your going to sue anyone.

Also if the mechanic hadn't been there, your BF would of tied it onto the same place??? I don't think there's anyone else you can blame in this situation, just put it down to experience....


I'm not sure how a pipe costs £325, did it damage the power steering pump too? Or was the cost of towing to the other garage included?

Did you get your fuel gage fixed ( the original problem) so this will not happen again??

bubblewrap

The fuel guage is an issue being dealt with by Audi but I have never had a problem before with it (kinda knew when it was getting close to empty), seems to be getting worse but that is another story.

No, my bf never said tie it there, he said you can't put it there it is a pipe and the guy moved it (supposedly) then said we are good to go.

I understand he was doing a good deed but someone who fixes cars for a living, shouldn't be causing ££££'s of damage.

The part alone was nearly £200, then we had 3 hours labour, then fuel to get the bugger going again.

I have drafted this letter, it is worth a try anyway - let me know what you think:

Dear Sirs,

I am writing with regard to my vehicle that was recovered by yourselves on Wednesday 29th June (Audi TT) and would like to inform you that the damage caused by yourselves has cost me nearly £325 as the tow rope was connected to the power steering pipe instead of the towing eye resulting in a brand new part having to be fitted and a 3 hour labour charge.

I attach the invoice for your information. I would appreciate it if we could come to an arrangement with regard to this cost as I feel it is a large amount for something that could have easily been avoided and I would have expected a mechanic to be able to carry this out safely.

I would have also expected by 2pm the next day that something would have been done but as it stood, I had to recover it to another garage because I couldn’t afford to be without a car much longer.

Although I appreciate the fact you came to recover us at short notice, it is disappointing that this has resulted in such great damage to our vehicle. I have retained the damaged part and can show you the extent of the damage if necessary.

I would appreciate it if you could give me a call to discuss this further. My number is xxxxxxxxxx.

-Chris-

You need to offset the call-out (and any charges that should relate to that) against the cost of damages imho - have you paid anything to the guy who came out with your bf or the garage he works for?


Also, I don't think expecting them to have it looked at/fixed by 2pm the next day is entirely reasonable - if they're busy, their priority must be to the customers who booked the work in in a timely fashion, squeezing yours in when they get a chance to schedule it.
I wouldn't bother putting that in the letter if I were writing it.

bubblewrap

Ok thanks.

Well the letter has gone, so we shall see. Won't hold my breath but it is worth a try, better than rolling over like a puppy.

Will see if they call back and I don't even mind if they pay a proportion of it, I just don't want to have to foot the whole bill for something they did.

Dabko

Dnt bother your arse sending a letter like that, the grease monkey will only have a laugh about it. Solictor + letter + 30 quid = much more affective.

On another note, mate of mine rang me 2 days ago with the exact same probem in his tt. He had just had refurbished fuel pump? installed and tank was reading 1/4 full. All of sudden she just stopped dead in the sticks. Turns out it was only a dodgy fuel reading from neww pump. He was delighted!

bubblewrap

They are little buggers, I have put in £50 in the last week because I am so scared of breaking down again! I can usually last on £20 per week but that week he obviously had other ideas, he goes through petrol like I go through wine! :pac:

Well unfortunately the letter has gone in the work post, oops! Well he can laugh all he wants, if they don't respond the next letter will be from a legal representative.

The garage is in fact the monkeys dads so lets hope he is a little more professional about it.

When it happened, the lad just said to my bf, ooh that didn't sound good did it? I wonder why! :mad:

Dabko

If my mate went through as much wine as he did petrol in the tt, he would be pissed as a fart 24/7! About 60-80 quid a week i think!

Stick it too them, dont let them away with such a retarded act.

bubblewrap

hehe!

From what I can gather on t'internet, it is the instrument cluster which needs replacing - lord knows how much that would be!

Even I know more than monkey nuts!

pburns

Had you any inkling the guage was less than reliable before this happened? If so did it not occur to you that this might be the problem?

I'm sorry but so far we've esbtablished:

- your bf's mate was doing a 'good deed'
- you have caused a rift between two friends
- you are now refering to the guy on a public forum as a 'monkey'
- you insurance covered professional breakdown but you didn't think to call them
- you refer to your car an an animate object
- you call him 'Terry Tibbs':eek:
- you bf was present when the mistake was made with the (non-use of) towing eye...

I'm sorry, I think you are a very silly woman...

trad

And she only puts 20 quid a week into it!! and won't buy a stamp

bubblewrap

As I said before, I knew where I was with it, it beeped at 30 miles every week, when it got to 30, I topped him up. Never had a problem before.

However as I set off from work, it was on 105 - I got half way home, no beep, it just died. It has been ongoing with Audi as we have to meet certain criteria to qualify for goodwill but at the time, it didn't cause me any probs. Although it wasn't the best, I knew it and how it worked, now he seems to be deteriorating and we are making sure it gets looked at asap.

I have caused no rift whatsoever, how do you work that out? It is my bf against this lad, this lad knows his mate is in the wrong but naturally he doesn't want to admit it. I said to him this has nothing to do with you, it is between us and the garage, so no, I have not caused a rift.

He is a monkey.

We have only had the car since March, we have never looked for the towing eye. We assumed he would know, like any mechanic should/would.

Yes my insurance does have breakdown but I didn't have the docs on me plus I was panicking like **** being stuck in the middle of a dual carriageway with all types of nobbers pomping at me like I was doing it for a laugh. Plus, my battery had died literally half an hour before and I had to borrow a phone off some kind girl, the only number I knew by heart was bf's - he works with monkeys mate so they both came down, with monkey.

I have never been in this situation before having previously owned a Toyota so sorry if logic didn't kick in right away.

If it was some random guy who pulled over then fair enough but this man gets paid to fix cars, how could he have got it so wrong and think it would be ok!? Have you seen how thin the pipes are?! :rolleyes:

bubblewrap

trad wrote: »

And she only puts 20 quid a week into it!! and won't buy a stamp

I only do 10 miles a day.

Hellrazer

The first thing any court in the country will do including the small claims court is ask for a receipt for the "tow in" job.
Since it was done as a favour for you then I honestly dont think you have any comeback.

bubblewrap

Well to be honest, it did go in with the intention of them working on it, even if the pipe wasn't damaged - it was going to be a paid job. The only reason we took it away is because I called him at 10am asking him to look at the fuel tank and he said yeah fine, I will call you back in a bit. Then at 2pm, my bf called saying he hasn't even bothered to do anything with it.

All I said was to put £5 of fuel in and give it a try and he didn't even do that.

I would have had a receipt for the towing had he actually bothered to work on it, but I guess it is down to the owners discretion. I can only try.

The letter is pretty calm and thought out, I am not going in raging like other people may have done. I have worked in garages before and people have kicked off for far less problems and got their money back.

tossy

bubblewrap wrote: »

I called him at 10am asking him to look at the fuel tank and he said yeah fine, I will call you back in a bit. Then at 2pm, my bf called saying he hasn't even bothered to do anything with it.

I think you are being very unreasonable here and not really living in the real world,what about the cars that were booked in with him already some possibly weeks in advance and returning customers? is he meant to drop everything and go work on yours? From my experience of garages your car is the kind of job the get onto at 5pm or so when every other job is finished and it has quietened down a bit.

mickdw

Firstly,
The instrument cluster is a known problem and Audi were helping with cost in alot of cases in the uk. Its mad money otherwise. There is a uk company now refurbishing these units for a very reasonable cost compared to a new unit.
I had a TT and the dash problems did start although very minor and completely disappeared when battery was renewed. Now I dont know if this is down to the power being interupted or the better battery but never had a problem with it after.
In relation to the towing, you were lucky to get away with a bill for €300. Its a rotten job on many cars to replace steering pipes and often requires quite a bit of the system to be replaced. They didnt just chop in a section did they? This is not a good idea.
I wouldnt waste my time chasing these guys. If it was 3,000 yes but not worth the headache for a small amount of money. Also, did none of ye know that the eye is a screw in type. There is a little cover on the bumper to remove typically.