What are the chances??

hitman79

Dropped my car in for a service this morning and a few small things to get done. An hour later they ring saying the car wouldnt start and it needs a new battery. Now i've never had problems with my car starting. What are the chances their chancing their arm??

Blazer

If you've never ever had a problem with your car starting it's highly suspect imo

hitman79

Sure what can i do? Get a lift up and demand to drive my car. Its in a proper Ford garage so i would think they would be reliable enough

mickdw

It might be that they were running an inspection lamp off your battery & it went flat very quickly meaning your battery is on the way out. Still if it was starting fine, it should be ok for a while yet although often if the battery has been ran down & its pretty old, it might not recharge at all.

T-Maxx

Sounds dodgy to me. In my experience all my car batteries showed signs of going south and then still managed to last a few weeks, and that was during the winter time as well.

Tell them to charge it overnight, or jump start it and you'll sort out the battery yourselve. Being a dealer they'll probably charge you an excessive amount for a €60 or so battery as well.

hitman79

€80 for a new battery plus their lovely labour costs of €82 an hour plus vat :eek: And i've had no problems at all with the car starting. Just gotta take the hit i guess

alias no.9

This winter was a real stress test for batteries. If it survived that, it's reasonable to expect it to last until next winter unless it goes through a couple of complete discharges.

mullingar

Ring them back and HAGGLE

Ask what is the all-in price to "throw" (not literally) it in DURING the service.

That price is ridiculous as its probably billed per hour or part thereof.

A battery replacement is a quick job, ANY garage can do it, it is probably the ONLY job I would let Halfords/Fast-fit do

cul-2008

hitman79 wrote: »

€80 for a new battery plus their lovely labour costs of €82 an hour plus vat :eek: And i've had no problems at all with the car starting. Just gotta take the hit i guess

Are you serious? Listen to what T-Maxx and mickdw said above ^ . It's actually laughable at how Irish people have a strong tendency not to stand up for themselves, and as a result, are taken to the cleaners the majority of the time. My father has the 'ah it's grand, I'll pay for it anyway' attitude, and it seriously pisses me off.

The fact of the matter is, if your battery was showing no signs of giving up (as stated above) then the blame lies with the garage...could be something as simple as leaving the radio on the whole time they 'serviced' your car.

I wouldn't stand for it, but then again, some people sadly do.

Good luck regardless!

hitman79

Well you wont believe this but they have rang me back saying my battery is grand and it was someone elses car that the battery was flat in...very similar reg plates was the excuse...What a joke of an outfit!

metalgear2k2

Why not buy the battery and throw it in urself?? Its pretty simple.

Never mind, gimps!

Abelloid

hitman79 wrote: »

Well you wont believe this but they have rang me back saying my battery is grand and it was someone elses car that the battery was flat in...very similar reg plates was the excuse...What a joke of an outfit!

Is he on here? *waves*

hitman79

JustinOval wrote: »

Is he on here? *waves*

Ha ha

Gumbo

hitman79 wrote: »

Well you wont believe this but they have rang me back saying my battery is grand and it was someone elses car that the battery was flat in...very similar reg plates was the excuse...What a joke of an outfit!

pretty simple mistake, doesnt mean the garage is a joke of an outfit imo.

cantdecide

kceire wrote: »

pretty simple mistake, doesnt mean the garage is a joke of an outfit imo.

+1

Human error. At least they corrected their mistake.

Stoolbend

alias no.9 wrote: »

This winter was a real stress test for batteries. If it survived that, it's reasonable to expect it to last until next winter unless it goes through a couple of complete discharges.

Hot weather can be harder on a battery than cold weather. It gets very hot under the bonnet and the plates in the battery can start to melt.

vectra

hitman79 wrote: »

Well you wont believe this but they have rang me back saying my battery is grand and it was someone elses car that the battery was flat in...very similar reg plates was the excuse...What a joke of an outfit!

Haha,
Next thing you will know they did the jobs on the "similar" car and charge you for it

Pkiernan

barry81 wrote: »

Hot weather can be harder on a battery than cold weather. It gets very hot under the bonnet and the plates in the battery can start to melt.

Lead melts at 327.5 deg Celsius.
Average under bonnet temp of a car is less than 100 deg Celsius, and usually around 65 deg to 70 deg.

Batteries may perform less at higher temps (although uncommon), but it is not due to melting lead plates.

TJJP

hitman79 wrote: »

Labour costs of €82 an hour plus vat(

kceire wrote: »

pretty simple mistake, doesnt mean the garage is a joke of an outfit imo.

At €82 an hour, I wouldn't expect 'simple mistakes'. That's part of what got Ireland to where she is now; and the new battery is costing a lot more than €80.