What can I do if I get ripped off by a qualified mechanic(Nixer)

tiocimarla

My girfriends friends boyfriend is a mechanic and he serviced two cars for me recently and ive been had:mad:.

He charged the best part of €900 for both of them. He replaced an exhaust on one of them which counts for roughly €130. The rest was spread between the usual service parts.

I understand he wasnt charging mates rates and thats fine but when I got the cars back one of them was in bits. It had lost all power and the engine managment light was flashing on the dash.

He told me because he cleaned the petrol tank out that it would take a week or so to come back to normal. Well three weeks past and I had to bring it back to him as it was driving like a bag of cats.

This time he proceeded to tell me i needed to get the exhaust welded and that would be it.

I then brought it to a welder and he couldnt find the area to weld, so I brought it back AGAIN:mad: to my now X mechanic and asked whats the crack with it. I had to leave it with him for a week as he works a 9-5.

This time he told me the head gasket was cracked and would need to be changed. He said it would cost about nine hundred:eek:. I said leave it with me.

Now at this stage I began to see a pattern and got a second opinion. I left the car into a garage for a day and the mechanic had it fixed:D
He charged me €250 and i was happy to pay.

The problem was the spark lead cables for a start, also my X mechanic put far to much oil and coolant in. He forgot to put brake fluid in and recalibrate the front brakes.

Now im gonna go back to him and ask for some of my money back. I want to bill him €250 for the mechanic that fixed it but because it was a nixer I dont really no where I stand and if I have any rights to do so.

He obviously doesnt have a diagnostic machine because the spark leads came up straight away on one.

HELP give me some info on how to get some of my money back if ye can, thanks in advance.

robtri

i would be over getting your whole 900 back....
Otherwise i am sure the revenue will be very interested in someone doing undeclared nixer work...

no offence but looks you where taken badly

TestTransmission

You paid 900 quid for 2 cars to get serviced?

Are you mad?

colm_mcm

exhausts, cleaning petrol tanks etc aren't routine service items.

still sounds bad though.

tiocimarla

ye i understand there was those two extra jobs but is the revenue the only way, I want money back either way and I dont want to resort to threats is there a way i can put the sh#ts up him

colm_mcm

talk to him, hopefully the embarrassment at having done such a poor job will prompt hin to give you a refund.

robtri

tiocimarla wrote: »

I dont want to resort to threats is there a way i can put the sh#ts up him

dont think you can not threathen him and still put the ****s up him... think thank nearly impossible

bijapos

You've no receipts I take it so very little to go on.

You could try telling him that you intend to tell everyone in your (and your gfs and her mates) circle of friends and every other person, including those on boards.ie what a crap mechanic he is if he doesn't pay up.

You could try the small claims court, if they question the nixer you could say you paid him the money in good faith and its up to him to tax and VAT it.

corkcomp

colm_mcm wrote: »

talk to him, hopefully the embarrassment at having done such a poor job will prompt hin to give you a refund.

+1 im no mechanic and I would do a better job than that.. explain to him what you just told us and if that doesnt work resort to threats then

Bonito

Doesn't sound like he's a fully qualified mechanic at all in my opinion. Tell him he did i shíte job and you want your money back. If he refuses then get the other mechanic that fixed your car to write up a report and take the other chancer to small claims to get back your money.

Muckie

Jesus, he aint a mechanic, end of disscussion. Plus he's a friend of
a friend, you've being had.
Don't know how he could have the neck to screw you like that.

CarrickMcJoe

GOd , your mate is full of himself charging €900 for 2 services and an exhaust, I paid €180 for a service at the Main Dealer!
Does he work for Ferrari?

tiocimarla

Well I dont really think getting the full refund is possible. For a start he did buy the exhaust and the service parts so I cant bill him for that.

I do reallize its fallout time now and bridges are gonna be burned so does anyone know what kind of money I should be looking for back.

He gave me a list of what he did so if ye wanna call that a receipt then i got one but where is it now? with all of the rest of my receipts,,,,the bin. I really didnt think I would need it because you dont expect this from a friend of a friend.

I have the new mechanic looking at the car to see what was done to it to make a list. Im also gonna try and find or get a new receipt and when I do il post it up. Cheers for the advise so far guys

bmstuff

He did half work, it cost you about 250 or so extra to get it fixed for real, ask him for a refund of that sum.

You agreed to pay 900 in the first place, so asking for more than it actually cost you to repair would be an insult to yourself.

Bad mechanics don't last long anyway, you probably have better things in your life to do that going after him, knowing that your car is fixed now.

Just get a new mechanic and move on.

nogoodnamesleft

I would be asking for an invoice for the work done by your X mechanic including the price for parts and hours labour to asertain how he got 900 euro in the 1st place.

Out of interest what are the make and model of the cars you got serviced by him?

What was his thinking behind cleaning out the petrol tank? Did he change the fuel filter after going to this bother.

tiocimarla

nogoodnamesleft wrote: »

I would be asking for an invoice for the work done by your X mechanic including the price for parts and hours labour to asertain how he got 900 euro in the 1st place.

Out of interest what are the make and model of the cars you got serviced by him?

What was his thinking behind cleaning out the petrol tank? Did he change the fuel filter after going to this bother.

00 avensis 02 polo. the polo was the problem and he just said the tank needed a clean but im thinking that he used it as an excuse for why the car ran so poorly

kildare.17hmr

tiocimarla wrote: »

He obviously doesnt have a diagnostic machine because the spark leads came up straight away on one.

Is this guy a qualified mechanic or a DIY mechanic??? very incompatent ether way if he couldnt figure out a doggy coil..
did you not think to ask what exactly the €900 you were being asked for was for???? Im not tryin to offend you but why didnt you bring up the price with him when he told you???

On the other side of it nixer or not he should be able to stand over his work if he is a mechanic, is he an apprentace by any chance? if you dont get anywhere with him i dont see many other options than giving him a bad name he deserves alot more but name and shame him here and in his area, he wont be very quick to screw again

tiocimarla

Ye im gonna talk to him later and get the invoice he ran through it very fast and at the time i was taken back, Im a carpenter by trade and I couldnt dream of charging people for unfinished work and if I couldnt do something id be out straight with the client.

He is qualified 2 years now and is looking to set up something himself. I dont think he will get very far judging the standard of the work.

Il post up details of the invoice later.

By the way am I able to name and shame here or is that against forum rules???

-Corkie-

tiocimarla wrote: »

Ye im gonna talk to him later and get the invoice he ran through it very fast and at the time i was taken back, Im a carpenter by trade and I couldnt dream of charging people for unfinished work and if I couldnt do something id be out straight with the client.

He is qualified 2 years now and is looking to set up something himself. I dont think he will get very far judging the standard of the work.

Il post up details of the invoice later.

By the way am I able to name and shame here or is that against forum rules???

God a main dealer wouldnt have charged that op. I dont know about nameing him. You should pm chris or anan first just to be safe.I would try for the money back first then think about nameing him if that fails

Bonito

tiocimarla wrote: »

Ye im gonna talk to him later and get the invoice he ran through it very fast and at the time i was taken back, Im a carpenter by trade and I couldnt dream of charging people for unfinished work and if I couldnt do something id be out straight with the client.

He is qualified 2 years now and is looking to set up something himself. I dont think he will get very far judging the standard of the work.

Il post up details of the invoice later.

By the way am I able to name and shame here or is that against forum rules???

Seeing as it's a person and not a business/dealer, I wouldn't name and shame them TBH.

beam99

€900 is over the top, €130 for exhaust, around €200 should cover parts for both cars, if they just got service parts and no brakes or extras, parts being from the motor factors. That leaves €570 labour, a main dealer charges around €80 a hour. I Would like to see a breakdown of that bill myself.