Comeback with Car Service Ripoff?

Will_H

Please bear with me on this one as it's a bit long but would appreciate any advice.

I arranged to have my car serviced & timing belt changed by a car workshop. A one day job. The timing belt was put on incorrectly and took out a number of valves.

They offered to repair it - took them almost 3 weeks. They didn't charge me for any of the work.

They called me to pick up the car when it was ready - which was very late on a Friday evening when they were literally closing up. I asked for receipt for the work, and they said to call back in to pick it up on the Monday as the shutters were down on the workshop. I should mention that when picking up the car it's engine was already running sitting outside the workshop.

Drove home which is 10 mins away, and the following morning when starting the car I knew something wasn't right and the engine light came on. Rang the AA man on Monday who tested it and one of the cylinders was mis-firing. He took me out to the local main dealer who said the timing belt was on wrong. Main dealer also said the rebuild work on the engine was the most shoddy work he had ever seen! The head gasket was f***ed. I won't go into all the techie stuff for the moment.

The work cost me over €1,500. In the meantime I had rang the original place to tell them the story and also say I expected them to pay & I wanted my receipt for the original work. He wouldn't give me one, but did say he wanted a list of what was wrong and he'd speak to the main dealer. He never did & each time I call up to their premises it's shut. I know it's still operating.

I can't go to the small claims yet as I don't have his surname & their company name is not on the CRO website.

Any advice would be appreciated!!!

ronaneire

Yeah get on to your solicitor straight away.

jor el

If it's not even a registered business, and you don't have the guy's full name, then you're in a small bit of trouble. Get on to a solicitor would be a very good idea. A solicitor is more expensive than the Small Claims Court, but this is a lot of money you're talking about, and with no names or receipts, and it maybe not being a real business, the SCC may not be able to help.

I might add that since you got the repairs done in the main dealer, without going back to the first garage or giving him a chance to repair the damage, that you might have to accept partial responsibility for the cost. Under the law, he doesn't necessarily have to cover the cost of you going elsewhere to get the car fixed, if you never approached him about it.

Zab

jor el wrote: »

I might add that since you got the repairs done in the main dealer, without going back to the first garage or giving him a chance to repair the damage, that you might have to accept partial responsibility for the cost. Under the law, he doesn't necessarily have to cover the cost of you going elsewhere to get the car fixed, if you never approached him about it.

Is there nothing in consumer law that deals with the fact that he could no longer trust the original contractor to carry out the work with acceptable quality?


OP,

The fact that they had the car already running when you arrived is a really bad sign. Did you turn it off and start it up again? It's just that it seems like they were clearly conning you into taking it home, which means, as already said, you should immediately be pursuing a legal route as you can no longer trust what they're saying.

jor el

Zab wrote: »

Is there nothing in consumer law that deals with the fact that he could no longer trust the original contractor to carry out the work with acceptable quality?

I think you would first need to attempt a resolution with the original supplier, as it's their responsibility to fix the problem. If the customer feels that the original supplier is unreliable, they should tell them this, and get agreement that the work will be done elsewhere. If you go and get the work done somewhere else, and only then tell the original supplier to pay for this, then I don't think that's allowed for in consumer legislation.

Everything in consumer protection is about being reasonable though, so the consumer could argue that they had been reasonable in bringing it back the 1st time, and after that did not feel that this garage was ever going to fix it. It may be best to get a solicitor to put that in a more legal way, and submit that to the first garage to pay the costs.

Will_H

Couple of points here-
1. I didn't trust the original guy to rectify the problem as he had obviously caused it and had had the car for nearly 3 weeks. I told him this when I rang him to tell him the timing belt had been incorrectly fitted (remember - this was the 2nd time he had done it incorrectly - the first time causing it to damage the valves).

2. He offered to talk to the mechanic in the dealer to try to rectify the gasket issue before any work was carried out on it. He also asked for list of problems. I got the list of problems in writing from the authorised dealer for him, however he never contacted the dealer - even after numerous calls from me about it.

3.

Did you turn it off and start it up again?

Unfortunately, No.

4. Re the surname - I have local gardaí looking into this and I also know someone who owns another business in the industrial estate where they are based whom I am waiting to talk to as they will know who owns the business units in which he rents/leases and should be able to put me in touch with them in order to get the full name. They may even know the person themselves....

jor el

OK, so you did talk to him before getting the job fixed in the 2nd garage, which would give you a stronger case. You certainly couldn't bring the car back to him with an incorrectly installed timing belt, so it would have been up to him to contact the garage where the car was, and get it back from there. Since he didn't do any of this, it makes a stronger case for you getting the car fixed where it was, and pursuing the original garage for the cost.

Will_H

I spoke to him after getting the timing belt done but before and work was carried out on the head gasket. He said I should have brought it back to him re the timing belt, and I told him I wasn't confident in his ability to get the job done correctly as he'd already messed it up twice. Plus I didn't want to wait another week whilst he ordered more parts in....!

Appreciate the input!

Will_H

Managed to get all the details re this guy & his 'business', however, looks like time is running out to get my claim in!.....

Taken from Kildare FM news..

Investigations are continuing in to the discovery of a cannabis growing operation in Rathangan.

Gardai, during a planned search, uncovered €130,000 worth of cannabis plants, and a range of cultivation equipment, in a business premises there yesterday.

A 34 yr old man was arrested and questioned at Kildare Town Garda Station.

He has since been released and a file is being sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions

tommy21

Will_H wrote: »

Managed to get all the details re this guy & his 'business', however, looks like time is running out to get my claim in!.....

Taken from Kildare FM news..

Investigations are continuing in to the discovery of a cannabis growing operation in Rathangan.

Gardai, during a planned search, uncovered €130,000 worth of cannabis plants, and a range of cultivation equipment, in a business premises there yesterday.

A 34 yr old man was arrested and questioned at Kildare Town Garda Station.

He has since been released and a file is being sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions

This is your guy? Well that's something at least -you might be out of pocket, but I'm sure he'll have plenty of timing on his own belt in prison.

I could make a joke around prison life and head gaskets but might get me banned :eek:

Will_H

Yep, that's him! Made my day, but still wondering can I get my claim in before he ships off!!!

jor el

If he's been arrested for growing cannabis on his premises, then it's likely that all his assets will be seized, and he'll have no money to pay for your repair work.

Will_H

Yep -realise that, however, that surely would take some time to happen...then again, probably 'safer' to leave well alone!