Any laws against time wasters?

cormie

2 weeks ago: Car passes NCT
Sunday 13th: same car breaks down,
Monday 14th: Mechanic diagnosis confirms engine kaput and needs replacing,
Tuesday 15th: Spent all day ringing for rare engine,
Wednesday 16th: Went to buy engine, wrong one, sellers mistake.
Thursday 17th: Went to buy engine, right one, drop to mechanic, phone call at 8pm to say replacement engine is also kaput! This guy gave me a refund no problem and then I went to another guy on Friday 18th, asked for the engine, he said he had one, showed it to me and said it's €250 and I couldn't take it then as he'd need to take it out of the car. He asked for €100 deposit.

He said they are open the Saturday between 10 and 3 and to ring him an hour before I come so they can get the engine ready, I rang from my van at 10am Saturday morning ready to start the engine and go, only to be told ring again around 4 as they won't be able to get it ready till the evening, rang around 4 and was told the mechanic is only there till 5, that gave me less than an hour to get there and the guy I was dealing with wouldn't be there. He gave me mechanics number which didn't work so I made my way with a GPS ETA of 17:06. Asked him to please wait as I'm coming all the way from Dun Laoghaire, got there and nobody was there and your man wasn't answering. Finally he answered and I said I'd try the mechanic again and if I didn't hear anything I said I guess we'll have to leave it till Monday.

I Sent the guy a text last night (Sunday) saying I'd be passing by around 3 and that it's very important I get it today, he never replied which wasn't surprising, so I rang him at about 1 to say I'd be there around 2.15, he said the text said 3 and he wouldn't be there till 3/3.30, no problem at all. I got there at 2:15, sent a text at 2:30 just saying I'm there and asking him to let me know if he'll be much later than 3 as I've to do a delivery in Dublin.

Waited outside the place and about 3/4 other cars came too as if they were waiting, rang him at 3:20, no answer, rang another number, was told he was coming back from a funeral, that it was on at 1 but got delayed. Got out of the car and another guy got out of his and then another guy came and said he was just at his house and that he's leaving to go to a funeral in a few minutes?? A guy drove past all of us beeping and one of them said it was him! Rang again for the millionth time and his brother picked up and said he's gone drinking and there'd be nobody there till tomorrow! The brother told me I could call into a petrol station to get the money back and I said no, I needed the engine.

So basically I've been there 3 times, 2 complete wasted journeys and he still has my €100 deposit. I need the engine and my mechanic is waiting on it all this time. This guy is costing me money, not only in wasted fuel, tolls and time, but also delaying the repair of my vehicle. I'm just hoping that the engine, if I ever get it, will be working and in good nick.

Hopefully I'll be able to get it tomorrow, fitted tomorrow evening, all ok and that will be the end of it, but suppose there are any more complications, maybe he won't have the engine anymore, maybe it's the wrong engine (even though I've told him a few times the engine code I need), maybe he won't be there tomorrow either etc etc, what rights and what laws would be on my side would anyone know?

Any feedback appreciated

wmpdd3

Maybe try the motors forum as they might know a way of getting the guy moving. From a consumer side all you could do is demand your deposit and get someone else to do it but that would take more time.

cormie

Thanks for the reply. I'd be very surprised if there wasn't some kind of law to protect people from basically being messed around to such a high degree, sellers shouldn't be able to operate like that, at all, let alone when they have a deposit.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

cormie wrote: »

I'd be very surprised if there wasn't some kind of law to protect people from basically being messed around.

Well there isn't! Your experience, unfortunately, is not that unusual. Just bad service. Bad service at the moment is not a crime.

slave1

Are you dealing with a proper garage/company, if so you have some level of consumer protection regarding your deposit etc.
If you are dealing with "some guy" via cash and no receipt then you have little or no consumer protection.
The runaround is simply a life learning episode, no-comeback outside karma.

cormie

Thanks again for the replies!

Phoned him again this morning and he said the lads said I was "torturing" them with calls yesterday? He said he was there himself and I asked would he be there in an hour and he said yea so I went up and he was there which was a miracle in itself and the engine was ready to go so I backed up to it and we put it in, I asked again before we lifted it "it's definitely the Z now, yeah?" and he said yeah so we put it in, he went off chatting to his mate/brother/uncle/cousin/son or whoever it was and I had a look at the engine and thanks to my mechanic, knew where to look for the engine code, spent 5 minutes scratching dirt away to reveal the stamp "X14XE" AGHHH!

Calmly told him it was the wrong one so he sent me down to another place where I had to ask this chap who was I'd say 9 years old for my 100eur deposit back and he had to ask another chap who was about 15. Got my deposit back, checked the notes were real and left with no engine! Pulled into a petrol station where I googled and got the number of the guy I was originally going up to meet, who I thought was the other guy as it was the only scrap yard in sight, and followed him to his place where I saw the car, the mileage and the reg confirming it's a 02 so is definitely the Z engine. Paid a deposit to this guy so now waiting on a call to say it's ready for collection. This time it's costing me €450 though but they said that they wouldn't recommend the other crowd down the road at all. So €250 was obviously far too good to be true! Hopefully this will be it anyway!