Garage looking for more money four months later

Ri_Nollaig

Slightly odd one, just wondering what people make of this.

I bought a new (well second hand) Golf GTi last year (late june 2012). On one (very cold) February morning I got an engine warning light, engine died, and wouldn't start. So got it back to the garage as it was still under a 12 months warranty and close to a service interval anyway. The garage itself is not a main VW dealer, a Lexus/Toyota one. So they actually out-sourced the repair to a main VW dealership.

Anyway, long story short, the found and fixed the problem telling me it was the induction coils. Replaced and covered under warranty.
I also asked them to complete the service, (the Lexus/Toyota garage) did this. Everything done, was only a minor service anyway, paid and collected and has been trouble free ever since.
Have had no issues since and car is running perfectly (touch wood)

But...

On Friday the 31/05, I got a call from the Lexus/Toyota garage saying "such and such left the company, he was handling my 'case' (wtf?) and that there had been a mistake..."
It has boiled down to, they replaced the spark plugs. As I assumed they would under a standard service and that was not covered under the warranty. At this point he was not looking for the cost of spark plugs yet (said around 60 euro) but that he was going to check the details again and get back to me.

So Today, (Wednesday 12/06) he does!
Tells me that the whole problem was actually caused by "dirty fuel" and that the VW main dealer changed that, nothing at all to do with the induction coils and now wants his money... (for the spark plugs not induction coils)

I didn't exactly give him much time and told him he should have been asking for the cost of the spark plugs when I collected the car, back in February not now! Either it was covered under warranty or not.

At a guess they made a mess of the bill due to their "out-sourcing" of the repair and then doing the service themselves and are chancing their arm now to see if I would pay. He seemed to be under the impression I was going to call him back or "call in" ...
...I'll get right on that. lol

MuppetCheck

Warranty is up on it so I'd tell them get stuffed.

Supergurrier

They are going to ruin a smooth sale and possible return custom over sixty quid ???

Is this dealership in tuam by any chance ?

dieselbug

Sounds like some new manager or accountant trying to make a name for himself. Not very good customer relations though.
The politics that goes on in some of these bigger places can get silly and stupid sometimes.

ironclaw

I'd go with whatever the receipt and bill of works says. Provided there is some paper trail to prove you paid or they did the work under warranty then I don't see them having any ground to stand on. Seems weird they'd go to the hassle though.

Kenny Logins

Print this out and send it to them:


LOL

Tea 1000

Supergurrier wrote: »

They are going to ruin a smooth sale and possible return custom over sixty quid ???

Is this dealership in tuam by any chance ?

He's in Cork, so there's only one Lexus dealer down there!

Max Power1

Thats taking the piss
Id not be long in telling them where to go!

Ri_Nollaig

Its Cork

I have more or less, politely said "get stuffed" as, like you said, the warranty is all but gone.

If they ring again or send an invoice I will tell them where to shove it but like you said its very poor customer relations. That's the thing that is getting me, they made a mistake and forgot to include it on the original bill but its a bit late now and makes them look like clowns. Certainly wouldn't be running back to them and for what? 60 euro... Car cost a bit more then that.

This being some new manager could be bang on the money actually, as his excuse for coming back four months later is that some other guy who left was originally looking at this.

Ri_Nollaig

Tea 1000 wrote: »

He's in Cork, so there's only one Lexus dealer down there!

Ha

if one Google's "Lexus Cork" they might figure out who this is alright...
but I didn't directly mention them

charlemont

Tea 1000 wrote: »

He's in Cork, so there's only one Lexus dealer down there!

They have some cheek..

Matt Simis

Ri_Nollaig wrote: »

Its Cork

I have more or less, politely said "get stuffed" as, like you said, the warranty is all but gone.

If they ring again or send an invoice I will tell them where to shove it but like you said its very poor customer relations. That's the thing that is getting me, they made a mistake and forgot to include it on the original bill but its a bit late now and makes them look like clowns. Certainly wouldn't be running back to them and for what? 60 euro... Car cost a bit more then that.

This being some new manager could be bang on the money actually, as his excuse for coming back four months later is that some other guy who left was originally looking at this.

IMO, you should ensure the actual manager/someone of importance knows this at the branch. This tool's behavior is of course invisible to who he reports to otherwise.

cadaliac

Matt Simis wrote: »

IMO, you should ensure the actual manager/someone of importance knows this at the branch. This tool's behavior is of course invisible to who he reports to otherwise.

+1
Good point.

ba_barabus

Matt Simis wrote: »

IMO, you should ensure the actual manager/someone of importance knows this at the branch. This tool's behavior is of course invisible to who he reports to otherwise.

I'd call the dealer principal and let them know ASAP. I had a similar problem in 2008. Called into the garage owner and told him what happened and he nearly fell off his seat.

That evening a bouquet of flowers arrived for my mother who had received the bill incorrectly by way of an apology. To this day I have the upmost respect for the way he handled the situation.

Supergurrier

This reminds me of 2years ago I got a phone call from a local optician telling me my glasses were ready.

I was confused wtf she was in about

Turns out 2 years before that I went in for an eye test for an interview and after was asked if I wanted to pick out some frames.

Said I was OK for now just came for the test so when I didn't come back they decided to go ahead and make two sets of lenses anyway and put them in some nice designer frames.

Like seriously...

Oafley Jones

Bought my car from them. They've a great reputation. It'd be hard to imagine the Lehanes not taking a very dim view of this.

Ri_Nollaig

Oafley Jones wrote: »

Bought my car from them. They've a great reputation. It'd be hard to imagine the Lehanes not taking a very dim view of this.

Thats the thing.

Other then this incident I couldn't fault them. The car broke down but that happens, I thought they handled it all very well and I had no issues at the time. Was kept up to date on the status of the repair by the mechanic and had no issue with getting a loaner in the mean time.

Its just beyond me to even attempt to come after 60 euro four months later. Even if it was a day later it would have been too late. I cleared the bill when I collected the car.

But like an earlier poster said, this could very easily be someone trying to make a name for themselves or following some policy to the letter without even thinking.

IF he does ring back I will let someone who knows what they are doing there know about this, for now I will just ignore it.
If anything it has given me a good cheap laugh!

ba_barabus

Ri_Nollaig wrote: »

If anything it has given me a good cheap laugh!

I'm not having a go but you've pretty much named and shamed online on a public forum and agree that it all could be a misunderstanding but done nothing to find out if it is.

The business has a good rep would you not just put the issue to bed with a quick call/email asking the dealer principal to call you back to sort it.

goochy

Sorry but is this dealer still a Toyota Lexus dealer ?

Old diesel

Ri_Nollaig wrote: »

Slightly odd one, just wondering what people make of this.

I bought a new (well second hand) Golf GTi last year (late june 2012). On one (very cold) February morning I got an engine warning light, engine died, and wouldn't start. So got it back to the garage as it was still under a 12 months warranty and close to a service interval anyway. The garage itself is not a main VW dealer, a Lexus/Toyota one. So they actually out-sourced the repair to a main VW dealership.

Anyway, long story short, the found and fixed the problem telling me it was the induction coils. Replaced and covered under warranty.
I also asked them to complete the service, (the Lexus/Toyota garage) did this. Everything done, was only a minor service anyway, paid and collected and has been trouble free ever since.
Have had no issues since and car is running perfectly (touch wood)

But...

On Friday the 31/05, I got a call from the Lexus/Toyota garage saying "such and such left the company, he was handling my 'case' (wtf?) and that there had been a mistake..."
It has boiled down to, they replaced the spark plugs. As I assumed they would under a standard service and that was not covered under the warranty. At this point he was not looking for the cost of spark plugs yet (said around 60 euro) but that he was going to check the details again and get back to me.

So Today, (Wednesday 12/06) he does!
Tells me that the whole problem was actually caused by "dirty fuel" and that the VW main dealer changed that, nothing at all to do with the induction coils and now wants his money... (for the spark plugs not induction coils)

I didn't exactly give him much time and told him he should have been asking for the cost of the spark plugs when I collected the car, back in February not now! Either it was covered under warranty or not.

At a guess they made a mess of the bill due to their "out-sourcing" of the repair and then doing the service themselves and are chancing their arm now to see if I would pay. He seemed to be under the impression I was going to call him back or "call in" ...
...I'll get right on that. lol

Well if their employee made a mistake - then that's the garages tough luck imo. From my reading of your post - they did the service - charged you a price for that service.

That should have been the end of the matter - and as for the alleged dirty fuel - well they should have raised that issue back in February - a bit late for them to be raising the issue now.

To my mind its a stupid thing for them to be doing as well - because they could potentially lose a customer over this - and the cost of that is probably a lot more then what they've lost by their "mistake".

Hope you get it all sorted satisfactually.

renofan

Ri_Nollaig wrote: »

....... I will let someone who knows what they are doing there know about this, for now I will just ignore it....

TBH I think you should contact someone senior in the garage as it has been aired publicly here but they may not know about it. Not fair on them if that's the case.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Ask them to email you exact details of what they require with details as to why how and what the actual problem was then tell them your sending it to your solicitor with a copy if it to VW headquarters as well as Toyota HQ and then ignore the whole thing as there is absolutely nothing they can do and they're simply chancing their arm...idiots.

bazz26

I'd be telling them take a long walk off a short pier to be honest. Some cheek chasing you for €60 4 months down the road.

flutered

they must have hired a new accountant, or have had one forced on them, with the intention of collecting each and every squandered penny.

HandsomeDan

Fr Damo: tell him to feck off.