Breakdown and Recovery service problem

Spudman_20000

At the beginning of December last year, I was unfortunate to have my car breakdown and even more unfortunate to have called a car recovery “service” called <SNIP: Recovery service>.

I live in Mayo, but I was in Dublin at the time with my new-born son, who was in Temple Street Children's Hospital recovering from neurosurgery. The car broke down outside the hospital and I was in a panic to get the car up and running again as you can imagine.

The mechanic from <SNIP: Recovery service> arrived and identified a fault with the battery. He told me I could drive a couple of miles down the road to get a new battery. As I was typing in the address into my sat nav, the mechanic offered to take my car away and fit a new battery for me. He was aware my son was in Temple Street, and I was relieved to have one less thing to worry about, and to be able to go in and look after my son.

A couple of hours later, the guy I contacted in <SNIP: Recovery service> called me and said the car would be dropped off soon. He said a new battery had been fitted and they had replaced 2 sensors in the car as well. The guy told me total cost was €325. I was a little taken aback at the cost (and I wasn't exactly flush with cash from being in Dublin for 2 weeks already) but again I was just happy to have the car back on the road.

The mechanic dropped off the car and I paid the €325. I called <SNIP: Recovery service> a couple of times to get a receipt and the following day they eventually emailed it to me.

A little over a week later we finally got home to Mayo. I dropped my car off at my local Toyota dealership as I wanted to make sure the car was fine. With a child recovering from surgery, I wanted to be sure that everything was working fine in case I had to bring him to hospital again. Not long after, the mechanic from Toyota called me to say that a diagnostic had immediately shown a problem with the battery. When he checked the battery, it was a Ford battery with a first charge date of 2004 i.e. 11 years old!

To cut a long story short, I've been contacting <SNIP: Recovery service> to get this sorted out. I looking for the reimbursement of the battery, €120, and the VAT and labour costs for the battery my Toyota garage had to fit.

When <SNIP: Recovery service> is not ignoring my calls, they are saying they will send me a cheque for the price of the battery. They wanted the battery back, but disputed that they should have to pay to send the battery back to them. They've given me false names and false addresses for their company (their website just says they are located in Blanchardstown). Needless to say, no cheque has arrived as of 3 months later.

I have tried to pursue them through the Small Claims process, but not having a correct owners name and business address has blocked my efforts. <SNIP: Recovery service> is not registered with the CRO.

I'm now at a bit of a loss how to proceed. Under normal circumstances, I'd take all this on the chin and consider it a lesson learned. But the fact that the mechanic that called out to me knew my son was in hospital, and still pulled a fast one, makes me determined to make sure they don't get away with it.

Just warning anyone looking for a breakdown service in Dublin to avoid this crowd.

VincePP

I can never understand boards - people make false and defamous statements and the company name is allowed to stay and in this case, someone make what seems to be a very true account of a problem and the name is removed????


Crazy moderation.

I'd love to know this recovery service so to ensure I avoid them.

To the OP - see if your insurance comnay has a breakdown service as an option and put the details inside the car.

Spudman_20000

VincePP wrote: »

I can never understand boards - people make false and defamous statements and the company name is allowed to stay and in this case, someone make what seems to be a very true account of a problem and the name is removed????


Crazy moderation.

I'd love to know this recovery service so to ensure I avoid them.

To the OP - see if your insurance comnay has a breakdown service as an option and put the details inside the car.

I've contacted the moderator to clarify why the name of the company was removed.

This company is one of the first results you get when you google car breakdown in Dublin, so it's very likely some other poor unfortunate will come across them.

I have gotten breakdown cover now through my insurance. Lots of lessons learned from this episode.

sKeith

Does it have the number 24 in its name or does its name start with a c, d or t?

dudara

VincePP wrote: »

I can never understand boards - people make false and defamous statements and the company name is allowed to stay and in this case, someone make what seems to be a very true account of a problem and the name is removed????


Crazy moderation.

Please PM a mod or use Feedback, but please do not discuss on thread. This is a long standing Boards policy, and you should know that by now.

I'd love to know this recovery service so to ensure I avoid them.

You can PM the OP directly, if you really wish to know.

dudara

Spudman_20000

sKeith wrote: »

Does it have the number 24 in its name or does its name start with a c, d or t?

Out of respect for the moderators on Boards, I'm not going to comment on the company name until I get clarification from the moderator.

I really hope I'll be able to say who they are though.

AlwaysAmber

You can do a WHOIS lookup on the domain at the IEDR's website at www.iedr.ie. That should list the domain owner and enable you to get a match with the CRO.

dudara

Please do not name the company on this forum.

dudara

Spudman_20000

AlwaysAmber wrote: »

You can do a WHOIS lookup on the domain at the IEDR's website at www.iedr.ie. That should list the domain owner and enable you to get a match with the CRO.

Their website is .com, not .ie, so the lookup doesn't work for me unfortunately.

EDIT: I was able to get the domain information, but the website is registered to a web design company.

AlwaysAmber

Don't know why I presumed it was .ie, you can use whois.domain tools.com to check a .com. However, there's no validation of .com's so the details mightn't be valid.

dudara

@spudman_2000 - I have deleted your off-topic post. One of the rules on Boards is not to question a mod decision in thread, as it drags the thread off-topic. There are other ways of having this conversation, as earlier outlined.

dudara

Spudman_20000

AlwaysAmber wrote: »

Don't know why I presumed it was .ie, you can use whois.domain tools.com to check a .com. However, there's no validation of .com's so the details mightn't be valid.

Thanks AlwaysAmber.

I was able to recover the domain details, but I wasn't able to recover any information in relation to the company owners.

The website is registered to a web design company.

Appreciate the suggestion though, didn't even know about being able to lookup this type of info. May come in handy in future.

AlwaysAmber

There's an email address for the website design agency. I would send them a strongly worded email stating that the WHOIS data is incomplete and that the CRO has no listing for XXXX XXXXXX. As the registrant of the domain they are legally responsible for the data in the WHOIS and the website content so you're holding them legally responsible.

As the registrant, they are responsible for the domain so it should rattle their cage enough to update the domain.

muggles

Was there an address and VAT number given on invoice you received? Both Revenue requirements. Might be able to source a correct address via the VAT number (provided that's legit of course).

Alternatively any hope of getting an address under the guise of sending battery back to them?

After checking that website and Google in general I don't doubt one word of your story.

Spudman_20000

muggles wrote: »

Was there an address and VAT number given on invoice you received? Both Revenue requirements. Might be able to source a correct address via the VAT number (provided that's legit of course).

The invoice was just an email with a list of the items they replaced and the costs. No VAT number and no VAT was charged.

muggles wrote: »

Alternatively any hope of getting an address under the guise of sending battery back to them?

I've tried that approach. They wouldn't give an exact address. Instead they gave the address of a tyre company in an industrial estate, that they were supposedly located to the back of, and told the "delivery driver" to call them again when they were outside and someone would come and meet them. Talk about dodgy. I checked out the industrial estate when I was up in Dublin recently. None of the other companies in the estate had heard of them and no company was located to the back of the tyre company. The name they gave my "delivery driver" appears to be fake also.

muggles wrote: »

After checking that website and Google in general I don't doubt one word of your story.

Cheers Muggles. I promise you, I wouldn't bring my son into some cock and bull story. I really want this crowd to take responsibility for what they did, or at least make them think twice before trying to rip anyone else off.

For me, it was a faulty battery. Who's to say next time that it's a car part that is more crucial to the safety of a vehicle? I've also reported them to the Gardai in Blanchardstown, so I've done as much as I can do in that regard.

P. Breathnach

Somebody might call them to assist with a breakdown, and note the particulars of the vehicle that turns up.

cerastes

I wouldn't want a breakdown service changing sensors in my car, and without permission, although I doubt they were ever done, ie what sensors and why??

The make of the battery would not be an issue, the age yes, did it look new or well used? it may have been on a shelf somewhere? if it was in an uncharged state then it may be ok, Id be more concerned about the amp hour rating and the look of the condition.

There is the fear factor also, your local main dealer has a vested interetsed in you being too concerned to go to independant/other providers of any service.

muggles

Sent you some info there Spudman

Spudman_20000

cerastes wrote: »

I wouldn't want a breakdown service changing sensors in my car, and without permission, although I doubt they were ever done, ie what sensors and why??

The make of the battery would not be an issue, the age yes, did it look new or well used? it may have been on a shelf somewhere? if it was in an uncharged state then it may be ok, Id be more concerned about the amp hour rating and the look of the condition.

There is the fear factor also, your local main dealer has a vested interetsed in you being too concerned to go to independant/other providers of any service.

When the Toyota mechanic contacted them to ask which sensors had been changed, they said they'd get back to him and never did. The Toyota mechanic couldn't identify that any sensors had been changed.

The battery looks ancient (I still have it), and the first charge date on the battery is 2004.

This wasn't like I went to this crowd for a regular service, it was a breakdown. The mechanic in Toyota is genuinely appalled that this company did this, considering my circumstances.

Spudman_20000

AlwaysAmber wrote: »

There's an email address for the website design agency. I would send them a strongly worded email stating that the WHOIS data is incomplete and that the CRO has no listing for XXXX XXXXXX. As the registrant of the domain they are legally responsible for the data in the WHOIS and the website content so you're holding them legally responsible.
As the registrant, they are responsible for the domain so it should rattle their cage enough to update the domain.

Thanks AlwaysAmber, I've popped off a mail to the web design company now.

muggles wrote: »

Sent you some info there Spudman

Thanks Muggles, I'll pass this information onto the Small Claims registrar, and hopefully it will be enough to get things moving again.

Spudman_20000

Just a quick update here.

Based on the advice I got on this thread, I fired a couple of shots across the bow of this crowd. Something must have got their attention, as they called me on St Patrick's day asking for my address to post the cheque to.

I gave them my work address to be on the safe side, but needless to say no cheque arrived.

I've contacted the web design company who created the website on this company's behalf to update the WHOIS registrant information to the actual business owner's information, but I received no response.

If there is any other advice people might have, it would be appreciated.

Vicxas

Spudman_20000 wrote: »

Just a quick update here.

Based on the advice I got on this thread, I fired a couple of shots across the bow of this crowd. Something must have got their attention, as they called me on St Patrick's day asking for my address to post the cheque to.

I gave them my work address to be on the safe side, but needless to say no cheque arrived.

I've contacted the web design company who created the website on this company's behalf to update the WHOIS registrant information to the actual business owner's information, but I received no response.

If there is any other advice people might have, it would be appreciated.

Did you pay with your CC?

Can you open a charge dispute with your CC company?

sconhome

Might be worth writing to the Revenue asking for information on the business involved. Outline that you can't find any director or company information and if they could help as you "need to send a registered letter chasing a debt" but can't get the details anywhere.

Spudman_20000

Vicxas wrote: »

Did you pay with your CC?

Can you open a charge dispute with your CC company?

No, paid in cash unfortunately. They didn't accept credit card. Complete fly-by-night operation.

Spudman_20000

sconhome wrote: »

Might be worth writing to the Revenue asking for information on the business involved. Outline that you can't find any director or company information and if they could help as you "need to send a registered letter chasing a debt" but can't get the details anywhere.

I have a contact number that links them to a company that actually is registered with the CRO. According to the Small Claims registrar, the phone number isn't enough to link the 2 businesses, even though both are listed as breakdown and recovery companies and are both based in the same area of Dublin.

I think my emails to the website design company might have resulted in the recovery company contacting me. If I could get the website design company to update the WHOIS info with the actual business owners, that could be the proof the 2 companies are the same.

I've reported both companies to Revenue, as the one that I had dealings with are probably involved in some kind of tax avoidance. Any company could setup a website, call themselves a different name and deal in cash only.

goz83

I would be looking at the web designer to get the information. The owner built both websites and there is probably a close connection because there are two sites that seem to be connected. She lists late contact hours, but also welcomes calls outside those hours. Works from home by the look of it. A letter sent to her regarding the whois info is the least I would do, but not before making a call.

Spudman_20000

goz83 wrote: »

I would be looking at the web designer to get the information. The owner built both websites and there is probably a close connection because there are two sites that seem to be connected. She lists late contact hours, but also welcomes calls outside those hours. Works from home by the look of it. A letter sent to her regarding the whois info is the least I would do, but not before making a call.

I've contacted the web design company twice via email, but I've had no response. I could try ringing I suppose, although I doubt they would give client information out over the phone.

The Small Courts sent me a letter on Friday. I have to make a submission to the district court to update the respondant details to this other company with the same contact number.

They have listed what evidence I would need to prove they are the same company, but all I have is the phone number. The courts registrar had previously said that the phone number wouldn't be enough.

At this point I don't think there's much point making the long trip to Dublin with the proof I have at the moment.

Any other advice is appreciated as always.

goz83

PM sent.

ElNino

Unfortunately even if you do win your small court claims cases against them you are unlikely to ever receive any compensation as it will be next to impossible to enforce the judgement. Hopefully you reporting them to the Revenue will hit them harder.