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- Joined
- 25 Oct 2004
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So a few weeks ago, someone in the family had a breakdown, it was a Sunday evening about 6pm and the car just suddenly died as they were pulling out of a junction. Recovery couldn't figure out what the issue was although did rule out some things (starter motor etc)
It was taken to the nearest garage to be dealt with, while there the cars owner asked them if they could sort out another issue while they had it, the windscreen washer jet drivers side didn't work. A day or two later they called back saying they had found a crack in the water bottle and could only source that product from the manufacturer at the cost of £100. Ok fine, and while on the call the cars owner was told that they had to order a new starter motor as it was causing a fuse to blow, this will take a few days in order to sort out the reason for the breakdown. The cars owner questioned this as the starter was fine but the garage insisted.
Fast forward a few more days and the garage call to say car is ready, when the cars owner arrives to pick it up, they are first surprised by the cost (over £600 not previously mentioned) and then when they start the car and try pull away the exact same issue happens, the car just dies suddenly as the fuse had blown. The garage then opt to bodge the problem by just putting a larger fuse in 15A instead of 10A. This worked, but doesn't solve the issue and is a potential fire hazard now. Cars owner isn't happy about this, but takes the car away (living in the middle of nowhere its a necessity).
Anyway a week later the car goes into the dealership for a full diagnostic as the owner isn't happy with the work the garage did and doesn't trust driving around with a bodged repair that could easily cause a fire. The diagnostic found the culprit and the dealership sorted it for no extra cost, it was the ignition coil, something I suspected all along.
Is there any recourse available to the car owner as the original garage have obviously done work that wasn't needed, and never actually fixed the problem the car was in to start with. The starter motor and labour were not necessary and all that was required was adjusting a loose connection on the ignition coil.
It was taken to the nearest garage to be dealt with, while there the cars owner asked them if they could sort out another issue while they had it, the windscreen washer jet drivers side didn't work. A day or two later they called back saying they had found a crack in the water bottle and could only source that product from the manufacturer at the cost of £100. Ok fine, and while on the call the cars owner was told that they had to order a new starter motor as it was causing a fuse to blow, this will take a few days in order to sort out the reason for the breakdown. The cars owner questioned this as the starter was fine but the garage insisted.
Fast forward a few more days and the garage call to say car is ready, when the cars owner arrives to pick it up, they are first surprised by the cost (over £600 not previously mentioned) and then when they start the car and try pull away the exact same issue happens, the car just dies suddenly as the fuse had blown. The garage then opt to bodge the problem by just putting a larger fuse in 15A instead of 10A. This worked, but doesn't solve the issue and is a potential fire hazard now. Cars owner isn't happy about this, but takes the car away (living in the middle of nowhere its a necessity).
Anyway a week later the car goes into the dealership for a full diagnostic as the owner isn't happy with the work the garage did and doesn't trust driving around with a bodged repair that could easily cause a fire. The diagnostic found the culprit and the dealership sorted it for no extra cost, it was the ignition coil, something I suspected all along.
Is there any recourse available to the car owner as the original garage have obviously done work that wasn't needed, and never actually fixed the problem the car was in to start with. The starter motor and labour were not necessary and all that was required was adjusting a loose connection on the ignition coil.
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