gerard
Member
hey dudes,
last week we had our A2 in at an independent garage... the replaced a catalyc converter and fixed a slow leak in the heating system that they had to pull the engine out to get to the pipes etc etc...
cost was 1,048.99 quid...
i drove the car back to the house - about 10 minutes away from garage... and when i got home i noticed a very strong smell of what i can only describe as coolant burning off on a hot engine...
i thought this has got to be just spilled coolant from when they took everything apart and it is now burning off...
when i started the car up the next morning the coolant light came on...
i topped it up...
coolant light came on again that afternoon...
i topped it up again...
finally after 3rd day i called the garage and told them what happened when i brought the car home... they said to bring it back in and they would look at it...
i had to have surgery so i couldn't take the car in but when i was able to drive i took the car in 3 days later...
i told the dude that what i initially thought was spilled coolant burning off must have been a loose hose where the coolant was now leaking out of...
they said they would take a look at it and the dude then said "we'll let you know the cost before we do any work"
i had to run to get to a meeting so didn't discuss this further...
i got a call later that day that they had no time to get to the car so if its ok to keep the car overnight they will look at in in morning...
i said that is fine...
then basically i hadn't heard anything for a week...
i finally call back to see what is happening and they say someone will call me back...
dude calls me back an hour later...
says it is gonna take a lot of work to fix as the leak is at the very back of the engine so had to pull the engine out etc etc... then said they can have the car ready in a couple hours... still no mention of cost...
i thought to myself... this huge amount of work will be done in less than 2 hours? and he isn't telling me the cost? sounds fishy...
i asked him how much the is gonna cost... he says 350 quid...
i tell him that the car was leaking coolant the day i brought it back... shouldn't he be responsible for fixing it properly? didn't they test the car before having me pick it up?
he replies he didn't test the car himself but has to trust the guy who did...
i reply that i had to trust him that car was fixed yet when i get it back it is leaking far worse than before... original leak meant i had to top up coolant every couple months.. no big deal... almost normal... now the coolant is drained immediately... it looks like a bad repair...
he says he will talk to his director and call me back...
calls me back later in day and says he explained situation to his director and said they will only charge me 50% of repair... so 460 quid is now blah blah blah...
i said earlier it was 350 quid, what is going on?
he said ok then half of 350 quid...
i said i don't think this is fair but i'll call you tomorrow as was busy with kids right now...
he says that is fine but we already did the work because the car was in the way...
i hung up...
am thinking to myself... the car sat in their garage for over a week with no calls to us about what was wrong or cost or anything and now after i call him back to get answers says this "huge amount of work" has all basically been done in less than 2 hours without my ok'ing it?
WTF????
i'm american so i am pretty used to getting charged 3 or 4 times the actual cost of something... anytime i take a minicab the driver charges me 20 quid for what his office says is a 8 quid trip...
but i think this is getting silly now...
what should i do?
i think there are some dodgy practices this guy has committed...
i would have been happy to pay for parts as the repair wasn't done properly first time or even 100 quid or whatever...
but 460 quid for a repair they didn't do properly???
any advice appreciated...
thanks,
gerard
last week we had our A2 in at an independent garage... the replaced a catalyc converter and fixed a slow leak in the heating system that they had to pull the engine out to get to the pipes etc etc...
cost was 1,048.99 quid...
i drove the car back to the house - about 10 minutes away from garage... and when i got home i noticed a very strong smell of what i can only describe as coolant burning off on a hot engine...
i thought this has got to be just spilled coolant from when they took everything apart and it is now burning off...
when i started the car up the next morning the coolant light came on...
i topped it up...
coolant light came on again that afternoon...
i topped it up again...
finally after 3rd day i called the garage and told them what happened when i brought the car home... they said to bring it back in and they would look at it...
i had to have surgery so i couldn't take the car in but when i was able to drive i took the car in 3 days later...
i told the dude that what i initially thought was spilled coolant burning off must have been a loose hose where the coolant was now leaking out of...
they said they would take a look at it and the dude then said "we'll let you know the cost before we do any work"
i had to run to get to a meeting so didn't discuss this further...
i got a call later that day that they had no time to get to the car so if its ok to keep the car overnight they will look at in in morning...
i said that is fine...
then basically i hadn't heard anything for a week...
i finally call back to see what is happening and they say someone will call me back...
dude calls me back an hour later...
says it is gonna take a lot of work to fix as the leak is at the very back of the engine so had to pull the engine out etc etc... then said they can have the car ready in a couple hours... still no mention of cost...
i thought to myself... this huge amount of work will be done in less than 2 hours? and he isn't telling me the cost? sounds fishy...
i asked him how much the is gonna cost... he says 350 quid...
i tell him that the car was leaking coolant the day i brought it back... shouldn't he be responsible for fixing it properly? didn't they test the car before having me pick it up?
he replies he didn't test the car himself but has to trust the guy who did...
i reply that i had to trust him that car was fixed yet when i get it back it is leaking far worse than before... original leak meant i had to top up coolant every couple months.. no big deal... almost normal... now the coolant is drained immediately... it looks like a bad repair...
he says he will talk to his director and call me back...
calls me back later in day and says he explained situation to his director and said they will only charge me 50% of repair... so 460 quid is now blah blah blah...
i said earlier it was 350 quid, what is going on?
he said ok then half of 350 quid...
i said i don't think this is fair but i'll call you tomorrow as was busy with kids right now...
he says that is fine but we already did the work because the car was in the way...
i hung up...
am thinking to myself... the car sat in their garage for over a week with no calls to us about what was wrong or cost or anything and now after i call him back to get answers says this "huge amount of work" has all basically been done in less than 2 hours without my ok'ing it?
WTF????
i'm american so i am pretty used to getting charged 3 or 4 times the actual cost of something... anytime i take a minicab the driver charges me 20 quid for what his office says is a 8 quid trip...
but i think this is getting silly now...
what should i do?
i think there are some dodgy practices this guy has committed...
i would have been happy to pay for parts as the repair wasn't done properly first time or even 100 quid or whatever...
but 460 quid for a repair they didn't do properly???
any advice appreciated...
thanks,
gerard