Bloody Indy!!

T

th30d0r3

Member
 Uxbridge
Took Ruby to an Indy in Uxbridge to have the clutch & flywheel done. Been hunting for the right clutch to replace the OE one for ages without that damn self adjusting crap on it; ended up having to go for the LUK SA Clutch since there are no others (LUK make the OE one).
I get a call 4 hours later telling me they have tried to take the exhaust off and they have snapped a bolt and I will have to pay for an extra hours labour since they have to drill it out.
I was like "WHAT THE FRIG!! I aint paying for your mechanics ineptitude; did he soak it and heat it up first?" so I spoke to the mechanic and he said 3 (Yes 3) out of 4 bolts have sheared off and only one came off, due to the age of the car and the mileage; I was like my car is a 2006 with 54k on the clock don't give me that. I asked if he soaked it and heated it, his reply was "The engine was warm since I drove it onto the ramp" for all of 60 seconds.
I refused to pay the extra, I'm not liable for that damage. I said to the manager your engineer waited until bolt number 3 snapped off before you thought to contact me? If you called me after bolt 1 then the decision to proceed would have been mine making me liable. but you didn't so you fix it and I'm not paying for it.
I can't take the car back coz it's got no exhaust I'm stuck with them completing the job now which makes me even more worried for the rest of the parts they need to remove.
 
You're brave, I would have waited to have that argument AFTER that had done the clutch!! :)

Good on you though, most would have just paid up I should imagine :thumbsup:
 
That's a coincidence had my exhaust off and the garage said they couldn't undo the bolts resulting in additional costs, my car is only 3 years old and 23,000 miles
 
That's really bad and reminds me of a recent experience I had with a local garage..

Had my brake pads done as part of a service prior to an MOT on the Celica.
I get a phone call telling me the car's failed becuase of an ABS warning light on the dash.
"that's funny I said when i left it this morning it was fine"
" oh yea we broke the sensor changing the pads"
"ok I said, how long until you fix it"?
" fix it?" they said " we're not fixing it, the sensor's £160 + VAT if you want it repaired....

Needless to say I pulled the car, told them to shove their so called customer care up their arses and they'll hear from me through the small claims court.
 
Could be worse (maybe?). Someone at work insisted on going to Kwik Fit despite the horror stories. Car goes in for an MOT, low and behold the rear brakes need 'fixing'.

Apparently while 'testing' the brakes, they fell apart in their hand. He'd have to have new brakes fitted, and couldn't drive the car off since it was now illegal. Think it was £300 or so for a pair of rear drums on a 206...

Oh same guy still goes back to the same place, claiming they're a big company and not ripping him off. Suffice it to say we wait for the story each time he has an MOT :P
 
Always difficult for a garage. If associated works cause problems/damage resulting in additional labour or parts then the 'who pays' question is always going to cause problems. If I was a garage I would always warn customers that any dismmantling of exhaust system/manifold/brakes might have extra costs as there are frequently problems getting rusted bolts off.

Might be a reasonable solution for the additional costs to be split 50/50?
 
sammyz said:
Always difficult for a garage. If associated works cause problems/damage resulting in additional labour or parts then the 'who pays' question is always going to cause problems. If I was a garage I would always warn customers that any dismmantling of exhaust system/manifold/brakes might have extra costs as there are frequently problems getting rusted bolts off.

Might be a reasonable solution for the additional costs to be split 50/50?
Click to expand...


A very good assessment of the situation. From the garage's point of view they cannot be guaranteed to remove bolts that may have rusted and then would shear off when attempting to remove. This should be made clear by the garage prior to starting to work on the vehicle.
 
Why don't they simply quote for a job including new bolts, clamps etc and have done with it? They're only going to add a few quid and the garage knows all the pitfalls they face changing an exhaust.

Last time this happened to me the car was on the ramp at kwik fit. They didn't turn a hair, just used an angle grinder to break the bolt and replaced it. It didn't come up in conversation afterwards and nothing added to the bill.

This smacks of greedy dealer to me


Tapatalking...
 
Sorry about zorst nut's but clutch and flywheel on a young car have you had it long,is the milage right??? :o :o
 
Well I picked her up at lunch time, the work was done very well, I inspected it and checked for my old parts too to ensure they swapped them.
I told her outright that they should have called me the moment they had issues with the first bolt and the workshop manager agreed and accepted liability so the cost of the labour remained at £240.
The garage was courtwood car services in uxbridge, used em many times in the past without issues.

I changed both flywheel and clutch due to slippage from the clutch, and massive juddering from the fly, pulling away was jerky and unpredictable. Only 52k on the clock but when inspecting the pressure plate it seems as though the self adjusting mech was failing and there was excessive wear in the fly, and the dual mass plate had excessive movement, there was also impacting and burning on clutch plate.
Drives like its new now so I'm very happy £600 all in.
 
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