Shocking customer service...

M

mrlozzer

Veteran
 Geordie exiled in Wales...
Thought I'd share this with you all. Until a few weeks ago, we owned an old Suzuki Grand Vitara workhorse, which I sold to my sister - who lives in France. Before I sold the car, I put on a fresh MOT. As with all our vehicles, they are serviced regularly and all warning lights etc acted upon immediately. I'm not mechanically minded, so have to trust in garages to make sure that the cars are in good working order. Anyway, whilst in for MOT (at a well known tyre fitting firm -the 'boys to trust') a few points came up, including a split CV boot. Ended up with a £300 bill for various things.

My sister picked the car up and drove it to France. Around twenty miles from their home it developed a slight knocking noise. Upon inspection the next morning, they got the local mechanic to look at the car. The CV joint was almost detached from the driveshaft. The joint was bone dry, missing circlip and the boot was loose. Needs a new driveshaft and CV joint and about £300 labour. Not good.

I spoke to the company who had done the work. Not interested. As soon as I sell the car, any guarantee they give expires. So, the onus is back on me. They have fecked it up, leaving the car dangerously unsafe. It is my duty to make sure the car had no defects at sale, so I had the work done in order to protect myself.... really, really angry about it. Bottom line is -regardless of who bought the vehicle, I have to pay this, whilst there is no legal recourse against the garage. :headbang:
 
When you say well know type firm do you mean kwik fit or the like?

Sorry to say but I wouldn't trust any body like that to do an oil change as you will most probably end up with a cross threaded sum plug

They should at least offer you your money back though

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
 
Talk to Consumer Direct and get them involved.

I don't think they can wriggle that easily on the guarantee bit.
 
You need to speak to Trading Standards 08454 04 05 06
and also ring the Citizens Advice 08444 111 444
Don't lie down so easily, they can't get away with that sort of thing just because you've sold the car!

Edited to say I'd be stuck with those godawful parking sensors if I'd just left it!
 
It shouldn't matter that you have sold the vehicle, the work they completed was defective and surely you are thus protected by consumer law, worth a call to a solicitor at least.
 
Thanks everyone... it was their Head Office who quoted me the legal blurb, rather than the local branch. I am getting a solicitor's letter done today, to see if that frightens them into doing anything. I tallied up how much I'd spent with said company over the years: tyres, exhausts etc., for all the cars - it was just shy of £8000!! Loyalty evidently counts for nothing in reverse...

I suppose the thing that I'm most upset about is the thought of my sis and her family driving down a French autoroute at speed (well, as much speed as you can get out of a Suzuki jeep) with the front driveshaft about to detach itself... especially given the fact that I supplied her the car. :(
 
:x

I would never use them myself, but they should be decent enough to offer some customer service and not basically tell you to get lost.
 
rhys4 said:
Why do people continue to use these type of places?
Click to expand...
Believe me, in an ideal world, I wouldn't. We take all our cars to an Indy for servicing. His work is great and he's fairly-priced, but because of that he is always really, really busy. Also, he's a little way from us which means either taking a day off and sitting waiting for the work to be done, or getting taxis or lifts. So, he gets all our servicing and most of our mechanical stuff - whilst quick jobs like tyres & MOTs all used to go to the 'quick fitters' just down the road. We are rural, and there is only one other local MOT place - and they have already ripped Mrs L off in the past...

The work that they did was as to fix minor MOT failure points. So, they car was there already, and we couldn't take it elsewhere.... as it had failed its MOT. :thumbsdown:
 
I only choose mot stations that allow me to be within watching distance of my cars whilst testing and need to see the work required with my own eyes.

They messed up for sure (if not worse). :(
 
Rialas said:
I only choose mot stations that allow me to be within watching distance of my cars whilst testing and need to see the work required with my own eyes.
Click to expand...
Yeah, with hindsight I'd have done the same. Problem was is it all happened on a really busy week work-wise, so the car was left with them for the day while I went to visit a client.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom