Hi guys, really hope you can help....
I have a Ford Fiesta 1.1 that suffered from what the garage told me was an overfuelling problem. Not knowing a huge amount about cars, they fixed it for me,putting in a new ECT sensor and MAP sensor etc. Total cost - including labour etc, over 300 pounds. Now, I collected the car last night and it was running fine until I got up this morning, went to start the engine, and lo and behold the problem seemed to still be there. It would not start. What im wondering is, when I go back to collect the car on monday, what if the problem hadn't been overfuelling in the first place and Ive spent all that money on nothing. Can I claim the money back for the first repair from the garage or will they feed me a bunch of tosh? Im beginning to think I may have been ripped of for repairs I didnt actually need. Thanks,
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£300 is a lot if that's all they did. Is this a Ford dealer?
Can you give us the model year of the car?
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I'd be interested in peoples views here.
It must depend on how certain their diagnosis is, which should be indicated before they are given the work.
If they are certain of something, and on that basis you approve the work, then it turns out not to be that, then I believe they should shoulder some of the cost.
However, if (as if more likely) they *think* it might be something, then you are paying them to use their expertise to diagnose a fault. A misjudgement on their part should be chargeable, although it would be good to see some "flexibility" on their pricing for subsequent work.
That's one of the reasons I won't go out fixing people's computers for money. Sometimes they simply aren't fixable, or they are not fixable at an economic price. People would not want to pay me for the time and costs I had incurred if their problem was not fixed completely to their satisfaction.
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Well, its probably even more confusing because of interim point of a diagnosis.
If I took a car to a repairer and asked them to fix the problem, then if they accepted the task, I wouldn't pay them if they hadn't.
If they said; "its a fuelling problem, would you like us to to replace the sensors ?", then they have probably done that.
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Its a L-reg and frankly 300pounds was a lot of money to fix a car that age.... but went ahead and did it regardless. It was a ford dealership I took it too as the backstreet garage i took it to couldnt diagnose the problem.(they replaced ECT sensor, Map sensor, air temp sensor) Its just i have this awful feeling i will collect the car monday and they will say "we did this and that" and "that'll be 5pounds" or something equally as ridculous. And then when I suggest they give me the 300pounds back for the work done prior to that (which more likely than not wont have been the cause of the fault), they will tell me to get lost!
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I sympathise, Ant.
May be worth contacting the Retail Motor Industry Federation (is that waht's it's called?) - I heard them talking about the Which? report last week and they seemed to think they could arbitrate in a lot of cases.
When I had similar problems, however, I found it very hard (well, impossible) to resolve: the garage just argued that black was white, and the crux of the problem came down to the fact that I could no longer prove what the car had been like before they touched it - they'd sent back all the old parts (despite me telling them not to), and the work had been done. It was done to an acceptable standard - no problem there - but was totally unnecessary. £900 that cost me. Ouch.
Good luck with it, but my personal experience is that you're over a barrel. (And they know this, which is why they do it.)
-Mark
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Had 2 experiences with vehicles being worked on and not fixed as promised.
The first one was that all the oil was lost from the gearbox of a van. The garage topped it up (for free!) saying it was probably forced out of the speedo connection due to the screw action. A couple of days later it went in to be fully checked. The young mechanice stated that the gearbox needed removing, so I mentioned what I had been told a few days before. He decided to check with his foreman, he had a look and found a loose bolt. Total saving was over £300 by asking why.
The second involved a misfire on a car. The mechanic thought the distributor was worn and required replacing. Initially it solved it for 2 days before the misfire returned. Then they decided it was the carbon leads were cracked. It definitely was them. As the engine then ran better than I could remember I decided to keep the new distributor, althought the garage had kept the old one and they would have refitted it and refunded my money.
Both were main franchise dealers. The latter one still services my car some 10 years later. Over time I have come to know the service manager very well and he and his staff are always very helpful. Using this garage may be slightly more expensive than an independent but they seem to do a good job and never try to create extra work. Also every time my car is serviced they provide a courtesy car, only once have they been unable due to a late return, so a member of staff drove me to work and then collected me in the evening.
Ultimately Ant032 you will need to find a reliable garage that you can trust. With regard to your current problem you need to stay calm but resiliant and ask to see the Service Manager. If you can put your case that unjustified work was carried out and the reputation of his staff is at question, I feel sure something will be worked out. It is always useful to mention that a satisfied customer will tell 2 or 3 people about good service, but a dissatisfied customer tells eveyone they know.
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go to 'technical matters'
then forum search 'kev the rev'
find 'fiesta cold starting : help'
read the replies.
I fitted the resistor 2 years ago and still running sweet!!!
all for 1 pence!!
Kev the Rev
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Change of title required maybe to Ripped off for sure subtitled "How do I get my 300 pounds back"
Pity Kev wasn't able to post prior to AntO32 going to collect this morning. Be interesting to know what has happened.
Phil I
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