Hi, hoping for some advice.
I've got a 98 S-reg Seat Ibiza 1.4 (60k miles) and a couple of weeks ago it started to make a terrible grinding noise. took it to my normal garage who diagnosed collapsed gearbox bearings. At that time the car was still drivable, no problems with gear selection, just the noise. They suggested I take to a local gearbox specialist.
I did this, they stripped it down confirmed it was the bearings. Now, they offered to repair by replacing the bearings for £300 or a replacment re-con gearbox for £500. I've got a warranty and they agreed to pay out on a repair. At the time the only caveat I got from the repair place was that only the new parts would be covered by a warranty whereas a re-con box would get a full 12 month warranty.
As I'm looking to change the car in a couple of months and its not worth a lot, I thought I'd choose the repair as it was covered by the warranty. It was fixed and I picked up the car last wednesday and to be honest I expected it to drive as before. I was a little disappointed to find that this was not quite the case. It groaned and creaked in a few places, 1st, 3rd, 5th were not quite as before. They'd test driven it and I was led to believe this was how it would be now.
But, a week and 500 miles later it seems to be deteriorating again, more noise - roar, whistling, whining under load etc. And I'm beginning to lose confidence in the car. Not good when I'm doing 90miles a day on the motorway.
I'll be calling the garage tomorrow to let them know I'm not satisfied but I'm not sure what I can expect them to do or what my rights really are. To me, if a repair wasn't going to fix the problem they should have refused to carry it out an only offered to replace it. My worry is that after spending £300 on the repair (not withstanding warranty refund), I'll be left to pay another £500 to get the re-con gearbox. However if they tell me its fine and perfectly safe, what can I do to disprove this? I paid by credit card so if I don't get a satisfactory answer, can I contact my card provider and dispute the charge?
Can anyone help?
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You have to give the garage the oppurtunity to put it right, if you do, and still no joy, you can contact your card issuer and tell them you dispute the transaction under the terms of the VISA guarantee. NB It is a VISA/Mastercard etc.. guarantee not a guarantee by the card issuer (bank or whoever) They usually send you a form or ask you to write to a PO box with the details of complaint. In my experience, you sometimes have to persist with the silly call centre jocky as they usually don't know what you're on about until it's been escalated to a proper person.
If it was me, I wouldn't mention too much about the specifics of the repair (bearings etc...) just say 'repair'. Sometimes, saying less is better.
You are covered in law by the Consumer Credit Act (or something like that ) but the card company usually exceeds this with their own protection scheme.
In addition, I have read recently that the VISA/Mastercard guarantee also extends to VISA debit cards. I haven't seen it in writing yet, but worth investigating if the need arises.
Good luck, it's a horrible situation to be in, and I hope it's resolved quickly.
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You have to give the garage the oppurtunity to put it right .......
The problem with this is that it is unlikely that their level of skill and/or workmanship will have increased in the intervening time.
--
L\'escargot.
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I don't know why they even attempted to repair the gearbox.
A far more likely repair would have been to fit a second-hand gearbox from a crashed car.
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A warranty repair - then I presume it is an insurance covered warranty.
Get on to the warranty company and they will have to get it fixed at the 1st gargae or AN Other one.
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