The County Court: nymph Vs Car-Dealership
Posted by: naim_nymph on 23 October 2008
The case concerned a contract of vehicle service between myself, and a very prestigious, ‘posh and professional looking’ local car dealership, who represents the make of vehicle in question (that I own), and how they breached the contract by misdiagnosing the fault on my vehicle.
The misdiagnosis led to much unnecessary work on my vehicle at great expense which was passed on to me.
Also, some of the unnecessary work carried out by the car-dealership was beyond their technical abilities, and as such, my vehicle was presented back to me in a faulty condition caused by their lack of skill.
Very soon after the service it became very apparent that there were discrepancies and problems, and although my findings were explained and discussed with the staff at the car-dealership, their attitude was to deny any wrong doing, blame other parties, and blame my vehicle for having other faults.
It was proven that they did not have the skills to repair my vehicle and preferred to cover up their bad workmanship with deceptive reasoning.
The only symptom the vehicle had, was an ‘Engine Warning Light’ that came on intermittently so the job for the car-dealership, was to diagnose why this light came on, and if necessary, fix the fault.
The car-dealership, using a code gained from the computer management, diagnosed an impending fuel-pump failure, and the need to remove the fuel-pump, send it off to a specialist for a “strip down” and “overhaul“.
Being a blonde woman of middle age years, I foolishly trusted them at this moment in time, and with the worry around the reliability of my car, I let them go ahead with this service. The car was with them off the road for a week.
The bill came to £922 : (
But the car-dealership also presented my vehicle back to me in a faulty condition caused by their erroneous servicing technique, and thus, the vehicle eventually broke down (due to non-start) and was taken via recovery truck to 'pump specialist' garage where upon I had to pay an additional £300 for them to diagnose and correct the problems to my engine that the car-dealership had caused. They said that the ’car-dealership had not put the pump back in properly and the pump timing was wrong!
All this clearly documented in engineer reports, letters, quotations etc.
It turned out to be rather easy gaining the information of what happened. The car-dealership asked me, after a few weeks of complaining about the car being far worse than before, if I would mind going round directly to the pump specialist and talking to them about it, because after all, they rebuilt the pump and it’s obviously their problem really etc…
I was quite surprised to find the pump-specialist was another drive-in service garage only half a mile away from the dealership. So I went around to speak with them.
What they told me was amazing!
“Rebuild your pump”? said the man at the Pump Specialist place,
“No, we didn’t rebuild your pump, it didn’t need one, there was nothing wrong with it!
I said that they must have done something because this has cost me £922 and their cost to the dealership on my invoice is £415, to which he replied,
“Here’s the paperwork and receipt… it was £300. We changed a faulty advance solenoid and spent a couple of hours labour checking the pump on a test-rig. I don’t know why they took the pump off just for a solenoid failure, it’s a very easy thing to diagnose and change.. Takes less than an hour“!
Trading Standards questioned the dealership about the discrepancy between the £415 they charged me and the £300 cost from the pump specialist… The dealership blamed the pump specialist for a telephone quote error and quickly sent me a refund of £115
(The other £622 was for the 'unnecessary' pump removal and refit).
They also said that it did not matter if the pump was not rebuilt, it was fixed, and the procedure they used was the correct ‘Technical Instruction’ from the Motor Corporation.
(So, as far as they’re concerned, they did a good ol’ back slapping job).
The evidence I produced in the court was contained within a 70 page file, 11 pages being my ‘statement of case‘, and an index to over a dozen letters of complaint, letters to Trading Standards, engineer reports, costs and technical facts and quotations. All the proof one would need to fully demonstrate a successful claim.
Proved in documentation was the fact that the only reason the Engine Warning Light was coming on intermittently, was a ‘minor’ electrical component in need of replacement. This component (an advance solenoid) has a cost of £90, requires 1 hour labour, and plus VAT the total cost to customer that should be £171. (There is no need for expensive pump removal/refit).
£922 less £115 refund = £807
breakdown repair bill = £300
Legal expenses....... = £200
Out of pocket expenses= £100
Total cost of case......£1400ish and not including approx' 100 hours of various activity.
The law I used against this car-dealership in the county court was the ‘Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 by failing to repair my car using reasonable care and skill.
(The man at Trading standards told me the optimum word here is ‘reasonable’).
~<>~
Do you think they were reasonable?
Anyway, it’s all over now : )
So how do you think I got on at the County Court?
nymph
The misdiagnosis led to much unnecessary work on my vehicle at great expense which was passed on to me.
Also, some of the unnecessary work carried out by the car-dealership was beyond their technical abilities, and as such, my vehicle was presented back to me in a faulty condition caused by their lack of skill.
Very soon after the service it became very apparent that there were discrepancies and problems, and although my findings were explained and discussed with the staff at the car-dealership, their attitude was to deny any wrong doing, blame other parties, and blame my vehicle for having other faults.
It was proven that they did not have the skills to repair my vehicle and preferred to cover up their bad workmanship with deceptive reasoning.
The only symptom the vehicle had, was an ‘Engine Warning Light’ that came on intermittently so the job for the car-dealership, was to diagnose why this light came on, and if necessary, fix the fault.
The car-dealership, using a code gained from the computer management, diagnosed an impending fuel-pump failure, and the need to remove the fuel-pump, send it off to a specialist for a “strip down” and “overhaul“.
Being a blonde woman of middle age years, I foolishly trusted them at this moment in time, and with the worry around the reliability of my car, I let them go ahead with this service. The car was with them off the road for a week.
The bill came to £922 : (
But the car-dealership also presented my vehicle back to me in a faulty condition caused by their erroneous servicing technique, and thus, the vehicle eventually broke down (due to non-start) and was taken via recovery truck to 'pump specialist' garage where upon I had to pay an additional £300 for them to diagnose and correct the problems to my engine that the car-dealership had caused. They said that the ’car-dealership had not put the pump back in properly and the pump timing was wrong!
All this clearly documented in engineer reports, letters, quotations etc.
It turned out to be rather easy gaining the information of what happened. The car-dealership asked me, after a few weeks of complaining about the car being far worse than before, if I would mind going round directly to the pump specialist and talking to them about it, because after all, they rebuilt the pump and it’s obviously their problem really etc…
I was quite surprised to find the pump-specialist was another drive-in service garage only half a mile away from the dealership. So I went around to speak with them.
What they told me was amazing!
“Rebuild your pump”? said the man at the Pump Specialist place,
“No, we didn’t rebuild your pump, it didn’t need one, there was nothing wrong with it!
I said that they must have done something because this has cost me £922 and their cost to the dealership on my invoice is £415, to which he replied,
“Here’s the paperwork and receipt… it was £300. We changed a faulty advance solenoid and spent a couple of hours labour checking the pump on a test-rig. I don’t know why they took the pump off just for a solenoid failure, it’s a very easy thing to diagnose and change.. Takes less than an hour“!
Trading Standards questioned the dealership about the discrepancy between the £415 they charged me and the £300 cost from the pump specialist… The dealership blamed the pump specialist for a telephone quote error and quickly sent me a refund of £115
(The other £622 was for the 'unnecessary' pump removal and refit).
They also said that it did not matter if the pump was not rebuilt, it was fixed, and the procedure they used was the correct ‘Technical Instruction’ from the Motor Corporation.
(So, as far as they’re concerned, they did a good ol’ back slapping job).
The evidence I produced in the court was contained within a 70 page file, 11 pages being my ‘statement of case‘, and an index to over a dozen letters of complaint, letters to Trading Standards, engineer reports, costs and technical facts and quotations. All the proof one would need to fully demonstrate a successful claim.
Proved in documentation was the fact that the only reason the Engine Warning Light was coming on intermittently, was a ‘minor’ electrical component in need of replacement. This component (an advance solenoid) has a cost of £90, requires 1 hour labour, and plus VAT the total cost to customer that should be £171. (There is no need for expensive pump removal/refit).
£922 less £115 refund = £807
breakdown repair bill = £300
Legal expenses....... = £200
Out of pocket expenses= £100
Total cost of case......£1400ish and not including approx' 100 hours of various activity.
The law I used against this car-dealership in the county court was the ‘Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 by failing to repair my car using reasonable care and skill.
(The man at Trading standards told me the optimum word here is ‘reasonable’).
~<>~
Do you think they were reasonable?
Anyway, it’s all over now : )
So how do you think I got on at the County Court?
nymph
Naim forum advocates servicing done by non-official dealer shock! 
duncan
duncan
LOL 
If the dealers were as good as Naim this wouldn't have happened.
Naim will happily service old kit, what would happen if I took my 32 year old Ford into the local dealers...............
Cheers
Steve
If the dealers were as good as Naim this wouldn't have happened.
Naim will happily service old kit, what would happen if I took my 32 year old Ford into the local dealers...............
Cheers
Steve
quote:my 32 year old Ford
Cheers
Don
If I may take the role of devils advocate;
Semantics - sounds like the pump was faulty, whether that's an electrical or mechanical fault seems largely irrelevent. Interesting you think electrical is 'easier' than mechanical - usually the reverse.
Why would they want to do that? If you ran a restaurant would you send your customer to the one down the road even if their crepe suzette was better than yours.
They buggered up the timing on refit - shouldn't happen but as everyone knows s**t happens. I hope they said sorry and sorted it foc with a box of chocolates or were you on them by that stage?
Maybe you have learned from your experiences. Next time your engine management light comes on why not take the car back to the diesel specialist - except of course it almost certainly won't be anything they have the faintest clue about.
As I said - devils advocate
quote:][the fuel-pump attached to the engine is of a type unfamiliar with the main dealership too. So they have an 'excuse' for not being skilled to work on this type of pump. (However they did boost about their 'technicians' being very skilled to repair the usual type of pump on their make of vehicle).[/QUOTE
The only 'work' any delaership or indpendent would carry out to an HP diesel pump would be to remove or refit it in order to fit new or send to a sub con specialist - you cannot play with a 2000 bar pump without the kit, it's dangerous - and there isn't enough work of this type to support more than the odd regional diesel specialist, normally associated to a mnaufacturer e.g Bosch/Delphi
[QUOTE]My argument has always been around the way they explained to me that my 'pump' was faulty and in need of a strip down and rebuild. This implied to me that the problem was of a mechanical nature, and not something far more simple such as an electrical problem... the paperwork supports this too.
Semantics - sounds like the pump was faulty, whether that's an electrical or mechanical fault seems largely irrelevent. Interesting you think electrical is 'easier' than mechanical - usually the reverse.
quote:But they did have another option, to tell me that the pump specialist is only half a mile away and to go there with my car directly for them to sort out.
Why would they want to do that? If you ran a restaurant would you send your customer to the one down the road even if their crepe suzette was better than yours.
quote:However, the 'technical instruction' was adhered to instead, and despite them admitting no skills for repairing my type of pump, they went ahead to do the job of removal and refit of the pump in question, and surprise surprise they did not have the skills to refit it proper!
They buggered up the timing on refit - shouldn't happen but as everyone knows s**t happens. I hope they said sorry and sorted it foc with a box of chocolates or were you on them by that stage?
quote:If they had told me to go direct to the pump specialist, my car would have been fixed for £171 and while i wait for 1 hour.
Maybe you have learned from your experiences. Next time your engine management light comes on why not take the car back to the diesel specialist - except of course it almost certainly won't be anything they have the faintest clue about.
As I said - devils advocate