Advice needed - paying a garage for incorrectly diagnosing a problem

[DanFreemanPhoto]

I'll try to make this short, not easy though!

At the end of June, I came back from Peru, got to my car at Heathrow airport and it wouldn't start. After A LOT of dicking about, it was concluded it's almost certain to be an immobiliser problem.

Thinking it would be a simple fix, I took the car to my local garage, where I explained the problem. I asked if they could tell me for definite what the problem was, and my options for fixing it.

After about 10 days, they said they are pretty sure it's the ECU, and I would need a replacement. I wasn't convinced this was the problem. So Mr Hunter kindly took the car to TDF, as if Matt can't find the problem, then no one can! It was also a good opportunity to get some other mods that I was probably going to get at some point in the future too.

Matt has been ace, and even though he's up to his neck in other work, he has done a lot of work on the car, trying to find exactly what's wrong with it. As expected, he says the ECU is fine, and is 99% sure that isn't the problem. I sopke to him earlier and we have a plan of action to get it going again (I hope!!)

In the mean time, I have received a bill for £276 from the garage for the 'work' they carried out on my car.

Now I obviously should pay them something, but that seems a bit steep, especially as they have incorrectly diagnosed the fault. They have also butchered the wiring loom, cutting various wires from the UCH (god knows why!). It's clear they haven't caused the problem, but they haven't fixed it and certainly haven't made Matt's job easy either.

What advice can people give from similar situations? Just want to have something ready before I go to the garage.

 

[LowLife.]

Trading Standards.

 

[Matthew]

I'd tell them they are getting 25% of their bill due to the above mate...

 

[Rob]

I'd be responding with a quote from Renault for a new wiring loom to be supplied and fitted as they've butchered yours.

 

[LowLife.]

I'd tell them they are getting 25% of their bill due to the above mate...

You need to get sound advice, as you don't want to end up being taken to court for not paying etc.

Not worth the hassle if you either ignore, or only pay part of the bill.

 

[Revels]

Ask what what that bill is for. You want a breakdown of costs.

Then ask them about the damage they've caused and incorrectly diagnosing the fault. That's not even a days work though really, so logical that someone spent most of the day looking at it..

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

I probably should have said, my car isn't exactly standard. So the wiring loom is fully exposed (although it is wrapped and tidied up), and I have cut some parts away myself, mainly the airbag parts.

So they could turn around and say it wasn't them, I hope they don't as I've used them for MOTs etc loads in the past and they've always been good.

So it's perfectly possible that stripping my car and fiddling about caused the problem in the first place (although it had been like this for 6 months or so with no problems). So it's a really tricky one to call!

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

The bill is broken down as £100 ish as normal labour, and the rest was for a 'specialist electrician' they had to get in to look at the car. So it's all labour costs, no parts.

 

[Russ_16v]

Id ring and speak to the boss/manager dude, explain the situation, that you have taken it to another specialist who have come to another conclusion - if you can prov ein some way that the ecu is not the fault then you will have a good case to getting money off.Don't get angry though, if you have a relationship with the garage use it to your advantage

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

I certainly wouldn't get angry. Our family is a good customer of theirs, my Dad bought my first car from them, and my Mum bought her car there too, as well as all MOTs etc there. I only take my 182 there for an MOT, anything else, it will go to a specialist. I thought this was a simple problem initially, hence why it went there, and also it was a mile down the road, a good thing when the car doesn't run!!

 

[Russ_16v]

Hopefully with that kind of relationship with them they will understand dude

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

I will wait until Matt confirms the ECU is fine, which we pretty much know anyway, until I go and see them.

What scares me is if I kept the car there, I would probably have paid to get the ECU replaced (NOT cheap!) and we would be back at square one still.