So angry, would appreciate some advice and guidance :
My partner owns a Vauxhall Zafira and has been a loyal customer of a garage here in Ipswich for over 7 years. She knows even less about mechanics than me (takes some doing). Last week she took her car for its MOT. It failed on a few minor bits , but most significantly the front brake pipes were corroded. The garage replaced them, retested the car (they do the MOT on site) and off she went on her way. The next day her handbrake light was coming on intermittently, then permanently. She phoned the garage and they asked her to take it in, which she did. The mechanic said something along the lines of ‘we should have warned you this could happen’. He topped up the brake fluid then sent her on her way without any further inspection, after a couple of days or so the light came on again.
She drove with the light on for that evening then to work the next day (she is a teacher and so finding time to call the garage let alone take it in is difficult) and the next evening whilst driving in rush hour traffic at low speed (thank God) her breaks failed totally, causing her to collide with a vehicle in front. Upon inspection, there was no damage to either vehicle and so the other party suggested they do nothing about it therefore no details were obtained or exchanged. She was in a total state when I got to her, almost hysterical. Her daughter was in the car (we have 6 kids between us) and I think the whole ‘what could have happened’ thing was hitting her. I called and spoke to the garage owner the following day and he was totally non empathetic and told me to get the car to him so he could have a look!! After I made it very clear that he could collect the car as it had no brakes, he agreed and I left my address and phone number. I
I dropped the key off and he was very cagey and clearly felt like I was trying to pull some sort of fast one on him?! Having woken that morning, my partner had very stiff shoulders and back (we are certainly not the blame/claim type but this is a fact). I mentioned this in passing to the owner and he said at that point that he couldn’t talk to me any more as he is insured for ‘this sort of compensation claim’. I only mentioned it because he seemed so nonchalant about what had happened. Later that day my partner got a call asking for my address and phone number as he’d lost it. much much later that day I had to call him for an update, whereby he told me that the pipes had been cross threaded, causing fluid to weep from the joints. I agreed to collect the car the next morning (this morning), when he said we would have a chat about what had happened. Now my partner and I had agreed that should he offer a genuine apology and our money back for the ‘work’ that was carried out we may be appeased but again he was totally unapologetic and repeatedly pointed out that although it could have been really serious, thankfully it wasn’t.
He had told me over the phone that he had ‘severely reprimanded’ the mechanic at fault. When asked what this actually entailed, he told us that the mechanic had been told to be more careful in the future! Again he pointed out that he was insured, and that we had to write a letter to him that he’d pass on to his insurers? Does this sound right?! I suspect that letter may just be filed in a special place!!
So my Saturday night consists of writing as many appalling reviews for that garage over the Internet and social media as my limited computer skills allow. I would be interested to know what else I can do. I have already lodged a complaint with Motorcodes who I think are just an overseeing advisory/best practice type body with no real power. I was thinking maybe VOSA? Just out of interest, should we report this to our insurance company and utilise their legal team? Or is there another way? In hindsight I just wish details were taken with the other party of the RTC to add validity to what occurred.
Sorry for for the long post, any advice appreciated.
Glad partner and daughter are ok, as you say it could have been a different story on the motorway.
I think I would start with local Trading Standards and Citizens Advice and any trade associations that the garage purports to belong to.
Assuming they haven’t rectified the fault I would get an independent inspection of the problem to back up any claim.
Good luck
Dave
They made a mistake albeit a serious one, and by the sound of it have rectified the fault.
You have posted bad reports wherever you could but it seems a little over the top considering your partner drove the vehicle with the warning light illuminated.
I would think yourselves lucky nothing more than a bump occurred and leave it at that.
If you read the post I think it’s pretty clear what was required. A human touch or two, and maybe a goodwill gesture. I assume you’d all be pretty laid back about it then?
It appears it is us who are acting unreasonably? As for the warning light, we are naive mechanically and did ring the garage immediately on the first occasion. I always thought that light was to indicate if the handbrake was engaged tbh. As stated, they topped the fluid up and were unphased and didn’t even check for leaking. That’s ok too I guess?
Sorry if our woes have you choking on your fizzy pop as you roll your eyes but I happen to value my family and place total trust in those who service our vehicles.
You should nave known about the light. It will be in the vehicle handbook
The garage acted negligently by topping up the fluid and not checking why it had gone down
You have no record of the accident
You have no proof of negligent work, this has been rectified by the garage.
I can’t see there is anything to be done, did you pay by credit card? Even if you stopped the payment this way you have no proof of anything unfortunately
In all fairness the original post refers to the handbrake warning light, which would imply that it was the handbrake at fault.
Loss of fluid from the master cylinder should have told the mechanic something was not right and I would not want such a person anywhere near my car. We are not all qualified mechanics and one wonders if some of those who work in garages are.
I did read your post hence why I replied, The garage have repaired/rectified the fault so as far as they are concerned everything was done correctly(apart from the initial leak) had they told you to sod off then you may have a case against them.
I wouldnt be laid back but then again I wouldnt have driven the vehicle with the warning light illuminated, but think yourself lucky it was a minor bump.
As for placing complete trust in the garage then yes by all means but we are only human and accidents happen, you seem to have got your vehicle back in one piece so I think its time to put the incident to bed and move on.
Mistakes do happen of course , but it is what you do about them. I certainly couldn’t support many of the views in this thread.
It is basic mechanic skill to be able to make up brake unions. It is basic mechanical skill to be able to tighten them properly. If you are going to work on brakes and can’t do this you should not be working on them. Sure mistakes get made, but when a customer brings a car back within a couple of days and you have to top the fluid up this should ring a huge great alarm bell. Where do did they think it had gone? That is the issue here. The professionals are the mechanics. To lose that much fluid so quickly, this was not a small leak.
Taking this a big step further, so the driver is at fault, according to much of this post, but scenario that they are coming down a dual carriage way or A road that has a roundabout. they are doing 70 and the brakes have no effect. They rear end you or a family member at 60, or straight into the side of your car as you were going round the roundabout parking their engine in your passengers lap. Who is the the one in the wrong? The driver, the mechanic who made a mistake or the one that couldn’t be bother to wonder where the brake fluid had all gone?
And no it’s not claim for blame hysteria, if someone comes to me and has a tyre fitted and then a few hours later comes back and says the tyre pressure warning has come on, do say, “don’t worry, they do that all the time?” Do I just put some air in and say, “there you go?” Or do I go “I filled that to the right pressure, now it is substantially down, where has that air gone? I need to look into this?”
I am relatively new to MX5 ownership and I am a little taken aback by the attitude of some members to what is basically a potentially life threatening mistake on the part of a technician. As Nick says they are supposed to be the professionals and we trust them to do a proper job.
Yes the original poster’s partner should have taken notice of a warning light, but we all make mistakes and mistaking a handbrake warning light for one indicating a brake failure is not in the same league as cross threading a brake union. To further compound the failure with a pathetic excuse then just topping the fluid up is inexcusable.
We as owners should be concerned at the incident and not quite so quick to blame. Thankfully no one was hurt.
On many brake systems the h/brake warning light and the brake fluid light are one and the same so it being lit can indicate at least 2 problems . Not all drvers read the hand book ,not all mechs are perfect , and things do go wrong , I have been on both ends of this sort of thing i.e. as a mech , I make no excuses it WAS my fault and I was dismissed , as a customer I have been on the nasty end of poor workmanship unfortunatly thats life . Mistake were made , attitudes seem lax at the garage but fortunatly no injuries so calm down and discuss matters calmly before firing up
TBH its the garages attitude that’s annoyed here the most, I once had my brake pads changed by hIQ (think that’s the name :p) in W.S.M and on the way home the brake pads actually fell out! was I annoyed yea but did I take it back and complain? nope not a chance I was letting them monkeys touch my car again I just chalked it up as a lesson learned and do them myself and don’t be so lazy! BUT had I gone back and they treated me like that I’d have popped a blood vessel somewhere!
I have been reading this thread with interest. My mate has a garage and would not have let the car go out with out testing the brakes, including making sure that there was no fluid leaking. If the union was cross threaded leaking fluid would have been spotted on the floor when the car was moved.
From what I have read it seems that the garage was completely to fault.
O/K -some for and more it seems against, however I agree with Nick, Garages are supposed to be professional, and mistakes like this can cost lives at worst and money regardless.
However, I would offer the following advice to MyLeftFoot - Never criticise a garage publicly, you can be prosecuted on grounds of slander, damaging business reputation etc. It has happened, despite the rights and wrongs of the incident.
We used to have a good and bad area on the old forum, however it soon failed, on account of the above fact, so we finished up with recommended and - - nothing. You live and learn. However, glad I don’t live near that garage. Yep - we all suffer at some time, and our blood boils too We tell our friends and they take note, more than that there’s not a lot one can do. There’s trading standards of course, but you don’t have sufficient proof to take it far I’m afraid. Protest? Tried that, didn’t get anywhere either. Motto - Never go back - NEVER!
I have to agree with NickD on this point (one of the very few points I have done on my time on here). Some of the views are mad.
Ultimately though there is two ways contractual relationship with the garage and negligence (tort).
Ideal world it would be reliance of the contract in this case either express or implied. Without seeing any form of contract that is difficult but business to consumer is easy peasey implied terms S13 Supply of Goods and Services Act - Reasonable Care and Skill - complete failure in this case.
On a Negligence front - duty, breach and causation - pretty much all there…complete failure by the garage.
In regards to a serious accident if the police were involved the car would be checked and no doubt the source could be found quite easily in the garage failing to carry it out properly.
Oh on a defamation front online is more likely to libel than slander (at least in a forum setting).
Just a note…from a 30 years own business motor vehicle engineer You mentioned the mechanic was reprimanded for cross threading (an experienced mechanic would not do this) so I ask the question, did they replace the unit into which the cross threaded pipe union was attached to/in. Replacing the pipe union is only half the answer as the receiving unit (abs/calliper/hose/master cylinder) will also have sustained thread damage.
Crashed my partner’s car into a tree this morning on a right hand bend.
The brakes failed. Again.
I’m at a loss here. The car is a write off. Insurance company informed (thankfully fully comp) and totally disinterested regarding the brakes. Despite having legal protection they say it doesn’t cover ‘mechanical failure’, and that I’d have to take it up personally with the garage?! This all feels very unjust, almost crooked.
Any advice appreciated. I’m so angry, upset and aching from head to toe.
P.s. The only person to stop and offer any help was…an mx5 driver of course!! Forgot his name, pleasant moustached chap with a black mk2. Thanks again if you’re reading this.