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[fluked]

In the majority of the service industry - if a service is not what you asked and paid for - you should be able to get a replacement or refund.

I had my car repaired by a garage to stop a knocking noise. I trusted the diagnosis, paid for the works - but still have noises. He looked at the car again, and priced me for a further job. How is it that a garage can carry out a service which did not do what you asked, and then charge you for a further service!?

Is this 'just the way it works' or should I be able to request that he fixes the problem, at no cost to myself. I speak from inexperience, but also from being quite peeved at paying for something that didn't need doing or what I asked for.

[mr singh]

by rights you shouldn't have paid if the fault wasn't fixed.

i had my forfour in with mercedes for about 3/4 months with my flashing fuel guage, they replaced various parts (of which i didnt pay for some) but when it came to the final part, fitting the instrument cluster i told them that im not paying the price they had quoted me as i had already paid them a few weeks back for a fix which didnt work. they came back with a reduced price, i wasnt happy paying but it was better than the first price.

get in touch with your local citizens advice and see what they say as im guessing you have had the problem sorted.

[fluked]

The fault isn't fixed. It's a "non urgent repair", but the noises are not ideal.

Thanks Mr.Sing. Although this is an independent, as opposed to a corporate. I'll have a word, just wanted to know where I stand and if this way of working is standard practice.

[mr singh]

independent or corporate, it doesn't matter, the fault you originally complained about hasn't been rectified and they want to charge you again to fit another part. unless they can justify the parts they have fitted you shouldn't, in my mind have to pay.

[fluked]

They can because the bearing was making a 'slight noise' in his words. So 'it needed doing' ..... but so does a few other things.

Yep Mr.singh to my mind too.... but it's weather is appropriate, and if it's legal to get him to sort it at his own cost. I'm not his meal ticket.

[lil.smartie]

The problem is that sometimes once part A is changed you can then see that part B is also faulty but A was so bad you couldn't tell.

Example... we had a forfour semi-auto in that wasn't driving. We could tell the actuator needed changed but didn't know if once that was done it would be fixed or if it would also need a clutch.

[Problemchild]

Sorry dude but that's just how it is.

Sometimes if it's a simple replacement and it doesn't fix the problem then they could up it back to standard and not charge you but man hours are man hours and fixing cars is a black art sometimes

This is where experience is key to delivering a good service.

JJ

[CrazyG]

I have to agree/back up what lil.smartie has said....
Her example is just one case of many.
There are even instances where you can put one thing right,
only to have that repair create a new one !
Fixing cars can indeed be a black art. 

[fluked]

Thanks forum. I know my questions are newbie ones. But glad I have a wider perspective from others. I trust the mechanic, just cant help feeling like if I did something like that in my work; I wouldn't get paid.

Learning.

[Scoobysook]

You can always politely ask for a discount on the labour on the next bit needing doing. No harm in trying.

[CrazyG]

I'll go with that suggestion from Scoobysook.

[FireFlower]

Well ForFour is a good car to learn how to do self repairs here and there (except transmission reteaching if you have softouch).

I haven't done pretty much anything car repair except changing fuses or wheels before I bought ForFour. One of the biggest reason is we have this forum with very wide range of guides. Step by step I plan to dismantle whole car eventually.

Well I have my share of bad garage experiences as well but I have good ones also.