A friend of mine is having awful trouble getting his coupe fixed by a garage. He arranged to have the car (a non starter due to knackered phase sensor) transported to a coupe specialist on June 27th to be fixed. When he got there, they were closed for the day and hadn't bothered to tell him! He had thought it would be repaired and MOT'd that day and he could drive home. As they were closed, he had to leave the car there and wait 5 hours for his dad to collect him.

On the Monday, they tested the car and it started and all seemed well, but on the Friday when it was due to be collected, it would not start and they were to fix it. The garage hadn't got the parts in at that point, despite a diagnostic having been done previously by Fiat.

The part was due in Monday, then it was Tuesday and then Friday just gone and they were going to work on it asap on Friday. However, when the owner called up the garage for an update on Friday, no answer (nor yesterday).

My friend works Monday to Friday most of the time and he has spent enough time messing around with work for it and it's like wtf? He lives 2 hours from the garage and has to rely on others to take him there.

The garage seems to be uncontactable, he has had to buy a cheap banger to get around. He is also having to insure the coupe, but he doesn't actually know where it is parked etc, so is a little concerned in case something happens to it.

He is at a bit of a loss as to what to do and is looking for advice. I have suggested CAB... Any other ideas?

first point of call is to call the garage on monday, if there is no reply, go down there and see whats going on.
Give the garage a chance to explain first. Every one makes mistakes, its how it gets dealt with thats important. If you cant make contact on monday. It letter time, specify a deadline of Friday for contact. If there is no contact call the police and report the car stolen.

IF you get in to contact before then..

I would ask for discount as you friend has very clearly been messed about, in fact i would expect the mot to be done for free as a show of good will and some of the travel costs refunded. There is simply no excuse at all for the garage in question not doping a email or a call to your friend

I would be careful of naming names and burning bridges (although we all know who your talking about) before a solution can be offered.

when and if this is resolved, then make a post about the experience in full and who was involved. coupe specialist or not, we all have a right to make are own minds up from the experiences of others. It should also help reinforce the point that its just not cricket to piss some one about, but more importantly not keep them informed.

Im sure that if you mate had been offered a reasonable explanation to the delay. he/she would not be have as angree as she/he is now

Cheers Sam
He can't drive there as it's a 2 hour drive each way and he has to work - I am sure if it was local, he would have been able to sort this by now
As for MOT, the garage is telling him that he has to get it done himself
The tax has also run out on the car and it is SORN, which makes it more complicated still - wasn't able to tax on 30 June as MOT expired on 26th

that is a bit of a mess isn't it

i don't understand if they were willing to fix the part and get it MOT'd before, why they are not now?

if it was me..i would give the garage a chance to explain, get the work done because there is no point paying for yet more transporting of the car. get the mot done locally to the garage, and hope it passes.

if it fails on something silly, get the garage to do the work (see if you can mend the relationship there) if its a shopping list bring it back home and get some one else you have a little more trust for to do the work

I understand they will check the car over before the MOT - better do!!

i don't......

Not going to name until car fixed and back with owner And maybe not even then if a quick and satisfactory resolution is reached, with some sort of compensatory offer

i accept pm's..........

^ no, no names, as said before the garage, well any garage really should always be given the chance to explane the situation, and resolve it first before a public slanging match is started.
If i was a garage, i would want to be given the opportunity first to make good on the relationship. It could well be something like illness has got in the way?

any how, naming and shaming is never a good idea unless all other routes have been traveld

I have also just found out that my friend has also lost £80 on a hotel booking when he had been told the car was ok (he was going to have to stay nearby when collecting)!!

They didn't actually check early on whether the car was indeed ok on the day it was due to be collected and they did not phone to say there was an issue until 4pm by which time it was too late to cancel!!

Compensation should definitely be sought - should fix the car for free or at least just the parts should be charged in my opinion!

Sam - illness is still no excuse in my opinion when there are several people who work there, only takes a quick text!

I have to say I am shocked and appalled by the way this person has been treated...I think some garages may believe that being a 'specialist' exempts them from providing customer service...

Can your friend not speak for their-self? Sounds like bad service though. Perhaps they should join the club.

He could, but then everyone would know who the specialist is and as ^^^ do not want to expose until they have had a chance to redeem themselves. How would being a club member help? He does use the forum

I think it's a little unfair using a moderator 'friend' to suss the problem. I wouldn't like to use a recommended(?) garage if this is how they could act. Bad service is bad service and should be exposed, regardless of 'compensation'.

I thought being a club member would guarantee you a new car should yours go wrong?

Sorry for the over use of apostrophes, I'm doing the finger action too!!

He didn't ask me because I am a moderator

I don't understand the bit about being a club member

This isn't a question of compensation, but given the situation, some sort of recompense should be offered surely?

I do think all experiences should be exposed,this allows us as a customer to make up our on mind based on reputation. Good experiences taken with the bad and how they resolve the situation after. As we know the guy in mind may read this,suddenly resolve theissue to save face an we as potential customers know no better.

Not saying slag the bad down just honest review of the experince with there chosen garage.maybe once resolved discuss the outcome and resolution

Hope they get sorted,I'd expect something out of courtesy from situation

Friend wants his car back and sorted asap, once this is done it is up to him as to whether he wants to go into more detail and name

The club member bit was tongue in cheek. A moderator should be impartial?

I absolutely agree with the last part, just surprised you got involved.

Now I'm trying to justify my post. I really don't care about the ins and outs. This place has been so helpful to me over the years, the my friend bit reminds me of school.

I am impartial but the situation is getting out of hand and he needs the car back asap without any more hassle

Why should I be impartial in such a situation - I haven't mentioned any names even though others are asking for details

Something could have been said far sooner but the garage is being given the chance to rectify the situation

i agree with this, maybe a bit like the system of feedback amazon uses. i know i was (tongue in cheek, sam) asking for details but, as others have said, we're quick to praise the good experiences thus pushing custom their way but too slow (imo) to publish the bad for fearing the reverese, whilst others are still going there ignorant of the issues. it doesn't really allow people an objective view on what services they're getting from forum-recommended services.

just a pennies worth...

I agree as well. Not saying that people should quickly post their bad experiences immediately before awaiting rectification, but if theres a bad review, theres a bad review...let it be known. I remember somebody posting up their negative review about garage and was subsequently burnt down by other forum members.

Vic's has said she's isn't going to name names (yet). So wind ya necks in

........who is it Vic

I would be seaking compersation and a written explaination in his/her situation

Not wishing to fan the flames but there are always three sides to an dissagreement.

Your side, their side and the truth.

Well my opinion as you have asked for it

I would and do want to know the name of the garage that is involved. I am adult enough to understand that there are two sides to each story and that what gets put up is likely to reflect only one side.

However I would still like to know.

Correct. Very rarely can the truth be known though.

The suggestion of having a feedback system is good. It allows people to put in their honest feedback. What I'm saying is that when someone comes in and says he/she is not happy, other forum member (whom obviously had positive experience) is quick to burn that person down just because they have had a good experience and because others say so. That seems abit single sided to me.

I completely agree with the above.

I agree as well.

If the truth is told then it cannot be libelous.

If nothing but praise is allowed to be written, then the garage will end up with a good reputation when they don't deserve it. More innocent people will use them and get their fingers burned.

Part of the reason why i mentioned the above is because I had personal experience of using a prominent 'forum approved' garage and was left with an inconvenient experience (not totally negative, but inconvenient nevertheless). This left me abit disappointed as i expected more from a specialist that the forum has long worshipped.

I know humans make mistakes but the forum said he was god!

I was contemplating if i should mention anything on the forum but ended up not doing so as i knew it would be blasphemy.

Guys - let's all just wait for it to be resolved now

okay