My car came back worse than it went in!

[debbie97531]

In April I had a car accident.
To cut a long story short a motorbike hit the fromt drivers side (everyone walked away from the accident).
The car needed:
a scratch filling on the bumper
a new wing
a new door panel
dints in the bonnet filling
slight scratch in the rear door removing

When the car came back to me:
the bumper had part of the scratch filled
masking tape was stuck to the bonnet (under the paint work)
the front wing is out of line with the bonnet and the door
there is a scratch on the new front wing
the door has to be slammed shut because it is out of line
the rubber seal on the door has not been put back properly and now leaks
where the rubber seal has not been replaced properly there is an almighty scratch down to bare metal
the back door has white glue all over it
the scratch in the back door is still there
the back bumper has been taken off and put back with gaps so big I can get my fingers between the rear lights and the boot????

I had the car dropped off at my house, if I was in I would have told them to take it back and repair it.
I called the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that, etc.

They have refused to send me a comprehensive report on what they have and haven't done!
They have refused to collect the car and repair it.
When I spoke to the manager (lol) he shouted at me and said they hadn't touched most of the above (hello! that's what you have apparently repaired) his words were "It's only an R reg Rover"
He also refused to tell me who their regulator is.

What kind of customer service is that?

I am stuck with what to do now. I am so dissapointed with what's happened. My car may be old and not worth much but it was worth more with the accident damage.
Can anyone give me any advise?
I would like to take it to another garage and bill them for it but I can't afford to pay for it in the first instance.

[pmhread]

Sorry to hear about your car problems. Can you go to your insurance company and see what they will do about it?

[breadline]

If you ring the insurance company and explaim teh seriouse state of teh work, tehy may hault payment, I would have thought they would pay teh end of teh month, Some companys do bulk paying then or they will hold on to teh end of the 30 days.

Get someone from the insurance company out to look it over, was there photos taken of it before it went in?

BL

[*rickyr*]

I am an independent engineer/assessor who works for many insurance and motoring organisations. Part of my job remit is to inspect vehicles that have been repaired by garages to a poor standard or below the industry standard (you will be amazed how many I see). Always speak/write to the insurance company first, usually if the garage is part of an approved network for the insurance company, then the insurance company would have more control over resolving your complaint. I would be very careful about going to another garage to get the vehicle rectified and then fighting to get your costs back from the original garage. Unless the actions of the original garage have deemed your vehicle dangerous or un-drivable, then the original garage should have one further attempt to rectify the problems.
My advice is to get the insurance company or an independent engineer/assessor to inspect your car now, get the vehicle back to the garage for rectification and then get it re-inspected again before the car is redelivered to you. I am sure if you contact the insurance company they will organise this on your behalf.
Hope it helps.
Ricky.

[ilfaychaud]

i had a similiar thing happen to me. contact your local trading standards, they will send you info on how to claim via either , the sale of goods act or supply of goods and services act, you can claim for upto 6 years- i think.
make sure that you send a letter to the garage preferably recorded deliv. and any dealings you have with the garage make sure that you are totally transparent so if it goes to court, they will se that you have tried to communicate honestly with them.good luck.oh and always keep a copy of any letters you send.

[debbie97531]

Cheers for the advice!

I have already spoken to the company who delt with my accident, they told me to speak to the garage.
I have had no luck with speaking to the garage and at one stage I was onthe phone to them twice a day.
I think I will look at going down the trading standards route but the photo's I tool of the car before it went in are only of the accident damage, thus it's my word against theirs when it comes to the rest of the damage caused.

Has anyone else gone down this route?
Has anyone else had this much trouble with a non complient garage?

[breadline]

Originally Posted by *rickyr*

I am an independent engineer/assessor who works for many insurance and motoring organisations. Part of my job remit is to inspect vehicles that have been repaired by garages to a poor standard or below the industry standard (you will be amazed how many I see). Always speak/write to the insurance company first, usually if the garage is part of an approved network for the insurance company, then the insurance company would have more control over resolving your complaint. I would be very careful about going to another garage to get the vehicle rectified and then fighting to get your costs back from the original garage. Unless the actions of the original garage have deemed your vehicle dangerous or un-drivable, then the original garage should have one further attempt to rectify the problems.
My advice is to get the insurance company or an independent engineer/assessor to inspect your car now, get the vehicle back to the garage for rectification and then get it re-inspected again before the car is redelivered to you. I am sure if you contact the insurance company they will organise this on your behalf.
Hope it helps.
Ricky.

Sorted, you couldnt get much better than that one lol