Thanks again, I will show him this tomorrow and see if we can come up with anything with the union adviser (although he has been way less than helpful). Many thanks, Nath

Hi and thanks for the quick reply. HPA is the organisation I work for and they became part of the NHS which has adopted a national pay rate for all NHS services broken into bands 1-8 called the Agenda for Change (AFC) My job was matched to pay band 4. The HPA pay grade system has been assimilated to the Agenda for Change system by the NHS. My old contrat was with CAMR (who were taken over by the HPA) that stated I had indefinate Payment protection. The HPA (before they were taken over by the NHS) did not question my contract in any way. Thanks Nath

I am writing this on behalf of a work friend in need of help as his union rep wants nothing to do with this case. I am a technician for the HPA (worked here for 34 years) who have been assimilated to AFC. I am one of a small number of people whos contract before AFC stated that I had payment protection. Currently my salary is over the top for my AFC pay band (band 4). After lenghty talks the AFC people have decided that my old contrat means nothing and will not honour my payment protection as they say that it is a local agreement and does not affect AFC. At the moment I am still on my old contract but by 2011 I will have to either sign the new AFC contract and miss out on a number of years of cost of living increases meaning my salary, pension and lump sum will be affected. I could also freeze my money but this results in the same problem and I could also change over now to AFC but I will take a big pay decrease. Surely a written contract is leagally binding, how can they not honour this? Any help would be great. Nath

Just an update for all who are interested. The garage that witnessed the problem will not write me a letter as they dont want to go to court (great) but I have sent a letter under the sale of goods with all receipts and proof of diagnosis and have given them 14 days to give me a refund on all money spent on repair and to agree on a garage at no cost to me to fix the problems. I aait with baited breath (Although im not holding out as they haven't returned 1 of my calls. The boss is always "on holiday" or his mate "dave the mechanic who knows vauxhalls backwards" is goig though a "divorce and moving house") Ahh well, we shall see. Thanks to all those that helped. Nafe

I owe all of you a beer for all this help! Just waiting for final letter from vauxhall and I will send it. Should I call the garage before I send to see if they will help, its been a week since they said they would call me?

Should I also post copy's of the receipts I spent? I can also (hopefully) get a mechanic from Vauxhall to write a letter stating the problems he experienced (same as I experienced). Should I send copys of them both? Thanks Nath

Diagnostic checks were performed by and independant garage and a vauxhall one, both show no fault codes stored, though the vauxhall mechanic who done the test a second time drove the car and seen first hand the problem, could get him to write a letter for me aslo. He diagnosed the egr valve so he disconnected it till i got back home to put into another vauxhall garage for repair. Which obviously didnot work. I have all recipts to prove in the first 5 months and the problem is still here. Ta Nath

Just spoke to the garages involved in the above problems, they are sending me letters stating that here was diagnostic checkes performed before the repairs were carried out, that there were no fault codes found in the ecu and the following repairs were to try to solve the main problem (the engine cutting out). Would this be enough to prove that the car was at fault when bought? Should I be able to request a replacement/refund, as I have proved that the car was faulty within the first 6 months and even though paying for repairs the car still is not safe or fit for purpose? Thanks again for the help. Nath

Thanks for the info. The garage said they would get back to me by wednesday so if they dont I will send a letter on the thursday morning. In the mean time I will contact vauxhall garage I used for repairs and get all the help I can from them. Thankyou all for the info, I will keep you psted. Nath

the kangarooing has gone, but only as I have had to pay for the ecu to be updated. The squealing wheels are still there, but its the two problems mentioned in the first post that are still here, though these were found after the 3 months, but within 5 months of me buying the car, which I have bills from vauxhall to prove work was carried out because of the problems mentioned.

I paid through debit card from my main bank account. I still have the receipts that prove i had a ecu update to solve a problem and an egr valve that are both dated within the first 6 months, will this help??? Thanks for the help. Nafe

Thanks scott! i have now posted so if any moderators/admin are around feel free to delete! Thanks again Nafe

First of all hello, sorry my first post is a question but I am at the end of my tether. I bought a 98 (R plate) Vauxhall Astra Mk4 with 59,000 on the clock with a 3 month warranty from a dealer (of 5+ years). Problems started straight away but were "fixed" by them within a week. The problem was a squealing from the wheels and a kangarooing under acceleration. This was not fixed and became worse and worse and I was told by the dealer to ask a garage and get back to him, so I went to a garage and no fault codes were found (at a cost of £50 to me). They said it may be a faulty coil pack. I said this to the dealer and he said without proof he could not do it under warranty. Anyway, the warranty ran out and I thought that I had no comeback by this time. The car has an fault where sometimes when you take the keys out of the ignition out of the car all the hazard lights will come on (not flashing) and run the battery down in an hour. This has happened about 30 times so far (and at the moment the car is sat on my drive with a flat battery as it done it again last night). The car has another fault of when traveling at 65-70 for over 1-2 hours the engine will just cut out dead for 1/2 second over an over again, I have to drop down to 40 ish (and some times that doesent fix it). Its like hitting a brick wall when it happens. The the car broke down 3 times on a long trip holiday (with the above fault) so I took it to a Vauxhall garage for another test (£50) and nothing came up. Broke down on the way back so I took it to another vauxhall garage for another test (£50) and nothing came up but they thought I needed a new EGR valve so I got one (£100). All of the problems are still here and I cannot use it. I just want to know if I have a case. I bought the car in late October 2006 for £2000, so I have had it for just under 10 months, and out of that I believe that 2 months have been hassle free at the most and I have spent well over £250 in garage costs. In my opinion the goods I bought are not fit for purpose for the amount of money I paid and under the sale of goods act I should be entitled to either a refund, part refund, the problem to be fixed or some money to help get it fixed. Any help would be great as I'm left with a family car that is not safe for my family. Nathan

First of all hello, sorry my first post is a question but I am at the end of my tether. I bought a 98 (R plate) Vauxhall Astra Mk4 with 59,000 on the clock with a 3 month warranty from a dealer (of 5+ years). Problems started straight away but were "fixed" by them within a week. The problem was a squealing from the wheels and a kangarooing under acceleration. This was not fixed and became worse and worse and I was told by the dealer to ask a garage and get back to him, so I went to a garage and no fault codes were found (at a cost of £50 to me). They said it may be a faulty coil pack. I said this to the dealer and he said without proof he could not do it under warranty. Anyway, the warranty ran out and I thought that I had no comeback by this time. The car has an fault where sometimes when you take the keys out of the ignition out of the car all the hazard lights will come on (not flashing) and run the battery down in an hour. This has happened about 30 times so far (and at the moment the car is sat on my drive with a flat battery as it done it again last night). The car has another fault of when traveling at 65-70 for over 1-2 hours the engine will just cut out dead for 1/2 second over an over again, I have to drop down to 40 ish (and some times that doesent fix it). Its like hitting a brick wall when it happens. The the car broke down 3 times on a long trip holiday (with the above fault) so I took it to a Vauxhall garage for another test (£50) and nothing came up. Broke down on the way back so I took it to another vauxhall garage for another test (£50) and nothing came up but they thought I needed a new EGR valve so I got one (£100). All of the problems are still here and I cannot use it. I just want to know if I have a case. I bought the car in late October 2006 for £2000, so I have had it for just under 10 months, and out of that I believe that 2 months have been hassle free at the most and I have spent well over £250 in garage costs. In my opinion the goods I bought are not fit for purpose for the amount of money I paid and under the sale of goods act I should be entitled to either a refund, part refund, the problem to be fixed or some money to help get it fixed. Any help would be great as I'm left with a family car that is not safe for my family. Nathan