Mot failed-unhappy with service!

[BADMOTHER]

Hi,

 

My old T reg 206 failed it's MOT last week (no surprise there) so I booked it in with the garage who carried out the MOT to have the work done, which was rear break pads, a cylinder which i was quoted £45 ish for and the emmissions failed on the exhaust system.

I had the exhaust and cat fitted back in November from this same garage so i took along my receipt to cover any work for the exhaust. The garage hadn't contacted me all day so I went to collect the car at 3pm after work. They said they couldn't get the emissions down so had replaced a seal on the exhaust, that didn't work so they did an oil and filter change that didn't work so they sent for a "Lambda sensor" and fitted it which was about £80, they said the supplier had sent the wrong one so they would have tokeep the car overnight to wait for the new one next day. I said i needed to take the car home but would bring it back in the morning so they could test the emissions again. Next day i told him I didn't want him to put the lambda sensor on (cos we had googled it at home and saw them for £22.95 the guy says he had already fitted it and it wssn't the wrong one it just needed adjusting. I told him i wasn't happy about this and needed the bill itemising he still tried to charge me for the exhaust seal which was under warranty, in total he charged me £200. I picked the car and MOT up later that day but was fuming about the treatment I had received.

I just need to know if there is anybody I can complain to or is this "normal" for a garage. I hate the thought that they have seen me coming.

[raydetinu]

You cannot adjust a lamda O2 sensor!!! check to see if they have actually fited one, they are pretty cheap, does not have to OEM lots will do the job. I think it si normal for garages they dont know waht they ae doing themselves half the time and pass the cost of them learing and trial and error bits on to you. Only pay for whats fair.

[BADMOTHER]

Thanks raydetinu, well i have already handed over the fee, but i really felt i should be able to complain somewhere are they regulated by someone. I definetly won't be going back there.

[raydetinu]

Nope they are not regulated, non franchised garages can charge what they like!!

If you think what they have charged is unreasonable then ask for some money back ( that does not cost anything ). but to take it further you may need expert witnesses, reports, inspections to take it to court.

Lifes too short? chalk it up and use a garage you can trust but even that can go wrong. I took my car to garage that I had been happy with for years, but because the fault was out if the ordinary they took it apart did know what to do and it was in there for a year!! before I got it back, still not working right, so sold it straight away with fault.

[BADMOTHER]

OMG, well I suppose it could have been worse then. Thanks for the input raydetinu, yes I will have to just bite the bullet with this.

nevermind!

[Conniff]

Before you break your teeth on biting bullets, check that you have a new oil filter and dip the oil to see that has also been changed. You can't change oil and filter too often so as long as you are happy with the price charged for that, then no harm done there.

I wouldn't have changed the oil though, I would have put in an additive if I suspected that was the problem.

 

What is this 'seal' on the exhaust. there is a gasket, but I don't see how that would effect the emmission if it leaked, and you would have known by the horrid noise it was making.

 

If they have fitted a genuine Lambda sensor then the price would be around what they said. The ones you saw were probably generic sensors and they don't always work how you wish, but next time it is suspected, it is a job you can do yourself and is worth the chance that it will work.

Also as Ray has said, you can't adjust a Lambda sensor, so that is the indication that you needed that they were plucking in the dark.

 

Has the air filter been checked? that can affect the emissions.

 

Have you got your failure certificate as well as your pass certificate?

 

P.S. If you can get your head underneath then have a look at the rear wheel hubs and see if you can see that they have changed the hydraulic cylinder.

Edited July 17, 2008 by Conniff

[mountains]

aek for the old lamda sensor back as they can be checked by most garages or motor factor off the vehicle

[miket368]

They have only tried helping you out by getting it through the emissions these 206 have crap engines and are difficult to get through the emissions anyway in theory they are just trying to do what they could to get it through!

[danielr]

for the poster above saying that they were just trying to help out!

I'm surprised that they replaced sensors etc.

 

earlier in the year when I had my MOT my car passed it's emission test, (well below the limit), but failed on some other things.

 

I took my time fixing the other things as it was the summer and I had my motorbike anyway to use, so I was out of time for a free re-test, I went to a different garage and the car passed on everything except the emissions test. which was now magically 4 times over the test limits.

 

basically, what had happened is the first test was done as soon as I took the car into the garage, (so the car had been driven the engine was very warm, the second test I left the car with them, they left the car sitting about all day... -they argue that they measure the oil temp to make sure that the engine is up-to temp, but clearly it does make a difference.

 

anyway, they advised that I just changed the fuel filter, and ran some cleaner through and changed the oil. I did this, and returned the next morning where the car passed...

 

the point is,

fuel cleaner - £5

engine flush - £5

oil - £10

fuel filter - £5

(all from Halfords).

 

if they "just wanted to help" then there are plenty of well known "tricks" that they can use, without making a huge bill.

[kowalski72]

If you are taking your car in for an MOT, give it the old "bypass decoke" beforehand. Lots of cars do short journeys only and basically choke themselves. Hold it in 3rd gear at highish revs for a mile or so, really does make a difference! If its a town runabout the oil can get contaminated with petrol and give a falsely high reading. First thing I do when a car fails is give it a good run... about a 60-70% sucess rate if the readings are withing what I'd expect to see because of this.Cats also need to be very ho to work at peak efficiency,and oil temp should be 80 degrees plus to do the test. Do this with diesels too!