wrong quote and final price, garage now demanding more money

[simes6600]

shortly before last xmas, the clutch went in my wife's car. after some research on the net and local mechanics, quotes were around £200. our regular garage was too busy so we took it to another local garage on the recommendation of a relative.

 

the car was taken in, inspected, and the following morning my wife was given a quote over the phone of between £180 to £200, and that it would cost no more than £200. she explained that as it was an older car (1999), she didn't want to spend a large amount of money getting it fixed, especially with xmas only a few days away, and with the fact she hopes to get a new car in early 2012. garage was told to contact us immediately if it would cost more.

 

my wife agreed to the quote, and the mechanic rang at 5.10pm the same day to inform her the car was fixed and to collect it asap as the courtesy car we were given by the garage was needed by someone else (this courtesy car had a non working electronic dash, so we had no idea of fuel level, speed etc, but thats another story!). my wife asked how much for the final price, the garage mechanic told her. one..eight..two...seventy. now to her (and me), that sounds like £182.70, which is in line with the quote he gave her that morning. he said he had to be paid in cash and that no VAT would be charged. we had no problem paying VAT, but that was his decision.

 

she arrived 10 minutes later with £180 cash, and as she handed him 3x pound coins, he says the final price is £270. gobsmacked to say the least. i wasn't there to argue the case (was at work), so wife left the garage telling her she could "throw in the other £90 next time you are passing through".

 

i rang the garage the following morning, he adamantly denied the original quote (said quote was up to £270, not £200 as he had told my wife), and said he did not know where she got a figure of £182.70 from as the final price. we did not get a written quote, or even a receipt/bill to this day. i was courteous with him on the phone, even though i could smell a pre-xmas cash rip off, but kept my cool until the point where i decided our conversation was going nowhere, and i hung up.

 

bottom line, car is fixed and running well. we paid him the final price he gave to us over the phone (minus £3 which he didn't accept, although we offered). the garage only has my wife's mobile number, so she has received the odd poorly written sms message requesting money. the garage is family owned, but we both spoke to the same mechanic who worked on the car.

 

where do we stand? are we obliged by law etc to give him the remainder of the money he claims we owe him?

 

thanks in advance!

[oddjobbob]

Nope. maintain that they told you £182.70 on the phone as a final price, thats what you've paid and goodbye.

[queensclose]

you didn't have a fixed price. just a quote which was verbal anyway. the garage could pursue you for the balance via county courts if they wanted.

[crem]

you didn't have a fixed price. just a quote which was verbal anyway. the garage could pursue you for the balance via county courts if they wanted.

 

If they do, then presumably the OP will defend the claim and at the very least the garage will have to quantify the bill, which they may not want to do!

[nohope]

he said he had to be paid in cash and that no VAT would be charged

 

Even if they wanted to do anything, as soon as you reminded them about the above i think they would just forget about it as doing cash jobs for that sort of money the tax/vat man would be intersted in there books if they got wind of it..

[crem]

Just what I was thinking too nohope.