Failed repairs and no receipts.

[Northernstar002]

Good afternoon everyone.

 

First time poster so I hope I get all of the info you require to give sound advice.

 

fI have every email and every text that has been sent between me and the mechanic which shows the scope of work, each other's understanding of the problems (as presented at the time) etc.

 

I can make these available to anyone who wants to view them but the guts of it is as follows:

 

I have a 2006 Audi A6 2 litre diesel with about 130k on the clock. I bought it earlier in the year for just over £4k. Overall it's a decent car with only a couple of cosmetic marks. There's evidence that it has been serviced regularly by the previous owners and I am satisfied that it's worth the money that I paid for it

 

Typically, about a month after the warranty expired the car developed a fault whereby it wouldn't start first time. It would always start second time, but always with some kind of fault displayed on the dash. Perfectly driveable though. If you drove it for another half hour and left it, when you came back the car would start straight away, but this time without ABS or perhaps traction control.

 

Long story short I took the car in to a local tyre / exhaust centre near where I live to have the battery assessed. It was at this point where I received a flier for an Audi specialist who works in the area. I'm not certain at this point if it's right to state the name of this company, but the trading name clearly indicates that they are Audi specialists. The blurb on his flier certainly states that he caters for 'the discerning Audi / VW owner'.

 

So I gave him a call.

 

Long story short (again) he picked up the car on Oct 4th 2015. A few days pass before he states that it's related to the ECU. We agree on a price for a replacement (if he cant clean up the contacts on the existing one). He insists on bank transfer. I pay him and he confirms receipt by text. We agree on a labour charge of 2 hours. The part comes on a one day delivery. Over the course of the next 3 weeks he adds a connector kit and another hour of labour. I get the car back on 25th October At this point I have paid him £555 for both pieces of equipment and 3 hours of labour. He doesn't charge VAT.

 

Still no receipts, but he has confirmed that he has received the money in his account by text.

 

On 28th October I drive up the country and stop off the feed the kids halfway on the journey. I come out to start the car - you've guessed it! It doesn't start first time but it does on the second try. EXACTLY the same set of circumstances before I paid £555. I text him and let him know but I have to continue my journey without ABS - thankfully I don't need to use it. Straight away he states that it will be the ECU (almost as if he knows that this would happen).

 

I ask him again to post the receipts whilst I'm away. He agrees.

 

I get back - no receipts.

 

We spend the next 2 months getting a pickup date sorted. The day before he picks it up the cars fails to start at all. It's finally given up the ghost. The dash has a few warnings on it as normal, although this time it's arguing about Oil pressure. We know there's a faulty ECU at play, so it could be anything. He says that his labour and the ECU replacement will be free as its covered by a warranty. I still haven't seen evidence of this. Anyway, he states that his labour will be free and he will check the oil pressure to make sure - again for free (I have this confirmed in emails).

 

He picks up the car on December 18th (he tows it for free as his flier states 'free local collection / delivery').

 

After a few days he diagnoses a failed oil pump and quotes £310 for a new pump. He continues to state that, since the first job took so long, he will continue to provide free labour on the understanding that he fits the job in around other paying work - such as a few hours in the evening and on weekends. I agree and pay him. I feel that I have no choice since the car is a non starter and the bottom end is off.

 

7 weeks later, and a lot of texts about progress in the meantime, he still hadn't fixed it. I had enough and said that this was getting ridiculous as I needed my car back.

 

In the meantime I get a second opinion from an Audi VW dealer centre and their book rate hours for this job is 4.65 hours.

 

Long story short, I said that I wanted my car back as I had lost faith in his ability to fix it (7 weeks without a result. Add this to the three weeks he took to try and fix the ECU - without a result).

 

At this point he says that if that's the case then he will have no alternative but to charge me for all the free labour that he'd put to this job and states that it's in excess of 30!

 

So, in my mind, he's clearly admitting his own incompetence and demonstrating that he's misrepresented his skills to me as an Audi specialist.

 

I had the car flatbedded back to me in mid Feb as he told me that the sump had been removed (along with a few other things such as the top cover so that the internals were exposed - looks like the cams but I cant be sure - it's been a few weeks since I opened the bonnet). I didn’t want to tow it as I didn’t want dirt and grime getting into the bottom end.

 

 

So I am stuck with this car that needs minor assembly, some oil and probably a few gaskets / seals.

 

 

I still have no receipts or warranties, despite his early promises to get the posted.

 

I have sought advice from Citizens Advice and they advised me to ask if he is a member of an ADR scheme, which opens up a diaglogue about his reimbursing me a portion of the money. I hold out until we agree a figure of £600 as long as I sign a form (written by a solicitor) clearing him of any future dealings with the work he has done so far. I have yet to sign anything and he hasn't given me any details of who the solicitor is or the number etc.

 

It's now been a month since we agreed on the £600 reimbursement and I cant get him to reply to little prods asking him about the money or the form. Should I now proceed to Money Claims Online for the full amount? Should I add any compensation or interest?

 

If you got this far, you deserve a medal.

 

Kind regards,

[martin2006]

If as you say, you have all the emails and texts which paint a true picture of events then send him a LBA giving him 14 days to rectify prior to a claim being issued without further warning

[Northernstar002]

Hi,

Many thanks for your reply but what is an 'lba'? I haven't come across that term before. Does it require that I post something to him? I don't have his home address (that I cant be certain of). If it's something that I have to email then he can deny receiving it.

 

Kind regards,

[martin2006]

An LBA is a Letter Before Action, look in the library and you will find them, adapt it to your circumstances and send it recorded delivery.

 

Once you have read the LBA you will see what i mean, however, no point in sending it if you dont intend taking court action.

[Conniff]

Hi Northernstar, if you don't want to name him on the open forum, can you private message me his details please ??

[Northernstar002]

Sure thing. Although things have turned sour between me and the mechanic, I still have no wish to use this forum to improperly expose a mechanic and possibly harm his reputation.

 

But if you'd like to know, I'm happy to tell you.

[Conniff]

Yes please. Anything said in private messages will remain confidential.

[Northernstar002]

Done

[Conniff]

And responded with what I think you require.

[Northernstar002]

I was searching the net last night to see if there was a central body of people who'd be willing to pursue this matter on my behalf. I have read that, in certain circumstances, Trading Standards can act on your behalf and can even reclaim money for you. This was quite rare though.

 

What I did find was this: consumer dash ombudsman dot org. I don't have enough posts to include links yet.

 

Has anyone else had any success or experience of using these people to act on your behalf in matters similar to mine?

 

I haven't started the process yet but it looks to be very useful.

 

I will keep you informed of my progress in case it's something that may be of use to anyone else.

 

Cheers,

[Conniff]

There is a central body, it's called the county court.

 

You would first have to take it elsewhere to get a quote to bring it back to working order and then claim for that.

[Northernstar002]

So, time for an update...

 

So, when we last spoke the Consumer Ombudsmen tried to make contact with the problem mechanic (who's company is called Auditech) to act as an intermediary. They gave him a certain deadline within which to respond. He failed to do this. Concurrently I found a suitably qualified mechanic who was interested enough to fix the car.

 

He found, when he looked at the car, that the oil pump was completely missing. We were expecting to find the one that I had paid the Auditech mechanic for bolted in place at the bottom of the engine. It wasn’t in the boot either (where he had placed the other parts that he took off during his investigations).

 

So I didn’t have my original oil pump or the new one that I was charged £310 to provide in December 2015. So I have bought a second pump at a cost of £280. There were some other parts missing that I had to replace – total cost of £101.44.

 

So, a list of all costs so far:

 

Auditech Job one:

 

£105 – Multiplug adapter kit for ECU repair (Job one in October 2015). No receipts or evidence that it had been fitted.

£360 – Replacement ECU (Job one in October 2015). No receipts or evidence that it had been fitted. Original problems still present after this repair.

£90 – Labour (Job one in October 2015)

 

Auditech Job two:

 

£310 – Replacement oil pump (Job 2 in December 2015) No receipts. Car never came back repaired. Not fitted to the car or supplied to me in any way.

 

£865 – Total outlay to Auditech.

 

 

Costs required to bring the car back to a working state after receiving it back from Auditech.

 

£280 – Second oil pump. Not sure if I can claim for this but I’ll list it anyway.

£11.45 - Set of sump bolts. Originally supplied with the car to Auditech but weren’t present when the car was returned to me.

£4.18 – Set of locating dowels. Originally supplied with the car to Auditech but weren’t present when the car was returned to me.

£26.24 – Sump Sealer. Required to seal the bottom part of the engine that encloses the oil pump.

£23.47 – Camcover gasket. Needlessly removed by Auditech. The qualified mechanic could find no reason why this was removed.

£3.61 – Turbo gasket. Needlessly removed by Auditech. The qualified mechanic could find no reason why this was removed.

£275 - Qualified mechanic labour costs to bring the car back to standard, which involved re-assembling the unnecessary disassembly of components (Namely the Camcover and Turbo) unconnected to the oil pump job.

 

£623.95 – Total outlay to qualified mechanic including the provision of another oil pump.

 

£1488.95 - Total outlay including both failed jobs from Auditech and the costs for a proper mechanic to put it right.

 

My question to you all is, what here can I claim for and how would I handle interest charges? I have never received any evidence that my original oil pump was faulty, but the Auditech mechanic removed it anyway, and didn't supply the replacement that he charged me for.

 

Now that I know exactly what the costs are to put it right I can now send him, by recorded delivery, a letter before action as I intend to submit this to Money Claims Online (an electronic version of Small claims court as I understand it).

 

Does anyone know where I can find a suitable template online that I can use?

Edited July 20, 2016 by Northernstar002
English

[Conniff]

I've moved your thread into the Legal Forums - General Legal Issues section Northernstar where you should get more legal help.

[Northernstar002]

Bump

 

Any help, ideas, comments or pointers as to which Letter before Action template would be best?

 

Anything would be gladly received.

[AndyOrch]

No templates for an LBA Im afraid as all cases are unique.....burt the following will provide guidance.

 

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/going-to-court/going-to-court/taking-court-action/step-one-write-a-letter-before-action/

[Northernstar002]

Andyorch,

 

Many thanks for your reply. The link you sent was very useful and I hope to have a letter sorted shortly.

 

Can anyone comment on the amount that I should be claiming for? Should I claim for everything and let the courts decide?

 

Is there anything further that I've missed that I should be claiming for?

 

I will be using Money Claims Online to submit my claim (https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome).

 

The mechanic in question appears to have changed his name in the past year or so, should I send a letter to each name? It looks like they live at the same address.

 

Cheers again,

[Northernstar002]

Bump.

 

Is anyone able to advise on what I can put in my claim from my post above? Should I claim for the whole lot or just portions?

[Conniff]

This is a hard one. Can you claim for say the oil pump. I would say yes as it is a part that has been fitted that hasn't solved the problem.

 

He can't willy-nilly change bits hoping that the next part cures a fault. He shouldn't be making the claim he can fix cars if he is not professional

enough to be able to accurately diagnose the fault before he starts.

 

As the car is in the same, (or worse), condition that it was when it first went in, I would list all monies paid to him.

[Northernstar002]

Awesome.

 

I still have no evidence that the original oil pump was actually at fault, so I will claim for everything. I felt that this was the right thing to do but thanks for confirming this.

 

Yes, I have also reported this man to Trading Standards as he is guilty of Misrepresentation. He claimed to be a competent Audi mechanic and couldn't fix any of the jobs that I presented him with. This is further backed up by the fact that he tried to replace the oil pump for nearly 7 weeks - giving excuses as to why it was taking so long and was so difficult. When I eventually got the car back and gave it to a competent mechanic, he fixed it in under 5 hours. Audi UK quote 4.65 hours for this work, which is spot on.

 

Cheers and thanks for your help. I feel that I can now confidently forward this to the courts.