AA and Halfords breakdown stitch up!

[LAURENCE101]

AA have a set up with Halfords for breakdown repairs.

AA diagnosed my partner's car as having suspected blown head gasket and towed to Halfords.

Halfords charged for diagnosis, diagnosed other problems (not head gasket), quoted for these, fixed these and sundry minor issues.

They then came back and said head gasket had actually gone and repair costs have doubled!!

If we'd known this, we would have scrapped car.

A local garage has told us Halfords are renowned for charging for unnecessary and minor issues.

We feel this is deliberate tactic by Halfords to fix secondary issues before informing customer of true nature of problem / repair costs to inflate repair bill.

We are especially annoyed as this is the SECOND TIME the AA has diagnosed a problem at the roadside and Halfords have ignored them, only for it to be revealed that the AA were correct.

The AA needs to stop using Halfords as their preferred garage. They are either not honest or incompetant.

Halfords needs to keep their customers informed if their diagnostics cannot diagnose the suspected problem highlighted by the AA

Halfords should not be carrying out unnecessary secondary repair work prior to main issue being diagnosed and quoted for.

[king12345]

Same old, same old.

You take the car to a garage, especially big brands and main dealers, and all of a sudden you have a scrap of a car which is dangerous to drive and needs thousand of pounds spent on it.

On top of that you have the usual suspects blown bulbs, brake pads and discs, tyres, wiper blades, clutch adjustment, fluid top ups and spark plugs.

Not long ago a friend was told by ford that he needed to pay £2k for his 3yo Mondeo for essential and dangerous faults.

He signed the disclaimer, went to an mot centre and passed the mot without any advisory.

Ford ho is investigating apparently (not).

And some people on this forum still defend them.

Pathetic!

[Hammy1962]

Aye, same old, same old...........................

 

Ford wouldn't say that to a 'customer''. Ford manufacture vehicles.

 

Ford Dealers interface with customers. Post your friends experience, what was the 2K for? Which Dealer etc.

 

I'm sure we can help your friend.

 

H

[king12345]

Aye, same old, same old...........................

 

Ford wouldn't say that to a 'customer''. Ford manufacture vehicles.

 

Ford Dealers interface with customers. Post your friends experience, what was the 2K for? Which Dealer etc.

 

I'm sure we can help your friend.

 

H

 

Same as when I asked advice for being almost ripped off by Toyota making false statements that my nearly new car was basically a scrap.

I was just inundated with abuse and being told that if Toyota says that 8k miles tires are illegal I must trust them even though ats (tyre specialist) said tyres were absolutely fine.

So what's the point of posting anything related to main dealers when there are strong fans of them (or maybe dealers themselves under cover).

[Hammy1962]

It's not abuse, its fact.

 

So then, again, just to clarify, Toyota didn't rip you off, they are a manufacturer.

 

You went to a Toyota Dealer, who, apart from a paper agreement, has little to do with Toyota. There are other Toyota Dealers. If you were not happy with one, change, just as you would do with the local shoe repairer. Who was the Dealer?

 

Posters on here have always had difficulty separating manufacturers from dealers, its really is not hard to understand.

 

H

[king12345]

It's not abuse, its fact.

 

So then, again, just to clarify, Toyota didn't rip you off, they are a manufacturer.

 

You went to a Toyota Dealer, who, apart from a paper agreement, has little to do with Toyota. There are other Toyota Dealers. If you were not happy with one, change, just as you would do with the local shoe repairer. Who was the Dealer?

 

Posters on here have always had difficulty separating manufacturers from dealers, its really is not hard to understand.

 

H

 

I know what you say, but if a garage is luring customers in by using a certain brand, the brand owner should take some responsibility.

In my case Toyota ho contacted the garage and asked questions about trying to rip me off.

I suppose that if a garage kept on receiving complaints, the manufacturer could eventually decide to strip them of the pleasure of using their name, as any franchise.

The abuse I received was just that, no facts.

The fact was that they wanted to charge me £300 for new tyres because mine were illegal and dangerous.

I took the car to Ats tyre specialist and the confirmed that tyres were just about half worn, legal, safe and with lots of life in them.

That only proves that they tried to rip me off.

In fact when Toyota got involved they backtracked and said it was only advice.

What about the disclaimer they wanted me to sign stating that the car was unroadworthy???

Thieves.

[heliosuk]

Here we go again, King, is/was your Toyota a genuine import or a grey import as when I worked for a Prestige German manufacturer I often came across the same situation when we advised the tyres were not approved for use in Europe and this hadn't been explained properly by the Service Advisors who tended to be pretty females who couldn't explain the difference between a con rod and a piston unless high on prosecco in a night club let alone any rubber parts!!

 

 

It's a real nightmare for manufacturers and dealers at the moment as they don't want to pay aftersales people decent rates!

[king12345]

Here we go again, King, is/was your Toyota a genuine import or a grey import as when I worked for a Prestige German manufacturer I often came across the same situation when we advised the tyres were not approved for use in Europe and this hadn't been explained properly by the Service Advisors who tended to be pretty females who couldn't explain the difference between a con rod and a piston unless high on prosecco in a night club let alone any rubber parts!!

 

 

It's a real nightmare for manufacturers and dealers at the moment as they don't want to pay aftersales people decent rates!

 

Import?

The Toyota was first registered in UK , so no import whatsoever.

The hard fact is that they backtracked once I exposed their con.

They scare people with their disclaimer that they want you to sign to take your own car away when in fact there's nothing wrong with it.

There's no excuse for saying that tyres are illegal when they're not, whatever way you want to turn it around.

And this without mentioning the split wiper blades, buckled discs, loose exhaust and blown bulbs which are classic "not under warranty" items that somehow manage to break as soon as you get to the dealers yard.

I understand you want to defend them (or yourself?) but they have a reputation for a reason, people don't just wake up one day and start fabricating allegations.

Those are facts.

[Hammy1962]

Amazing.

 

H

[scaniaman]

Hammy, with your superior knowledge, could you please explain to us mere mortals why you keep hammering that company X,Y or Z "just manufacture vehicles". This gives the impression that once a vehicle leaves the factory the manufacturer has no further responsibility for that vehicle. There also seems to be some ambiguity as to the relationship between maker and main dealers. Your posts also make it unclear who gives the warranty for such vehicles.

The reason I mention the latter point is that the public frequently see nearly new cars offered for sale and advertised as "With balance of manufacturers warranty"---so what precisely is the situation.

[Hammy1962]

Oh crikey, how long have you got?

As an example, a poster on here states 'I took my Fiesta to Ford because the widget no longer bleeps' The fact is they took it to a Ford Franchised Dealer who happens to have sold that car or similar ones. Your friend AC (RIP) is a Main Dealer for many marques, AC do not manufacture any cars, ie Citroen.

 

In simple terms, once a vehicle has left the factory they do not have any further responsibility for that vehicle. I've explained before on here, and to you, that the Warranty pot is filled and topped up with a small percentage of the vehicles purchase price. The responsibility for completing repairs under warranty lies with the manufacturers Dealers who charge the manufacturer when they repair a vehicle under warranty.

 

The manufacturer gives the warranty, the dealers implement and administer it.

 

The balance of a warranty is just that, if a vehicle has a three year warranty and it is sold at two years then it still has one years manufacturers warranty to go.

 

In reality it is much more complicated than the above but it's 11.15pm and i'm tired.

 

H

[king12345]

Oh crikey, how long have you got?

As an example, a poster on here states 'I took my Fiesta to Ford because the widget no longer bleeps' The fact is they took it to a Ford Franchised Dealer who happens to have sold that car or similar ones. Your friend AC (RIP) is a Main Dealer for many marques, AC do not manufacture any cars, ie Citroen.

 

In simple terms, once a vehicle has left the factory they do not have any further responsibility for that vehicle. I've explained before on here, and to you, that the Warranty pot is filled and topped up with a small percentage of the vehicles purchase price. The responsibility for completing repairs under warranty lies with the manufacturers Dealers who charge the manufacturer when they repair a vehicle under warranty.

 

The manufacturer gives the warranty, the dealers implement and administer it.

 

The balance of a warranty is just that, if a vehicle has a three year warranty and it is sold at two years then it still has one years manufacturers warranty to go.

 

In reality it is much more complicated than the above but it's 11.15pm and i'm tired.

 

H

 

All well and good, everyone knows this.

What we don't know is why you defend main dealers who clearly and arrogantly rip off people.

They think that because they use the manufacturer logo they can con people left right and centre and get away with it, inflicting fear with their fake diagnosis and useless disclaimers.

Unfortunately for some stupid reasons car buyers think that a full service history from main dealer is better than that of an independent garage and the price reflects that.

So I for one, am forced to go to a main dealer because I don't want to lose value on a fairly new car that I'm gonna sell soon.

Main dealers know this and use dirty tricks to rip people off.

Fact!

I'm sure that there are a couple of honest main dealers out there, maybe in small villages in the countryside, but I haven't come across any of them in London.

Looking at motoring forums, the majority of dealers act almost criminally (maybe not almost).

And you defend them.

Fact!

[scaniaman]

Ha Ha. You would make an ideal politician.

[Hammy1962]

Ha Ha. You would make an ideal politician.

A rare compliment.

 

H

[scaniaman]

That's a Compliment ???????

Edited April 12, 2017 by scaniaman
dippit