Reoccurring Head Gasket problems

W

Welshichi

New Member
Nov 22, 2010
2
0
0
HI all

Our only car was towed to our local garage four months ago with a blown head gasket. Our car was repaired there which took them three weeks and we paid by Credit card £500 inclusive labour & VAT.

For the time our only car was being repaired, we had to take time off work due to living in a small village with hardly any public transportation options.

Once we had our car back repaired, two days afterwards, the car started leaking water and we had to take it again to our local garage were the mechanic told us that it had to do with head gasket and he repaired it without billing us.

Ever since then the water leak has been "maintained" by us with topping up, as we were told to do this by the mechanic when we collected the car.

Now four months on, the head gasket has blown again and we had to be towed by the rescue to another garage. When they told us that the head gasket had blown, we told them the stories we had been through with the local garage and they said that it should be the local garage to put this right as they did not do a proper job. So, we got out car towed to our local garage.

When they saw our car being towed in, the first thing they said was that it was not their fault and we would have to foot the bill this time for a new head gasket.

Now, we are stranded again and on the verge of losing our jobs due to having no more days left over to take as holidays.

We need to find some answers from somewhere.

We do not know what to do now and what are our rights as a consumer?

Any help would be very much appreicated or pointers in the right direction, thank you very much.

Terry & Mon
 
Last edited:
A

ALewis

Moderator
Nov 23, 2010
691
4
0
South Wales
Hi there :)

The law relating to servicing and repairs is governed by the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. This states that any service must:

* be performed with reasonable care and skill
* be performed within a reasonable time (unless a specific time has been agreed)
* be performed for a reasonable charge (where no charge has been agreed beforehand)


My advice to you is to speak to the garage and state the law above (Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982),letting them know that you know your rights, and that they have not fulfilled part of the law requirements...
you can also tell them that (if they have provided the parts too) their goods have also broken the Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994 , where products must be fit for purpose (where clearly they are not) and that they should be of satisfactory quality.

i'd stick with the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 though as the products may be perfectly fine and it may just be down to the bad work they have done.

Write a letter to the manager of the garage, explain the details of the problem, tell the manager you know your rights and they are not obiding the law, and that you will take legal procedings if they will not sort it out [for free] (only say this if you are prepared to do so).

Before taking legal proceedings make sure you follow all neccessary steps for your case to get to court:
Write them a letter
Speak to them directly,
try all you can to get the matter resolved without the need for a court hearing.

Usually just letting the garage know that you're prepared to take it to court is usually enough.

Make notes on everything you do from now on.
Any letters you send, scan/photocopy them.
Keep details on all conversations, photocopy bank statement - highlighting the payment
Note down time and date of all phone conversations,
If possible, record conversations (in person or over phone) - let garage know you are doing so also.

Hope this helps
 
W

Welshichi

New Member
Nov 22, 2010
2
0
0
ALewis said:
Hi there :)

The law relating to servicing and repairs is governed by the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. This states that any service must:

* be performed with reasonable care and skill
* be performed within a reasonable time (unless a specific time has been agreed)
* be performed for a reasonable charge (where no charge has been agreed beforehand)


My advice to you is to speak to the garage and state the law above (Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982),letting them know that you know your rights, and that they have not fulfilled part of the law requirements...
you can also tell them that (if they have provided the parts too) their goods have also broken the Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994 , where products must be fit for purpose (where clearly they are not) and that they should be of satisfactory quality.

i'd stick with the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 though as the products may be perfectly fine and it may just be down to the bad work they have done.

Write a letter to the manager of the garage, explain the details of the problem, tell the manager you know your rights and they are not obiding the law, and that you will take legal procedings if they will not sort it out [for free] (only say this if you are prepared to do so).

Before taking legal proceedings make sure you follow all neccessary steps for your case to get to court:
Write them a letter
Speak to them directly,
try all you can to get the matter resolved without the need for a court hearing.

Usually just letting the garage know that you're prepared to take it to court is usually enough.

Make notes on everything you do from now on.
Any letters you send, scan/photocopy them.
Keep details on all conversations, photocopy bank statement - highlighting the payment
Note down time and date of all phone conversations,
If possible, record conversations (in person or over phone) - let garage know you are doing so also.

Hope this helps
Click to expand...
Thank you very much for your reply it was an eye opener and we will indeed start writing a letter to the garage and will take it from there. Thanks again for oyur guidance.

Regards

Terry & Mon
 
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