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Failed repair by the AA

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  • Failed repair by the AA

    Good evening

    The AA came out to my car after I experienced loss of power and various warning lights on my dashboard. They diagnosed an injector had failed. An AA injector specialist came out and replaced the injector at a cost of £420.

    2 days later I experienced the exact same fault. An AA injector specialist came out and said unfortunately the same injector had failed. He said it had to be coded to the car and various other things which he said he'd done, told me he'd taken the car around the block several times to go up and down the gears. The new injector had to get used to the parameters of the car and was now in a learning phase and it was running fine. I might hear a bit of pinking but that's perfectly normal until it settles. .

    I got in the car the following morning to go to work and the car barely made it a mile. It was jerking, shuddering, lurching forward, had no power and was blowing smoke which smelled of burning.

    I rang the AA who came out again and said the car mustn't be accepting the coding for the new injector so I'd need to take it to a main dealer and pay them to sort it. They mentioned an ECU needing something doing to it. They said they'd tow the car there as a goodwill gesture but there was nothing more that they could do.

    I've spoken to a main dealer and asked them to do the work that the AA have recommended. They said they would need to diagnose it first as they don't go on 'hearsay'. Then they'd see what repairs actually needed carrying out. They quoted £150 per hour. The first hour would be the diagnosis.

    Is it unreasonable to expect that the AA should finish what they started, or at least take responsibility for putting the car right? For all I know they could have caused further damage. They've left me without a car, I have reason to believe that at least one mechanic was untruthful when he told me the car was running well after he'd taken it around the block. I mean, how could it possibly be running 'fine' but then doing all those things when I tried to drive it? It certainly wasn't blowing stinky, burning smoke before.

    I've had to borrow a vehicle whilst mine's off the road. I've logged a complaint but they've quoted 5 working days to investigate it.

    Any advice gratefully received.
    Tags: None

  • #2
    How did you pay the £420 AA charge?

    Comment


    • #3
      Debit card. He brought a card reader.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by HB1978 View Post
        Debit card. He brought a card reader.
        Make a Chargeback claim, you need to write a good summary, plus evidence why the AA has failed to do what they should have done.

        You can probably make your claim via card issuer's website..

        https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rig...m-aFAg65B543ik

        Next time pay by Credit Card, you would be covered for 'consequential losses' with a Section 75 claim.

        Update when you get a response.

        Comment


        • #5
          Thank you for replying. This is certainly worth considering. However, if I got the £420 back, took it elsewhere to fix and found out the AA had actually caused more damage, would I be able to claim off them? Or would I effectively be accepting £420 in full and final settlement?

          I won't know the damage until I fork out for a main dealer diagnosis, but I am loathed to pay £150 an hour, I think it's on the AA to sort out.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by HB1978 View Post
            Thank you for replying. This is certainly worth considering. However, if I got the £420 back, took it elsewhere to fix and found out the AA had actually caused more damage, would I be able to claim off them? Or would I effectively be accepting £420 in full and final settlement?

            I won't know the damage until I fork out for a main dealer diagnosis, but I am loathed to pay £150 an hour, I think it's on the AA to sort out.
            Yes, if the AA has caused 'damage' to your vehicle, then you should put in a complaint / claim into them.

            Comment


            • #7
              Not much of an update but I heard back from the AA after 5 working days.... to tell me that they have begun their investigation which will take approximately 28 days.

              I have also received an email from one of their claims handlers who is dealing with my 'case'.

              I've phoned and asked them to reconsider their stance - either send out another mechanic or take the car to a garage and just finish what they've started. Their response so far has remained firm - they will not be sending anyone out or taking my car to a garage.

              I've booked the car in to a main dealer for a diagnostic check (no appointments available until January). They will do a full diagnostic report then hopefully I can use this to bring a claim against the AA as it's likely to cost a small fortune to put the car right.

              Comment


              • #8
                Have you made the Chargeback claim? (Chargebacks are time sensitive).

                Just tell your card provider / bank that you are waiting for more information i.e the diagnostic report (they will put the claim on hold).

                Comment


                • #9
                  I haven't yet because I wasn't sure that I could put a charge back claim in and still pursue them for the potential further repair costs to my car?

                  I'll have a word with my bank

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Update

                    The car was towed to the garage yesterday and they have carried out a diagnostic check and reprogrammed the system/reflashed the ECU.

                    It hasn't cured the car.

                    There are no errors/faults logged in the systems that the garage could find as these have all been cleared, presumably when the AA fitted the injector and coded it to the car, they cleared the error log.

                    I can't understand though why there is no error coming up at all if the car is still in such a bad way? They can see it's spluttering, smells of burning, blowing smoke, has no power - why is the car log not bringing up the fault again?

                    They now have to start from scratch going by process of elimination to work out what is wrong. This will be costly.

                    I've sent this information to the AA, forwarding a copy of the email from the garage to them. They have responded by saying that the findings do not specify how the current issue is related to their technician's actions and that they require further evidence in order to support my claim/for them to investigate further and the onus is on me to provide it, despite the costs involved.

                    I've taken some legal advice, the next step seems to be a letter before action.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Send the AA a Subject Access Request, make it a general request, they'll send you all the data they have.
                      You may get the information you seek. Make sure you get Proof of Postage.

                      https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...ccess-request/

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Thank you, I've sent in a request.

                        The last AA guy who turned up happened to mention that the lads have a WhatsApp group where they chat about jobs they're going to...he said he'd seen mine crop up a couple of times. Would you happen to know if I can request details of this too? Or if this would be excluded as they're probably chatting on personal phones?

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          It's probably an 'unofficial' What's App group, so I don't think it will help you.

                          Comment

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