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short story.
the clutch on my van went the other day, so spoke to a mechanic friend of mine whi was too busy to fix but recommended another garage he had apaarently used a few times in the past who would come and pickup - fix - drop off back to me, my friend told me the clutch (and possibly dual mass fly wheel) could cost around the £300 to £700 mark in total to fix.
he gave me number, i run them up, they are in wigan (im in blackburn) we agreed over the phone that they would pick van up and fix and return for £330 inc vat, on the basis that it was just the clutch, which i agreed to.
they came, picked up and took away.
later that night they rung me up and informed me the flywheel would need changing also, i expected this and we agreed that the whole job would be done at a cost of £648 inc vat. he informed me the van would be ready just after dinner time the next day.
dinner time the following day he rings me up to confirm i will be in, i stated yes, he tells me they are setting off ow to drop van back over and will be about 30 minutes or so.
this was around 12 noon.
2pm arrives still no van, so i ring them up and the same guy states that he should of been here by now but he cant contact them, and that he set off just after he innitially rung me to confirm i was in.
3:15 approx arrives, i get a knock on my door, my vans outside on the road (parked on the grass verge) outside my house, i invite him in, he explains all works been done and fine, but that the water pipe came off whilst the mechanic was working on it and that i should check my water but other than that its fine, i pay him the money he gives me the key and an invoice and we walk outside together, he jumps in the other van his mate has followed him over in and they drive off, i get in my van and it wont start, it just turns over and over and over and pretty quickly the battery dies.
i immediatley ring the office number and explain hes dropped it off just now but it wont start. i put the phone to the engine whilst turning it over to let him hear, he says it was fine when it left here, when the driver gets back he will speak to him and ring me back.
an hour later he rings me back states that the driver told him the "engine burbled a few times on the way over but the dropped a gear and it was fine"...........
non of this information was offered to me when he came for his money
i asked him where does this leave me? he said get the AA to look at it, i told him this aint on and that the van was working and starting fine when it left me just the clutch had gone, he told me to get a local mechanic to look at it, at this point i made him pretty aware i wasnt happy about this , keeping as calm as i could, i had to put the phone down on him but his parting words where get someone to look at it and get back to him. this was thursday, in the meantime no ones looked at it yet (mainly because i cant move it, ive managed to tow it up the road and freewheel it back down and try and bump start it but it wont start) ive now got it on my drive at least.
but where does this leave me, im wanting to ring him back but what do i say?
on another note, i have a theory.
they picked it up in a low loader and have meant to of drive it back over, but when it was outside my house it still had the towing eye screwed into it and i never heard them pull up either, plus with the 3 hour journey to my house leads me to believe that the cars either just been straight towed here or broken down enroute and they towed it to the top of the hill unhooked it and freewheeled it down the road and parked it out side (if it had its own power, they would of drove it onto my drive)
what do i say to him when i ring back, to be fair im pretty feckin angry about this and my "mate" who recommended them is not answering his phone now, dont get me wrong i know its not his fault per se but hes a mechanic he could at least come over and arm me with the facts for me to ring them back up!!
cheers for info in advance...
the clutch on my van went the other day, so spoke to a mechanic friend of mine whi was too busy to fix but recommended another garage he had apaarently used a few times in the past who would come and pickup - fix - drop off back to me, my friend told me the clutch (and possibly dual mass fly wheel) could cost around the £300 to £700 mark in total to fix.
he gave me number, i run them up, they are in wigan (im in blackburn) we agreed over the phone that they would pick van up and fix and return for £330 inc vat, on the basis that it was just the clutch, which i agreed to.
they came, picked up and took away.
later that night they rung me up and informed me the flywheel would need changing also, i expected this and we agreed that the whole job would be done at a cost of £648 inc vat. he informed me the van would be ready just after dinner time the next day.
dinner time the following day he rings me up to confirm i will be in, i stated yes, he tells me they are setting off ow to drop van back over and will be about 30 minutes or so.
this was around 12 noon.
2pm arrives still no van, so i ring them up and the same guy states that he should of been here by now but he cant contact them, and that he set off just after he innitially rung me to confirm i was in.
3:15 approx arrives, i get a knock on my door, my vans outside on the road (parked on the grass verge) outside my house, i invite him in, he explains all works been done and fine, but that the water pipe came off whilst the mechanic was working on it and that i should check my water but other than that its fine, i pay him the money he gives me the key and an invoice and we walk outside together, he jumps in the other van his mate has followed him over in and they drive off, i get in my van and it wont start, it just turns over and over and over and pretty quickly the battery dies.
i immediatley ring the office number and explain hes dropped it off just now but it wont start. i put the phone to the engine whilst turning it over to let him hear, he says it was fine when it left here, when the driver gets back he will speak to him and ring me back.
an hour later he rings me back states that the driver told him the "engine burbled a few times on the way over but the dropped a gear and it was fine"...........
non of this information was offered to me when he came for his money
i asked him where does this leave me? he said get the AA to look at it, i told him this aint on and that the van was working and starting fine when it left me just the clutch had gone, he told me to get a local mechanic to look at it, at this point i made him pretty aware i wasnt happy about this , keeping as calm as i could, i had to put the phone down on him but his parting words where get someone to look at it and get back to him. this was thursday, in the meantime no ones looked at it yet (mainly because i cant move it, ive managed to tow it up the road and freewheel it back down and try and bump start it but it wont start) ive now got it on my drive at least.
but where does this leave me, im wanting to ring him back but what do i say?
on another note, i have a theory.
they picked it up in a low loader and have meant to of drive it back over, but when it was outside my house it still had the towing eye screwed into it and i never heard them pull up either, plus with the 3 hour journey to my house leads me to believe that the cars either just been straight towed here or broken down enroute and they towed it to the top of the hill unhooked it and freewheeled it down the road and parked it out side (if it had its own power, they would of drove it onto my drive)
what do i say to him when i ring back, to be fair im pretty feckin angry about this and my "mate" who recommended them is not answering his phone now, dont get me wrong i know its not his fault per se but hes a mechanic he could at least come over and arm me with the facts for me to ring them back up!!
cheers for info in advance...
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