Quote from: mr_rollGlad it wasnt on the motorway. Id definately contact trading standards and if they are an MOT garage then get VOSA or the Ministry of Transport (or whoever it is) to check them out and send a warning to them.

I dont know what you could sue for, apart from lost earnings and stress. As I could imagine if my wheel did that Id atleast be wanting a new pair of trousers, seats etc

Im not actually arsed about money or suing, just a way of ensuring that whoever is responsible is properly punished, as Egg says the last thing anyone wants to see is the same thing from the same garage happening a few months later on the motorway and causing a major accident.

This is what happens with the decline of proper mechanics and their replacement with fitters

Quote from: MarkThis is what happens with the decline of proper mechanics and their replacement with fitters

Ive proper seen my arse with our local garage, took the audi for a new nearside front wheel bearing cos I didnt have time, 1.5hours @ £90ph! and it was f**king college muppet on £6.50ph that fitted it. Could have took a day off work to do it myself at those prices.

Quote from: MarkThis is what happens with the decline of proper mechanics and their replacement with fitters

This.  One of the local garages quoted a mate £1000 for a head gasket job on his Freelander.  He had it done, but they had to wait a couple of days for the guy who was "Qualified" to do it to come in, because he only works there 2 days a week!  Its a fecking head gasket, its not exactly rocket science!

Quote from: DEViANCE

Quote from: MarkThis is what happens with the decline of proper mechanics and their replacement with fitters

Ive proper seen my arse with our local garage, took the audi for a new nearside front wheel bearing cos I didnt have time, 1.5hours @ £90ph! and it was f**king college muppet on £6.50ph that fitted it. Could have took a day off work to do it myself at those prices.

That rate would make me sick if I went to pick it up after. Glad to say the guy who does mine and my brothers major engine work charges £25p/h and is very fast, efficent and is very fair.

Well, the fitter responsible has been put on an unpaid suspension while they investigate further, and our little car had the attention of some proper mechanics (i.e not fitters) until midnight the last two nights. Everything has been taken apart and stripped and pretty much everything related to the accident either replaced or refurbished. Everything even remotely connected to the accident has a 12 month warranty on it and theyve thrown in a free full service and MOT plus any repairs that need carrying out when its due in October. All of the repairs were also verified by an external mechanic not attached to the garage and Ive got that all in writing.

All in all Im happy with how it panned out. The manager was quite visibly upset by the whole affair to be honest and most importantly the person who made the mistake is getting a pretty severe thrashing and will not make the same mistake again.

Sounds like theyve done everything they could to make it right which is nice to see.

Quote from: DEViANCESounds like theyve done everything they could to make it right which is nice to see.

Yep, there was no question about it which impressed me. I was pretty much prepared to go in all guns blazing demanding this and that and expecting them to be useless but from the word go they admitted full responsibility and Ive not had to ask for anything, everything Id planned to demand (in a suitably authoritative tone) was offered straight to me.

thats pretty good, theres not many garages like that anymore !

Excellent result, Im happy to see its panned out okay without needing any escalation on your part.

Quote from: MarkThis is what happens with the decline of proper mechanics and their replacement with fitters

My job title is "fitter", but I did a years skills building, and two years on the job training as part of an apprenticeship before I was even considered qualified enough to be trained on my current post.

The person who carried out that "repair" wasnt even a fitter, it was a monkey.  We all make mistakes, but if someone that unqualified was doing the work, they ought to have their work inspected.

Quote from: knightythats pretty good, theres not many garages like that anymore !

tiss true!