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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be very happy that i was right about the car fault

27 replies

claret3189 · 24/09/2018 12:50

I must say this made me annoyed and slightly happy. There was an issue with the car which 2 mechanics couldnt fix. On both occasions i pointed out what i thought the problem was. They were having none of it and i couldnt help but think this is because i was a female. They couldnt fix the issue but didnt even take on board my suggestion. Adamant i was right i took it to a third mechanic. Well what do you know its fixed and the fault.....what i had suggested 😄

OP posts:
Medea13 · 24/09/2018 13:06

great...

CoalTit · 24/09/2018 13:13

That's a pretty good illustration of what being a woman means to me.
I know how good and how bad it feels when you turn out to be right about something like this.

MissusGeneHunt · 24/09/2018 13:14

I had this recently with a major energy supplier who'd recently been in to do some work and after they'd been nothing bloody worked at all. They tried to tell me that a fault was mine, or my equipment's and that I'd need to pay an extortionate amount of money to get them to come back and look. Got some very condescending and patronising phone calls despite me agreeing that I'd checked X,Y and Z for them. In the end I called my friendly plumber who inspected the work they'd done and told me that it was definitely their issue (I won't go into specifics) so I contacted them again and within hours they'd apologised and offered the plumber's call out charge to me plus a 'sorry amount'.

So no, YANBU!

I wonder if it is a 'woman' thing or whether it's just some people thinking they know better, but don't?!

ajandjjmum · 24/09/2018 13:15

Hope you've gone back and told the first two mechanics!

Original poster
claret3189 · 24/09/2018 13:26

Part of me soes lean towards it being the fact a woman is suggesting what they need to fix 🤣

OP posts:
Jigglyguff · 24/09/2018 13:44

Was it a bit like this?

BertramKibbler · 24/09/2018 13:47

Smugness isn’t attractive in anybody

ajandjjmum · 24/09/2018 14:04

Who bit your bum Bertram?!!! Personally I'd always prefer to be right than wrong - doesn't make me smug.

keepingbees · 24/09/2018 14:14

I had an issue with my car recently. DH said it was fine and I was being paranoid. Garage had a quick look and said all fine and safe to drive. I knew it wasn't. It took me refusing to drive the damn thing to be taken seriously. On a more detailed inspection of the car, it had a badly broken part!
I was happy, if that's the right word, but also annoyed I wasn't taken seriously in the first place Angry

SheepyFun · 24/09/2018 14:22

I've been there - we knew there was a problem with either the battery or the alternator as the battery wouldn't hold charge. We have a charger and a multimeter at home, and I have a background in physical sciences. I discussed it with the garage - the car was still under warranty, so we had to use a dealer. Slightly ironically, a female mechanic phoned me and said the battery just needed charging. I did point out we'd spent the week charging it, to no avail. Next morning I phoned to ask to collect the car, but was told they couldn't start it, it needed a new battery. The most satisfying part was that a new battery was covered by the warranty (unlike a battery that simply needed charging). I did wonder what would have happened if DH (no science degrees!) had called...

ambostraw · 24/09/2018 14:24

Surely plugging the car into a diagnostic machine would show the fault?

SadTrombone · 24/09/2018 14:26

@ambostraw

"Surely plugging the car into a diagnostic machine would show the fault?"

For some faults. On some cars. Sometimes. (...presumably not in this instance!).

TheDarkPassenger · 24/09/2018 14:29

Lol I’d be smug as shit too. And I don’t really care about it not being attractive haha.

Hadalifeonce · 24/09/2018 14:29

I really hate the condescending way mechanics (anyone) can be towards women; I told the garage I thought there was a problem with the fuel pump and why. No, love the fuel pumps on these never go, it'll be the thingamygig, they 'fixed' it. Only they hadn't, when I went back to confront them, they exhaled loudly and said OK we'll look at the fuel pump. Yep, it was the fuel pump, never seen it before on this model, first time ever. So I insisted they replace it out for free as they had charged me for something which didn't need doing. Managed to get it sorted for nothing.

Charley50 · 24/09/2018 14:41

I started driving in my forties. Bought an old Polo but with a good engine. First time I took it for an MOT they told me it had failed on emissions and was blowing out black smoke and would cost £350 for a new CC.
I knew it wasn't. I asked for the printout. They didn't want to give it to me. I said they had to. When I looked it hadn't failed, just had a couple of advisories.

Had a big argument with them and they backed down and said it could be sorted by a cleaning liquid running through the engine. So they did that, for free. 5 MOTs later It's not 'failed' on emissions since.

Original poster
claret3189 · 24/09/2018 14:54

I definately think there is an element of not thinking we could be right lol. Not smug at all just annoyed not to be taken seriously in the first place.
Seems it happens quite frequently

OP posts:
ambostraw · 24/09/2018 15:11

definately think there is an element of not thinking we could be right lol. Not smug at all just annoyed not to be taken seriously in the first place.

Seems really stupid to turn away business based on you being a woman.

MrsMozart · 24/09/2018 15:12

Well done for sticking to your guns!

I had this. Bought a secondhand car for reasonable £. I kept saying it didn't feel quite right (I do many thousands of miles a year). Garage said it was fine. Garage owner took me out for a very fast drive in it to prove it was fine (think he was trying to scare me). I still said it wasn't right. Owner took ot next door to another garage (good rep etc). They poked and prodded. Found a bust spring. First garage owner went white. He had second garage fix it. Car then drove just fine.

Itsallamysterytome · 24/09/2018 15:14

I always know when the brake pads or clutch are going, I can just feel it. I tell him we need to start putting money aside. It has taken 20 years but he does just grumble now instead of telling me I am imagining it.

Witchend · 24/09/2018 15:16

Dm had that years back in the 80s. On the third time she brought with her all 3 of us children (including toddler ds) and said we were going to sit in the new car showroom until it was fixed. They fixed it in 10 minutes Grin

Original poster
claret3189 · 24/09/2018 15:20

@witchend haha love this

OP posts:
GoatWithACoat · 24/09/2018 15:25

I actually walked in on two guys in a garage slagging women off and saying how they charge them more for work. I had my car booked in for work. I took great pleasure in telling their bright red, shocked ugly little faces to shove it up their arse!

Foxyloxy1plus1 · 24/09/2018 15:36

My neighbour refuses to deal with a particular garage because of their attitude to women and I changed my car to a different make for the same reason.

Allergictoironing · 24/09/2018 15:37

I had a battery charging fault on my car years ago, which decided to go at a service station half way up the A1. Took me about half an hour to persuade the mechanic that there was no way the battery could be completely flat because I'd left the lights on while I went on for a pee and a coffee, as a) I'd only been away from the car 20 mins and b) in those particular cars you have to specifically turn on parking lights if you want them, as ALL other lights were switched off if the keys were removed from the ignition. I had to show him the bit in the handbook to prove it to him.I also didn't appreciate his snide comments about me being in my "husband's" car just because it was a Subaru Imprezza WRX (VERY fast) - I am and was single, it was my own car bought from new some 4-5 years previously.

Claudiawinksatmen · 24/09/2018 15:47

Charlie50 Yep I had similiar, they told me the car had failed MOT as all my wheels were buckled" worst they had ever seen!" Took it to the Council test centre for a retest - passed straight away - nothing wrong with it despite not replacing all those buckled wheels! Always use the Council test centre for MOT now.