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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Are garage taking me for a fool here?

2 replies

LunaLoveLemon · 07/10/2022 16:57

Took my car in on Wednesday for an electrical fault to be fixed. Plus a couple of new tyres (advisory on the MOT) and possibly new brake pads and discs. At the time I agreed to the work the guy said he’d check the brakes properly whilst doing the tyres. No problem I said.

Got a call middle of Wednesday advising that the fault was going to take a bit longer than planned. I queried the charge for the additional labour and checked what we were up to cost-wise. I asked if the brakes had been done as I could put those off a month or two to spread the cost (they weren’t urgent) but they had already done them without actually confirming with me.

Car still in the garage yesterday. Had to chase them to see what was going on twice. Very little info given.

They’ve still got it. I’ve chased it twice today and they’ve just said they’re waiting to fit a new battery. I assume at great additional cost that has not been discussed with me or budgeted for.

A £2-300 job has become more than £1000 (at my estimation as no one seems able to give me a figure?!). I don’t have £1000 spare at the drop of a hat ffs and no one has actually discussed cost with me. It’s all just been assumed. When I have used garages previously, they have always given me options, costs etc in advance.

AIBU to feel I am being had? This is a really well regarded local business and a big part of the community.

OP posts:
GasPanic · 07/10/2022 17:07

What was the electrical fault ? They can be hard to fix.

Had a new battery fitted to mine for £200 recently. It's a 20-30 minute job usually. The car diagnostics should be able to indicate whether or not the battery is bad in the first place.

Possible they couldn't fix the electrical fault so tried to replace the battery to see whether it would do anything, rather than actually knowing/finding what the fault was.

For me, yes it is unusual and not right for people to carry out work without confirming it first.

They should offer you an explanation as to why they went down the battery replacement route.

SweetiePi3 · 01/06/2023 09:53

It's awful how some garages take advantage of us. Mine was collected and taken to fix a steering problem . They never contacted me to discuss extra costs. It came back with new tyres and battery. The steering problem was still the same.

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