Repair paid for but not repaired WWYD

[Cartrouble1]

Local garage has had my car in 3 times since May to fix the air con.

First time it had some sort of leak sealant put in and was re-gassed c. €180. Two weeks later, all the refrigerant had gone and no cold air.

I brought it to another garage at their recommendation who charged me €50 to try and find the leak as they said they could not. They said a seal needed replacing.

Back to the original garage I go and they change 2 seals and a second re gas, €99. This last six weeks approx and again, the air con is not working.

Bring it back a third time and they change two more seals and re gas it, c. €70. You can guess what's happened, no air con again after a couple of weeks.

Now, I know that they gave me a discount and didn't charge me full price each subsequent time they re-gassed it, but it seems to me that that actually cannot identify the problem, yet I have been charged c. €350 by them and had to pay €50 to another garage and I have NOTHING to show for it.

I last popped into them a week ago and they said they would talk to their mechanics and come back to me, even said 'maybe I'll even get back to you this evening', to see what they think as they wouldn't want me wasting more money on it (no apology, no offer of a free fix). Have not received a call since. I have not chased up as I've been in for minor surgery and am recovering.

I'm a decent sort of person, E.G. there have been times with the above appointments where I could see they were very busy and I've offered to come back the following week and this was accepted.

I understand that it costs them each time they have refilled the car with air con gas, but it's not my fault it's leaked 3 times.

In all honesty, in terms of fixing the air con, I have lost all faith in them. Would I be within my rights/do you think it's acceptable for me to ask for my money back and that I'll take the car to a specialist? WWYD?

I'm feeling a bit awkward about it all as they are nice people and like most people, I don't enjoy confrontation, especially not in a small town where everyone knows everyone else. It's making me rather stressed to be honest.

Thanks

I understand that it costs them each time they have refilled the car with air con gas, but it's not my fault it's leaked 3 times.

If your car has 3 separate air con leaks, so it's leaked after each time they've fixed one of them and refilled it, then that is your car's fault (so effectively is your fault).

However if they've simply not found and fixed the leaks, that's different.

I think (based on something I've seen on Facebook) that the usual way to find air-con leaks is by injecting some sort of dye into the system and running it to see where the dye leaks out - may be worth a google to check if this is what they're meant to do, and then asking them if they've done it?

Would I be within my rights/do you think it's acceptable for me to ask for my money back and that I'll take the car to a specialist?

I expect if you look at what you've been paid for it'll be for a specific repair (e.g. "replace flexi-pipe in air con and re-gas system") and that specific piece of work will have been done, albeit it's not had the desired effect. So you'll not have much joy getting a refund

I would be chasing a refund. You didn't go to the garage telling them this leak here needs doing you asked them to fix the Aircon and they haven't.

Thanks for your reply dcsp. I can see your point of view about paying for specific items/actions which have been completed. I feel like it's a bit of a grey area.

I think the issue is that they haven't tested the system for leaks properly and so have to keep filling it up. If they checked it properly to begin with, identified and fixed all the leaks, they wouldn't have had to re-gas it 3 times?

Also, if there are 4 seals and they are all 9 years old and 2 of them are leaking, surely it would have made sense for them to change all 4 seals at once and not make two jobs of it? Not that it would have helped anyway I guess as I now have 4 seals and still, no air con 😔 first world problems I know, but I can't afford to waste €400 which is where I'm currently at.

This is true. I've paid and paid and paid for it to be fixed and it is still not fixed. I've told them that I've no more money to put into this problem but they've come back with no suggestions since I said this.

They are scamming you. I would take along a man who is somewhat knowledgeable about cars and have them help straighten this out.

I don't like to rely on a man but sometimes, in some places, noone will listen to a woman.

It's not a Kia e-niro is it? We had similar issue. Can't remember how we fixed it but apparently it's known on motoring chatrooms for this issue. We don't have that car anymore