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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To complain to garage after finding something disgusting in my car?

75 replies

Shmee1988 · 27/03/2026 07:12

So, last week I contacted a garage local to me as my car was due its MoT and service. The man I usually use retired last year so this was the first time using this garage. They asked me to stop my car down on Monday morning and pop the keys through the letterbox. I had no choice to do this as they open at 9 but I WFH with 9am start. I wrote my number down on a bit of paper and put it under the windscreen. I didnt hear back all day so at 4pm I rang twice, no answer and eventually went down at 5pm. The car hadn't moved and the place was all locked up. I rang the ring doorbell and after a few minutes the woman who runs the place came down looking half asleep and have me some absolute bs excuse about why my car hadn't been done. She said she got confused about what it was in for but didnt have my number. If she had have looked, it was there! This ain't convenient with 2 kids, a job and multiple after school clubs as im sureant of you know.
Anyway, she gets to it on Tuesday, the car fails and work takes a couple of days so I finally get a call to say its ready at 4:30pm yesterday.

Shes left the wheels on the wheel for me and gone home, fair enough. When I open the back door to put my son in his car seat, there is a disgusting, huge, used sanitary towel, with blood and pubes just laying on my back seat. Now I know without a shadow of a doubt it wasn't there when I dropped the car off. Firstly because I haven't used towels in 20 years, I am the only female in our family and my car was fully valeted 2 weeks before it went in.

Would I be u reasonable to pursue this and ask for an explanation and apology? Or is it pointless drama?

YABU - bin it and let it go
YANBU- complain!!!

OP posts:
somanychristmaslights · 27/03/2026 07:21

What type of garage are you using????

Booooooooom · 27/03/2026 07:23

Omg you must complain. Someone’s probably been shagging in the back seat

rwalker · 27/03/2026 07:24

I that’s grim I would just never go back
you’d say it wasn’t yours they’d say it was it would go no where

Anewerforest · 27/03/2026 07:26

What sort of garage is this????? I would not bother complaining, they sound deranged.

somanychristmaslights · 27/03/2026 07:27

Booooooooom · 27/03/2026 07:23

Omg you must complain. Someone’s probably been shagging in the back seat

Shagging??? If they’ve left a used sanitary towel in there, I’m sure you’d see a bit of a mess if they’d had sex in there too!!

ExtraOnions · 27/03/2026 07:28

Complete nonesense

Maybe the reason she looks so grumpy is because she’s using a towel the wrong way round and it’s acting as a wax strip rather than a protective layer ?

pastabaker · 27/03/2026 07:28

This has got to be a wind up.

Also OP, you’re very trusting to just put your car keys through the letterbox of a garage you’ve never used before. 😂

Shesafancyflapjack · 27/03/2026 08:48

So the mechanic is a scruffy and slovenly woman who not only couldn’t be bothered to MOT and fix your car but also somehow placed her blood stained sanitary towel on a rear seat for you to find? And she lives above the garage like in a 1950s Mid West road movie? Of course this happened

vodkaredbullgirl · 27/03/2026 09:03
confused jeff bridges GIF

Eh

Shmee1988 · 27/03/2026 09:14

Shesafancyflapjack · 27/03/2026 08:48

So the mechanic is a scruffy and slovenly woman who not only couldn’t be bothered to MOT and fix your car but also somehow placed her blood stained sanitary towel on a rear seat for you to find? And she lives above the garage like in a 1950s Mid West road movie? Of course this happened

So you think I am making it up? Lol, I dont know what kind of odd ball you would need to be to lie about it? I took pictures but I am not sure they are MN appropriate, nor that anyone would want to see. The lady that I dealt with is the owner of the garage, but I can not say that she is the mechanic because I dont know. Nor did I suggest that she lives at the garage? I can assure you, everything is have said is absolutely true. I was thinking, as she had it for 4 days that maybe she used it to take rubbish to the tip and it fell out or something similar.

OP posts:
Shmee1988 · 27/03/2026 09:16

ExtraOnions · 27/03/2026 07:28

Complete nonesense

Maybe the reason she looks so grumpy is because she’s using a towel the wrong way round and it’s acting as a wax strip rather than a protective layer ?

Complete nonsense how? I have pictures. It was old and dirty, laying on the back seat, NEXT to my 6 years olds car seat.

OP posts:
PollyBell · 27/03/2026 09:17

Anewerforest · 27/03/2026 07:26

What sort of garage is this????? I would not bother complaining, they sound deranged.

Cars up us?

NotAnotherScarf · 27/03/2026 09:17

Shesafancyflapjack · 27/03/2026 08:48

So the mechanic is a scruffy and slovenly woman who not only couldn’t be bothered to MOT and fix your car but also somehow placed her blood stained sanitary towel on a rear seat for you to find? And she lives above the garage like in a 1950s Mid West road movie? Of course this happened

I was going to say something similar, but last time I did it was removed.

Really, in the time of fb, trust pilot etc a garage which will rely on word of mouth for advertising....

And why would you even take your car to a garage without a proper reception and then leave it when they are clearly incompetent.

BTW op. The department of transport is very very strict on who gets an mot licence with regular inspections

shellyleppard · 27/03/2026 09:32

Questions...
Why wasn't the sanitary towel folded over/wrapped up/in a rubbish bag did you leave a note with your car keys when you posted them through the door
Do you think she took rubbish to the tip??
Did you check your speedometer?
Sooo many questions....

Shmee1988 · 27/03/2026 09:33

NotAnotherScarf · 27/03/2026 09:17

I was going to say something similar, but last time I did it was removed.

Really, in the time of fb, trust pilot etc a garage which will rely on word of mouth for advertising....

And why would you even take your car to a garage without a proper reception and then leave it when they are clearly incompetent.

BTW op. The department of transport is very very strict on who gets an mot licence with regular inspections

I am aware. I have been driving and MoTing cars for a number of year, always with the same garage. The previous garage i used was quite a trip away but was owned by some i trust who has recently retired. I then chose to use a garage within walking distance to my house. I have never used them before by my brother and dad have. (My brother had a bad experience there but I was more concerned with convenience). Im not sure why on earth anyone would make this up but it's not my responsibility to make you believe me.

OP posts:
Shmee1988 · 27/03/2026 09:36

shellyleppard · 27/03/2026 09:32

Questions...
Why wasn't the sanitary towel folded over/wrapped up/in a rubbish bag did you leave a note with your car keys when you posted them through the door
Do you think she took rubbish to the tip??
Did you check your speedometer?
Sooo many questions....

Ive no idea, the rest of the car was still clean, no rubbish, just that, laying open on the back seat.
My initial instinct was that it had been used to transport household waste and it had maybe fallen out.
The car had its initial MOT and failed and the mileage was recorded on the sheet. Oddly, when it was retested and passed, the garage left all the paper work on the seat but the mileage had been changed by blue pen to add 6 extra. Not sure if that relevant?
Its all just a bit odd.

OP posts:
TY78910 · 27/03/2026 09:37

Sounds like she’s pissed off about the first altercation and it’s a juvenile revenge act 😂

SexIsNotNebulous · 27/03/2026 09:39

DS took his car for works at Ford dealership and when he picked it up there was a McDonalds receipt in the cup holder. Clearly they had been using his car as a run around. They denied it, but waived his entire service fee as a “goodwill gesture” whilst being in complete denial of any misuse 🤔

That’s pretty grim though OP and could well have been a tip run. I would send pictures of it to her and ask for an explanation and that you have “retained it as evidence”.

obviously you will have done no such thing as it’s disgusting.

Shmee1988 · 27/03/2026 09:44

SexIsNotNebulous · 27/03/2026 09:39

DS took his car for works at Ford dealership and when he picked it up there was a McDonalds receipt in the cup holder. Clearly they had been using his car as a run around. They denied it, but waived his entire service fee as a “goodwill gesture” whilst being in complete denial of any misuse 🤔

That’s pretty grim though OP and could well have been a tip run. I would send pictures of it to her and ask for an explanation and that you have “retained it as evidence”.

obviously you will have done no such thing as it’s disgusting.

I have sent an email to the garage with the pictures attached. My DP genuinely wanted to keep it and take it back round there this morning (no way). I dont really like confrontation and also, as nuts as it sounds, I really dont want to embarrass her face to face. I will wait and see if I hear back. I have said that I will be getting it cleaned inside and sending them the bill.

OP posts:
mumofoneAloneandwell · 27/03/2026 10:00

You need to shame them on social media. Seriously.

Tigerbalmshark · 27/03/2026 10:02

Shesafancyflapjack · 27/03/2026 08:48

So the mechanic is a scruffy and slovenly woman who not only couldn’t be bothered to MOT and fix your car but also somehow placed her blood stained sanitary towel on a rear seat for you to find? And she lives above the garage like in a 1950s Mid West road movie? Of course this happened

People live above two of the garages near me! In fact this sounds a lot like one of them.

KimberleyClark · 27/03/2026 10:15

Blimey, the worst thing that’s ever happened while my car is being serviced is the radio being retuned to Radio 5 Live.

ChestnutSquash · 27/03/2026 10:34

My son took his car to be serviced at a garage recommended by a friend. The mechanic got him a speeding ticket and a court summons. Still ongoing.

5128gap · 27/03/2026 10:42

Perhaps one of those weird creepy men who have period fetishes and like to pretend to be women, making up tall tales so they can talk about san pro, blood and pubes in gratuitous detail broke in and left it there.

OhFuckyNell · 27/03/2026 10:46

My pubes have never came off on a sanitary towel. Maybe let the garage know tampons might be less Brazillian like?

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