Damage To My Car When In Care Of Garage (disuputing)

[scumbag]

Sorry but all this talk of legals is based on ignorance imo.
For a claim of this size - under £5,000 - you would go to The Small Claims Court where you CAN represent yourself.Indeed most claims are self representing.


..

You can go to any court and represent yourself. the point i was making is that if you turn up at one, without any legal knowledge, and start demanding the law helps you, you are more likely to bolster your case if your come armed, By that, i mean with suitable representation. It means you are not messing about and not being taken for a ride. It also suggests to those in court, that you are serious and thats the biggy! No member of the judiciary, in whatever positon, looks down on people making claims who have explored every avenue. But they dont take kindly to people who turn up, under the misaprehenion that they are fully knowlegable. Its often taken as though the claimant is not acknowelgding the law and the people who practice it.

Too many people say it costs too much, and they dont bother pursueing the case, when all they needed to do was ask. You can decide from a position of knowlegde as to what you think is the best course of action.

The small claims court, you can also turn up with representation. And it does look better if you do. Of course you have to pay, and the small claims court only charge you your fee, if you lose. so its worth it to follow that line of options.

but, As i said as well, when you take legal advice follow it, as it may be go to a small claims court. The small claims court help you throughout the proceess too. Cost about £35 i think.

and the Citizen Advice Bureau should do the same. My advice is seek legal advice if being nice doesnt work, as you look a dummy turning up half cocked filled with duff info from well meaning friends.

 

[jeremytaylor]

I read through this thread and was about to write exactly what madasafish wrote - all this talk of Judges etc is ridiculous.
This is a small claims court (SCC) issue. You can do it online. Get a quote off the original repairer anyway, to back up the value of your claim. (Don't tell them why you want it until it's in your hand!).
Write to them and ask that they repair it at their expense. If they don't then go down the SCC route. Companies often settle on the day of the case.

Ditto!!

 

[SilverSaloon]

just phoned, manager going to ring me back as soon as he has finished with a current customer.

i plan on listening to his views, then clearly say it wasnt there and that i want a repair foc.

if still no result, i will say that as we both cannot 100% prove it was/wasnt there when i delivered the car maybe i can contribute part cost to a repair (see how much 1st). i will chuck in the fact his condition-report form is pretty worthless as i never agreed to the content of it; could have been drawn up 5 mins before i collected the car thismorning for all i know.

if still no result, then i will check if thats his final word on the matter, and if so i will say he will be hearing from me in writing soon detailing my next intentions.

i am hoping he will agree to fix foc since there are a couple of scrapes (like the wing mirror) that i know about & if i was trying to pull a fast one i would use a much worst scrape than the one on the door, which is minor and cheap to fix in comparison. so its pretty obvious i am genuine i would have thought.

its a shame as i was worried about the quality of repair work in the 1st place (see other thread) but the repair is superb - looks as new - very impressed and would be very happy to return to them for future work - not if they shaft me from behind tho!

who's betting he doesnt bother returning my call......

 

[madasafish]

Keep a written note of all phone calls, time and date, who said what to whom. If you go down the legal route this is ESSENTIAL.

 

[glojo]

just phoned, manager going to ring me back as soon as he has finished with a current customer...

Fingers crossed and hopefully all will work out.

Regards,
John

 

[scumbag]

who's betting he doesnt bother returning my call......

Me, Fiver on it. but am keeping my fingers crossed he does for you. wont cost him more than £20 to fix it.

and the post about keeping everything is needed too.

 

[SilverSaloon]

the bodyshop is a huge place, taking in hundreds of cars each week. RR for about 10 major dealerships, merc, bmw etc etc.

ok, just got off the phone to the manager....

he basically said he had spoken to the guy who did the check report; he says he is certain the damage was there (how he can remember this 100% i dont know as i must check over lots of cars). Anyway, he kept on saying he stands by the report & it was there when i left it - i disputed that, anyway we were just going over the same thing again over and over.

he then said that if i can visit and show him the damage (he hasnt seen it yet) we can sort out a mutual repair, done at cost. I said as we both cannot agree about the facts this would be ok by me, as long as the charge to me is minimal

so i'm off to see him tommorow morning, hopefully coming to a good arrangement.

 

[Ashley]

Right do not phone.

As scum said write to them in good faith (you can drop this of by hand today). Do not mention form or anything of the like.

Something like.

Dear Sir/Madam,
Re: a123 4bcd

Today I collected the above car after having work done on the vehicle and noticed that (insert new damage) which was not on the car when I left it in your care. I informed your employee of this at the time of pick up.

The above needs putting right at your expense and would be grateful if you would organize for this work to be completed at your earliest convince.

Thank you for your attention to this matter and I look forward to your reply.

Yours Sincerely,

This way if they wise to introduce the form they can but on your terms with a photocopy.

 

[scumbag]

they have started the cave in. they want your business and they want you to be happy. thats a good sign. butter him up about how good they have been and how good the repair is. and if he is prepared to do the work for free you can grudgingly pay for the paint i suppose. But i would not be inclined to use them again as they havent explained satisfactorily why you did not see this form they produced once you had mentioned the scratch. They should have asked you to sign it before you left.

Maybe you ought to add the element of doubt to him , when you see him, over how he can be so sure that it was on it, when you are so sure it wasn't, but he has had to provide papwerwork which supports him but not you, and that you didnt see this paperwork first.

it does look like you will get some satisfaction without having to threaten tho, so thats good.

He rang back tho so i am going to have pretend i didnt bet the £5!, but i, conveinently have a waiver form that you didnt sign saying you let me off!

 

[SilverSaloon]

Right do not phone.

too late

i can understand that they have their checklist form thing, but if the maanger asks the guy who made the form, the guy is hardly going to turn round and say to his boss, "oh yeah i wasnt doing my work proprly it wasnt really there"... nor is a labourer going to say "oh year i damged the car with my toolbox, and bodged the checklist to cover it up".....

the same as i have no evidence that the scrape wasnt there when i dropped it off....

i see a mutual agreement being fine really, aslong as the costs are not very high. i am hoping that they arnt going to get a customer who gave them £1000 worth of business pay over £10.... that isnt good customer service in my book. On the other hand i stand by what i've said and dont expect a bill to be over £40 as if they do it at cost then its just a bit of paint which they get dirt cheap anyway.

 

[Shude]

the wife: "oh btw I forgot to mention I nudged your car door with mine the day you took it to get repaired, I thought they'd probably fix that too while it was at the bodyshop".

 

[jgevers]

Good luck!

It is when problems arise the good garages and bodyshops really make a difference.

Cheers,

Job

 

[SilverSaloon]

Good luck!

It is when problems arise the good garages and bodyshops really make a difference.

Cheers,

Job

as i said the actual repair looks fantastic

 

[glojo]

Good luck!

It is when problems arise the good garages and bodyshops really make a difference.

Cheers,

Job

Totally agree,
You have got him prepared to negotiate.

I once said to a very famous actress, "If I gave you £1m would you sleep with me?" Once she said "Yes", we had by her agreement established the sort of person she was... it was then just a case of better negotiating!!!! (I never really said that.... honest...ouch!!)

This man has agreed a meeting, you are on a roll,
Do NOT be a walk over,
Do NOT appear to officious.
Do NOT, repeat NOT accept that form,

They are way out of order preparing this form after you left the premises, what a cheek.

PLEASE check for a blue car or blue equipment, the car however will only be there for a short period.

Well done and I still feel you are in with a very good chance of satisfaction. Really emphasis the underhand practice of producing that worthless piece of paper, and point out the more serious damage that you could have claimed for, if you were that way inclined.

Good luck,
John

 

[SilverSaloon]

PLEASE check for a blue car or blue equipment, the car however will only be there for a short period.
John

i cant check for this really as this is a HUGE workshop - taking hundreds of cars each week - they must have about 50 cars in their workshop at any one time:

http://www.easternwestern.co.uk/col1024768/accident/acccontainer.htm


my car was given to me outside and no one talked me thru what had been done either;

http://www.ewarc.co.uk/hndOver.htm#

 

[glojo]

i cant check for this really as this is a HUGE workshop - taking hundreds of cars each week - they must have about 50 cars in their workshop at any one time

I understand what your saying and you can use that situation to your advantage. With all that movement, in such a confined space. How can they be so sure NOTHING occured.

I'm not sure it is a good idea to print the managers picture. I accept it is on the home page of the site and he is obviously happy to have it there, but we\you want to keep this person on your side. At the moment he is a first rate manager, offering a first class service. He has arranged a meeting to resolve a very small issue and for that you are grateful??

Good luck,
John

 

[SilverSaloon]

I understand what your saying and you can use that situation to your advantage. With all that movement, in such a confined space. How can they be so sure NOTHING occured.

i'm hoping that it is plain sailing from here; since he is offerening to repair at cost, which for such a small repair shouldnt be much.

i am very tempted to ask how much he would fix the wing mirror, scrape on bumper & skirt at the same time.... but dont want to give him the chance to ramp up those particular repair costs to cover his costs on the door repair.... hmmmm

 

[scumbag]

mite not be a bad idea to ask him to knock a bit off those repairs as goodwill, and cover the door at the same time for free, thus making you feel happy and letting him off the hook, but at least it helps as they are more likley to do a good job for your satisfaction, and they dont throw that much paint away. it puts you in the bargaining position giving him a way out.

everyones happy.

 

[IanA2]

...... giving him a way out.

Ah, another exponent of the excellent tool of diplomacy, the Golden Bridge.

 

[scumbag]

Ah, another exponent of the excellent tool of diplomacy, the Golden Bridge.

the art is to leave open the door you want him to go thru.