100%Should really have been your first point of contact.
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100%Should really have been your first point of contact.
They are part of Vertu motors, I had no direct email address for the dealership and my initial booking went through what appears to be their Head office email address, so I emailed them an hour after collection as the service centre was closed by that point and I wanted to put in writing what had taken place ASAP.
What year is your car ?No MB breakdown cover unfortunately.
The ombudsman won’t be interested until you have given the dealer sufficient opportunities to resolve the matter, ie make them aware, attempt to fix (ideally more than one occasion), formal complaint, etc.Thanks again for the reply.
I agree, they should have to prove that the fault is not related.
I am going to get in touch with the ombudsman, anyone have any other suggestions whilst I await a response?
Can I drive the car in the interim?
The ombudsman won’t be interested until you have given the dealer sufficient opportunities to resolve the matter, ie make them aware, attempt to fix (ideally more than one occasion), formal complaint, etc.
That is indeed correct for all Ombudsman services, i.e. they are the last resort as opposed to first port of call.
That said, I am not aware that there's an Ombudsman service for garages? I know that there's an arbitration service for new car sales, but not for servicing/repairs?
Service and Repair Code
The Service and Repair Code commits garages to an open, transparent and fair method of business. Click here to download your copy of the code todaywww.themotorombudsman.org
Thanks for the reply.The ombudsman won’t be interested until you have given the dealer sufficient opportunities to resolve the matter, ie make them aware, attempt to fix (ideally more than one occasion), formal complaint, etc.
The dispute is over who should cover the costs of repair
Personally I would call the dealer and speak to someone. Issues are always best dealt with as close to the source of the issue, or source of the resolution.Thanks for the reply.
As I have put this in writing to their Head office (as far as I understand that is a formal complaint?) and refused to pay, if their response is unchanged and they expect me to pay - will the ombudsman be the next step?
The dispute is over who should cover the costs of repair, I cannot see what there is left to discuss if they send a second refusal in writing - we would just be going in circles. Or am I mistaken?
Fortunately they are signed up with the motor ombudsman - first thing I checked.
.......
Also, the second issue is that they handed the car over with the light on - which itself is unsafe practice for a garage to hand over a car that is not roadworthy (according to MOT guidelines).
Issue is that they want £100 to diagnose, I can get a diagnostic test for free from one of my own mechanics, I just don't want to do that until the dealer sends their final response (as codes can be cleared thus muddying the timeline of when the issue first occurred).
I am not driving it at the moment, however cannot just have it sitting there for weeks on end waiting to go through their complaints process.
Also, the second issue is that they handed the car over with the light on - which itself is unsafe practice for a garage to hand over a car that is not roadworthy (according to MOT guidelines).
I collected at closing time, the car was running, I got in, adjusted the seat, mirrors etc. and moved it as quick as I could as it was blocking the driveway, the light was on but as mentioned previously it took a few moments to realise that it was not on when I dropped it off. I did not expect a simple software update would result in the EML to now be on, if I had taken it in for body damage and not checked the repair job before driving off then that would be a different case.Problem is though the dealer that provided the service cannot confrim this and has not been afforded the opportunity to. I'm still at a complete loss why you drove it away!
Even if you did surely drive it straight back and get them back onto it would be next step?
If it is then they did not state that was the case, this is what they sent:I don't know if you've ever used an MB Approved Used warranty but the deal there is that you are liable for the cost of any diagnostic work if an issue is found to be something that's not covered by the warranty - you have to agree to this up front. Are you sure that's not what is going on here i.e. you'd only have to pay if the fault isn't related to the software upgrade?
I get that this is a matter of principle for you but for £100 I'd pay up (if necessary) to get the car back to a useable state and THEN go through the complaint process if it really was caused by the upgrade and the dealer didn't waive/refund the diagnostic fee. Rather than potentially being without the car for weeks.
IMHO it's going to be tough to pursue the 'unsafe' angle after you voluntarily drove the car home with the EML on. If you'd raised it there and then there's a chance they'd have quickly plugged it in to see what the issue was, but at the very least it would be 100% clear that the issue occurred while they had the car.
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