Help!
I am new to the forum and really need some serious help and advice.
A couple of weeks ago, a warning message appeared on my dash "Service Brake Visit Workshop". It was a white consumer message, not a red flashing warning.
Having driven 700 or so miles with this message on due to business demands, I took the car in to my indy for diagnostics, which gave an error code C249F "Electro Hydraulic Brake Total ON time too long"
My indy had not come across this before, so I went to MB local dealer and they ran diagnostics which confirmed the SBC pump had expired, and quoted me £1600 to replace and fit, having turned down a warranty claim due to the age/mileage of the vehicle (it is just over 10 years old 156k - 83 of which I have added in the last 18 months) with only MB service history for the first 6 years, although it has a complete service history to date.
I decided to seek alternative advice on the pump, as it turns out from googling and reading various forums that the pumps are pre programmed to expire after 300k presses of the brake pedal although the pump itself 99 times out of 100 still works.
I discovered that they can be repaired or reset and google took me to a company in London, so having spoken to them about the problem and their promise of being able to repair it with a quoted maximum possible price to have it back on the road, I drove the car down to them - 100 miles and 2.5 hours for me. I left the car with them on the promise that they would get it fixed and back on the road in 5-8 days, which seemed an excessive length of time to me, but they were guaranteeing to do this at a fraction of the cost MB had quoted, and returned the 100 miles home by train.
I had no communication from them for 4 days so chased them up, and was told it was being diagnosed. The following day I had a call to say they had found a fault in the pump and the £395 originally quoted was going to have to increase to £575 due to the labour involved and they wanted me to verbally approve this, which I agreed to do in order to get the car sorted and back on the road asap. No date was given as to when it would be done though.
The following week I called a few times to chase them up, and was told the pump was back on the vehicle on the Tuesday (last week), and that it should be ready Weds/Thurs so I agreed to collect late on the Thursday. I booked a train ticket, and as I boarded the train the owner called me to say dont come at 4pm as agreed as it wont be ready as they havent got anyone to bleed the brakes with the MB diagnostics kit until 6pm, so I delayed my arrival with them until 5.30pm.
I waited in their workshop for almost an hour before someone came to speak to me, in which time they had been messing around with the electrics on an Audi A8. I was then told the guy to bleed the brakes was stuck in traffic and would be here soon. I waited another 45 minutes until gone 7pm, by which time it was baltic in the workshop, and the guy turned up with his laptop. He didnt work for this garage, but told me he does work for them as an indy diagnostics expert. He got to work but soon announced he was not happy, and that the brakes were not bleeding as he was getting no pressure from the pump. On investigating, he said he didnt think the pump was working at all, and it was getting very hot to the point of being completely unsafe. This meant he was unable to allow me to take the car away as it was unsafe with no brakes at all!!!
I spoke to the owners brother who was there at the time, and he said it needed a new pump and they would locate one and come back to me with a requote. This was confirmed on a text message by the owner the next day, Friday of last week.
Yesterday, Monday, I tried to call for an update numerous times. The owners mobile was switched off, and no one answered the workshop phone until the afternoon when I spoke to one of the mechanics who said he would get the owner to call me back. No one called me back. I sent him a number of texts asking him to call me back but no response.
This morning I sent another text giving him until 10am to call me back, no reply. So I called at 10am. His mobile rang out to voicemail, I left a message, and called again but this time the phone was turned off.
I then called the workshop landline and spoke to the owners brother again, who started to get a bit shirty with me. I tried to explain the car had been with them over 2 weeks, it went in for a repair which has now ended up with a worse scenario and a car with no brakes at all, and a vehicle which is used for business not being able to be used and therefore costing me a lot of lost revenue. I asked him to give me a time or date when he would be able to confirm what they were doing inside the next 48 hours or I would have to take the car elsewhere. His response was he doesnt do deadlines, his brother is busy running 3 businesses including a building site where their new workshop is being built, and they have not been able to locate the right part for a replacement pump yet, and could not tell me when they expect to find one.
He told me the problem was the pump over-pressurising, which it wasnt doing until it went into them for whatever repairs they did or were supposed to do. They claim to be able to reset the counter or do a hard reset of the software, but after doing this the pump simply didnt work. As far as I can see, the pump no longer works as a result of the work they have done and therefore how can I be expected to pay for any repairs that have failed to cure the problem? However, the guy I spoke to said they are in possession of my car and they will find a part and let me know - dont know when that will be however!
I tried very hard not to get aggressive on the phone or lose my temper, but made it clear that I wanted a response today/tomorrow latest and if they couldnt find the right part, I wanted to be able to collect the vehicle (this is going to cost me a fortune...) and take it elsewhere, at which stage I know they are suddenly going to produce an amount they want me to pay for what they have done thus far.
I yesterday came across forums of people complaining about this company after doing some research and contacted Trading Standards to seek some advice on where I stand. I am now really concerned about everything going on here, and it has got to the stage where I am worrying so much I am not sleeping.
Can anyone on this forum offer any advice on what I should do from here please?
Thanks in advance.
I am new to the forum and really need some serious help and advice.
A couple of weeks ago, a warning message appeared on my dash "Service Brake Visit Workshop". It was a white consumer message, not a red flashing warning.
Having driven 700 or so miles with this message on due to business demands, I took the car in to my indy for diagnostics, which gave an error code C249F "Electro Hydraulic Brake Total ON time too long"
My indy had not come across this before, so I went to MB local dealer and they ran diagnostics which confirmed the SBC pump had expired, and quoted me £1600 to replace and fit, having turned down a warranty claim due to the age/mileage of the vehicle (it is just over 10 years old 156k - 83 of which I have added in the last 18 months) with only MB service history for the first 6 years, although it has a complete service history to date.
I decided to seek alternative advice on the pump, as it turns out from googling and reading various forums that the pumps are pre programmed to expire after 300k presses of the brake pedal although the pump itself 99 times out of 100 still works.
I discovered that they can be repaired or reset and google took me to a company in London, so having spoken to them about the problem and their promise of being able to repair it with a quoted maximum possible price to have it back on the road, I drove the car down to them - 100 miles and 2.5 hours for me. I left the car with them on the promise that they would get it fixed and back on the road in 5-8 days, which seemed an excessive length of time to me, but they were guaranteeing to do this at a fraction of the cost MB had quoted, and returned the 100 miles home by train.
I had no communication from them for 4 days so chased them up, and was told it was being diagnosed. The following day I had a call to say they had found a fault in the pump and the £395 originally quoted was going to have to increase to £575 due to the labour involved and they wanted me to verbally approve this, which I agreed to do in order to get the car sorted and back on the road asap. No date was given as to when it would be done though.
The following week I called a few times to chase them up, and was told the pump was back on the vehicle on the Tuesday (last week), and that it should be ready Weds/Thurs so I agreed to collect late on the Thursday. I booked a train ticket, and as I boarded the train the owner called me to say dont come at 4pm as agreed as it wont be ready as they havent got anyone to bleed the brakes with the MB diagnostics kit until 6pm, so I delayed my arrival with them until 5.30pm.
I waited in their workshop for almost an hour before someone came to speak to me, in which time they had been messing around with the electrics on an Audi A8. I was then told the guy to bleed the brakes was stuck in traffic and would be here soon. I waited another 45 minutes until gone 7pm, by which time it was baltic in the workshop, and the guy turned up with his laptop. He didnt work for this garage, but told me he does work for them as an indy diagnostics expert. He got to work but soon announced he was not happy, and that the brakes were not bleeding as he was getting no pressure from the pump. On investigating, he said he didnt think the pump was working at all, and it was getting very hot to the point of being completely unsafe. This meant he was unable to allow me to take the car away as it was unsafe with no brakes at all!!!
I spoke to the owners brother who was there at the time, and he said it needed a new pump and they would locate one and come back to me with a requote. This was confirmed on a text message by the owner the next day, Friday of last week.
Yesterday, Monday, I tried to call for an update numerous times. The owners mobile was switched off, and no one answered the workshop phone until the afternoon when I spoke to one of the mechanics who said he would get the owner to call me back. No one called me back. I sent him a number of texts asking him to call me back but no response.
This morning I sent another text giving him until 10am to call me back, no reply. So I called at 10am. His mobile rang out to voicemail, I left a message, and called again but this time the phone was turned off.
I then called the workshop landline and spoke to the owners brother again, who started to get a bit shirty with me. I tried to explain the car had been with them over 2 weeks, it went in for a repair which has now ended up with a worse scenario and a car with no brakes at all, and a vehicle which is used for business not being able to be used and therefore costing me a lot of lost revenue. I asked him to give me a time or date when he would be able to confirm what they were doing inside the next 48 hours or I would have to take the car elsewhere. His response was he doesnt do deadlines, his brother is busy running 3 businesses including a building site where their new workshop is being built, and they have not been able to locate the right part for a replacement pump yet, and could not tell me when they expect to find one.
He told me the problem was the pump over-pressurising, which it wasnt doing until it went into them for whatever repairs they did or were supposed to do. They claim to be able to reset the counter or do a hard reset of the software, but after doing this the pump simply didnt work. As far as I can see, the pump no longer works as a result of the work they have done and therefore how can I be expected to pay for any repairs that have failed to cure the problem? However, the guy I spoke to said they are in possession of my car and they will find a part and let me know - dont know when that will be however!
I tried very hard not to get aggressive on the phone or lose my temper, but made it clear that I wanted a response today/tomorrow latest and if they couldnt find the right part, I wanted to be able to collect the vehicle (this is going to cost me a fortune...) and take it elsewhere, at which stage I know they are suddenly going to produce an amount they want me to pay for what they have done thus far.
I yesterday came across forums of people complaining about this company after doing some research and contacted Trading Standards to seek some advice on where I stand. I am now really concerned about everything going on here, and it has got to the stage where I am worrying so much I am not sleeping.
Can anyone on this forum offer any advice on what I should do from here please?
Thanks in advance.
