Hello everyone. I have a question which maybe someone has encountered before and could tell of their experience.
I'm in the military and while I have been deployed, the head gasket on my wifes Freelander 1.8s started giving notice that it was on its way. The gasket had previously been changed by the main dealer after we bought the freelander, so we were suprised that it had gone again.
A local garage pressure tested the engine and confirmed that the gasket was leaking. They verbally quoted a price of "around £600" to change the gasket and skim the head and while the engine was apart, fit a new cam belt and water pump as the engine had done nearly 62k and we could find no evidence that the main dealer had changed them when they did the job at 35k. The quote was competitive so my wife handed the car over for the work to be done. All the other garages in the local area have quoted similar prices, LR main dealers quote being £1300
The garage completed the work and presented a bill for nearly £1200. We asked for an itemised bill as I was incredulous at the difference in price. I then proceeded on a long dialogue by e-mails querying items on the bill, the wonders of long range e-mail traffic! Consumer direct told us that the garage had broken an agreement and that was the course that we should follow.
Among the items I questioned were a head set £55, head gasket £23.75, bolt set £33.40, belt kit £66.84, vacumn hose £13.75, housing £20.59, hose £43.40, a clean, head skim & pressure test £110 & bleed hydraulics & seals £54.10. I understand that parts are not cheap, but all the above items were suppllied by an engineering firm whom the garage has refused to tell me the name of. On top of all this, while they knew that I was away, they have been the usual condecending attitude to my wife and her knowledge of cars.
I have asked to go to mediation with their accredited representitive body as i basically feel I have had my pants pulled down on this one and wanted to see who had done the work on our car. I sent all the documentation, letters and emails asked for by the approved body and this week we have recieved a curt letter from the garages solicitor stating that they carried out a "fair job at a fair price" and I had no legal position to demand who the engineering firm is or to check that the billed work is correct.
Ironically, the solicitor firm the garage have used is the same firm we use for landlord issues renting out our property so i am aware of what their letters look like. The letter I recieved looks similar but the language used is not "solicitor flowerey speak" and is not signed in the same manner as the solicitor i use for landlord issues. Its just an aside but I do feel that this garage is definately on the far side of being a wide boy.
Has anybody else had a similar experinece and is the solicitor correct that I have no right to know about who the mysterious engineering firm is who carried out the work on the head and supplied the parts listed above.
Also, as the main dealer was supposed to have carried out the work and changed the pipework to avoid head problems with the K series engine, is there an easy way of telling the difference between the single layered shim that was fitted at build and the multi layered shim that the dealer should have fitted when the head went the 1st time?
many thanks
I'm in the military and while I have been deployed, the head gasket on my wifes Freelander 1.8s started giving notice that it was on its way. The gasket had previously been changed by the main dealer after we bought the freelander, so we were suprised that it had gone again.
A local garage pressure tested the engine and confirmed that the gasket was leaking. They verbally quoted a price of "around £600" to change the gasket and skim the head and while the engine was apart, fit a new cam belt and water pump as the engine had done nearly 62k and we could find no evidence that the main dealer had changed them when they did the job at 35k. The quote was competitive so my wife handed the car over for the work to be done. All the other garages in the local area have quoted similar prices, LR main dealers quote being £1300
The garage completed the work and presented a bill for nearly £1200. We asked for an itemised bill as I was incredulous at the difference in price. I then proceeded on a long dialogue by e-mails querying items on the bill, the wonders of long range e-mail traffic! Consumer direct told us that the garage had broken an agreement and that was the course that we should follow.
Among the items I questioned were a head set £55, head gasket £23.75, bolt set £33.40, belt kit £66.84, vacumn hose £13.75, housing £20.59, hose £43.40, a clean, head skim & pressure test £110 & bleed hydraulics & seals £54.10. I understand that parts are not cheap, but all the above items were suppllied by an engineering firm whom the garage has refused to tell me the name of. On top of all this, while they knew that I was away, they have been the usual condecending attitude to my wife and her knowledge of cars.
I have asked to go to mediation with their accredited representitive body as i basically feel I have had my pants pulled down on this one and wanted to see who had done the work on our car. I sent all the documentation, letters and emails asked for by the approved body and this week we have recieved a curt letter from the garages solicitor stating that they carried out a "fair job at a fair price" and I had no legal position to demand who the engineering firm is or to check that the billed work is correct.
Ironically, the solicitor firm the garage have used is the same firm we use for landlord issues renting out our property so i am aware of what their letters look like. The letter I recieved looks similar but the language used is not "solicitor flowerey speak" and is not signed in the same manner as the solicitor i use for landlord issues. Its just an aside but I do feel that this garage is definately on the far side of being a wide boy.
Has anybody else had a similar experinece and is the solicitor correct that I have no right to know about who the mysterious engineering firm is who carried out the work on the head and supplied the parts listed above.
Also, as the main dealer was supposed to have carried out the work and changed the pipework to avoid head problems with the K series engine, is there an easy way of telling the difference between the single layered shim that was fitted at build and the multi layered shim that the dealer should have fitted when the head went the 1st time?
many thanks
