Advice Needed Yet Again?

[Patm3]

I am going to try and make this quick and to the point. After some good advice from loads of you I decided to get the car repaired problems where as follows.

1) Power Steering Fluid Leak (dripping)
2) Slave/Master Clutch Cylinder gone
3) Coolant leak
4) Brake Ball (sphere) leaking

Yes all the above happening at once, i took it to a recommended mechanic from a close friend, and bought all the parts, they just needed fitting to the car, i was quoted £250 for the lot and he would make the engine bay a bit more presentable and put in some heat shields where needed, and move some parts about, that he thought were located wrong.

I explained to him the car had just been resprayed and in front of me he called and ordered a cover from someone and said no problems your car will be covered. he then added that if the cost went above the £250 mark he would call and let me know, this was two weeks ago on a friday. He then added i could come and collect the car and as he is confident with his work i could take the car and test it then arrange payment with him.

Ok a whole week passed no call, but my mate called me friday gone and said the car will be ready on tuesday being today, and the mechanic said it will probably cost at the worst £400. no phone call at all from the mechanice and the bill is £400.

I made my way to the garage and my mate told me the bill was now £350, when i got there he opened my bonnet and everything was placed nicely and it looked like a good job, but the car was covered in dust and i could not even tell it was black as it looked green, then he said he could no longer do the deal and wanted his £300 today, but i had no money, and wanted to test drive the car first before i parted with my £300. after a bit of an argument he agreed for me to take the car.

I took the car across the road and jet washed off all the dust, and thought when i get the car home i will clean it properly, oh he did give me a free set of front wipers.

when i jet washed the car, i noticed a freddy kruger style scratch on my bonnet, six lines in a row, a scratch on my passenger side door, and a spec of orange paint on my hardtop. its 8 miles from the garage to my home, 4 miles of the journey and the power steering starts screaming, 2 miles left and its humming like a bass tube, got to my garage and






right so these are my present problems, and considering my car was only sprayed about a month ago

1. Freddy Kruger, or a mad cat claw along my bonnet
2. 3 inch scratch on my passenger door, which is white (primer)
3. steering packed up
4. Power Steering fluid all over my garage floor
5. Orange Paint on my Hardtop
6. car is not driveable, will have to be towed
7. car temperture is now running on the 3/4 mark instead of 1/2, so its running hot
8. possible respray of door and bonnet.

so do i pay him the £300, considering the above will cost me double, but the slave/master clucth cylinder seemed to be a success. need your answers by thursday night as he wants his money friday.

[smithy318i]

Absolutly NOT.

Have these clowns caused all of this extra damage? it looks like they made things worse.

[d6dph]

Unless your planning to strap the £300 to a lage boot and insert it up his arse, dont even give him a sniff of the money.

Did he have a horse tied up outside the garage?

[ed325i]

I would be mad if I was you. Dont pay he should be paying you.

ED

[Patm3]

I am just feel sorry as my mate recommended me and its his personal mechanic and if i dont pay its not going to be to good for him, and yes pacerpete and wilson325i i know where to take the car now

[Theo]

Get a quote for the repairs of all the damages that have been incurred whilst in his care, see what the twat says then (probably deny its anything to do with him).

[Patm3]

called my sprayer he said £100 to £150 to do the passenger side door, if he can take the scratches out of the bonnet £50 if not it will have to be resprayed at £250, and maybe just a polish on the roof to take off the spec of orange paint, so thats already £400 to £430 at the worst. not including the new problems i now have, running hot all the time and my puddle of power steering, just spoke to him and he wants to come to my house now to have a look i said no thanks, as there is no need for him to know where i live, as if things go for the worst, and i dont pay which is looking very likely, dont need no unexpected knocks on my door in the middle of the night

[cliffybabe]

don't pay, u wouldnt pay for half a loaf why pay for half a job???

just my 2 cents

[toby]

I am just feel sorry as my mate recommended me and its his personal mechanic and if i dont pay its not going to be to good for him, and yes pacerpete and wilson325i i know where to take the car now

Very sorry to hear about this. This kind of treatment is what gives the motor trade a bad name. There is much dishonesty around.

If he is the 'personal mechanic' to a friend of your then he should have been more careful. He should now stand to loose two customers not just one. Also this need not impact on your friendship with your mate. The mechanic sounds highly suspect.

I wouldn't trust him to carry out any more works.

Feel physically sick at the sound of all this (and I just ate a really nice pie too). Comiserations and hope you make a good decision getting it sorted.

[Wilson325i]

and yes pacerpete and wilson325i i know where to take the car now

i bet you do, all this crap could have been avoided, if you only listened to pacerpete and me, rather than take your car to someone you have never seen before or seen any of there work.

Anyway i hope you get it sorted out now once and for all.

[jon_pure_british]

dont pay him for anything.

if he owns a work shop and did this on the books then call trading standards in and have him fucked up.

my friend took his car to be resprayed to a body shop, the person accidently scratched his car and he fixed this free of charge without questions.

just the way i see it.

[Gouki]

bro thats fucked up, you should give him a bill for fucking your car up in the first place because it werent like that when you gave it to him. Tell him he can stuff it, regardless of whether a mate recommended him to you, ok it aint gonna look good on your mate, but where does that leave you? What with a bunch of scratches and leaks all over your floor. He botched it so he should fix it. Why pay for something that when he's done worser damage!

[polwutna]

Sorry to hear this bud, I'm sure it will all work out, just remember to stay calm and don't resort to arguments with him. You're much more likely to get a good outcome if you're not shouting at him.

What does your mate say?

[Pal318is]

I'd be telling the guy that he ain't getting a penny, he tells you one thing then does another, even then not properly
This guy is supposed to be a friend of a friend, is he? Sounds like he's made the whole situation worse and not any better for you. If I was in your shoes, I'd be wanting money off him, for the Freddy Kruger scratches and any other damage that has been done. If not he has to get it repaired for you, for free.
In all honestly, tricky situation as he is a friend of a friend, which will only make it harder to resolve the problem.

Pal

[polwutna]

Sorry to hear this bud, I'm sure it will all work out, just remember to stay calm and don't resort to arguments with him. You're much more likely to get a good outcome if you're not shouting at him.

What does your mate say?

[H35-IAN]

tell him if he wants his money back its sat in the outside lane of the m25!!

no seriously dan dont fukkin pay the prick and if it gets to the point u feel like giving in rub his nose into everything hes fucked up and tell him thats why ur not getting fuk all!!! maybe we should send the firing squad down there lol

gooodd luck my friend if your stuck ever give me a shout i know i live in birmingham but my routes are round london , berkshire way.

[Patm3]

All my mate is saying is he feels bad for recommending him to me, and now my car is in the state its in, i know its not his fault and i dont blame him, what has upset me was the way the mechanic demanded payment with such a negative attitude, probably knowing full well he messed up the car. and the other problem is my mates car is with him at present getting an engine rebuild, so thats another problem, i think i will just avoid this guy, go to a garage recommended by pacerpete and wilson325i, let that mechanic repair my car, then go to my sprayer get him to do an estimate and then return to the guy with my bill and quote, and see what he has to say. so wont be able to make Ace Cafe this weekend lads, but have a good one.

[reddevil]

I would honestly say I will pay, but first I need to make a claim on your liability insurance to repair my car first, shows you are willing to pay but also that you're not a chump. If this falls on deaf ears I would pay my local trading standards office a visit and see where you stand. Certainly don't hand any cash over just yet, once you do you have shown him all your cards and won't have a leg to stand on.

Red D

[Patm3]

good advice there red devil, like i said getting all quotes done 2mrw so hopefully will have a nice bill for him on friday

[Patm3]

Cost me £45 yesterday to get my car going, when we got the car up in the air, all the piping he put on for the power steering was kinked and twisted, so the reason why my steering was making noise was due to the power steering not being able to flow properly, there was no leaks, but I will check again 2day, but the reason for all the fluid in my garage the mechanic reckons was due to the man pouring in to much power steering fluid, as its all part of the brakes also, he reckons when I pushed my foot down on the brake it compressed the fluid or something on them lines and just spat it all out, so it was probably leaking all the way from his garage to my one. Only problem I got now is the water hoses need replacing to as they have leaks LOL, this guy must have been drunk, and this is what he reckons is causing the over heating at the moment.


Went to 3 garages yesterday about the scratches and found another one on the rear bumper when I cleaned it, prices I got was £250 from a mate, £350 from a guy and that was just to do the bonnet LOL, and £60 from another guy to see if he can polish and buff them out but if he cant he will charge £250, which will total £310.

[reddevil]

Any updates from the garage yet then Mate?

Red D

[Gwynleym10]

Cost me £45 yesterday to get my car going, when we got the car up in the air, all the piping he put on for the power steering was kinked and twisted, so the reason why my steering was making noise was due to the power steering not being able to flow properly, there was no leaks, but I will check again 2day, but the reason for all the fluid in my garage the mechanic reckons was due to the man pouring in to much power steering fluid, as its all part of the brakes also, he reckons when I pushed my foot down on the brake it compressed the fluid or something on them lines and just spat it all out, so it was probably leaking all the way from his garage to my one. Only problem I got now is the water hoses need replacing to as they have leaks LOL, this guy must have been drunk, and this is what he reckons is causing the over heating at the moment.


Went to 3 garages yesterday about the scratches and found another one on the rear bumper when I cleaned it, prices I got was £250 from a mate, £350 from a guy and that was just to do the bonnet LOL, and £60 from another guy to see if he can polish and buff them out but if he cant he will charge £250, which will total £310.

Power Stearing part of the brakes?

Have they replaced the pipes on the rack or something? These pipes need to be proper bmw pipes, brake pipes will not work, they wont get the right pressure. My car had brake pipes in this area and they were rubbish, leaked and just weren't right. Spent £28 at the dealers to get new ones-all fine now.

Don't pay for bad work, they should pay you for damage. You mate will appriciate you being honest, especially if he takes his car to them.

[Demlotcrew]

Power Stearing part of the brakes?

Have they replaced the pipes on the rack or something? These pipes need to be proper bmw pipes, brake pipes will not work, they wont get the right pressure. My car had brake pipes in this area and they were rubbish, leaked and just weren't right. Spent £28 at the dealers to get new ones-all fine now.

Patric has a hydraulic brake booster which is powered by the Power steering pump.

Andrew

[pacerpete]

There is a specific procedure needed to check the fluid level on cars with 'power' brakes, it is straight forward but if not adhered to will lead to major oil slicks ,listening to the rest of Patricks tale of woe i doubt if the slick was just down to being overfilled though.