Have I been charged for work not done?

[Aygo Mike]

I had our 59 plate aygo serviced yesterday, a small service at our local Independant garage. Asking around they have a good reputation and are very convenient.

I was charged for "strip and fit new wheel cylinder for MOT" - £80 which seems an Ok price but when I look at the wheel the cable tie securing the wheel trim is the original silver one. It looks to me that the wheel has not been removed. He says the wheel was binding.

To be honest not the first time I have had concerns with a new water pump being fitted in succesive years.... my worry is what else has not been done.

Is it time to look for a new garage, am i being taken for a sucker, or am i over thinking this?

[Hybrid21]

Hi Mike, firstly make sure it's the right wheel your checking.

Normally you would see fingerprints, etc around the wheel, also is there only one cable tie so can the wheel trim be removed to access the wheel nuts ?  Is there evidence on the wheel nuts that they have been removed ? To be sure you need to remove the wheel etc and check the wheel cylinder to see if it is new, I take it that it is a rear cylinder ?

 

 

[DerekHa]

Hi Mike,

If your local independant with a good reputation has charged for work not done and you can't resolve it with them then I'd give them the "heave ho" and go elsewhere.

One thing I would say though is have they stripped and fitted that wheel cylinder on the correct side of the vehicle?

My son had a similar instance with an MOT at our local well respected garage. The tester failed the veicle on play in a suspension component and identified this as N/S. I did the work for him and replaced said part as per the fail certificate. When he took the vehicle in for a retest it was failed again on the same issue.

I took up the cause for him and went back to see the garage and saw the garage foreman, also an MOT tester, he had the vehicle up on the lift and came back and apologised after a long conflab with the original tester.

Turned out the guy had noted the play in the N/S when it should have been the O/S! He said that he'd kniown it happen before, getting disoriented under and vehicle isn't uncommon. Wasn't very happy despite the apology as the actual part still needed  replacing but atleast he was up front about what happened.

I insisted on seeing the garage owner who asked what we wanted him to do to put things right! Got a promise of a free service from them that was coming up to compensate which they honoured!

SO!

Check that the work hasn't been done on the other wheel, as it may just be them recording the wrong wheel as being at fault.

Their honesty impressed me, not a cowboy garage, so I always took my vehicles there and developed a good relationship with the foreman. I even kept using his services when he went solo and opened his own premises, he was always up front, very knowledgable and gave good advice.

[flash22]

Stick your head under the car and look at the backing plate, the brake pipe goes into the back of the cylinder, the part should be shiny and new if it's been changed

I would be having a chat with the garage if not

[TonyHSD]

I will never leave a car for service or mot and be away from it. Never trust any garage even the best rated ones or main dealers. I ve been working in the trade for many years and I have my point why is that. , and the reasons are good and real. Car buying new or used , service, parts, maintenance those has always been a darker trade with a lots of dodgy men working within. Trusted garage with good reviews may have employed a bad mechanic who is doing things wrong. When possible, stay and watch them working on the car, even if you don’t understand anything about cars, just been there changes everything. 

Now I had an idea for new job opportunity, a secret garage shopper. To all interested parties, Toyota or any of the main dealers, you can get in touch. I don’t mind travelling 😂👌

[Wiz201]

Its not like they let you hover over them either though? Even if you sat and waited in the waiting room you wouldn't know what was going on with it.

[Cyker]

Ha, that reminds me of when I had my front tyres changed recently - Had to run out and stop the fitter as I realized he was taking off ALL the wheels! I guess he was on auto-pilot and didn't read the job-sheet that said only 2 for the fronts!

I do wonder what would have happened if I hadn't stopped him... maybe I would have gotten 4 tyres for the price of 2...?  

 

[Roy124]

Once put my car in for service and new brahe pads. 

Collected on a Friday night before towing  caravan for the first time in the North of Scotland. 

Brakes were a bit spongy.  Checked and no fluid in the reservoir.  Checked oil, dirty.  Oil filter, dirty.  Essentially the fitter had probably run out of time and might have intended to continue on Monday.  I was very lucky spotting it and finding a hole-in-the-wall garage who did the service properly on Friday evening. 

[Hybrid21]

3 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

I will never leave a car for service or mot and be away from it. Never trust any garage even the best rated ones or main dealers. I ve been working in the trade for many years and I have my point why is that. , and the reasons are good and real. Car buying new or used , service, parts, maintenance those has always been a darker trade with a lots of dodgy men working within. Trusted garage with good reviews may have employed a bad mechanic who is doing things wrong. When possible, stay and watch them working on the car, even if you don’t understand anything about cars, just been there changes everything. 

Now I had an idea for new job opportunity, a secret garage shopper. To all interested parties, Toyota or any of the main dealers, you can get in touch. I don’t mind travelling 😂👌

Hi Tony,  I agree with everything you said, but not always possible to view service/MOT unfortunately.

Garages need to adhere to health and safety regulations and to have Joe public wandering about the workshop and looking over the mechanic's shoulder may be classified as a contravention  😃

[TonyHSD]

19 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Ha, that reminds me of when I had my front tyres changed recently - Had to run out and stop the fitter as I realized he was taking off ALL the wheels! I guess he was on auto-pilot and didn't read the job-sheet that said only 2 for the fronts!

I do wonder what would have happened if I hadn't stopped him... maybe I would have gotten 4 tyres for the price of 2...?  

 

You know, he would have fitted two new tyres and move them to the rear and move the half worn ones to the front. This is the policy in most if not all garages these days, new tyres always fitted to the rear axle. That’s insanely stupid idea, although there will be arguments flying against me now. For safety reasons. Better tyres should be to the front as the fronts dictate where and how the car goes, rears are only following. The cars which got aqua planing and lost of control are the rear wheel drive or awd cars with or without new tyres on the back rwd or awd cars are always more difficult to control in slippery conditions and more prone to aquaplaning loss of control and skidding. 👍

[JARC1]

25 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

You know, he would have fitted two new tyres and move them to the rear and move the half worn ones to the front. This is the policy in most if not all garages these days, new tyres always fitted to the rear axle. That’s insanely stupid idea, although there will be arguments flying against me now. For safety reasons. Better tyres should be to the front as the fronts dictate where and how the car goes, rears are only following. The cars which got aqua planing and lost of control are the rear wheel drive or awd cars with or without new tyres on the back rwd or awd cars are always more difficult to control in slippery conditions and more prone to aquaplaning loss of control and skidding. 👍

Agree whole heartedly that New Tyres should be on Front Axle . It is where, in most cases, most of the essential things happen.  I. E. , steering, drive, highest percentage of braking. 

Best Wishes and Regards, John

[Cyker]

Yeah there's lots of arguments for both sides for that; Personally I'm in the back if it's RWD and front if it's FWD or AWD camp...

But TBH I don't actually bother and whatever one is worn down, that gets changed... I rarely bother with the swap-a-roo, but I know many other people swear by it!

I must admit I hadn't thought swapping them front-back might be what the guy was going to do, but from previous experience I doubt it, as they are very much minimum-effort types and not that conscientious (They have the cheapest tyres for a reason...! I had to stop them using a gun on my locking wheelnuts in the past, although with the steelies that is no longer a problem)

I get through tyres too quickly for it to be an issue for long either way  

 

[steveo3002]

17 hours ago, Hybrid21 said:

Hi Tony,  I agree with everything you said, but not always possible to view service/MOT unfortunately.

 

pretty sure they must provide a viewing area for mot  , as for services , best check straight away for shiney parts , finger prints around the wheel , evidence the bolts have been undone etc

another bug bear of mine is damaging the sills when jacking , throwing wheel trims or alloys face down when removed  , i take my wheels off at home to avoid this  

[Hornet3D]

2 hours ago, steveo3002 said:

pretty sure they must provide a viewing area for mot  , as for services , best check straight away for shiney parts , finger prints around the wheel , evidence the bolts have been undone etc

another bug bear of mine is damaging the sills when jacking , throwing wheel trims or alloys face down when removed  , i take my wheels off at home to avoid this  

When I needed to change the tyres on my Honda CRV there was something like a £10 charge to have at done at home a very small as the set were costing me over £60.  I happily paid the extra so I could see what was going on.

 

[Wiz201]

4 hours ago, steveo3002 said:

pretty sure they must provide a viewing area for mot  , as for services , best check straight away for shiney parts , finger prints around the wheel , evidence the bolts have been undone etc

another bug bear of mine is damaging the sills when jacking , throwing wheel trims or alloys face down when removed  , i take my wheels off at home to avoid this  

My local toyota garage there is no viewing area. 

[Hornet3D]

4 hours ago, Hornet3D said:

When I needed to change the tyres on my Honda CRV there was something like a £10 charge to have at done at home a very small as the set were costing me over £60.  I happily paid the extra so I could see what was going on.

 

Wow cheap tyres, that should read over £600 a set.

[steveo3002]

3 hours ago, Wiz201 said:

My local toyota garage there is no viewing area. 

google suggests the should be 

[Wiz201]

My local garage is Huddersfield RRG toyota, I've been there for years and there's no way to view them

[Aygo Mike]

On 11/15/2022 at 9:27 AM, Hybrid21 said:

Hi Mike, firstly make sure it's the right wheel your checking.

Normally you would see fingerprints, etc around the wheel, also is there only one cable tie so can the wheel trim be removed to access the wheel nuts ? 

Iain, thank you for this. Feel like a chump but I was looking at the wrong wheel! So the wheel in question was removed and I feel a bit happier with the garage now. Thanks all for the advice.

I guess the question for us all is to what extent do we trust the garage we ask to do work for us. Maybe I need to be a bit more trusting.

Mike

[Hornet3D]

28 minutes ago, Aygo Mike said:

Iain, thank you for this. Feel like a chump but I was looking at the wrong wheel! So the wheel in question was removed and I feel a bit happier with the garage now. Thanks all for the advice.

I guess the question for us all is to what extent do we trust the garage we ask to do work for us. Maybe I need to be a bit more trusting.

Mike

Glad you did not pay for work that was not done.

 

It is good to trust but when it comes to the motor service and repair business there is so much that there is to be wary of.  In truth I think the dealerships have improved over the years, my local Honda dealership certainly has, and I have been happy with my local Toyota dealership for many years.  Before that I used to use a small two-man garage who were very honest, but I had to accept that they were too busy to keep up with the fast pace of progress of modern cars.

[DerekHa]

Glad to hear your trusted garage had done the work after all Aygo Mike.

[Cyker]

22 hours ago, Hornet3D said:

Wow cheap tyres, that should read over £600 a set.

Was gonna say!!  Even my Mk1 Yaris, which had the cheapest premium tyres of any car I'd ever had, could only manage 2 for £60  

(It's mad to think that my first set of tyres way back when I had that Mk1 Yaris were a set of Continentals for £32 each!  )

 

4 hours ago, Wiz201 said:

My local garage is Huddersfield RRG toyota, I've been there for years and there's no way to view them

That is a bit unusual as most Toyota service places I've been to have at least an MOT viewing area! Usually it's just a booth with a computer monitor showing a camera feed of the MOT area tho'