Poor Experience by Indy.....Advice Required
Discussion
I hope this is the correct forum to post this on - if not then I apologise and hope that the admins can move it to the correct sub-forum.
Background
My 74 yr old Dad owns an E Class (his P&J) that developed an AC issue that couldn't be resolved by his local trustworthy car mechanic so he decided to take it to an Indy / specialist that features on many of these forums (name redacted due to legal reasons).
Car is a 2004 E Class that is probably worth 1.5K-2K provided in full working condition - which without the AC it would not be.
Summary
This Indy charged him over 2.6K to "fix" the issue
This is far more than the car is worth, at no point did they inform my dad that the costs would be such numbers. Worse still - the AC is not working correctly as it doesn't heat unless the CC is put to MAX - which is ridiculous especially with the colder weather. The car would heat properly prior to dropping it off to the Indy.
Worst bit
Zero customer service from the indy, they have not been helpful at all, giving my 74 yr old dad a run around. now not even answering his phone calls or emails anymore - despite an official legal letter sent to them a few weeks back to put the situation right.
He is now seeking further legal advice and in the process of taking the Indy to court.
Open to suggestions and contact from fellow members that can offer some helpful advice in such situations.
Thanks
Background
My 74 yr old Dad owns an E Class (his P&J) that developed an AC issue that couldn't be resolved by his local trustworthy car mechanic so he decided to take it to an Indy / specialist that features on many of these forums (name redacted due to legal reasons).
Car is a 2004 E Class that is probably worth 1.5K-2K provided in full working condition - which without the AC it would not be.
Summary
This Indy charged him over 2.6K to "fix" the issue
This is far more than the car is worth, at no point did they inform my dad that the costs would be such numbers. Worse still - the AC is not working correctly as it doesn't heat unless the CC is put to MAX - which is ridiculous especially with the colder weather. The car would heat properly prior to dropping it off to the Indy.
Worst bit
Zero customer service from the indy, they have not been helpful at all, giving my 74 yr old dad a run around. now not even answering his phone calls or emails anymore - despite an official legal letter sent to them a few weeks back to put the situation right.
He is now seeking further legal advice and in the process of taking the Indy to court.
Open to suggestions and contact from fellow members that can offer some helpful advice in such situations.
Thanks
Sorry to hear of your Dad's bad experience... these sorts of things can be extremely stressful at the best of times.
Did this indy not break the job down into 2 separate parts (ie. diagnose and fix)? Standard practice is to first diagnose the issue (sometimes this is done free of charge, other times it's common to charge an hour's labour), after which a quote can be provided to fix the problem. If the customer decides to go ahead, the cost of the job is known upfront. If not, all that's owed is the diagnostic time.
Did this indy not break the job down into 2 separate parts (ie. diagnose and fix)? Standard practice is to first diagnose the issue (sometimes this is done free of charge, other times it's common to charge an hour's labour), after which a quote can be provided to fix the problem. If the customer decides to go ahead, the cost of the job is known upfront. If not, all that's owed is the diagnostic time.
What did they do for that amount ? we would normally charge £30 to pressure test and advise, this would then be deducted from any AC work we quote on. So are more straight forward, usually its the condenser, then the compressor, then occasionally the tx valve. There isn't much more to the system. Occasionally you do have to replace a few things, but its rare. Even compressors on the turbo E63 from a main dealer don't cost much more than £1100 fitted and that would be genuine from Mercedes (we went through 4 aftermarket ones just to try and avoid buying a main dealer)
Whats been replaced so far ?
Whats been replaced so far ?
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