Car damaged during service

goodpawn · 02-03-2012, 10:54 PM

Hey all dunno if this is the right area for this but anyway. Sorry for the novel like length.
I booked my car in at a well known perfomance shop in Perth on monday for my Super pursuits 15000km service. I waited while the car was to have the oil changed etc.. After about an hour the owner of the workshop went down the back to check on the progress.
He came back and informed me that the clutch fluid was a bit gluggy(his words) and recommended a flush and fluid change.
I agreed thinking no big deal and proceeded to wait some more. After another 20 odd minutes he wanders down to the workshop again but when he comes back this time he say do you want the good news or the bad. He then tells me that the bleeder nipple? has broken off inside the concentric slave cylinder? and that he will need to drop the gearbox from the ute to fix it.
OK I say thinking that **** happens and I was unlucky. Turns out he cant get a part that day and I would have to wait until after lunch the next day before I can pick my car up. OK I say but my accomodation for the night is on the other side of Perth and I have no other transport options. He hums and hars for a minute then says that I can use his work ute(30 year old Triton).
At this point I have been waiting 3.5hours for my car and am keen to get back to my motel for the night. I turn up after lunch the next day and spend another 2 hours waiting for my car to be returned to me.

Now the fun part, I was expecting the bill to be $185 for the service and whatever the clutch fluid flush was going to be. He hands me a bill for $758, I nearly fell over. Why so high I query? Well he says it took my boys over four hours to remove gearbox, fit new slave cylinder and refit the gearbox.

At this stage all I wanted to do was get the keys to my car as I had a 4 hour drive ahead of me to get home and back to work the following day. So I paid the $758 for what I had thought was going to be a simple oil change on a 15000km car.
All up it took nearly 6 hours of my time plus the fuel to run the 30 year old Triton in peak hour traffic back to my accomodation and back to the workshop the next day which was along way out of my way.
Since I have been back at work a few people have commented that the workshop was liable for the labour plus the $168 for the replacement slave cylinder and that I should pursue this further to recoup my money.

Also the bleed nipple is metal and the slave cylinder plastic yet the metal part broke off inside the plastic. How is this possible?

I am seeking and information from anyone that has taken this route before and what their outcome was.
Rant over and thank you for your patience in reading this and responding(if anyone actually does)
Cheers
Goodpawn

XARATE · 02-03-2012, 11:46 PM

Unfortunatly he has covered himself legally. He asked permission to do all the work that was performed to the car and you granted permission.

Unfortunatly this sort of stuff happens, sometimes the strangest things break and get stuck or wont fit. Perfect example is a car we had towed into work once with a burnt fuse in the main fusebox. No problem we'll replace the fusebox and fix the priblem that caused it, long story short, his car was written off by his insurance company due to a voltage spike (bunt alt fuse) damaged ecus. Never did that customer (or our workshop) expect that the car coming would keave as a write off.

The only thing odd that comes to me from your story is - how did the mechanic come to the conclusion that the fluid needed replacing?

Windsor220 · 02-03-2012, 11:55 PM

Clutch fluid replaced at 15,000km? Hmmmm.

Yellow_Festiva · 02-03-2012, 11:58 PM

Did you actually see this damage or ask for the broken bits? I'm thinking you have been taken for a ride IMO. Sorry.

goodpawn · 03-03-2012, 01:14 AM

I did see the damaged parts. The bleed nipple was broken off at the thread with the thread still stuck in the slave cylinder.
I was under the impression(wrongly obviously) that because it was broken whilst they were working on it (he did admit that it was an apprentice that done it) that they would cover the costs.
I was a bit suspicous about the clutch fluid myself but the ute is a 2007 model so wasnt sure if fluid had a shelf life as such. I have since found out that the previous owner(he owned it up until 8000kms) had done a clutch fluid change on it in december last year.
Only reason I took it to a well known performance shop was because I thought that $185 for an oil change would mean that a quality mechanic would be working on it. Guess I was taken for a ride after all. I will just take it to Kmart Auto or Repco next time.

svo supporter · 03-03-2012, 05:29 AM

It only takes a little bit of crap on the thread of a bleeder nipple thread to jam it up and cause it to break.

Clutch fluid (aka brake fluid) is good for 12 to 24 months, as it absorbs moisture. So to me, the mechanic was trying to be nice to you and save you coming back complaining of a clutch issue and it's turned pear shaped.

Legit290 · 03-03-2012, 11:09 AM

and when it turns pear shaped who foots the bill?

In this case it seems the OP
I think that the responsibility falls on the shop. If they weren't looking for a few extra dollars on the original bill it wouldn't have happened and he would've driven out happy rather than paying for their stuff up.

It seems like when you get your car serviced you better have a spare car and a spare grand in your back pocket in case they **** it up

svo supporter · 03-03-2012, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clarkey117

and when it turns pear shaped who foots the bill?

In this case it seems the OP
I think that the responsibility falls on the shop. If they weren't looking for a few extra dollars on the original bill it wouldn't have happened and he would've driven out happy rather than paying for their stuff up.

It seems like when you get your car serviced you better have a spare car and a spare grand in your back pocket in case they **** it up

And if the shop hadn't replaced the clutch fluid and the Op drove away and it failed, then you can see the dung getting flung on here, how useless the service was not picking it up.

Stuffed if you do, stuffed if you don't

4.0i_SiX · 03-03-2012, 02:25 PM

Unfortunately it can happen at any time and by the sounds of it the owner of the shop asked for your permission to carry out the work. An unfortunate thing happened with the bleed nipple ( I HATE concentric slave cylinders, who's idea was that??) he then showed you the broken part and loaned you a car. I have had bleed nipples snap off calipers before, sometimes there is just nothing you can do about it, no matter how much care is taken. Different story if the apprentice was swinging off it with a breaker bar or something.

Windsor220 · 03-03-2012, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by svo supporter

Clutch fluid (aka brake fluid) is good for 12 to 24 months, as it absorbs moisture. So to me, the mechanic was trying to be nice to you and save you coming back complaining of a clutch issue and it's turned pear shaped.

It is true that it absorbs moisture, but to be honest its not something that gets done often. With brakes you need to keep on top of it because the feel deteriorates after a couple of years and with the amount of fluid in the system its more noticable. Clutches being soft you dont really feel it when the fluid gets old and there isnt much of it either so the difference would barely be noticable. I'm a mechanic and I've probably only done a clutch flush about 5 times in over a decade in the trade. Bleeding the system after a repair is another story.

I'd be more concerned they didnt do the brake fluid after that time.

Franco Cozzo · 03-03-2012, 02:59 PM

When I was at Honda, the dealership footed the bill for any damage, I accidentally cut a hole in the wrong place in a new car during a pre delivery floormat install and they replaced the entire carpet at no cost to the customer.