car service problems

S

sb91

Guest
Jurisdiction
United Kingdom
Hello. I booked my car for service with an online company called servicing stop. After having trouble when they failed to tell me the date had been cancelled as their chosen garage couldn't do it, I put it down to a foresight and rebooked. A man from the garage collected the car from my home last Thursday (22nd Sept) and servicing stop called me a couple of hours later and told me what needed to be done. As the car is being handed over to my son and under permission from my parents as they were paying, I instructed them to go ahead with any repairs including the advisory's which cost £611.71 . The car would not have been returned until payment was made.
It was returned to my home by the same man who collected it. As soon as he left, myself, my dad and daughter jumped in to take it round the car park in front of my home. It immediately began to make a warning sound which baffled us a bit. The following morning my daughter and I were making the 2 mile journey to drop the car to my son's home and the warning sound became constant, there was a burning smell and it wasn't going though the gears ( it is an automatic ). I was stranded at the side of the road. I called servicing stop who after several calls agreed to call a recovery truck but said the car would be towed to a garage of their choice and if it was found the fault was not there's then I would be charged. It was a warm day , i explained i had a long term health condition and they said the tow truck would be 18-20 minutes, then 90 mins. After repeated calls and 3 and a half hours of waiting and no access to a drink, i called a taxi and left the car where it was. When i got home, i called the recovery company and they told me that they had tried to contact me but servicing stop had given them the wrong number so they couldnt do the call out. They were NEVER on their way ! They refused to give the name of the garage that did the work so I tracked them down myself. The garage said that the driver noticed these faults that weren't there when he picked the car up only after the service but "forgot" to tell me.
Servicing stop customer service manager would not call me back after repeated attempts of asking her to, so I eventually got the car towed to another garage for a second opinion (another £25). They said I had been grossly overcharged for the work which had been done but it would be difficult to prove it was the fault of the garage as it was the clutch that needed replacing. My parents are now having to pay another £450 to have this done.
Today I have tried many times to speak with servicingstop, again requesting manager call backs and staying on hold for 45 mins at a time to be told she is not at her desk. Myself and daughter eventually managed to speak with her to try and come to a resolution as she told us that all communication between customers and garages go through them but also she said that the company has no communication with what work the garage does. Servicing stop have now said that as far as they are concerned, unless I can prove a direct link between the fault and the garage then the matter is closed.
If they won't communicate with the garage and the garage isn't obliged to do anything, what can I do? Am I within my rights to request a charge back from the bank and let servicing stop take me to court? I feel well and truly taken for a ride. I'm disabled and can't work and my elderly parents are retired. We just can't afford to be treated this way. Please can you advise on my next step? I said I would send them my complaint in writing giving them 14 days to reply but they say I can do this but the outcome would still be the same.
I have kept notes of calls, time of calls, names etc .

Kind regards
sharon
 
Sorry, we're just Yanks, possessed with minimum knowledge of US laws. UK laws baffle, bemuse, and bewilder us.
 
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