...say I'd had some work done on a vehicle, by a Main Dealer, which had cost IRO £800.
And let's assume that subsequently, another Main Dealer found a problem with the work that had been done which then cost another £173.88. And that this second main dealer was of the firm opinion that it was inadequacies in the original work which had led to the second problem.
Now let's also assume, hypothetically, that I'd gone back to the first dealer to recoup the cost of this repair, and had had no luck in getting any form of compensation from them over 5 months of discussion.
What would be my recourse to the first dealer to recover the costs of the repair, and what would the process involve?
You could legally park the aforementioned Land Rover outside the dealership with a factually 100% accurate (and provably so) description of your grievance in large letters.
You could instigate a claim via the small claims court (I'm going to be doing this myself tomorrow, which will be a good learning process).
Depending on the age of the vehicle you could involve Land Rover customer services. An independent engineers report would certainly strengthen your case.
The key to success in any small legal action is to involve the other party in so many annoying costs and other irritations that they find it cheaper to settle. When fighting a business there is a good chance that the opposition are judging things on pounds and pence, not personal pride or desire 'to win'. You may need to escalate it higher in the organisation to get that perspective though.
I've had a lot of success with formal letter writing (recently winning a refund from a major electronics retailer for a duff hi-fi component plus a climb-down from a motor insurer on my sister's behalf). Don't ever conduct these matters by phone - it's too easy for people to hear what they want to hear and renege later.
Always end the letter by making a positive suggestion to 'bring the matter to a mutually agreeable close' (i.e. "you can get rid of me if you say yes to this"), pointing out that you will apportion no blame and make no public statement about the whole affair. Perhaps aim for compensation in some other form than cash - perhaps some parts or a free service or something. That way the employee at the dealer doesn't have to justify a credit note to his boss, but can instead brag to his colleagues about how he fobbed you off with a free service that costs them sod all anyway.
It's also worth putting some semi-formal sentences in their - e.g. head every letter with 'WITHOUT PREJUDICE' and statements like "I don't feel that you have exercised 'reasonably skill and care'" - the message will be "Oh Christ, his best mate is a lawyer". Lawyer mates are much more worrying than paid lawyers, because they go on forever on nil-cost personal crusades for their friends.
And don't play all your cards in the first letter. You want to keep something back, so you can write to them every single week until they get fed up of you. There is also a general fear of Watchdog and Trading Standards amongst retailers, which you could allude to.
On the doorstep at 9am. "Hello, me and a few friends would like to take look round the show room. We've had a little trouble parking; all 20 of us. Used up all your customer spaces, workshop spaces, staff spaces and had to put a few very close to your new Range Rovers"
I did this myself a few years ago. The process is quite simple and the Court staff very helpful. There are plenty of leaflets available from the court office which give good advice and are in plain English. The only problem is the time it takes. Mine took six months, but I got everything I wanted.
As they are franchised dealers it would be interesting to see what Lode Lane would say about it, especially as Ford seems hell bent on knackering LR UK !! Copy and send all your correspondance to HQ with a note to said dealer's CEO
Then be careful about the wording, the normal small claims procedure enables the defendant to have the hearing near them, I think the only way to have the case heard near you is if you don't liquidate (i.e. leave the amount claimed open) the damage. IME companies with solicitors take it to the line. Also if you choose this route make sure you have investigated all avenues of mediation. Only sue on a matter of principal if you believe the lawyers need your money IANAL.
I've done this with Ford *and* Land Rover. I won't go into the details, but thanks to Ford, I now own Piglet. I did glean one IMPORTANT piece of information in the 9 months of hell I had with them. There is only ONE Ford garage in the UK. ONE. Yes, you read that right. It's in Daggenham. There are no others. The others are Franchises and are *nothing* to do with Ford. Scary huh?
That's true of virtually all car dealers. I'm surprised they actually own the one in Dagenham.
However, if the manufacturer feels that a franchisee is bringing them into disrepute they are at liberty to withdraw the franchise, and thus _can_ bring substantial pressure to bear should they feel inclined to do so.
"David French" wrote in news:40e1b567$0$4593$ snipped-for-privacy@news.zen.co.uk:
I had trouble with a video duplicating firm (I make videos). They refused to return my masters, demanding I pay for work they did rectifying their own mistakes. Fortunately, I had everything in writing. I sued in the local Small Claims Court for the return of my tapes (no damages) and won.
They did not elect for the case to be brought local to them (Bristol) and it is my understanding that they would have had to have been represented in Scotland (where my local court is). As it was, they did not bother to turn up or be represented and I won by default.
They treated the whole thing as a bit of a joke and I got my tapes back which cost them no more than loss of face. BUT the "joke" turned a bit sour when I posted my experiences to various video newsgroups and repeated the story every time someone asked for recommendations for a good duplicator! "Don't use XYZ, this is what they did to me", etc!
I heard they went bust.... NEVER underestimate the power of word of mouth. There is absolutely nothing they can do if you post the truth and can prove it. Nothing as caste iron as a court judgement and nothing so sweet as revenge served cold. Something your hypothetical garage ought to hypothetically ponder.
in article snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Tim Hobbs at snipped-for-privacy@101ambulance-urine.net wrote on 29/6/04 6:48 pm:
Have just gone through something similar with the Maytag american washing machine we bought a couple of years ago. After four or five breakdowns in the first year which ended in a new motor, the replacement lasted less than three months. I have just had the second motor fitted, after numerous phone calls and the only result I had was after I wrote a letter saying how disappointed I was in their product and their service and that if I didn't hear from them within seven days that I would be contacting a solicitor/trading standards.
I recieved a phone call from them and had a new motor fitted within two weeks of the letter and have a full 5 year extended warranty with the motor. I did have to pay a company to fit the motor, but that is only because I refused to have the original engineer who had been to repair it fit it because as far as we were concerned he was unable to do his job properly, for various reasons, one of which was his rude and obnoxious attitude.
Its ages since I've been through the business of small claims, but a letter giving them 7 days to reply before you take matters further is usually what you have to do first. Send it registered post so it has to be signed for or hand deliver the letter.
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