Topic

That awful moment when suddenly you realise you may well have been "done up like a kipper", as they say.
For those of you that have followed my frustrating journey regarding my coolant/air/gas problem the real truth of the matter may well have been outed.
Brief history.....bought the car with 3months general warranty and 12 months warranty on HG and associated items (see pic)...about 3mnths ago, I started to get erratic coolant levels and air in the system, everything else was fine, I bled it out regularly and eventually found the radiator thread itself was shot, so to eliminate the chance of air being drawn in I changed it for a new alloy one along with the rusty underfloor pipes, for stainless, new exp cap too, bled properly and .......still got air in. Sniff test done and it turned a green/turquoise colour indicating a presence of gas. When I changed the anti freeze I noticed the old stuff had a shiny coppery glint to it, at the time I didn't give it much thought as I'd never used pink O.A.T. , now, however, on reflection I think I know what it might have been......'K Seal'. I was told the car had received a new HG, bolts, WP, anti freeze, belts and cam belt kit, and the head had been skimmed! Why oh why would there be K seal in the system? It's at this point the pit of my stomach gives you that awful feeling.

I'm currently waiting for the dealer/stealer to return from his Spanish holiday to tell him about my problem, I get the feeling I'm going to be given the run around as when I spoke to him about this a couple of months ago he totally ruled out the chances of HGF, I would like some sound steady advice on how to negotiate this from some of you as all I can feel is I may well have been totally shafted........ and he really doesn't want to make me angry,I need to be able to make sure he's gonna sort it.
Any advice would be grateful, he's due back on Monday, I've left him a couple of emails including a photo of the sniff test colour comparison.
Thanks for reading.

Hi
If you have HGF and you can prove [ the count will take your word for this ] it and he does not want to play you can take him to the small claims count I think it may cost you £25 ish You can claim the car was unfit for purpose

Thanks helsbyman, I guess I'll have to wait for his response. I foresee many niggles, ie,I'm in Notts, he's in Leicestershire, does he pick it up? I have a feeling of distrust, which may be wrong, but.....

Its abit more than £25, last time I used it it was £80, but you claim that back if you win, speak to him first and put your case forward with evidence, its his job to prove you wrong not you to prove him wrong the law is on your side, if no joy talk to trading standards as you have to go through the letter and response thing before the court solution its all about fit for purpose and sale of goods act etc, I took a large Citroen main dealer to court via this route and it never made it to court as they settled out of court on the last day before the deadline, it seems daunting but believe me I would do it again in a heartbeat, as long as you have evidence and keep all correspondence and make notes from telephone or face to face conversations with dates times etc you will soon get a resolution you just have to be tenacious, it took me six months to reach the court thing as I was trying to be reasonable but just as we would be about to reach an amicable end I was passed to a higher member of staff and had to start again, once I reached the MD I went the court route one month later problem solved with compensation. Dont do as I did make you case to him and then if no joy in 10 days talk top Trading standards and start court proceedings via on line. Simple

not £25 I was just going on what I was told years ago

For what it's worth, I have seen this quite a few times and I have to say that pursuing the dealer will only end in frustration and maybe you getting rid of the car.

Usually it goes along the lines of contacting the dealer many times until they eventually say they will have a look. You take the car in and they say they can't find anything wrong.

You get the car back and discover that you still have the problem and then end up contacting the garage loads of times again until EVENTUALLY, he agrees that it needs a new HG.

This is where it normally gets interesting.

They take the car in, have it for longer than they said and keep fobbing you off. Eventually you get the car back, with loads of reassurance that they have changed this and that, and it may be OK for a month or so until whatever bodge they have done wears off.

This can go on for a while until they just stop answering your calls.

By this time you have lost faith in and actually start blaming the car.

The thing to remember is that the garage you bought the car off may be a bunch of cowboys who bodged it in the first place, so, you have to take a step back and ask yourself whether it is the best route. It may be the correct legal route, but that won't help your stress levels or the car.

Assuming you can afford another £400 (probably cheaper) my advice would be to give Russell Walsh a call and get him to come and have a look at the car. He is a well respected mobile mechanic (possibly the only one I would trust with my cars) and will give you a trusted assessment and repair that comes with a guarantee. He has been known to travel miles and tell people there is nothing wrong with their car, rather than make something up just to make money, so you can be assured he will tell you as it is.

Legally, you probably won't be able to get the money back as you are supposed to give the company every opportunity to fix it themselves, but if they aren't capable, then what is the point. They will also want to do the repair as cheaply as possible, because they are paying.

In the end, the choice is yours, but sometimes it is better to realise that life is too short for pursuing what is, at best, a crap repair, when you can get it sorted properly and just enjoy the car.

You just summed it up perfectly....why would I want to take it back for it to be bodged yet again, I've already emailed Russell to see if he would be interested in taking it on. Anger and frustration is going to be on the menu for the foreseeable future - I can feel it, he actually suggested, (the dealer with years of k series experience) that I poke the jiggle valve through in order to eliminate any blockages! That says it all really...Where the hell will it end up? I asked, can't remember the reply as I was a bit put off by that remark.but his mechanic has worked on these engines for years, loves 'em he said..
I think you may be right, get the car sorted and enjoy it. I'll see what he suggests on Monday and take it from there, if he's reluctant to play ball I'll tell him a qualified mechanic will be stripping it and if he wants to make a goodwill payment towards the repairs then that will be the end of it, or I'll take it further, let's see.
Thanks for your thoughts, v.sensible, sometimes it's better to let go of something that will inevitably eat you up from within, life's way too short!

Tough business Rocky. I hope it works out for you.

I wholeheartedly agree with all you have said Clive, I have been down the route of legal action and it took a long time but i won in the end, fortunately my godson is a fully qualified barrister so i got some really hard hitting advice. Russell is the man

Good advice from Clive!
Just think of the stress and sleepless nights involved in the months a court action would take, never mind legal costs if it doesn't go your way.
400 quid to Russell and a good bottle of whatever cures you and MG life will be good again.

Thanks for all your thoughts, advice and good wishes, I feel better about making the decision to move on from any negativity that may arise, life's too short to get stressed over a few hundred quid.....
Cheers guys.

Sometimes your better off, sucking up some shit and copping it on the chin, than going through a shitstorm of bullshit!
These cars are such good value, that it 'll still be worth the extra spent, in bang for buck terms.
They are worth so much more than their mere monetary value.