Quote:
Originally Posted by samyakmodi had they not responded now, that would have been the next action.
what happens nowadays with these older cars is that people generally give the car for repairs, and never turn up to pick them up as the car's over all repair cost exceeds the car's net worth. the dealership (in case of major repairs) takes a token amount before hand as a commitment from your side that you ARE interested to get your car repaired. Otherwise I have seen numerous cases with more expensive vehicles where the cars have come for repairs, the dealership/service centre has repaired the car completely, but then the car owner ever shows up to collect his car and make the payment for the work done. This way the dealerships incur a major setback as they have invested not just time and money in that particular car, but the car is also occupying space in their garage. The dealerships can not do anything as they do not have the rights to sell of the car NOR can they do anything if the owner of the car refuses to pay after the repairs have been made. Hence, they take a token amount so that atleast all their efforts are not at a loss. |
I beg to differ on such a practice by Garage/service centre. The more usual and correct way is as follows:
1. After initial survey and estimate, service owner should charge at the very most 25% of 'estimated' bill of repairs.
2. At this point, service centre should be in a position to requisite all required parts if not in stock.
3. In case of substantial increase in repair budget due to unforeseen damages, service centre can then discuss with owner and charge 25% of revised estimate.
4. Once the repairs are complete, customer should then pay the amount in full or in case of cash-less, pay the required amount at the time of delivery.
Any excess amount demanded by service centre during repair without approval of customer is fishy and should be dealt with caution
It is not as if service centre is tied if customer does not take delivery. I have seen many service centres file civil suits against customer with condition that service centre be allowed to recover its losses by sale of car in case of non compliance by customer. In such a case, court usually grants service centre with the custody of vehicle and right of sale if customer fails to represent himself. If customer does represent himself, he is asked to submit a fees / bond / security in excess of repair bills in favour of service centre till the case is resolved.
With such a system, it is merely an escuse by service centre to fleece customers out of the cost of procuring parts considering they had already envisaged a long duration for repairs.
As far as your case is concerned:
1. Some spare parts are slow moving and could be (benefit of doubt) out of hands of service centre.
2. Under no condition, should the service centre have recommended a local part swap. It is just plain wrong and raises questions on morality of service centre.
3. It is also possible in some case that after repairing a certain part, fault is once again diagnosed in another part hence the need for ordering parts one after the other. This is where skill of diagnostics come into play and separates a decent workshop from an excellent workshop.
4. The additional time quoted by service centre after receiving the part is again questionable. While I agree that engine re-packing could take a day or more and another day to test its efficiency and further cleaning and cosmetics of vehicle but that should be it if all other work had been done on the vehicle. Did you get to see your vehicle recently ? If not, you should have a look at its current situation and also inspect the Head gasket part for genuine before they put it in engine by checking their courier receipts and part packaging. Also ensure the date of receipt to confirm if the part was actually received in past few days or the service centre was just taking you for a ride.
5. Be very cautious when settling the final bill and compare with your original estimate. You have the right to question every extra part mentioned in the bill that was not initially mentioned in estimate.
Finally, Hope for the Best. I am sure everything will turn up for good. Agree to the fact that sometimes, it can take a while to repair cars but if all ends well, you were in right hands.