LEGAL ADVICE NEEDED Seriously annoyed!!

[DR SCHNITZEL]

:Grrr
 
I feel compelled to let you guys know. I have been done a real bum deal by a rotary tuning company.
 
I paid them 2500 pounds for an engine with new housings which they also mapped taking it to 3000. The car has not boosted properly since this time. I phoned them up a good few months ago now after driving say 100 miles on this set up to say i was not happy.
 
They picked the car up. 2 weeks later phone call from them to say the car was ready and could they take a payment over the phone for the work?? they wanted another 250 pounds!!
 
I said "for what" it was meant to be warranty work. They had messed with the mapping, put oil and fuel in it and took it for a tweak. I went down there only to find the boost problem had not even been fixed they hadnt even taken the uim off . I still ended up paying them 50 quid and drove the car home. I used it with the boost issue for a while (an issue never had before on the previous engine) And since have spent 2300 quid in parts making it single turbo. While fitting the parts i noticed more problems with the engine. Namely
 
1) An electrical connector on the coil pack has been glued in. You wouldnt use this on your own car
 
2) The engine wire harness is incredibly brittle and not one any one would use on thier own car many wires have snapped.
 
3) The lim has threads missing from it and the uim is just bolted to it which looks awful meaning no chrome caps. Again you wouldnt want this on your own engine.
 
4) They didnt bolt the engine to the gearbox fully at least one nut missing (THE HARD ONE TO GET TO)
 
5) Taking the twins off one thread out of the 4. the bottom left one came off so easily it was obviously only finger tight then nipped. Which worried me as a thread might have been stripped and where these actually new housings.
 
6) in the seq turbo intake a metal tube had been sawed in half and it was full of swarf. In the actual intake system!!. This just isnt acceptable
 
7) The main pulley oil seal is leaking oil. (Which they might be fixing under warranty) i wont know yet until tomorrow.
 
Thats it. i flagged all these items up with them they picked the car up which has cost me another 25 quid!!
 
2 weeks later again i got a phone call to say. That they would basically not do any of the work because i cant prove anything as ive fitted the single tub and fuel system. All this effort to get rid of the boost problem that they wouldnt/didnt fix under the warranty in the first place.
 
A reasonable approach would surely be for them to say. "ok yes we admit there are poor bits on your engine and we will replace them with better scrap bits lying around the workshop."
 
"Yes we will sort your boost problem out on you new engine under warranty" It turned out they didnt even take the uim off. id did when removing the rats nest and there where a few tubes cracked which may have caused the issue" also the throttle body nuts were quite loose too this may have cause a problem.
 
Im very concerned my new housing has a stripped thread as the twins came off so easy i thought best let them look at it under warranty. They want to charge me half an hours labor to look at that. and if it is strpped they said they cant prove it was them.
 
Had this car engine 6 months now and it hasnt run properly from day 1. They have had thier money and now just dont seem to care.
 
What can i do they wont do warranty work on the initial work they done and they wont do any work on it now ive spent 2200 quid going single to fix thier problem.
 
what advice legal or otherwise can any of you give me?
 
These guys just dont seem to care now they have had my money. Money is going thier way all the time and my car isnt getting any better. The warranty is worthless it seems. im at the end of my tether with it.

[sim_rx3]

hi mate,

first and formost seek legal advice professionally and talk to a lawyer in this feild of legal expertise.

might cost a little bit upfront.

but it will be advice that will be real world. not i heard my mates brothers daughter did this..


also do you have a "consumer affairs" (which in australia now is department of fair trading) in the UK.

i would also contact them and get some advice on what you have to do legally to sort it before bringing the big guns of court to them. might be cheaper..


secondly, i dont know about in the UK. but in australia, if you change the car in the area\'s where the problems lie (in this case you have removed it entirely off the car). it does void the warranty. as you have tampered with it.



personally id be worried about the engine itself as well.. if you have seen this much dodgeness. whats inside?? especially if front oil seals are leaking etc now.



as for your points -

1) yes glueing a plug to a device is dodgey. they could have got a new one from mazda

2) brittleness of harness. is a factory issue and no fault of the workshop. FD are reknown for higher under bonnet temperature. which leads to vacuum circuit and wiring harness failure. your boosting issues probably was a faulty pipe in the vacuum circuit. but for wires to be snapped means the workshop has been careless with the loom. anyone thats worked on FD\'s before electrically will tell you the less movement the better.






all your other points are back to them being dodgey bros and reverts me to my original first sentence.
seek legal advice..

[Ricco_04]

First stop will be to contact Trading standards / Consumer direct.  There is Government website is available but its best to phone up with every scrap of information you have available.  Log the problem with them - They will also at this time search their records to see if there has been any problems with this company before.  I found them extreamly helpfull when I needed stuff sorting out.  They will give you advice every step of the way about what to do next.

Keep a log of all contact information, past and present.

The big problem is that you have done a lot of work on the car and it will be about proving who has done what.

[Brett]

So who was it?  PM me if you don\'t want to openly say.

[DR SCHNITZEL]

But they had the car 2 weeks now looked at it yesterday and said no no no and maybe to one problem. They could at least give me the benefit of the doubt especially after the amount of time and effort and money ive spent trying to sort a problem which they really should have sorted on the warranty and not charged me for.
 
If i dont get some kind of help or compromise from them today. I will name and shame em. I dont have the time to pursue a long legal direction. I thought they seemed like good lads thats why i trusted buying the engine off them. They are so busy with profit generating work im always a low priority. ll let you know later what happens today.

[DR SCHNITZEL]

can pm not full member anymore

[DR SCHNITZEL]

Oh when i said wires in the loom have snapped that was aftyer movement by myself, but teh general condition of the loom was poor

[BlitzBoy]

Didnt you actually install the rebuilt engine from Lindop yourself?
http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51872

So didnt you notice the brittle wiring room when you removed or installed the engine.
If they installed the engine themselves then and damaged the wiring then they should rectify.

But if you installed the engine yourself from reading one of your past threads then I dont think you have any come back in regards to the wiring.

In regards to leaking oil seals they should defo repair this under warranty indicates they have not put the engine together properly or used a brand new oil seal

[BlitzBoy]

Can you tell me what the symptoms of you boost problem on your single turbo, do you get any boost at all? or does it spike, or does it lose boost over the rev range?

[grinder]

have you not got legal advice with your care insurance ??

i know that most places offer this ??

might be worth checking

[vonrumble]

take pictures of the faults, make sure you have a copy of the quote, paperwork etc, and find your self a solicitor. I hate companys who rip people of like this, just gives a bad name car mechanics. Hope you get things sorted and compensated for your trouble!

[najiru]

Firstly I would say that in most of these cases there is an element of both sides not being 100% on where they stand. As mentioned above if you contact consumer direct they will allocate a complaint number and give you some advice. I believe the norm is for them to ask you to give the company that number and inform them of what you are doing. They may also offer to send a letter on your behalf explaining the situation.
 
After this hopefully you can come to an agreement that is acceptable to both parties. I would think it\'s very unlikely that there has been any intention of ripping you off and elevating the situation slightly might just make them reconsider how they are dealing with it.
 
Good luck, hope it works out for you.

[BlitzBoy]

^^^^^ wise words

[REVIT93RX7]

I think talking with the shop and trying to understand why they feel they will not repair the problems is the first step.
 
The next step would be to discuss what they will fix and then go from there.  They will more than likely explain the position they have.  You will explain yours and maybe in the process of communicating some plan can be reached.
 
As far as the wire harness, they should have told you that the harness needs to be replace, even if you knew this.  They just get brittle and thats just a fact of life with these cars.
 
As far as the boost problem, if they were a competent shop they should know how to check all of the rast nest etc.  So after this is resolved I would think finding someone new to do the work would be the best recourse.  Thanks for listening.

[Brett]

So did you fit the engine yourself or not then?  If you did, was the turbo pack already fitted etc?