Quick opinion please

Update! My car is fixed, and it needed a clutch kit and a Dual Mass Flywheel as expected; however, despite the car being repaired I cannot get it back as the warranty company are now playing silly beggars and want to send an independent assessor out to double check if the flywheel is actually faulty! This, I am told, will happen in the next 48hrs, so it could be Saturday before I get my car back. Worse still, they are refusing to pay for the clutch kit as its a 'wear and tear' item and not covered under the warranty

Now, being fair to the warranty company, they did not get asked for authorisation to repair the car by Halfords before the repair was done, nor did I give permission to do any more than investigate and diagnose and then contact the warranty company. However, I have documentation from my local Audi dealer stating that the clutch and flywheel needed replacing, and now Halfords also stating that the clutch and flywheel are faulty, as well as my own experiences and documented complaints to the seller within two weeks of purchase informing them that I believed the clutch and flywheel to be faulty.

Indeed, I only ended up at Halfords due to them being the warranty company's 'preferred' repairer - - so why are they now questioning the professional integrity of the very people that they directed me to go to? And how much more is it costing them to do so?

I have spoken with the warranty company, who won't budge on the clutch, and have subsequently have spoken to the sellers who in fairness are currently making the right noises in that they will evaluate what they can do as soon as I forward them a paid invoice for the clutch portion of the bill - however, they have not actually committed to anything yet.

I have even gone to Halfords to see for myself the parts that they have taken out - I am no mechanic, but even I can tell that the DMF is absolutely cream-crackered as it has considerable lateral movement that clearly shouldn't be there. The release bearing was considered to be faulty (although I couldn't discern with my untrained eye what was wrong with it) and the pressure plate was also said to be faulty (again, I can't claim to know what the issue was with my untrained eye) - - and finally, the friction plate was clearly worn beyond the point where it could be classed as serviceable; the only way that I can describe it, is that the grooves in the friction material are practically non-existant and the friction material has worn down to such a level that it is barely above the rivets.

Although Halfords jumped the gun a bit in doing the repair, I am fully satisfied in my own mind that they have replaced only what was needing to be replaced, and nothing more; equally, it is my understanding that the friction plate, release bearing and pressure plate all come as part of a kit anyway, so as soon as they were into replacing the release bearing and the pressure plate, they were pretty much into replacing the whole shebang anyway.

So, I now await the result of the inspection of the removed parts, and can only hope to get my car back sooner rather than later. Hacked off doesn't even begin to cover it.

 

Sorry this is turning into a saga FC.

 

As I said to the Service Manager at the dealer I bought it from this afternoon, I have gone from someone who would have recommended them to all and sundry to someone that is now neither recommending or criticising them - its soured what was initially a very good experience to be honest, and all the more disappointing given that this is the most I have ever spent on a car, and did so in the hope that it would give me years of trouble free motoring.

I sincerely hope that by this time next week, it will be all resolved with me not out of pocket, and I can have my faith in the seller restored.

 

That is pretty much along the lines of the conversation that I had with the dealer today - I did mention that I would be within my rights to reject the car and simply ask the finance company to pick up their car from Halfords, and I also mentioned not only recourse via the sale of goods act but also the mis-selling of insurance products which I am sure the FSA would have something to say about. However, I have no desire to get shirty with them, and as I say they are in fairness listening and making the right noises at the moment.

If it transpires that I get refunded the cost of the clutch, and the warranty company pay for the flywheel, then I will be content. I am not looking for anything that I am not due, and have no desire to go over-egging things by hiring a car or anything silly and ending up battling for an unreasonable amount of money from them.

I also feel a wee bit sorry for Halfords too - the technician found the faulty parts and replaced them in the absence of the manager who was at a funeral yesterday, believing that he was doing the right thing; he was apparently unaware that the warranty company had to be contacted first, however as far as I am concerned that is purely semantics - - - the parts are faulty, and are there to be seen, as I have seen with my own eyes.

As mentioned above, I am no mechanic - - however, I am also no stranger to the end of a spanner and when my health was better, I would do most repairs myself. I have also driven many hundreds of thousands of miles (millions possibly) in vehicles of all shapes and sizes, and I am one of those people that has a considerable degree of mechanical sympathy, and I can instinctively tell when a vehicle is poorly.

I am also no fool, so will not be taken for one by any warranty company, dealer or repair agent.

 

Hopefully, this will be the second from last update to this thread

The warranty company visited the car yesterday, and deemed that the flywheel had suffered a sudden failure (as opposed to wear and tear), so they paid for that portion of the repair. They refused to pay for the clutch and associated components, so I will be forwarding the paid invoice to the seller at the start of next week, and live in hope that they do the decent thing and send me a cheque for the £370 that the warranty company didn't pay.

The difference in my car is incredible - it is like driving a new car; in fact, it is only really now that I realise just how bad the problem was.

And the other thing that I have (yet again) been reminded of this week is the value of good friends - - yesterday afternoon, I got back into my office to find a car key on the desk, left by one of my colleagues who very kindly loaned me his (virtually brand new) Mondeo as he wasn't using it over the weekend; and another colleague who has been through the entire saga with me, went with me to collect the car today, paying the bill on his credit card which gives us a month or so to get the refund from the seller before he gets charged interest. I never cease to be amazed at the kindness of so many people, that I am lucky enough to know.

 

Final chapter!

I sent a copy of the invoice for the clutch portion of the bill to the selling dealer on Monday night, and got a phone call on Tuesday morning from the service manager. He is less than chuffed with the behaviour of the warranty company, and will be taking the matter up with them himself - however, he also apologised for the trouble and informed me that he had passed the invoice over to his finance department for reimbursement.

Sure enough, the cheque arrived in the post this afternoon

Fair play to them, they (Imperial Car Supermarket) did the right thing by me, and I cannot criticise them at all - shame the same can't be said of the warranty company (Auto Protect).

 

Dying to get a nice, dry, warmish weekend so I can get the polisher out

 

Cheque will be banked tomorrow, so that I can pass it straight on to my friend who paid the bill on his credit card for me - thankfully, this means that I can pay him back and still eat this month