# "roadside rescue" nightmare



## johnjoda (28 Mar 2009)

Hi all, 

I spent a hour or two yesterday afternoon trying to replace broken alternator belt. 

I got replacement from a local car spares shop. The new belt was too small by a little to go over the bottom pulley* (*more apparent later in story). So I gave up and would have to have another go tomorrow I thought. 

My wife wanted me to go out to get her a bottle of wine for the evening, but car would not start due to the non existent drive belt not charging battery. 

So I decided to call on the rescue company, "*home start service*" : "no problem, sir, someone will be with you within a hour". 

Sure enough a guy called to say he would be about 40 mins. He arrived and asked what the problem was, he said to go indoors out of the rain he would be about 1/2 hour fixing the car. 

After about 20mins he came to door to say that he could not get the belt to tighten and had called his garage (he was an appointed agent of rescue company) to find out how many pulleys there were on my car as the belt seemed wrong size. 

Now for the interesting bit......... he shone a torch under the car and showed me a pulley was missing. (The very same pulley I could not get the belt to go over). Odd that the said pulley was there just before he arrived and then vanished.

He made his excuses and left, I checked again that I was not seeing things and sure enough the pulley had been removed and all bright and shining metal underneath where the pulley was. 

I rang the rescue company and asked if the mechanic would kindly call me back, she asked me to hold and would put me through, she came back to say he was not answering his mobile and would keep trying and to expect a call a little later. 

After around an hour i called up to say I had no call from the mechanic yet o.k I will try him again he will be in touch. Ten minutes passed, he did call me, and I accused him of removing the pulley from my car as to save face that he could not fix the car. He denied my allegations.

So back on to the rescue centre to tell them I want to lodge a formal complaint. I was transferred to a supervisor who said my allegations were very serious and said it will take a great deal of time investigating and would rather avoid this course of action and wanted to call the mechanic herself, and would call me back. She called back to say the mechanic would come back today with a new pulley and fit a new belt too if I wanted. I declined the offer and said I would be contacting my solicitor. 

Ten minutes passed and I had the boss of the mechanic on the phone saying I am making a very serious allegation about his employee and his company's reputation and that the telephone conversation was being recorded and I will be sued for slander he hung up.

Where do i go from here any advice would be greatly appreciated.

John


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## z103 (28 Mar 2009)

*Re: well known roadside rescue nightmare*

I don't understand why the mechanic would remove a pulley?


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## Towger (28 Mar 2009)

*Re: well known roadside rescue nightmare*

Some thing fishy. He may have removed the pulley to get the belt on. I would not be surprised if he damaged the pulley or seared off a bolt when getting it off. If that is the cause he may let on that it was always missing. It could cost more than a few bob to remove an engine to drill out a bolt. By the way I would call the managers bluff and request a copy of all the recordings under the Data Protection Acts, only costs €6 or so.


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## extopia (28 Mar 2009)

*Re: well known roadside rescue nightmare*

I don't understand why the OP refused offer to replace pulley and belt and instead decided to contact solicitor. And all this after not being able to fix the thing himself and arguably wasting the time of the "well known roadside rescue company"? 

I suppose it's one person's word against the others as to who actually broke the pulley.


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## mathepac (28 Mar 2009)

*Re: well known roadside rescue nightmare*



extopia said:


> I don't understand why the OP refused offer to replace pulley and belt and instead decided to contact solicitor. And all this after not being able to fix the thing himself and arguably wasting the time of the "well known roadside rescue company"? ...


Strange indeed.


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## ajapale (28 Mar 2009)

*Re: well known roadside rescue nightmare*



johnjoda said:


> Hi all, i spent a hour or two yesterday afternoon trying to replace broken alternator belt, i got replacement from a local car spares shop. The new belt was too small by a little to go over the( bottom pulley* more apparent later in story) so gave up and have another go tomorrow i thought. My wife wanted me to go out to get her a bottle of wine for the evening, but car would not start due to the non existent drive belt not charging battery. So decided to call on the rescue company ,home start service, no problem sir someone will be with you within a hour. Sure enough a guy called to say he would be about 40 mins. He arrived and asked what the problem was, he said to go indoors out of the rain he would be about 1/2 hour fixing the car. After about 20mins he came to door to say that he could not get the belt to tighten and had called his garage ( he was an appointed agent of rescue company )to find out how many pulleys there were on my car as the belt seemed wrong size. Now for the interesting bit......... he shone a torch under the car and showed me a pulley was missing. (The very same pulley i could not get the belt to go over). Odd that the said pulley was there just before he arrived and then vanished. He made his excuses and left, i checked again that i was not seeing things and sure enough the pulley had been removed and all bright and shining metal underneath where the pulley was. I rang the rescue company and asked if the mechanic would kindly call me back, she asked me to hold and would put me through, she came back to say he was not answering his mobile and would keep trying and to expect a call a little later. After around an hour i called up to say i had no call from the mechanic yet o.k i will try him again he will be in touch, 10 mins passed he did call me and i accused him of removing the pulley from my car as to save face that he could not fix the car, he denied my allegations. So back on to the rescue centre to tell them i want to lodge a formal complaint, i was transferred to a supervisor who said my allegations were very serious and said it will take a great deal of time investigating and would rather avoid this course of action and wanted to call the mechanic herself, and would call me back. She called back to say the mechanic would come back today with a new pulley and fit a new belt too if i wanted, i declined the offer and said i would be contacting my solicitor. 10 mins passed and i had the boss of the mechanic on the phone saying i am making a very serious allegation about his employee and his company's reputation and that the telephone conversation was being recorded and i will be sued for slander he hung up. Where do i go from here any advice would be greatly appreciated
> john



Hi John,

If you break your question up into short sentences and small paragraphs then more people will read your question and you will get a better quality response.




> Please take a little time to write your post carefully.  Use complete sentences.   Use paragraphs for longer posts.



aj


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## Smashbox (28 Mar 2009)

*Re: well known roadside rescue nightmare*

A very strange situation. If you're sure the pulley was there, and after the mechanic had been at it, it wasn't - then obviously the mechanic removed it.

Probably, as mentioned above, because he had caused some sort of damage. 

I guess your next port of call should be to your solicitor to see how to proceed


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## Ancutza (28 Mar 2009)

*Re: well known roadside rescue nightmare*

Why has the next port of call become a call to a solicitor for crying out loud!? 

 So the OP was unhappy with the service and may, or may not, have valid reasons but he was offered by the repair company to put things right to which he replied that he'd rather phone a solicitor!

Right on mate! What a ridiculous and disproportionate response to an easily-solved issue.


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## DavyJones (28 Mar 2009)

*Re: well known roadside rescue nightmare*

Think you may have had a knee jerk reaction because you were lied too. I would contact garage and accept offer to put right, this would be the end of the matter.

What exactly do you wish to achieve?

What can a solicitor do for you here?


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## Smashbox (28 Mar 2009)

*Re: well known roadside rescue nightmare*



> I declined the offer and said I _*would be contacting my solicitor*_.
> Ten minutes passed and I had the boss of the mechanic on the phone saying I am making a very serious allegation about his employee and his company's reputation and that the telephone conversation was being recorded and I will be sued for slander he hung up.



I said to contact a solicitor because the OP has already informed them that that is what he wants to do.


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## extopia (29 Mar 2009)

*Re: well known roadside rescue nightmare*



Smashbox said:


> I said to contact a solicitor because the OP has already informed them that that is what he wants to do.



So how does this post contribute to the discussion, then?


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## Smashbox (29 Mar 2009)

*Re: well known roadside rescue nightmare*

If you were to read above, you will see that wasnt my only comment. If someone did damage to my car, and scarpered off without letting on, hoping I hadn't seen and so causing me more financial hassle, I too would want something done about it.

The mechanics boss has also been rude, shouting slander and the likes, so why shouldnt the OP take legal advice?


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## ajapale (29 Mar 2009)

Correct me if im wrong but you attempted to repair your car and failed. You then rang the "roadside rescue" company.

....does this come within the terms and conditions of your contract with the "roadside rescue" company?

Why did you not just book the car in to your local car mechanic and get them to repair your car?

again I might be missing something here!


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## MrMan (29 Mar 2009)

ajapale said:


> Correct me if im wrong but you attempted to repair your car and failed. You then rang the "roadside rescue" company.
> 
> ....does this come within the terms and conditions of your contract with the "roadside rescue" company?
> 
> ...


 
You might have a point about the T's & C's but if the companys rep caused damage and tried to dupe the client (OP) then said rep is likely to do so again. The OP could simply let the rep fix the damage as was offered but why would you let someone who has already proven to be untrustworthy work on your car again. You do need to have some peace of mind.


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## extopia (30 Mar 2009)

MrMan said:


> The OP could simply let the rep fix the damage as was offered but why would you let someone who has already proven to be untrustworthy work on your car again. You do need to have some peace of mind.



Yes, of course. We should give the OP the benefit of the doubt, even if his first recourse was to refuse reparation and to seek legal advice, presumably with a view to taking legal action against the company he turned to in the first instance to get him out of the mess he was in. Hopefully someone walked to the wine shop to get the wife the bottle of wine that precipitated this whole situation. (I only mention the wine because the OP brought it up).


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## MrMan (30 Mar 2009)

If someone tampered with your car would you feel confident in letting them at it again? I would consider it a serious offence.


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## MrMan (30 Mar 2009)

Its not a vocation, its a rescue service that they pay their staff to do. Even if its not in the terms, if the guy doing the 'fixing' actually presumably unintention.ally broke the part but decided to hide the matter as the best course of action well then it has changed the whole situation. I don't think the OP is on their high horse


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## Smashbox (30 Mar 2009)

Spartan said:


> Whether he did or did not damage your vehicle you were offered for it to be put right
> 
> why on earth was this not good enough


 
The mechanic broke something off the OPs car. They then proceeded to leave without telling the owner of the vehicle. They then offer to return and fix the problem, and you think the OP should let them?!

NO WAY! Why would you let someone near your car AGAIN after they were so untrustworthy in the first place? If the OP didnt know the pulley had been there, they would be left with a large bill to get this fixed.

Its on the mechanics head, as it was he who broke the item, not the OP. Personally, I wouldnt let him near anything of mine!


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## sse (30 Mar 2009)

OP - Was the rescue company informed that you'd tried and failed to fit the belt yourself, or was this presented to them as a "breakdown"?

If they were then I can't understand why the roadside rescue mechanic went anywhere near the car in the first place.

Personally I think you've made a big mistake threatening solicitors etc. when you probably weren't even entitled to the callout.

SSE


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## David_Dublin (30 Mar 2009)

I'm with Spartan on this one. However the pulley went missing, you had a solution that allowed your car be fixed, allowed the mechanic save face (if indeed he did remove it) and you declined, preferring to get legal.

I think a little getting over oneself is required here. People make mistakes. The belt may not have been on there when he got to it. Even if it was the mechanic was prepared to come back and fix. The world would be a better place if everyone tried a little harder to forgive/forget/move on/remove the inclination to go legal until all other avenues are exhausted.

Sermon over!


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## briancbyrne (30 Mar 2009)

surely the thing to do would be to accept the garages offer to repair the car, however insist on a different mechanic?


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## MrMan (30 Mar 2009)

I guess the actions of the mechanic are accepted by most as one of those things to get over, I wonder how many people will not have been lucky enough to realise something was amiss and then subsequently left with a hefty bill.


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## DeclanP (31 Mar 2009)

I have no doubt the problem would have been solved by the repair company by now if given the chance. Obviously the OP got a cowboy on a call out and should have accepted the offer to make amends rather than opting for the legal route. Hope the wife enjoyed the wine!


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## mathepac (31 Mar 2009)

DeclanP said:


> ... Obviously the OP got a cowboy on a call out ...


 There was more than one cowboy involved IMO.


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