A Warning!

[mcryan]

Hey guys,

I had a rather unfortunate experience recently that I thought I should post up here, firstly to warn anyone who might stumble across this guy, and secondly to ask for some advice for someone who has possibly dealt with something like this.

Over the Christmas period, I sent my City Golf in to Trevor's Auto Electrical, an auto electrician in Wynberg. I was smart enough to take the radio and all of my other belongings out of the car. Now, to cut a long story short, the guy basically screwed me around until last week ( Feb 13 ) when I demanded that I take the car back. He was unable for all this time to get my dash lights to come on, which is the reason I sent it in to him.

He charged me R500 for labour, and yes, I was dumb enough to pay it. He claimed that he had spent over R1200 for parts to try and fix it.

I was so glad to just get the car back, that I didn't do a full inspection at his shop. I got home and found that he had stolen my speakers, spare wheel and jack, as well as now having my speedometer not working (it was working before I gave it to him).

I called him and questioned him about it, and all he can say is that the car was locked (not denying that he stole anything).

So, guys please avoid this crook, and if anyone knows what I can do about this, please let me know. I am on my way to the cops to report it, not that I think it will do all that much.

 

[Avenue]

yeah, I think opening a case is the right thing to do!

 

[mcryan]

yeah, I think opening a case is the right thing to do!

Yeah, its not like the missing things end up costing that much, so I don't want to have to get involved in any legal fees and all, but I do want the cops to know about it. Who knows if they'll be able to help...

 

[Lupus]

Something similar happened to me, but luckily nothing was stolen that I could tell. I took my Astra in to this place near work and the guy looks at it and says no it's definitely electrical and he will get it checked etc... Car was there for a week and I eventually get it back with him telling me it is working fine. I paid like a moron and drove the car off, about 3km down the road the car cuts out as it was doing the whole time. So I struggle back to him and then blah blah he will fix as I've already paid. Eventually after another week I was like screw it I will take this car somewhere else and write off the loss. Problem turned out to be a dirty switch from the ECU to the fuel filter.

 

[wizdumb]

report it to the cops, then call the work shop and give them your case number and say expect a call from my lawyer unless he wants to take it futher, this should scare him a bit...

...also by reporting it, there might be a chance that this has happend before and the cops will investigate

 

[flarkit]

I took my Astra in to this place near work and ... Problem turned out to be a dirty switch from the ECU to the fuel filter.

Ah, so I wasn't the only one to have that issue with my '99 Astra. I found out it's a 2min job to clean the Idle-control valve with a rag and some carb-cleaner.

WRT to dodgy unethical workmanship, it pays to build a long-term relationship with a single workshop. You can safely ask for referrals for anything relating to the vehicle.

My mom had her 8-yr old car serviced by a new place only to have the owner's son take the car on a 300km joy-ride which culminated in a blown engine. She was too nervous to make a case, which I would've done

 

[Avenue]

Yeah, its not like the missing things end up costing that much, so I don't want to have to get involved in any legal fees and all, but I do want the cops to know about it. Who knows if they'll be able to help...

one you have a case opened, you should then file a claim at small claims court- no lawyers and you should be able to get the money back plus a little extra for time wasted. If you decide to go this route, you should get a second opinion and assess whether the guy did in fact replace the parts, or if he was lying. If so, you should be able to claim for that also...