About a month ago, the left fog light globe failed, and I spoke to Tata Edenvale Service and had a booking made for Tuesday, 13 November 2012, in order to have the fog light globes replaced.
However, whilst driving the car in a rain storm on Thursday, 8 November, I noticed that the left front headlight dipped beam globe had also failed, meaning that there was NO left hand illumination on the vehicle apart from the park light, rendering the vehicle unroadworthy.
As I have to travel long distances often, leaving home @ 05h30, I was not willing to take the risk of driving without proper headlight illumination in the interim, as well as possibly incurring a fine from JMPD, as the vehicle would only be booked in for the fog light globe replacement on Tuesday (11 Nov).
Under the assumption that there would AGAIN be no cost factor involved in the replacement of these fog light globes, I took my vehicle to Tata Edenvale on Thursday afternoon so that the faulty fog light and headlight globe could be replaced before I undertake another long distance trip.
I was then informed by the service advisor that there would be a 30 minute labour charge to do this job.
As mentioned above, it is NOT possible for the average owner of a Tata Indica to be able to do the replacement of the fog light globes on their own, as I had seen what was entailed to gain access to them last time the globes were replaced by Tata Edenvale.
When the service agent consulted with one of the workshop supervisors, I heard them mention a cost factor of 0.7 when determining the invoice cost to me, instead of the 0.5 hours originally mentioned to me when I accepted the job card.
During the dis-assembly of the front bumper by the workshop mechanic, I could see what was happening through the reception area windows, and noticed that the mechanic let the entire front bumper assembly FALL TO THE CONCRETE WORKSHOP FLOOR, without there being any bubble wrap or other cushioning materials present to prevent any incidental damage to the unit.
The total time taken to do the replacement of the fog light globes was about 25-30 minutes, which included replacing the left front headlight globe as well.
I supplied the replacement globes for both the fog lights and the headlight myself so there was no additional cost from Tata Edenvale for these parts.
I was then presented with an invoice for 0.7 hours labour @ R 385-00 (excluding VAT), which brought the total to an amount of R 438,90.
I enquired as to whether I could either pay for this over 14 days - or pay the full amount next Friday, the 16th, as I work freelance and get paid on the 15th & 30th of each month.
I was then informed that unless I paid in full IMMEDIATELY, that my car would not be released to me until payment was made
As I was now basically without a vehicle if I did not pay - ALL AS A RESULT OF A BLOWN FOGLIGHT & HEADLIGHT GLOBE - I had no other choice but to begrudgingly pay the R 438,90 in order to get my vehicle back from TATA Edenvale, as I needed it for my trip the following morning for work purposes.
When I got back home, I checked the operation of the Headlights & Fog Lights, and found to my dismay that the front PARK LIGHTS WERE NOW NON FUNCTIONAL - having worked perfectly before I took the vehicle to Tata Edenvale.
I had to then RETURN BACK TO Tata Edenvale to get the Park Lights sorted out, and upon investigation, the mechanic found that the one of the park light units had been dislodged and was now not seated properly, most probably during the process of removing / refitting the front bumper assembly when the Fog Light globes were replaced, which had caused the Park Lights to now malfunction.
Once the Park Light unit was reseated properly by the mechanic, the park lights then functioned correctly.
This is now the SECOND time in just over 3 months that Tata Edenvale have returned my car to me after having work done on it, with NEW PROBLEMS that were a DIRECT RESULT of them working on it.
The previous occasion being when my car went in for the 90,000 km service with a FUNCTIONAL AIR CONDITIONER, and was returned to me with a NON FUNCTIONAL AIRCONDITIONER, which cost me over R 900-00 to restore to THE SAME CONDITION THAT IT WAS IN WHEN I HANDED THE CAR TO TATA EDENVALE SERVICE CENTRE, for which I have NOT RECEIVED ANY COMPENSATION from Tata for my additional cost outlay.
Now I have had to pay out an amount R 438,90 for the replacement of the fog light globes - WHICH WAS DONE AT NO COST THE PREVIOUS TIME I TOOK MY CAR TO TATA EDENVALE TO HAVE THEM REPLACED.
I have therefore requested a refund of this amount from Tata Edenvale, as I FAIL TO SEE WHY SOMETHING THAT WAS DONE FOR NO COST TO ME ON THE PREVIOUS OCCASION SHOULD NOW COST ME R 438,90 - an amount of money which is EVEN MORE than a tankful of petrol to me.
By the way, if the car had been designed and engineered by Tata in the first place so that it WAS IN FACT POSSIBLE for the 'average owner' to replace these fog light globes himself, WITHOUT HAVING TO DISMANTLE THE ENTIRE FRONT END, we would NOT be having this argument about Labour Costs in the first place, as I would have been able to do this repair on my own.
On Friday morning, when I activated the fog lights, the fuse blew - rendering the front & rear foglights inoperative - and when replacing the fuse and testing the front foglights, the fuse blew again!
So I have paid R 438-90 to Tata Edenvale to now have a car with NO foglights AT ALL - guess where I will be on Tuesday morning, to get it rectified - AT NO ADDITIONAL COST to me!
