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lesson learned (it's a long un)

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:48 pm
by kies4
The build on my car went from bad to worse, finally turned the corner and things are looking good

I took my motor to a local garage (Warrior)after my manifold went. It was thought it was just the cats and the local jap tuning fellas stripped it down the problem was finally found when the manifolds where off and the car was in bits. I was working out of town and in a catch 22 situation; I agreed to let them rebuild the car.

As the engine was out I opted for a kko4 upgrade etc. I offered to buy off the shelf parts but was assured they would fabricate the parts much cheaper, I was working away and couldn’t keep an eye on them but trusted what they said. So off they went and rebuilt the car, using bespoke manifolds downpipes intake etc etc. I was happy with the work but didn't really understand the implications of what they were doing. I asked them to talk to MRC and other Audi fellas to check what they were doing was right etc and looked for reassurance throughout that they knew what they were doing, all seem well.

Time was ticking on and I lost my patience after seven months, I told them if the car wasn't running it would be taken away on a low loader and taken to MRC. Wow they got it finished I paid up near on 10k and i drove it down to MRC to be checked, a host of problems were found and the car went back to get sorted so it could be mapped, this happened 4 times.

MRC didn't have a slot to check and map the car so I ended up going to AutoPS in Oxford (old AMD boys). They decided the turbo's had to come out to sort the issue MRC found 4 visits to Warrior earlier. I said go ahead, it wasn’t going back to Warrior, as the engine came out more alarm bells went off and the situation looked bad, the intake and exhaust were deemed “not fit for the car” including the manifolds etc. I gave warrior the option of going there with me to check out what was said, they didn’t take it on two occasions.

I had an independent inspector (court approved) look at the car and told Warrior I was going to do so. I talked to the inspector today and everything AutoPS state is true. I’m going to look to recover the labour and the replacement manifolds/downpipes exhaust etc. I’ve wasted near on a year of fun and countless wads of cash with a crappy company.

What a bummer going to have to fight to get my cash back but on the bright side my car is in professional hands and being fitted with ASP from head to tail. The MAP is being written by Geoff Everitt. I’ve done everything right legally and stand a good chance of getting my money back. I was gutted I couldn’t get the car to MRC ( I was aim to have it mapped for GTi-internation shame there isn’t a smiley pulling a joey decon) but have full faith in AutoPS they have been excellent and spot on.

I'll write up a report of the car when it's finished next week and when the case has gone throught make the notes availble on the site as a lesson to all.

I don't know if i can be bothered chasing Audi for the inital manifold problem now

Shoulda coulda woulda……the last words of a fool :oops:

oh the lesson, get the RAC to take you to MRC/AutoPS/Anyone but Warrior and pay well and pay once :).


Kies4

Re: lesson learned (it's a long un)

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 8:06 pm
by ronaldmacdonald
man that's harsh, i feel for you there mate - must have been mega stress sorting all that out. i guess the lesson is that its worth travelling to get the experience and skill. good luck with getting the $$ back , thats disgusting of that garage to try and botch job your car together.

<beep>

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:51 pm
by springfield
Nail them Kies....that said i would not let anyone near mine unless 100% sure about them.

Cheers Matey

RE: <beep>

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:03 pm
by dace
I feel for you mate, however you are in good hands with APS. Spot on service and they know there Audi's. I saw your car when I was having my oil cooler checked over.

RE: <beep>

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:36 pm
by tartan_rob
Nightmare mate, but you could take some solice from the fact that you are in a position to recover from this financially. Most people could not....

I saw your car at MRC a long time ago....MRC were not impressed with the job from Warrior from memory....

RE: <beep>

Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 9:06 am
by Nige_RS4
I saw your car at MRC a long time ago....MRC were not impressed with the job from Warrior from memory....
I remember your car at MRC - Warrior do a nice line in loose aston martin calipers IIRC?

Good luck with getting compensation / reimbursement - a small claims court would probably be the cheapest route for you.

RE: <beep>

Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 9:20 am
by KayGee
Does small claims court still have a limit of £5K? If so you might need to split claim into smaller chunks. Good luck with the claims and thanks for the posting. Hopefully save someone else from getting ripped off.

RE: <beep>

Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 10:27 am
by dummi
feel for you kies good luck on your claim

Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 1:26 pm
by kies4
Thanks to all for your comments.

I was lucky to have a high paid contract when this all went wrong, I was working shifts etc. the dosh helped me to get the car back on track but i feel i wasted my time working so hard for FA, all will be OK (I'm sitting in the corner rocking to and fro :) )

I'm going to give the offer of paying the parts and labour at AutoPS if they don't take it i will move for the whole amount. If small claims can't take the cash I'll go the whole hog. Its worth paying out an extra K to a solicitor to take the strain off me. I got an extension being built so I got enough on my plate.

ASP have been excellent as have the boys down at MRC I only wish MRC where fully up and running when all went wrong, Minhea and the lads would have saved me a packed and loads lost of running time.

Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 3:26 pm
by Paulm
Not good it really peee's you off think kind of thing :thumbsdown:

Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 4:22 pm
by LeeMarshall
Hi Kies,cant believe it took so long to get your mota running? i would have pulled my hair,teeth and anything else i could get me hands on after that sort of time! Glad u got it sorted thou! is it true you can claim back the cost of a new manifold from audi? cheers Lee :thumbs:

Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 4:55 pm
by ZeroK66
Ouch... glad legally things are looking in your favour with the potential of getting money back. A shame MRC couldnt do the work, I hope the guys that have the car can sort it out and all comes together nicely for you.

Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 10:23 am
by kies4
LeeMarshall

springfield (from this site) fought audi over the manifolds cracking and won, drop him a PM he should be able to put you in contact with the right legal people.

Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 12:41 pm
by andy1234
on a slightly different note, can anyone reccomend a good legal representative for dealing with things of this nature. I assume that your going to try and shaft them under the supply of goods and services act?

Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 1:48 pm
by kies4
I used http://www.lattura.com they go out and check the work then write a court approved report. The even talk to the garage your having trouble with.