[928uk] legal advice

Sat Feb 25 14:14:40 UTC 2012

I went through the small claim court process when I restored my van. 

The matter should never really get to court. If he has done the work and charged an agreed labour rate for work you have authorised him to do. You have a very difficult case to argue. 

The legislation you are dealing with is the sale of goods and services act 1982. The central premise of which is that a fair price is charged for work of a reasonable standard. That should be fault free, effective and complete. 

In this instance I would think it very difficult to argue he should have either known or fixed the TB, If you had asked him to resolve an idle issue. Any vehicle outside warranty and particularly of a significant age is potentially liable to have a number of wear and maintenance related issues that may have contributed to the failure. 

As for the other engine: I suspect the course of action here is to sell it for what you paid for it if you genuinely have no use for it. Although if your TB has gone at some point soon you'll need it surely? 

If you can argue his actions were negligent or conducted without the necessary skill, he has the option to put right at his expense, refund you the money or a proportion of it suffice to put right what he did wrong, or he can refute your allegation entirely. If he has simply overcharged you for hours or work not done, then this too should be returned to you. 

I think it's a tough call. You could try the    Small claims route. If you do I would
Write him a letter setting out your grievance and what you think it is worth and send him a copy of the completed small claims form for him to verify his details. If he thinks you're serious he may settle rather than risk a CCJ. However; unless you genuinely believe his actions and his alone are to blame for this, I would advise caution around this approach. 
Peter

On 25 Feb 2012, at 13:44, go928 <go928 at btinternet.com> wrote:

> Hi Mike,
>  
> Just picked up on this thread as I have been away for a few days.
>  
> Sounds as though you are at a similar stage to me - talked nicely to them but they are not interested, so where next?  The problem is that, as Paul Lacey said in response to my earlier post, "no court is going to have a clue what you are talking about".  I'm currently building up a file of evidence to see whether I have enough to pursue it, but the trouble is that most of the easily accessible stuff is on the internet where expert views and moronic views carry equal weight.  How do you convince a  court?
>  
> My current thoughts are:
>  
> How much can you actually claim?  Some of the costs will be valid and you can, presumably, sell the engine on to recover some of your costs.
> Solicitors - Can get very expensive and there is no guarantee that you will recover your fees, even if you win (in England at least).  However, it might be worth a solicitors letter to prove you are serious and maybe scare them into action.
> Court - I'm not sure how things work in Scotland, but in England the small claims court can be effective without being too costly - £25 to start a claim for less than £300, £60 for £1,000 etc, but with further costs if it actually gets to court.  If you are sensible you could use this route to scare them, hoping they will settle before it gets to court, but I know myself too well.  If I start a claim, I will see it through to the bitter end, even if I can't win!
> Publicity - It won't get your money back, but you will have the satisfaction of knowing that it will cost their reputation more than it has cost you.  However, beware that if you can't substantiate your claims, they could sue you.
>  
> Good luck.
>  
> Graham
>  
>  
>  
>  
> -----Original Message-----
> From: 928uk-bounces at lists.928.org.uk [mailto:928uk-bounces at lists.928.org.uk] On Behalf Of .
> Sent: 23 February 2012 23:31
> To: 928uk at lists.928.org.uk
> Subject: [928uk] legal advice
> 
> I have a problem with my 928 – I don’t have it.  I’m looking for a recommendation of any solicitors who are good at dealing with garage disputes, maybe Graham has gone down this route already?  Briefly it goes back to last June when I put my 928 into a Porsche specialist in Glasgow for timing belt and a high tickover problem.  When I picked it up I didn’t pay cause he didn’t have the bill ready but after driving 30 miles it started stalling.  It went back and he diagnosed TBF and a new engine.  I sourced my own engine and then 3 weeks later (he was in hospital) he told me he released the flex plate and engine running ok but I was due over £1000 for earlier work!! I had already spent £500 on a new engine plus over £200 total delivery.  Furthermore that worked out about £600 to sort out the high tickover!  Any advice welcome.
>  
> Cheers
>  
> Mike D
> 928 S2 (1985)
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