Right, got a big problem with Mitsubishi at the moment.

A good friend of mine owns an 06 plate Mitsubishi Colt 1.1l. The clutch recently started slipping so it went into a local garage to confirm the problem, the garage said the clutch assembly would need replacing.

Now, bear in mind this is a 3 year old car (warranty finished April 09) and has only covered 32k from new, my firend has owned the car from new also.

So, she dropped it off at Fields Mitsubishi in Bromsgrove for them to inspect the car. I had a phone call from them to confirm that they had found a faulty clutch pressure plate and would seek some goodwill from Mitsubishi UK to cover the work, which totalled £546.

The car was fixed and ready to drive away yesterday and my friend went to pick the car up, the goodwill payment that Mitsubishi offered was £60+VAT!!!!

Now, i personally couldnt believe this and if i'd have been there would probably have kicked off! This payment covers the cost of the faulty part, but obviously not the rest of the assembly or the labour!

So my friend got lumbered with a bill for £470 odd! which she can barely afford.

To top it off, whilst at the garage that said it would need changing, they also noticed that her brakes were dangerously worn and insisted they be changed on the spot! The car had been serviced by Mitsubishi in June, less than 5k miles ago and there was no mention that the brakes were nearing the point of needing replacement!

I'm shocked at how bad they are, is there anything that can be done?

 

What do you expect to be done?

 

As a bare minimum i expected the cost of all parts to be covered by them, and to be honest at least some of the labour too.

Mitsubishi have admitted the faulty part was to blame, so my friend is in the position of being saddled with a £470 bill through no fault of her own.

I know these things happen, but it's clearly not her fault and the cost and inconvenience has been massive to her!

 

surely Mitsibushi have a Head office? if so get her to contact them (maybe she needs to find someone thats good at writing complaint letters)

threaten to go to the local rag etc

they dont like bad publicity

 

TBO, I can understand how you feel, but I dont think you have any chance of getting money off. I think the £60+vat may will probably have been offered to cover the cost of the faulty pressure plate. I think at the most, you could price a pressure plate from there parts department and ask for the total cost of that part to be refunded.

At the end of the day, the car is 6 months out of warranty, if it was just a few weeks out of warranty, then it might have been a different story.

As for the brakes, I think you have a better chance of getting that bill refunded. I would write a letter to the garage manager, complaining that the brake issues hadn't been picked up at the previous service. He will probably try and argue that they would have needed replacing regardless of whether it was then or now.

If your still not happy with the whole thing, ring consumer direct and ask there opinion. You have a better chance of getting compensation with them behind you.

Good luck

 

sorry didnt you say above the 60+vat covered the cost of the parts?

it's out of warranty, i very much doubt you'#ll get anywhere

 

the £60+Vat covered the faulty cover, but not the plate or release bearing or cylinder (if that was replaced which i presume it was)

The friction plate was worn because of the faulty cover, and so should have been replaced free of charge IMO. I just think as a 'Goodwill' gesture, this one is pretty poor.

Its basically saying "yes, the car we sold you had a faulty part...deal with it, we dont really care now"

I appreciate that they have replaced the faulty part for nothing, but this part had a direct effect on the failing of the other parts.

Imagine if a main bearing cap had come loose, and the engine lunched itself....would they just pay for a new bearing cap?

 

Question here is;

Did the garage undertake the work prior to letting your friend know about the final cost of the works to be undertaken?

To be honest the next question is; Why did she even pay it?!

It's harder to get money back than it is not to pay in the first place.

 

The garage had said that there would definitely be a goodwill payment, my friend needed the car back asap and so paid it...the £60 goodwill came as a shock to be honest.

We knew the cost of the job before they undertook any work, and to be honest were prepared to pay the entire cost should they find no faults, but the fact they did to me means it's there responsibility.

 

I love all of these "Goodwill" Gestures - usually completely unrepresentative of the actual cost.

im pretty sure you could argue that this part/the whole car was not fit for purpose, however you would have to find out an average amount of time that a clutch would last in a similar vehicle. If you can proove it wa not fit for purpose at point of sale then it is the responsibility iirc of the company to repair it back to such condition. However this would be a very long and drawn out process, and Mitsubishi would love you to try and take them on so they can draw things out. All of what I have said above comes under the sale of goods act


Sale of goods act factsheet (http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/cons...page38311.html)
Wherever goods are bought they must "conform to contract". This means they must be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality (i.e. not inherently faulty at the time of sale).

For up to six years after purchase (five years from discovery in Scotland) purchasers can demand damages (which a court would equate to the cost of a repair or replacement).

 

i used to work for them a few years back i hated every day i was there i would never step back in there. bigest wasters ever imho

 

Thanks for the info mate, i will try the whole fit for purpose line, it makes sense!

 

No problem, im battling a company along the exact same lines

 

I'd say contact head office, I had a problem a few years ago with Ford, dealer claimed part wasn't available and when car came out of warranty the part turned up. Then I found out the part had been available all along, dealer refused to replace part foc so complained to Ford head office, within an hour of calling them the complaint was resolved, with a grovelling apology from dealer, car booked in for few days later and work carried out foc. I also received a letter of apology from Ford and a free service from the dealer. On a side note, when I dropped the car off for the work, they didnt have a courtesy car available, I ended up with the sales managers car for the day, to keep me happy lol

 

if its out of warrenty and done 32k i dunno how its so wrong what the dealer has done,if everybody got everything major out of warrenty on cars done free the garages would not be able to carry on trading,all them nice shiny showrooms wages,electric,etc etc
i'd say that seeing as it did 32k then started slipping it was ok for 3 years that its just a take it on the chin situation as it lasted long enough for the warrenty to expire and i'm not sure if the zebra warrenty covers clutches anyway.
if i had a clutch out of warrenty i would try the local specialists,one i use charged me £150 last month for a clio 1.2 new clutch kit supplied and fitted with a 2 year warrenty ,the owner got told £435 quid and decided to get rid instead.

 

I get what you are saying, BUT...

This is a run of the mill hatchback, i'd say that ANY car should see the clutch last 60k bare minimum, for a car of this type i'd expect 80-100k bare minimum, so obviously we knew that something was amiss and the only way to sort it was for Mitsubishi to have a look, by the time they inspected and found the problem the job is half done and may aswell continue to fit a new clutch.

The fact that they admitted the part was faulty means to me that they should foot the bill.

If it had failed and all parts appeared to be in normal, albeit worn condition then it would have been annoying, but we'd have settled the bill no probs.

 

matey i would be pissed off too but fact are facts and this is how it works.

your out of warrenty and just stepped into the lions den saying the cars gone bandit,the dealership soft soap you saying somthing reassuring about loyalty and gesture of goodwill and then they show why you shouldn't use main dealers for out of warrenty work by booting you in the balls .

that loyalty stuff is shit because when i was using my mitsi main dealer i knew if you pushed them they would give you 20% discount on the quoted price for servicing.
not many people try asking for discount on servicing but evo's are regular 6 months so i feel no shame asking for it cheeper or threaten taking the car to a independent evo specialist who uses the same mitsi parts but is much cheeper.

i know people who have had parts fitted by the dealer who say take your parts out and put the old ones back in too when the garage changes stuff without authorisation.

sorry to say but imo your shagged if you go into a main agents with a fault and no warrenty to cover it,much better to accept that unless its a matter of days out your not going to get freebies unless you start verbally arguing and get lucky.

best of luck.

edit when i got 20% it was said it was 10% parts and 10% labour,it was 20% off the whole bill and not to be sniffed at but i would never use them for a clutch change when theres specialists who should charge loads less and probably know clutches better

 

i would agree but there are exceptions - as an example a girl i know was forever riding her clutch in her car, every morning on the way to work she would be stationary on a steep hill in traffic using her clutch biting point as the break - the clutch gave up the ghost after 29k

needless to say she uses her handbrake now

 

Couldnt agree more, but it doesnt matter as Mitsi have admitted the clutch was faulty! lol

 

Did they change the brakes in the end?

 

The first garage she visited changed the brakes on the spot, Mitsubishi looked at them and denied they were dangerous, despite them being metal to metal!

 

i cant see the issue, out or warrenty, 30+k its just what happens

thats why people trade in at 3 years and buy another
i have little pity for people driving thousands of pounds worth of car but cant afford to repair parts of it

my missuses sister bought a focus st turbo which buying and running skints her out, 1st thing that goes wrong and shes fucked (esp the abs unit at £1070 +vat + fitting) from what i hear its just a matter of time
luck she had a warrenty for another month or so as her power steering failed the other day after that you take it in the arse
garage took it back and fixed it (yeah right, once its turned off it goes back to normal- fingers x'd til next time) also nice of them to do 800+ miles in it and let her have it back filthy

 

the problem is to do with something being fit for purpose, the sale of goods act clearly states what i stated above. any warranty given is on top of the sale of goods act, which iirc act as your statutory rights.

 

had the same problem with Ford and my van, my van was in the dealer for a fuel pump problem not a problem there 1 was put on order, sorted 2 weeks later the engine blew without the the new pump fitted as yet!!!! put the van van back in the dealers where it was stripped and piston 1 had a hole in from the pump overfuleing it, in this time the new pump had arrived but my engine had popped!!! the van had ran out of warrenty 3 days prior to the letting go and guess what Ford did????






fu*kall nothing, was told off them about good will gestures this and good will gestures that after 2 weeks of my van sitting there engine half stripped i had enough and went to see them nothing was done as i had`nt had my servicing done from them. The next day i found an 2nd hand engine on flebay and it was fitted 2 days later at a friends garage me out of pocket £2250 and being a self employed courier i had no option to sort it myself, 1 week later i get a phone call from the dealer to say i had an outstanding bill of £274+vat for Ford to strip the engine to find the fault!!!!


you can say what you want about your mates car but 6 months outta warrenty you have no chance mate, and it is a friction part which is not coverd on warrenty any way!!

 

Jog on will ya, you cant see the issue??

I guess i'm just expecting too much then am i? For a small engined hatch to last longer than 30k on its original clutch!

And Andy T, the clutch cover isnt a 'friction part' at all.

 

it may or may not last longer ,how do they we know how she has driven the car in the three years .
should of brought a kia with a 7 year on it

 

teh car is out of warrenty, end of, thats the issue
amen to a kia

see the other thread about provident loans, she may need 1

 

Can't you cunts read???

IT WAS A FAULTY PART! fuck me, surely the brain cell gets shared around fairly around here nowadays.

at least i got some sensible replies i suppose.

 

Who decided the part was faulty? Mitsubishi the manufacturer/importer, or Fields Mitsubishi the franchised retailer/repairer?

Your girl's contract is between her and the supplier of the car, but you could try involving the manufacturer direct if you want to though, personally, I think that £60 + VAT is as good as you will get from ANY retailer or manufacturer nowadays on a car that is out of warranty.

When times were good and everyone was making money they could afford to be more generous but nowadays most of them just don't have the cash to soft-soap everyone.