Hose to steering rack seized!

[½cwt]

Are you an AA or RAC (or similar) member, ask their legal advice team how to progress. As things stand unless the garage extends good will the only way out is the pay their bill in order to get the car out of there.  Mention you may be reviewing them in a less than favourable way in various places online in respect of their Porsche abilities at least.

[Sussexlad]

@Dodgster1, would you care to name the outfit in question?

[Dodgster1]

There’s no way they will admit to putting that much fluid in…these guys were supposed to be Porsche specialists and if I attempted to get it towed somewhere else I’d have to pay by them for effectively ruining my car and then pay someone else who I also don’t know to rectify it….I’m not sure what an OPC is?

[½cwt]

42 minutes ago, Dodgster1 said:

There’s no way they will admit to putting that much fluid in…these guys were supposed to be Porsche specialists and if I attempted to get it towed somewhere else I’d have to pay by them for effectively ruining my car and then pay someone else who I also don’t know to rectify it….I’m not sure what an OPC is?

OPC is Official Porsche Centre i.e. a Porsche dealer and service centre.

[Dodgster1]

I now have another issue…these guys have had my car since the back end of July, ( one month and two days) to carry out work that shouldn’t have taken more than one day max.

in that time they have blown a brand new pressure line, claiming that it was either faulty or that there was “something else” wrong with the system, insisted that the steering rack (which was just reconditioned) was bad, refused to continue unless I provided a new one, insisted that I get a new power steering pump promising that the one that they would provide and guarantee would be cheaper than what I could obtain only to then send the second hand one I had provided to be reconditioned without my permission at a cost of £194.

I’d also asked them to fit a handbrake assembly.

All of this was done incrementally, first it took 5 days to diagnose that new lines were needed, then at great cost I had to order them which took another 4 days, then they took several days to fit them, then they blew the pressure line and insisted that it couldn’t have been fitter incompetence but something else….at this time they had had my car for 2.5 weeks, I’d spent north of £800 on parts and my car was still in bits!

Since then I’ve had to make a variety of trips to the garage to provide a further, replacement pressure line (Porsche thankfully exchanged the one they blew at no further cost) making several lengthy trips back and forth with a new rack (the previous nee rack is now being examined by the place where I purchased it so I had to shell out for another one and will have to argue further down the line about that!) then I was told that it would take a week for the pump to be returned reconditioned!

As they had everything but the pump my suggestion was to carry out the other work then fit the pump but they insisted on doing it “all at once” so my car lay in bits for another week.

No one ever calls to provide progress reports so I’m having to constantly ring to see what’s happening…I rang last Thursday to be told that the pump would arrive Friday AM and the car would be ready the next day, no phone call so I rang Friday at 4pm only to be told that the pump didn’t turn up until 3pm so it would be ready on Monday.

No phone call on Monday so I ring at 3pm only to be told that the fitter had been off so car would now be ready Tuesday!

I called yesterday lunchtime and no one picked up but got a call back at 4pm advising that car now had to be buttoned up, tracked and aligned so would be ready tomorrow (which is today)

Without doubt they will try to rip me off cost wise so my question is how much should I be looking to pay for this shyateshow?

The power steering lines were inevitable but I don’t believe that either the pump or the rack was necessary.

My only indication of cost was at the stage when it was only the power steering lines and the handbrake assembly where they were claiming 4 hours alone for the two lines with a total being £550! I asked for justification then they tried to charge for recovery to the garage which was not previously discussed so free in my assumption which they quickly dropped.

They have stretched this out for over a month and insisted on doing things which imho were not required. It is quite difficult to get a garage that can repair Porsches in South Wales and after my experience with one prior to this when they nearly wreaked my backbox taking it to their garage I didn’t want to risk moving it again.

What should I expect and where do I stand legally? I know I’m going to have to complain to the Motor Ombudsman at some stage but for now I just want to rescue my car and have it working….

[½cwt]

I suggested, if you are a member, contacting the AA or RAC legal advice department earlier in the thread (top of this page).  If not try your local trading standards.  I believe most like a good wrangle with a dodgy motor mechanic....

Edited August 25, 2021 by ½cwt

[Dodgster1]

On 8/12/2021 at 3:19 PM, ½cwt said:

Are you an AA or RAC (or similar) member, ask their legal advice team how to progress. As things stand unless the garage extends good will the only way out is the pay their bill in order to get the car out of there.  Mention you may be reviewing them in a less than favourable way in various places online in respect of their Porsche abilities at least.

I’m currently with Green Flag, on parts alone at their insistence I’m down approximately £1200 so I think they’ve decided from the outset to take me for a ride financially.

They we’re extremely reticent to provide a cost until I pushed them and all I’ve had as matters have dragged on we’re vague comments of “an extra hour” here and there.

When they removed the steering rack they also removed part of the fitment to the steering wheel…they turned up on my drive with the whole thing and I asked them why they had removed it and was told “ oh it’s only a pinch bolt… I haven’t got any tools on me so you’ll have to remove it!”

shocking attitude and I fear I’m going to have to go into more debt to get my car away from these guys who after 40 odd years in the trade should know what they are doing…

[Dodgster1]

15 minutes ago, ½cwt said:

I suggested, if you are a member, contacting the AA or RAC legal advice department earlier in the thread (top of this page).  If not try your local trading standards.  I believe most like a good wrangle with a dodgy motor mechanic....

But it’s inevitable that I’ll have to pay what they demand first… it’s like a bloody hostage negotiation! 

[½cwt]

As I say get some proper advice.  If necessary contact a local solicitor (there may even be a friendly one on here) who can give you advice within the law.  Avoid inflaming the situation and maintain your integrity but make it clear that whatever they propose billing you for will be disputed so they might want to consider avoiding their own legal costs on top unless a mutually satisfactory figure can be reached here and now as any case would be centred on their competencies and failure to communicate or even carrying out work without a clear customer instruction.

There is nothing really special about these Porsches and any competent experienced mechanic should have been able to do the work you ahve described without major incident, other than coming to you and saying We've found this problem too, it will take this part and our estimate is X.  IF they have not done this then you may have an argument when you contest it that they chose to solve the problem they created, which they can't then claim the cost from you (different context but I've lost a case based on this i.e. offering help to solve a problem outside the terms of the original contract, that also then went wrong).

Still paying the bill is your only way to get the car back as I see it, but I could be wrong I'm only a Boxster owner, not a legal expert.

[mike597]

^ agree with the above, unless you've got the cardiff blues on speed dial and willing to accompany you to collect the car 'persuasively'

[Bradders59]

Insist on having all the old parts returned with the car, then have them tested by a competent engineer to prove they didnt need replacing.

Write down a diary of everything that has happened.

Then go full legal on them.

Boxsters arent spaceships.Working on them is basically the same as working on any other car, with just some of the parts in different places.

I had never even sat in one before 6months ago. Im not a qualified mechanic, just an enthusiastic amateur, but Im pretty confident I can do most things that might need doing to mine, on my drive, not a fully equipped workshop.

[mike597]

41 minutes ago, Bradders59 said:

Insist on having all the old parts returned with the car, then have them tested by a competent engineer to prove they didnt need replacing.

Write down a diary of everything that has happened.

Then go full legal on them.

Boxsters arent spaceships.Working on them is basically the same as working on any other car, with just some of the parts in different places.

I had never even sat in one before 6months ago. Im not a qualified mechanic, just an enthusiastic amateur, but Im pretty confident I can do most things that might need doing to mine, on my drive, not a fully equipped workshop.

Surely given its been over a month they will simply say they have all been disposed of. 

[Dodgster1]

1 hour ago, mike597 said:

Surely given its been over a month they will simply say they have all been disposed of. 

No my friend… I’ve been to the garage on more occasions than needs be and the original lines etc are still there. 
I will insist on all the parts removed being made available so I can take them away and have them tested.

[mike597]

1 minute ago, Dodgster1 said:

No my friend… I’ve been to the garage on more occasions than needs be and the original lines etc are still there. 
I will insist on all the parts removed being made available so I can take them away and have them tested.

That is great if you can do that for sure.

[Elmer Fudd]

In the short time I've had my 986 I've found it to be an easy car to work on compared to most, the Germans certainly have a way of making it accessible for repairs and mechanic/DIY friendly, it's just the parts that are over inflated. Saying that, I also got stung by a garage who claimed they'd repaired lots of Porsche's, I took mine in to have the exhaust replaced because I knew the manifold bolts were going to be a nightmare to remove, they 'had a go' and then farmed out the bolt removal to a specialist, without informing me, at a cost of £750 and with the 'work' they did they charged me £2,400 in total.  

[Dodgster1]

8 hours ago, Elmer Fudd said:

In the short time I've had my 986 I've found it to be an easy car to work on compared to most, the Germans certainly have a way of making it accessible for repairs and mechanic/DIY friendly, it's just the parts that are over inflated. Saying that, I also got stung by a garage who claimed they'd repaired lots of Porsche's, I took mine in to have the exhaust replaced because I knew the manifold bolts were going to be a nightmare to remove, they 'had a go' and then farmed out the bolt removal to a specialist, without informing me, at a cost of £750 and with the 'work' they did they charged me £2,400 in total.  

The parts/repair are simply interchangeable so it shouldn’t have been an issue for a certified mechanic. They have confessed to blowing the pressure line AGAIN! They are now asking me to “bear with them” whilst they remove the power steering pump AGAIN and return it to the place where they had it reconditioned as they are now saying that this must be the reason why too much pressure is being generated…. They keep lying about timescales as now they expect me to believe that the pump will be back with the remanufactures by Friday with an answer of why it wasn’t bench tested properly…. Ive had enough now…. 

[½cwt]

I understand your frustration.  Maybe ask who they are using to test the pump?

Genuinely there are all sorts of problem out in the world getting things done caused by COVID app pings, this has reduced a lot but there is a shortage of skilled labour too,  I had to shut down one of my projects for 4 week earlier this year due to not being able to get qualified installation crews and I;ve been getting delays on fabricated parts for suppliers who are historically spot on.  The issue might be genuine and hence they are giving times scales based on lies they have been give by a supplier?   I hasten to add I haven't been lying to my client but some would.

[Dodgster1]

13 hours ago, ½cwt said:

I understand your frustration.  Maybe ask who they are using to test the pump?

Genuinely there are all sorts of problem out in the world getting things done caused by COVID app pings, this has reduced a lot but there is a shortage of skilled labour too,  I had to shut down one of my projects for 4 week earlier this year due to not being able to get qualified installation crews and I;ve been getting delays on fabricated parts for suppliers who are historically spot on.  The issue might be genuine and hence they are giving times scales based on lies they have been give by a supplier?   I hasten to add I haven't been lying to my client but some would.

The issue is that the garage is “old school “ found a piece online about connectors/ washers that have to be placed on the joining of the pressure lines sending them diagrams etc and when I heard nothing further from the boss I called him… and he discounted it entirely.

Now I’ve been told that it’s unlikely that they will hear back regarding the pump until Tuesday meaning that they won’t actually get it back until Thursday/Friday….another week with them having my car… I’m struggling to understand how a garage cannot simply repair my car after having it since 26th of July! 
I’m more than frustrated!

[Elmer Fudd]

Sounds more likely that the pressure relief valve is faulty, which is built into the high pressure line, although normally that would cause the rack seals to blow out.

[Menoporsche]

Pay them "a fair amount" and get out. Or ask them if they want to do an interview with the consumer affairs section of the local paper.  You have absolutely no trust in their work, and they seem to be doing more harm than good.

Go see Citizens Advice as to how to extract yourself and car ASAP.

[Jezza69]

I've been researching into steering fluid leaks and the costs is parts etc.. one company has popped up that supplies replacement metal rack hoses for £42 Inc Vat. Its a job I've got coming, so interested in others who've been through it too. 

http://www.powersteeringstore.co.uk/porsche-boxster-power-steering-rack-pipes-(1997-2004)

[½cwt]

I have this site book marked for if/when I need them.  I think I picked it up from the 911uk.com forum.  Not heard anything negative which I guess means they do the job and fit well.