Tyre scam

[Dal]

Hi all, must tell you about Strastone jaguar Houghton le spring, my XF is part of the MOT for life program, so I booked it in for its second year MOT on Thursday 9 July 2015 full of confidence it would sail through, it was immaculate and running perfect.

To my horror they failed it on all four tyres that have only done about eleven thousand miles, saying they were all split and showing the internal braiding on the tyre walls, I was in horror having only just polished and dressed the wheels in tyre wall, when I saw my car I asked where are the splits etc ? They informed me the damage to the walls we're all on the inside of the vehicle !! They put it on full lock and showed me a small split on one of the front wheels.

Four tyres on twenty inch alloys is not cheap (225 x 35 x 20 ) I drove away in the knowledge I could probably get a better deal elsewhere on four tyres, but still looking at a bill of around a grand.

It was then that I decided to get a second opinion and drove to a friends MOT centre to let him inspect the car, having done so, he informed me that the tyres were in no way close to a MOT failure. I immediately contacted Strastone and spoke with the maintenance manager and told him that I've had a second opinion and the tyres are fine, the reply was, well it's your mechanics opinion against ours, I said you have tried to rip me of to the tune of a thousand pounds plus, it meant nothing.

So to settle this matter I drove straight to my VOSA test station to let them inspect the vehicle, as you probably know they are the gods of the MOT world, they wrote the book.

They inspected the tyres and instructed me to immediately appeal against Strastone which I did straightaway, filling in the appropriate paper work and a cheque for £55.00.the next step would be a full on VOSA MOT in a few days time at a totally independent garage with jaguar management in attendance, at this point I was livid so contacted Strastone and asked to speak to the MD and informed him that VOSA have inspected the vehicle and suggest I appeal against there MOT decision thinking that now he must realise something is not right and to return the car so another technician could give a second opinion, instead his reply was, we would prefer the matter to be dealt with through VOSA, I thought he must think I am bluffing !!

So this took place on Thursday 16 July 2015 having under the advise of VOSA kept the car parked up to minimise the miles,(82) and a full hour and half later it passed with flying colours with one tyre having an advisory, the same tyre they showed me after there MOT. I asked for the two reps from jaguar one being the guy who did the MOT the other his manager to verify that these are the same tyres that they had failed last week while stood in front of the VOSA reps, I had heard that they could use the 'cop out' that they weren't the same tyres they failed, because I have changed them, the mechanic said they look the same and after a few choice words from myself the manager agreed that they were indeed the very same tyres, so that was them proper banged to rights.

That same afternoon a few hours later a received a phone call from the MD asking if I would meet him at work for a chat, which I did yesterday Saturday 18 July 2015 he said sorry blar blar !! But it was an utter waste of my time yet again.

I would love to hear any feedback especially from any members legally knowledgeable on what they would suggest my next course of action if any should be.

Dave

Sent from my iPad

Sent from my iPad

[mindofitsown]

I'm no legal expert but this is decidedly dodgy! The discrepancy regarding the tyres may suggest the original MOT technician should have his/her authority withdrawn by VOSA (but this is my opinion).

Hope it gets sorted to your favour.

[Old Peter]

Hi Dave,

 

Very interesting post!

 

I bought my S Type from Stratsone Solihull just over two years ago.  I just had a three months warranty and I insisted on an MOT being done even thought there were 9 months left on the old one.

 

A couple of weeks before the warranty ran out I took the car in with a list of all the niggles I had had, and they gave the car a "Heath Check".  This threw up several items that needed seeing to: 

Oil in the coolant

An amber on one tyre

A brake disc that needed early replacement [Why it wasn't done or given an advisory at its MOT I don't know]

An Oil change advised [why that had not been done before I bought the carI don't know either.]

 

I got my mobile mechanism to change the Oil and filter, and check the other items.  There was no oil in the coolant, the tyres were all OK and the tread per wheel .was better than had been written down on the health check.

 

The brake discs were perfectly OK and have since passed two MOT without any advisories.

 

It leads me to believe that Stratstone are doing a little twitch to the requirements of a "health Check" with the intention of me saying that they had better get the job done .

 

Regards,

 

Peter.

[the guardian]

id get in touch with their head office

vosa should of revoked his authority to do MOT'S / and fined stratsone / and for the service manager & MD of the dealership both should be pulled over the coals for the strokes their staff have pulled.

 

but thanks to members likes yourself others don't get fooled the there antics. 

 

well done Dave 

 

regards Ron 

[mindofitsown]

If it can be proven that the staff has been told to over-emphasise problems as a revenue generator then this would be tantamount to fraud and is a criminal offence by the management. Worse still if the staff was provided any financial incentive for their actions this would mean the individual technicians were guilty too. The original post is a good reminder to us all to question and challenge all conclusions reached by dealers/garages, particularly in these times of austerity.

I'm getting a bit old for it now but, for some 36 years I've nearly always done my own work on vehicles. Not always because of the fear of being ripped off or generally the high prices but mainly because of the shoddy work I've seen on other peoples vehicles and the simple lack of care exercised. My s type came with a full dealer service history which I have double checked and it is clear the previous owner would not have done his own work. However, having only clocked 65K some items were clearly the victim of lack of technician care. This includes the plastic under-tray about to fall off because it was held on by only two of the many clips. Similarly the plastic cover under the bonnet and covering the headlamps held by one of four clips because the others were missing. Under time pressure many 'technicians' simply slap it all back together again without sufficient care. If they drop a fastener they don't bother to find it and just leave it off. If I have to have work done that I can't do myself I tell the technician to 'treat my care as if it were your own' (this is particularly important when having tyres replaced at which I insist on seeing the points where jacking will take place as I have experience too many ruined sills in the past). Anyway, enough ranting from me.

[Dal]

Thanks all for your response, just an update, went straight to the top today spoke with head of customer care at head office, will keep names out of post for now, but full details have been recorded and I will be receiving correspondence in the next few days.

Got a quote for the tyres from another Strastone branch just to see how much I would of been out of pocket £814.60 inc vat. Ouch