As I know there are a few legals on here I thought I would try to cadge some free advice.

Other halfs 2001 focus spring a water pump leak a couple of weeks ago, so took it to a local mechanic (no one from here!).

He whipped the old one off and replaced the cambelt as you need to take it off to get at the pump.
Ran it for about 20 mins to check temps, then called to say it was ready.
Started it up, nothing but a clunk and whirring noise.
Turned out the crank pulley bolt had come loose and valves met head.

One of those things, maybe. So head went off for a recon and new valves.

Got it back on friday, and it smokes like a bastard after running for about 20 mins.

He came round to have a look, said it was probably the piston rings and it neededan engine rebuild and wasnt his problem.

So he took a leaky car, bought back pretty well written off, and charged £600 for the privilidge.

Where does she stand?

At the bus stop



Sorry couldn't help it

Sounds like you're not sure if the car is right or not. Clearly the rings won't have gone between having the head done and picking it up. Have they checked compressions? It's not uncommon for oil/water to get in the exhaust. It may just need running to burn it off.

However I'm no legal expert. I would make sure you know where you stand before trying to "clear" it.

Oil level is dropping all the time, it's not just crap burning off

Well, I'd say you've got 3 options:

1. You could threaten to take this to a small claims court, and that might be enough to inspire him to generously sort the whole thing out.

2. You could actually take it to the small claims court, but at the very least you'd have to get an expert's report, saying that the initial damage was likely to have been caused by the work the garage did (of course, an expert may not conclude that). You'd have to pay for the examination of the car and the mechanic is likely to counter-argue that it's a 12 year old car, which was designed for a working life of 7 or 8 years, and that shit happens. So it would be a bit of a coin toss over whether you'd win that case or not.

3. You could just avoid throwing good money after bad, suck it up and buy another car.

Option 1 costs nothing, so you might as well give it a go - you're probably already off the mechanic's Christmas card list, but if it doesn't work I'd move straight to option 3.

I think you need to send a strongly worded letter via recorded delivery stating that:

1. The car was damaged by him failing to take reasonable care (Crank Pulley belt coming loose). Therefore while you are happy to pay for the Timing belt and water pump, all other work should be at his expense.

Or
2. If you paid via Credit Card (and I hope you did!) then you might be able to claim under Section 75 of Consumer Credit Act. Read this for more http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases

3. If you paid via Debit Card, it may be worth asking your bank for a chargeback and then let him come after you for the money.

Each option has it's risks, but if you paid by Credit Card you will have a good chance of claiming

"Turned out the crank pulley bolt had come loose and valves met head." was that the mechanics fault ?

If not, did he say that the refurb head would cure the problem or did he have a "it will need a new head but there may be other problems, your risk" kind of conversation ?

Whether the crank pulley coming lose was his fault only he can say I guess.

They certainly said that the recon head would solve the bent valves, and is there wasn't any smoke when he had it, then the conversation never happened about other things needing doing.

His solution to the smoking was to pour in a can on Wynn's Stop-Smoke.

Her usual mechanic asked what he had done, and couldn't believe what he had done, nor that he wouldn't have just fixed it as he broke it.

To top it all off, he cleared off after having a look this morning, GF checked the oil...it was dry. She called him, and his reaction "Oh, I didn't check the oil".

FFS I am livid, and it's not even my car.

I thought that if valves and pistons met that the shock caused bottom end damage as well as top end?

The other "usual" mechanic said exactly that, and you are wasting your time doing the head, and would have been better off getting a lump from the local scrappy.

The bottom pulley bolt coming lose is his fault. The ford zetec bottom pulleys aren't keywayed so the crank has be locked in place via a locking pin. So he either didn't lock the crank correct and got the timing wrong or he didn't torque the bolt up. From that point on it should of been him paying for either a second hand engine or a head rebuild if the pistons and con rods were in good nick. Idiots like him give mechanics like him a bad name!

Well, a " Give me my money back, else we're off to court" letter has been sent. I don't hold out much hope, but better than doing nothing.

She seems to think that she's not had an invoice/receipt either, so I suspect an anonymous call to the tax man might be in order too....or is that cruel?

Lol, he notes the she is "unhappy with the effectiveness of the stop-smoke", and no suggests he gets the "piston rings flushed"?!

we will look back and laugh at this one day!

How did you pay?

If credit card then talk to them regarding section 75 claim.

If via Debit card, then look to get a charge back.

If you paid cash, them it looks like you will have to launch a claim using money claim ( small claims court), this can be done online.

She paid cash - d'oh!

Has given him 7 days to give her money back before filing in the court forms. I wouldn't have given him that long!

If you do decide to take him to court, here's how you do it, go here and fill in the relevant form https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

Read this advice here https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/overview

Fees for the service are here https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/overview £500 to £1000 doing it all online will cost you £60

You can also claim for loss of interest on the money, in fact at 8% PA thats quite a good return. https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/work-out-interest


Agreeing without going to court
You can still talk to the other person or business, and try to reach an agreement before the court hearing.

Use the court’s small claims mediation service if your claim is worth under £5,000 - contact your local county court.

If you settle out of court before the hearing, you may be able to get some of your court fees refunded.

The judge might not award you costs if they think you’ve made no effort to agree out of court.

Good luck, I have used the service on two occasions and on one the other person didn't respond so I got Judgement by default on the second one there was hearing with a judge and a young legal rep (from the other side) it's all done in a small room, there were three of us in there, their rep was next to useless, she thought she was something special, I just presented the facts, and judge found in my favour, and gave me costs, oh and their legal rep got a bit of a hard time, as Judge was not impressed with her or the company.
Took about 30-45 minutes tops.

Well, today is the day, and they have just gone up before the beak.

Judge Jeffries I think his name was....

And we won!

He admitted that the damage was caused by either the new timing belt being fitted incorrectly, or the timing pulley was not tightened correctly... And he had done the work.

Whether we will quickly see any money is another matter, but he is whining that he's not been getting much work recently....

Shame he didn't admit it and rectify it like most decent places would, instead of going to court and admitting it there

At least you won Steve and hopefully get some money back quickly.

I'm not surprised he's not getting much work recently, if his previous work is anything to go by

Well, he could have sorted this for about £250 for a second hand engine, and a day max of his time, instead, he owes £1300+ and a CCJ against him.

Idiot.

Glad you won, but shame it had to go that far, hope he doesn't have a record of unpaid CCJ's...

But what's happened to the car? Is it driveable? Are you keeping it, selling it or scrapping it?

did you manage to get damages relating to your time awarded against him?

Since we had no real idea what we were doing, we just claimed for the amount we were out of pocket directly.

Some time ago I sourced a low mileage engine from a scrappy and got a proper mechanic to fit it. Been running sweet ever since.

That's great! Well done. Hope you get the money back via the CCJ. Now you need to add him to www.un-trusted-trader.co.uk (no such site of course )

Well, getting money out of him is the next hurdle.

He's managed to get hold of £600 (the judgement was for £1360), and came round on Friday, claiming that either we accept that amount as full and final settlement, or he would use the money to lodge an appeal, and pay an expert witness.
He also brought over a wedge of stuff he had printed off the net "proving" why none of this was his fault. He just can't seem to work out that he has lost, and it's all over.

Sounds rather like an attempt at blackmail to me, but that's beside the point.

I thought that appeals were pretty well impossible in small claims cases, given the appealant has to prove serious errors in law or procedure, rather then just because he didn't like the result.
I think they only have 21 days from the day of the judgement.

Anyone got more definite opinion, rather than just what I trawled google for?

Further, would it be morally wrong for someone to shop him to the HMRC as he seems not to give invoices, so I doubt he pays tax, or the council as he seems to be operating mostly from the carpark at the back of his flat.....

IANAL but that sounds to me like desperation talking. I would politely explain that this was not the terms of the judgement and that if he wants to take his chances on an appeal that is his right, but that you would like to be paid what is due to you. Not sure I'd be comfortable with him coming to your house - is there no 3rd party involved in getting the money from him to you? Sounds like a recipe for disaster...

What Jim said, and once you've got your money back, shop him. But then I'm a vindictive so and so if someone's gone out their way to pee me off like this guy obviously has.

Coming with less than half the money with a take it or get nowt threat alone would be enough for me to want to make the guy's life a tad uncomfortable as oppose to just getting my money back and moving on.

Record any conversations and dont meet him alone, he seems like a slippery one.

You may want to suggest that if he doesnt meet the terms of the CCJ you will instruct bailiffs.

For a one off fee of £60 (which you will get back from the debtor) you can get an order from the High Court which will pass the debt collection to a High Court Sherriff who has greater powers to get you your money than one acting for a lower court.

Here's some info.

Not that any of what I say should be taken as legal advice, but there's a programme on BBC in the weekday morning at present that's about debt collection by the Sheriff's office. The thing they mentioned a lot was making sure the CCJ was against the correct entity (him personally, or his business) and how that can affect recovery.

Just thought it worth mentioning as you said he was operating from home.