Pay back the money!

On the 29th of December 2020, my wife’s Mercedes Benz B200 vehicle suddenly lost power and the engine warning light came on which raised some concerns. I took the vehicle to Quick Lane Krugersdorp to investigate and quote on the work to be done to fix the problem. A diagnostics was done and indicated that the “Glow Plugs” were the reason for the above mentioned problem and needed to be replaced. A pressure test was also apparently done and a showed no problems. As Quick Lane had some procurement challenges and faced some possible delays to source the required Glow Plugs, I offered to buy them and have them delivered to them. I paid R640 for all 4 Glow Plugs, whereas they would have charged me around R1500. As I supp**** my own parts, Quick Lane Krugersdorp reduced the quote for the work to be done to R1780 (down from R3300) for the repair work to be done . Despite the verbal quote of R1780, I was charged R2689.85 for the work completed –R900 more than the verbal quote. I collected the vehicle the following morning and noticed the Engine Warning Light was off and believed all have been resolved… However, about 1km away from your workshop, I felt that the power was gone again and the Engine Light came on again. The vehicle had no power again. The exact same problem which they were meant to fix...

I am therefore firstly not happy that I was quoted one amount to fix the loss of power problem, but then were charged R900 more for the work done. Secondly, the problem for which the vehicle was taken in, has not been resolved, therefore I believe the problem were incorrectly diagnosed and that the real cause has not been identified and addressed, as a result I have just tossed R2689.95 + R640 (R3325.95) in the water.

After reporting this to Quick Lane Krugersdorp, I was informed by Andre they would refund me in full, then a Lyndon said they would not pending a report from Mercedes stating the reason for this problem. I then took the vehicle to David Binder Motors, who specializes in Mercedes who identified that there was a tare in a y-splitter pipe and fixed the problem. David Binder also confirmed that a Glow Plug will not cause a vehicle to lose power and therefore stated the problem diagnosed by Quick Lane Krugersdorp was incorrect and the work done was not required.

I provided the invoice with fault description and work done to Quick Lane to inform them of what the actual problem was.

As I now expected a FULL refund from Quick Lane Krugersdorp I called Andre to follow up and to establish next steps... Andre then told me that they will only refund me for their labour part and that the diagnostics was outsourced, so I have to pay for it, and that I have to pay for the parts they used to replace the Glow Plugs. Their story keeps changing and I feel that their outsourced partner misguided them on the problem and that they should be held accountable for the cost of the diagnostics and the parts used. I am willing to take the knock on the parts I bought (R640) to "fix the problem", however I demand a full refund from Quick Lane Krugersdorp (R2689.95).

I received a refund today for R1689.85 and not the full amount of R2689.85. The reason for this as per Lyndon Ferns, “there was work done on the vehicle, irrespective if it was right or wrong and the vehicle was washed by them” He further claims that the diagnostics done by them lead to the finding the fault faster… This is total hogwash. No diagnostics report was given to me or to David Binder. The real issue was detected by David Binder as he is qualified and capable to work on vehicles - he had no access to any previous diagnostics or tests done by Quick Lane Krugersdorp.

Under no circumstances do I deny that work was done on the vehicle, but the fact remains, they diagnosed the fault incorrectly and charged me for something that was not required as the vehicle was still faulty with the exact same problem. For this reason I demand a full refund and will be taking Quick Lane Krugersdorp to the Small Claims Court for compensation!