Removing smashed and seized rear bearing - Garage Wont admit

[yeti 0]

Good letter mate, you've been very fair with them and forthcoming with the info, so they've got no reason to not help you.

 

Have they employed a new mechanic by any chance? Just giving them the benefit of the doubt here, but some young YTS kid might not understand the rear bearing setup on Corrados as it's a bloody old design! Most bearings now are sealed units and you just throw them on. Even Ford Focuses have sealed rear catridge bearings, so he probably thought "WTF?!!" when he saw your bearing kit :D

 

As well as not being lubricated, I bet the bearing preload was way too tight aswell. All smells of someone who didn't have a clue what they were doing. You can't really 'forget' to grease the bearing as it's second nature to proper mechanics. You wouldn't start an engine with no oil in it?

 

Anyway, let's see what they come up with by way of assistance and compensation :D

 

yeah i thought it better and calmer to write it down rather than phone... i tend to get angry (or fighty as jon will quote me on!! lol) got a technical author at work to proof read and correct my grammer so it reads right, fingers crossed for the response now! :shrug:

 

O Graham i hope you dont mind that i quoted you, and that i also removed the slang/swear words as i wanted the letter to read as calmly as possible... i have wanted to write lots of swearwords in the letter but it would probably just get thrown in the bin! TBH i have no idea the make of the bearings but the kit is made by eurospec and looks top quality, as kev has said, 1k so far and no issues!

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yeah try the reasonable approach first, then if that fails.....as I like to say......" SMASH em!!! "

[vwdeviant 0]

Or just call for the Toad's magic Sphincter! :lol: :tongue:

[vwdeviant 0]

Andy, any updates on this? Did "They" :bad-words: come back to you?

[yeti 0]

Hi Andy

 

Sorry for the delay.

 

 

Above are the parts that you need on the N/S if you are to replace the stub axle.

 

I can understand the situation you are in, However we are struggling to admit liability leaving us both in a tricky situation. Although some investigation has gone into whether the bearing was greased, I struggle to imagine Dave greasing one side and not the other. He has also confirmed he greased that side. However I can do the below to help:

 

You will need to purchase the above parts either yourself (genuine parts) or through us at the cost shown £180.19.

I have not put any parts for the O/S so you will need to decide if you wish to replace bearing etc.

 

We will press the bearing into disc if you can bring the disc down to us. if you purchase the above parts I would also need you to bring them into us for us to check all the needed parts are definately above.

I can then send [mechanic] to your house to change the stub (to save you recovery costs) at a charge of only 1hour labour. However if there are big problems removing the stub bolts we would need to agree an extra amount to cover this or worst case work out if the car needs to come to the workshop.

 

How does this sound, I am trying to help you out as much as possible.

If we had supllied all the parts for the work we did on your car there would have been no questions, however we are in a sticky situation as we have fitted supplied parts.

 

Now this sounds like they are still blaming the parts!... i'm about ready to give up and pay to sort it out but i dont think i should! what the hell can i do now, i mentiooned in one of my previous emails to them that they could fail as a result of overtightening but there is no way of proving this??? i'm sick of this now! :(

[davidwort 0]

That's a load of rubbish about parts supplied by you, they're just trying to get out of paying for anything basically,

depends on how far you want to take it, I'd say you have enough evidence for a small claims court job here. A new stub axle, bearing, tyre etc would only cost them a couple of hundred quid, sometimes garages just have to accept that sort of mistake and absorb the cost, well I know from the trade that they do.

As it's a safety related failure too I would have expected them to go out of their way to fix you up and keep you quiet.

Like cheesewire said, that's a classic case of a trainee not having a clue what he was doing with that type of bearing, or someone getting distracted and having a mental block and forgetting to do parts of the job.

That type of bearing must have been fitted literally millions of times to UK cars, they're not exactly a peculiar design, of course they're going to say they 'did grease it'.

[vwdeviant 0]

Andy, we both know the owner's a :hitler: :bad-words: Pay for all the parts they fooked and they'll only charge an hour's labour! :censored: :cuckoo:

 

So maybe he'll only listen to a Court threat?

 

If you still have all the parts then get them to an independant Expert (sure you can find one of those nearby! ;) ), also see if Darren will help you out here too, and then have at them!

 

Time to name and shame mate.. been going on too long! You're just lucky you have another car to use...

[yeti 0]

Your right Jon.

 

It is ridiculous now, as far as i have gathered as i am not a chassis expert but i work in automotive engineering there are 2 likely causes of failure, a non greased bearing or the bearing was done up to tight... this is getting silly now

 

The mechanic came out on friday and spent a good amount of time looking at the stub axle and damaged remains and they are still blaming the parts!... if there parts are/were at fault fair enough but there is no evidence of grease on the bearing surfaces as far as i can see of within the outer cap of the rc where you'd expect to see this. As the chap who worked on my can said he has seen grease run out of a bearing and cetrifugual force would meant the grease congeled again within the cap, which it has not done!

 

I am going to have one last attempt at a sensible resolution of this now and pop down to the garage with the parts in the boot and ask them their opinion on site, if not its off to citizens advice or someone similar to seek legal advice.

 

The additional £180 quoted above is without the labout cost, £65 and without a new toyo proxes tire which is £70ish , so they expect me to be another £300ish out of pocket.... :cuckoo:

[mrbeige 0]

If the garage did the fitting it is THEIR responsibility to ensure they are fitted correctly. That pic on the first page clearly shows no grease on the inner bearing, so HOW can they blame the parts? I'd be livid if that happened to me. Don't give in mate. Small claims court if necessary.

 

What I can't understand is, if they value you as a customer so much and you have put so much business their way, why the hell are the squabbling over this?

 

As has been said before a bad reputation travels a lot quicker than a good one and unfortunately for them, schitt sticks!

[KipVR 1]

Who was it then?

[yeti 0]

TT Shop, i'm seeking legal advice today, a friend of mine runs the local formula 1 in bedford (should have gone to him! :( ) and he's looked as a fully qualified mechanic and has advised its best to go straight to trading standards as that is his worst fear as a garage manager, if trading standards apear with evidence (which i have! lol) he says they're fooked, and if i can get trading standards on their ass that'll strengthen my case for claiming damages!... i've had enough of being nice to them, they have been given the chance to put it right and despite proffesional opinion stating operwise and what i feel is blatent photopraphic evidence they have made a simple mistake in fitting they continue to treat me poorly.

 

Anyways i'm off the citizens advice...

[dr_mat 0]

See, this is why so many garages are now refusing to fit parts supplied by the customer!

 

Regardless of the circumstantial evidence suggesting improper installation, it is just that - circumstantial. Reality is there COULD have been a fault in the component you supplied that caused this, but just as they can't prove they fitted it correctly, you can't prove there wasn't a fault in the bearing you supplied in the first place. If, however, you can prove the bearing wasn't greased feel free to explain how.. :)

 

I think you're asking a lot to expect them to cover the whole cost of the stub axles too. Get a used stub axle and ask them to fit it, with a new bearing, for free. I think that's about the most you should expect given that you took the risk of supplying the parts.

 

/me dons flame suit..

[vwdeviant 0]

See, this is why so many garages are now refusing to fit parts supplied by the customer!

 

Regardless of the circumstantial evidence suggesting improper installation, it is just that - circumstantial. Reality is there COULD have been a fault in the component you supplied that caused this, but just as they can't prove they fitted it correctly, you can't prove there wasn't a fault in the bearing you supplied in the first place. If, however, you can prove the bearing wasn't greased feel free to explain how.. :)

/me dons flame suit..

 

There's a special chemical test that can prove if there was (the proper) grease on it. Apparently 100% reliable... Or so I've been told...

 

Have you (or any-one else) ever heard of a properly installed bearing fail after 5 miles? To the extent that there's NO trace of grease on the componants... Been to see Andy's car, and there's traces of grease on the OK side and none on the stub-axel or what little is left of the bearings on the Buggered side.

 

Just can't believe that THE TT SHOP won't admit that they fooked up, could have all been fixed weeks ago, and kept Andy as a happy customer... now they're probably going to end up with a court summons! :bad-words:

 

Just to give a time frame thios has been dragging on for FOUR WEEKS now... how would any of you feel about that? Esp as the had it for 2-3weeks doing the "work".

[dr_mat 0]

Have you (or any-one else) ever heard of a properly installed bearing fail after 5 miles? To the extent that there's NO trace of grease on the componants... Been to see Andy's car, and there's traces of grease on the OK side and none on the stub-axel or what little is left of the bearings on the Buggered side.

 

I ain't a mechanic, my opinion doesn't count so the fact that I've never heard of bearings failing that fast doesn't mean diddly squat. I imagine, however, that's it's possible that there was a manufacturing flaw that caused it to throw the bearing almost immediately, and perhaps it got so hot doing it that it burned out all the grease? I dunno, since I'm not even a trained engineer, this is clearly guesswork. ;)

 

And of course I'd be annoyed if it was my car. That wouldn't make me right tho! :)

 

If you can prove negligence, then I'm 100% behind you forcing the garage to pay for all the repairs, EVEN if they didn't source the parts themselves, but if you can't it's your word against theirs and that's never going to go anywhere is it?

[davidwort 0]

there's no way in the world that the grease that should have been partly packed into the dust cap would disappear, even if the thing went up in smoke, I'm no phorensic engineer either, but one of a few things can happen:

1) a faulty bearing breaks up, in which case it would make a mess but there would be plenty of grease everywhere still

2) an over tightened bearing breaks up after over heating, much the same as 1)

3) a dry bearing over heated and broke up, mess as shown in photo and no grease to be seen

4) a dry bearing is also over tightened, same as 3 but breaks even quicker

[yeti 0]

well boys and girls i have been doing some thinking, there has been a very good point raised time and time again, this is very difficult to prove blame apart the chemical test available. Citizrns advice gave me some very good pointers and i have been advised by a friend who is the manager of a local garage to involve trading standards, but...

 

To be quite honest it is now 4 weeks until edition and i want the car on the road, in that time i have a weeks holiday and a weekend away at a festival so time to sort the car'll be tight as it is! I am very tired of the hassle involved in this now and proceeding with a legal claim will probably drag on for quite some time. I want to drive my bloody car and for the sake of a few hundred quid i can then hopefully get it back and running again.

 

I dont want to put a 2nd hand stub on there as i want to do the job once and be confident its running straight and true for many miles to come. So i'm gonna contact them tomorrow and sort this out.

 

Thank you for everyone for their help but i have got the stage now i just want to get the vehicle running again as i havent been able to drive it for 6 weeks now and the longer it sits on the driveway doing nothing the more and more i feel as if i want to sell up and move to something more modern and i really dont want that! So i think this'll be the best bet

 

I can only hope this goes out as a warning to all those who have thought of using the TT shop as this really is an insight into the level of customer service provided by the owner, and through discussing this with local dubbers i'm not the first person to have had this type of service and worse.

[vwdeviant 0]

Woh Andy, have a chat with some of the other local specialist you've contacted see if they can supply the parts cheaper.

 

I personally wouldn't be giving this buch of barstewards any more of my money. :bad-words:

 

As to the Court thing, keep all the parts and keep on with the claim regardless.

 

Chin up geezer... will get sorted.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I'm sure we had a "Bad suppliers" thread somewhere?!

 

The TT Shop should be top of the list if we have :D

 

[snip Dr Mat]..... "it might be a faulty part...." My Baboon's arse it was a faulty part!! I have EXACTLY the same bearings and discs on my car, which I fitted myself, [with GREASE I might add] and they were fine (until a rock cake ruined the party).

 

The evidence is clear. The parts tried to weld themselves together. It doesn't take Stephen Hawking to work out that the TiT Shop are to blame.

No where will find on a taper bearing packet "Grease optional". So the TiT Shop are a bunch of total and utter KENTS!

 

That's my Monday morning vent done, normal service will resume.....

 

Just angers me when incompetent A holes take money from the innocent and then big themselves up in the "Scene" and on their website with some phony award.....

 

Unforunately, the "scene" is chock full of fly by nighters like these guys.....but somehow earn good reputations :cuckoo:

[vwdeviant 0]

:lol: @ Kev you'll find the coffee just on the left of the kettle!

 

However this :hitler: sums them up nicely!

 

Anyone else got any good TT SHOP stories?

 

 

EDIT how doe we get google to pick up on this? Add more The TT Shop 's in here? :grin:

[Jim 2]

Can we just be careful here guys. If they have made genuine mistakes that are actual FACT then report on it. Anything else could be considered libelous and we could get screwed.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Think I'll head up to the coffee area and have 6 sachets this time :lol:

 

I just miss driving my car mate..... makes me tetchy! I miss my monday morning road duels with Audi driving reps :lol:

When I drive the C, I am Prince Adam of Greyskull.....I have the Power..... but at the moment I have to get a lift in with the missus......who is too good natured and people carve her up and undertake etc etc..... :censored:

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Can we just be careful here guys. If they have made genuine mistakes that are actual FACT then report on it. Anything else could be considered libelous and we could get screwed.

 

I think the evidence speaks for itself mate.....

 

Anyone whose ever changed this type of bearing, KNOWS for a FACT this kind of damage ONLY occurs through lack of lubrication, and / or over tightening the bearing.

 

They can try and sue us for libel, but it'll never happen. Hearsay on a public discussion forum can't stand up in court. What ever happened to freedom of speech?

[yeti 0]

Jim, agreed, but i've kept everything as factually clear and backed up with pics, peoples opinions are exactly that, and i was very concious of this when posting the thread (initially looking for assistance in removing the brearing remains). But i feel my good nature was been pissed on here and i dont like being treated like a cnut and i certianly feel they have tried their luck once to many!

 

After some thinking this morninng i'm going to contact the RAC for an independant check that'll stand up legally and will be linked to the incident when they recovered me and i shall speak to trading standards, at the end of the day if i had to pay someone to do it i certainly dont want to give them any more money! and i have given them every chance to resolve the issue calmly and ammicably (sp)

[Leonard 0]

Nice one m8 keep at it. Companies like this rely on the little guy to just roll over and shut up.

 

The worst thing you can do to them is give them bad feedback in the Audi/VW community. I mean they must have lost over ten fold in revenue compared to the cost of admitting liabilty and sorting your car out free of charge on this forum alone.

 

Don't lay down on this one fella and good luck.

 

Matt

[Walesy 0]

Unfortunately, where the problem will lie is with the fact that you supplied the part, I don't think you'll get anywhere legally because of this.

 

Granted, it would have been good of the garage to admit liability, it's fairly obvious from the pics that a schoolboy error was made, as they say - "you can't eat a roast dinner without the gravy" :camp: , but as they didn't supply the part they have a get out of jail free card - whether it would make more business sense to hold their hands up and sort the problem out or not is a different matter to whether they are legally responsible.

 

They had the option to admit that the bearing wasn't greased, if they'd have taken this option they would not only be loosing money/time but would also be owning up to making a fairly unprofessional mistake. Or they can argue that the part supplied was poor, and save loosing money and face - all they stand to loose is your recommendation.

 

I think when you choose to supply your own part this is the risk you take, if anything goes wrong it's very easy for the garage to blame the part. As Dr Mat says, this is why more and more garages will refuse to let you supply the part (that and the fact that they make a profit from supplying their own!)

 

I've got my car booked in on Wednesday to have the front N/S wheel bearing replaced, and i've sourced the bearing myself (a genuine OE part) - I've saved myself a few quid by getting the bearing myself but I fully acknowledge that if anything was to f**k up with it i'd have to take it on the chin.