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[Mr Skrunts]

Nice one .. pays to persevere  

It ceryainly does.

Well done.  

[vista]

Well now i know it was to good to be true  :-/ as you will all be aware my insurance company sent me to playschool   otherwise known as rac windscreens to get broken glass replaced in my front passenger door, in the process of this they buggerd my airbag loom or sensor in the door.  after much time spent on the phone and many letters later they agreed to pay for the damage pending a report from vauxhall and estimate. happy was i that the matter was settled untill the phone rung and i was told that the rac would not pay for the damage becouse...... :-?

vauxhall say that the bill could be as much as £600 to complete and no final figure could be put on the job so playschool has shut and run away, from me that is, i now have it in mind to hire a tractor and a muckspreader and see how they like being left in da chit  seems the next action will be the courts cos im not letting this drop and il keep you all in the picture

[jonathanh]

So they said they would pay (i.e. admitted it was their fault) then when they found out the cost decided it was not their fault.

start raising the stakes now:  formal complaint to your insurance company, motoring press and small claims court against I believe your insurance company whose contractor failed to carry work out satisfactorily

[Lazydocker]

So they said they would pay (i.e. admitted it was their fault) then when they found out the cost decided it was not their fault.

start raising the stakes now:  formal complaint to your insurance company, motoring press and small claims court against I believe your insurance company whose contractor failed to carry work out satisfactorily

Definitely... They have admitted liability by sending you to Vauxhall to get an estimate. Start ramping it up. Perhaps you should put it in the hands of your insurance company... Tell them that it was their responsibility to ensure that all agents are qualified for the job and that you will be taking legal action against them.

That's my 2p anyway... Sorry to hear that it's all starting again!!  

[DaveyDavey]

Agreed. Go back to the insurance company and explain to them what RAC windscreens have said - agreeing to pay for the repairs and then refusing when they found out.

Then point out that you are driving round in a car with a defective airbag system, which was caused by their appointed agents. Should you have an accident, you could sustain serious injuries if the airbag system does not activate properly. Therefore the insurance company and RAC Windscreens would be found culpable for their negligence to ensure that the work was carried out satisfactorily.

Tell them that if you do not get confirmation within 15 working days that the errors will be rectified by a "qualified" technician then you will have no alternative but to raise this issue with the insurance ombudsman and then the media.

I'd write to Watchdog for good measure, they love a good story like this.

Best of luck, make sure you drive safely and keep us posted.

[Entwood]

You have a very clear claim under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982   "The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 requires a supplier of a service acting in the course of business in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to carry out that service with reasonable care and skill and, unless agreed to the contrary, within a reasonable time and make no more than a reasonable charge."

Give these folks a ring ... exceedingly helpful ...

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk

[vista]

taking the advice of you lads here we, have once again gone to war with the rac and my insurance company over what we rightly believe is the fault of the rac in that they, coused a problem with my airbag system while fitting new glass to my front passenger door on my elite. all along this sorry state of affairs my insurance company did not want to get involved. after long and repeated conversations with the rac at their head office they agreed that we could take the car to vauxhall main dealers for them to find and rectify the problem, that is untill vauxhall phoned us and stated that the rac were not prepared to pay the bill or to pay for further investigations of the problem to be carried out by vauxhall. their only contribution was to pay for the tech2. so i got on to the insurance companys head office and got hold of a senior manager there and asked him what he was going to do about it. he contacted the rac and phoned me back later in ther day telling me that....
in order that they identify the fault they need to check out the whole loom from the door to the airbag control unit for that it will cost the rac £85 per hour plus vat.
they will not pay for this becouse

1. i have failed to have the airbags serviced as the car is 10 years old.
2 they are not responsible for the loom once it passes out of the door
3 it could be a co-incidence that this has just happened while they have the car in their care.
4 there is no firm evidence that they coused the problem only my word.
in other words mate "get lost" i have pointed out to my insurance that this is a safety issue, and i allso asked them what happens in the event of a accident where the bag fails and my passenger is injured would if affect my claim, he really didnt know what to say it is quite clear to me im a problem they want gone, and so today he allso stated that becouse i had failed to have the airbags serviced neither they nor the rac would look at my claim any further. but with the help of a couple of great lads on here we are going to simply "change the door" as a cheaper way of solving the problem iv got grey hair over this and guess il have to sort this one out my self i would just end by thankin you all for your imput and for gods sake please be very wary if a certain windscreen company gets hold of your car

[jonathanh]

airbag service - what a load of rubbish.  This is another smokescreen to put you off.  Stick to the facts.  He is trying to shift the burden of proof onto you when in fact it should be on him.
If I recall correctly, you have evidence that when you arrived at the RAC the airbags worked and when you left there was a fault.  Irrespective of servicing and everything else the problem arose in their care.  Your accusation is that it is their fault and THEY need to prove to you that it is not.  

Having said all that at least if the lads on here fix your problem for you, you'll know that it has been done properly by someone who understands and cares about what they are doing.

Who is your insurance company btw?  worth staying away from

[Lazydocker]

My sister in law had an experience With Norwich Union.

 Basically the underside of the car caught fire which they claim was due to a mechanical fault. Because she called the fire brigade and they arrived within minutes they extinguished the fire before any visible damage occured.

After 3 months of arguements they refused to pay out, even after admitting that they would have paid if she'd let it burn! Now it's sat on my drive because the insurance company still haven't produced the evidence that it was a mechanical fault that caused the fire!

They claim to have spent over £500 diagnosing the fault, most of which must have been on transportation because they didn't like the result from the garages, but are unable to find the report that the decision was based upon!

The reason they wanted to wriggle out of it... The car is a VW Passat V6 4motion with the full christmas tree spec. In other words, rare and expensive! This has now dragged on for a year so we've finally given up and decided to get it fixed ourselves. Luckily it looks like the looms are all ok!

Sorry to hijack the thread and rant but I thought it was relevant!

[Kevin Wood]

OK. Where in the manufacturer's service schedule does it say the air bag system needs to be "serviced" every 10 years?

Secondly, don't take the whole door off. If you end up having to sort this out yourself get it Tech2'ed by Jaime or Mark, or get a 30 quid cheapo Tech 2 and read the airbag system. Chances are it'll point you straight to the fault, which is bound to be the door sensor or a loose connector thereon.

Kevin

[jonathanh]

My sister in law had an experience With Norwich Union.

 Basically the underside of the car caught fire which they claim was due to a mechanical fault. Because she called the fire brigade and they arrived within minutes they extinguished the fire before any visible damage occured.

After 3 months of arguements they refused to pay out, even after admitting that they would have paid if she'd let it burn! Now it's sat on my drive because the insurance company still haven't produced the evidence that it was a mechanical fault that caused the fire!

They claim to have spent over £500 diagnosing the fault, most of which must have been on transportation because they didn't like the result from the garages, but are unable to find the report that the decision was based upon!

The reason they wanted to wriggle out of it... The car is a VW Passat V6 4motion with the full christmas tree spec. In other words, rare and expensive! This has now dragged on for a year so we've finally given up and decided to get it fixed ourselves. Luckily it looks like the looms are all ok!

Sorry to hijack the thread and rant but I thought it was relevant!

this is absolutely shocking and needs to be taken up with the insurance ombudsman/courts.  I'm really starting to think that if we have 4 or 5 cases gathered together then BBC Watchdog may be interested.

[vista]

im insured with endsleigh, they are the agents but my policy shows that axa are providing cover, for this i pay them a handsome £1.500 a year for comprehensive cover :-?

[Andy B]

Coincedently in the local rag there's an article about airbags, their positioning & deployment & even the journalist mentions that 'they require no driver maintenance'

[jonathanh]

im insured with endsleigh, they are the agents but my policy shows that axa are providing cover, for this i pay them a handsome £1.500 a year for comprehensive cover :-?

wow - for that money I'd expect gold plated service.  Insurance is a minefield because you'll have a broker, insurer and possibly a reinsurer kicking around (although you'll never know about the latter)

It is a bit difficult from what you say to know whether the buck stops with endsleigh or AXA.  If you want to take it up with them, you must put everything in writing. If you need help with this, pm me and I'll give you a hand with the matter as much as I can.

[Entwood]

Ring consumer direct .. link about 6 posts up .... THEY CAN HELP .. rather than all us amateurs    ... they are professionals.

They will tell you how to write the letters you need, where you stand, and how to get the situation resolved.

What have you to lose