bought a groupon voucher for a car service. i took my car to the mechanic today and when i picked up my car the mechanic had done a new wof (even though i had a current wof) and FAILED me on a number of issues. quoting me $1000 worth of repairs that apparently need urgent attention. i asked why he did a wof when it was never discussed, he said its what they always do and it comes with that groupon voucher. my voucher doesnt say anything about a wof. im furious as i have 28 days to do the repairs and i cannot afford this! Is it legal what they have done?
thejazzpianoma,
Jan 9, 5:40am
Can you upload a picture of the invoice and the wof sheet?
BTW. in my opinion those groupon car service packages are pretty much a scam. They call a "service" (or worse a comprehensive service) an oil change with 4 litres of cheap mineral oil and then they do a bunch of "checks" to see if they can sell you anything else.
A "service" as outlined by the vehicles manufacturer will pretty much always include more than just an oil change, usually items like cabin, air and sometimes fuel filters will need replacement. Brake fluid replacement is specificed every 2 years and coolant usually 3-5 years. There are usually other little things due as well.
So if you are calling it a comprehensive service, in my opinion at least it should actually be at minimum what the manufacturer recommends for that milage/age.
Anyhow it would be good if you could go back and double check your voucher didn't include a WOF, as many of those do. Ideally upload the invoice and that will give people more information to help you out with.
Pretty much we need to establish whether the WOF was definitely unsolicited and then work forward from there. Aside from whether they were supposed to do it or not, you now need to consider the legal ramifications of your car as it stands and whether the wof items they have flagged were really justified. So quite a bit to work through.
llortmt,
Jan 9, 6:33am
Read I have no real interest in maintaining my vehicle or its safety. I just wish to have a couple of stickers on the screen that must mean it's serviced and totally legal. I can then kid myself that as I can't possibly know any better its not my fault, when the car breaks down and I shall thus cry 'why does it always happen to me?'
petal_91,
Jan 9, 6:48am
You could ignore it I guess. Your existing WOF is still good until it expires. Just because they did a WOF check doesn't invalidate your old WOF, only the Police could do that.
jmma,
Jan 9, 7:03am
I think you will find it is logged as failed a WOF, so shouldn't be on the road. OP what make and model is the car. How many kms on the speedo and what has it been failed on. The 28 days is for a free retest, after that they can charge for another WOF check.
vtecintegra,
Jan 9, 7:09am
IMO - Take the car somewhere independent and get another WoF check done.
Remember it is your responsibility to keep the car roadworthy so now you have been informed of faults you need to have them repaired (if genuine)
Once this has done you can deal with the original ripoff place
franc123,
Jan 9, 7:29am
You have to remember there is no such thing as a free lunch, or a cheap lunch for that matter. It seems to me that this outfit targets a market of suckers who know little about cars, for some reason don't have a relationship with a garage or dealership and generally avoid them as much as possible. its a big market too. The first thing I would do is as mentioned take it to either a testing station or another garage for a WOF test and see what the outcome is, depending on whether the same issues get raised and whether it passes or not will determine what you do next. If it went to the DT the service provider wouldn't have a leg to stand on if the voucher did not prominently state that a WOF test was to be carried out and they didn't have a signed repair order from you stating that you approved a check to be done in addition to this servicing. If the car does not have any WOF problems and the whole thing was bogus I'd be complaining to NZTA too.
tintop,
Jan 9, 9:56am
Totally unwarranted comment. Not helpful to the OP at all. Sure - you think you 'know better', but not everyone knows everything and you will be caught out on something one day. .
daryl14,
Jan 9, 1:06pm
I think I'd call Fair Go on this one. They are clearly scam artists. Falsely rendering your car un-roadworthy so you have to pay to get it fixed must be some sort of entrapment or other fraudulent offence. Do 'em big time.
llortmt,
Jan 9, 8:11pm
Get real mate! They required a Stevie Wonder Service whereby they could continue driving their unroadworthy vehicle in total ignorance. In their mind thus giving them plausible deniability. The bottom line is they can't afford to maintain their car so should seek a more economical form of transport. But its not the WoF AVI/ garages fault unless they made the failures up, which I doubt. The law requires a road going vehicle to be of WoF standard at all times, the aforementioned WoF has demonstrated that the OP's vehicle is NOT of WoF standard. From what I can understand the The OP's ONLY tangible gripe is that they don't have the money to repair it. Fine don't, but don't attempt to shoot the messenger!
intrade,
Jan 9, 8:18pm
the thing is these vouchers are sometimes similar like southafrican scams , you should never go to a place whom gives you cheap voucher deals , instead you yes should maintain your car propperly but buy a mechanic or automotive mechatronics technition if you have a car 2005 onwards , as mechanical swapatrons who print vouchers to make business from usually have not much knowhow and fail what ever money they can make the most profit on. I would get the car checked out by a other place and not pay this voucher guy 1 cent and if they find out the voucher guy was putting loads stuff on lists to make money have fairgo wisit his shop. if all the stuff fails on a other professional mechanica workshop then there is only the aspsct of deception with voucher trick.
tintop,
Jan 9, 8:18pm
Groupon already have had a bit of exposure on Fair Go.
Hard to know what exactly the story is with the OP's problem. I had a look at the Groupon website, and there seems to be a system that includes a WOF. The page I was looking at showed vouchers for servicing and a WOF check, but part of the page was overlaid with a 'sign up' form, it was not possible to read the whole page without signing up for one of their services first. My initial gut instinct is that it is a dodgy operation, but it seems difficult to get a clear picture from the site.
Jazz has provided worthwhile advice to the OP on a course of action for her. The only thing I would add was perhaps the OP should go to a VTNZ branch - have a chat with the manager and then get a second opinion. There is a process for appealing a WOF decision, the VTNZ people will be able to advise.
tintop,
Jan 9, 8:24pm
You can be certain that I am not your 'mate'
The OP came here for some help - not a lecture. There are dodgy schemes as well as dodgy WOF inspections. It may well be that she is caught up in it.
Certainly not enough information to be judge and jury on her situation.
intrade,
Jan 9, 8:34pm
what car is it? year ,?model? make? manual automatic?
elect70,
Jan 9, 10:35pm
Im with franc 123 Sounds like a con to me . the idea is the garage finds lots of things that need doing & expects you to get them done there at $$$ , which pays for his being in the deal . Best avoided as you dont know what they do or quality of products put in . & if car still has a WOf ignore his "inspection" & take it to same place as before when the existing WOF runs out . Old story if it sounds too good to be true it probably isnt
llortmt,
Jan 9, 10:36pm
The OP has inferred that they wish to be ignorant to the faults of their vehicle I don't really need to hear anymore to make my judgment.
franc123,
Feb 22, 1:38am
OP needs to come back with the results of another WOF check before further comment on this thread. None of us know if there were genuine issues at this point.
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