Wof gone wrong ... what are my rights with this?

[Guest]

Heyas

Took my 95 250T for a WOF yesterday after it sat in the driveway for 7 odd months not getting used. Charged the battery the day before so that wouldn't cause me dramas.

They went round and did the checks they needed to, and the battery died half way through, fair enough the battery was discharged for a while and i knew the battery was nearing the end of its life.

It died pretty spectacularly I must say, they went to jump start the vehicle with a jump pack, now im not sure what happened or how it happened, all I seen was a mass of sparks and the tester jumping for his life from the front of the car.

The positive post was pretty much gone, little bits of it were all over the top of the battery from the arcing. He says he accidently earthed the positive on the front guard ... which is clearly impossible with a jump pack ... the positive is facing towards the intake manifold so its to far away for this to happen.

If he put the jump pack on wrong could that have caused this damage?

What should I do? I've already bought a new battery for it.

Thanks

~Spot

[subieboy]

Bugger...

Never heard or seen of it myself

[RAYDEO]

does the car still drive as normal?

where did this happen?

[Guest]

On the drive home it drove like buggery, ABS went wacko constantly braking scared the hell outt'a me to be perfectly honest.

If drives fine now. Was at Easy Motors in West Auckland.

[Guest boostin]

I would say any damage they did they need to pay for. Simple as that.

[RAYDEO]

if its buggered, it's their fault... simple... they fix it... or pay out to get it fixed... thats why they have insurence

[Guest]

How would i go about telling them they owe me money in a legal kind'a way?

I already been back there since and told them I'm not getting my rear rotors machined or replaced because surface rust was on them and they are not cracked, warped or thinner then spec. He finally agreed to take that off the failed list.

I just seem to be getting buggered around a bit...

[Guest boostin]

What did they actually damage??

[Guest]

the battery post itself, positive post was gone pretty much, had to thread the terminal through the hole to get the car home, I will take pictures of the battery tomorrow as the car is getting front rotors put on it and the old battery is in the boot of the car.

[Guest boostin]

They need to replace the battery then. If they've shorted it then they will have damaged the battery internally, not just the post.

[Guest]

I've already replaced it, I just don't know how to go about getting this all sorted with them ... sorry maybe im coming across wrong.

He said he earthed it on the front guard ... and that the post was already damaged and he couldn't have caused that damage from what happened... I say differently as i had the battery out the day before I should know what condition the post was in.

So where do I go from here?

Sorry if I'm all confusing

[Guest boostin]

Fair Go / Target??

[Guest Fastfour]

Easy motors sounds dodgy to start off with....

[Guest boostcut]

sounds like the old + on the - story... not hard to do when your trying to be the big tough testing station wanker

[subieboy]

 boostcut said:

sounds like the old + on the - story... not hard to do when your trying to be the big tough testing station wanker

Hahaha classic

[Swindog]

Just walk in there and say, you did this...fix it or youll be getting a letter from my lawyer and a ring from fair go.

[Guest]

Thanks everyone for your input, will talk to them tomorrow and let ya's know how it goes.

[RAYDEO]

 Spot250T said:

Thanks everyone for your input, will talk to them tomorrow and let ya's know how it goes.

make sure you see a manager/owner etc

and mention your part of a national car club... if they dont make it right everyone will know

sometimes works

[Guest]

It was the owner that did the WOF on my car ... lol.

Okay, will mention that when I go in, will keep ya updated

Thanks again guys

[Guest keltik]

If they grounded it on the gaurd accidently, surely youd have a burn mark or something on the paint

[Old Skool Subbie]

 keltik said:

If they grounded it on the gaurd accidently, surely youd have a burn mark or something on the paint

I would agree with that. When I was tightening the postive battery terminal, I hit the guard. that left a wee mark.

If it was enought to melt the post then It should had made a big black mark on the guard.

Ive seen some one else but a jumper battery on the wrong way. the sparks flew off the battery. She took the jumper off very quickly

[Guest]

Heyas

No damage on the guard was noticed. I just can't see this being possible as the positive is closer to the motor the negitive is beside the guard.

I dont beleive for a second he grounded it on the guard, only way I could see him grounding the positive with the jump pack was if he some how touched the battery mounting bracket which is the closest metal item to the positive, no arcing damage to the bracket was noticed when I put the new battery in.

I'm sure he put the jump pack on backwards aye ... but because i wasn't watching them do it. I don't know I just have no other explaination.

[Guest boostcut]

so are you saying he damaged the old battery??? and you already bourt a new one to replace it???

[Guest itsgotgo]

i went through something similar to this a while ago.

best thing to do is ring the local testing staiton and they will put you in touch with the governing body for wof,s.

they will tell you to sort it with the garage first.

if they dont comply to fixing the damage,you will then have some recourse through the governing body.

i got paid up $1600 for the damage and dodgy wof a hamilton muffler shop put on my ute.

you do have rights aslong as you go through the right channels

[Guest]

 boostcut said:

so are you saying he damaged the old battery??? and you already bourt a new one to replace it???

Yep thats what I'm saying, I had to replace it was to dangerous. I bought the new battery the day it was damaged so I could get what needed to be repaired on the car repaired.

Another question for you guys, when they test the ABS self check, is that the check when you turn your ignition on (not started) then the ABS light comes on then goes out again? Cause he has put down on my WOF form that ABS light not working ... but it does this for me ... lol

Thanks again guys for all ya input on this, its much appreciated