Car repair bill twice as expensive as quoted? Here’s how to protect yourself

In this weekly segment of bite-sized chunks of useful information, consumer journalist Wendy Knowler summarises news you can use:

You can quote me on this

Can a car repair workshop overshoot its original quote and demand you pay an inflated amount before it will release your car? Of course not. The practice is outlawed by the Consumer Protection Act, which states a service provider may not deviate from an agreed written quote without the consumer’s express consent.

In November Rachille received a quote from a motor workshop in the Cape Town area which had been recommended by a friend of the family. The amount quoted for work on her high-mileage car was R18,800, and she gave the go-ahead.

She asked about the work’s progress a month later and again shortly before Christmas, she said, “but nothing was said about money”.

What Rachille hadn’t noticed on the quotation was a line in small print at the bottom which reads: “Quotation validity subject to price increase and availability of parts.”

However, that can never be a “blank cheque”, situation as any deviation from a quoted price has to be approved by the consumer.

Early this month, Rachille received a call to say her car was ready for collection, which was exciting news until she saw the revised invoice — almost R40,000, or more than double the original quote.

The workshop owner claimed to have received the go-ahead from the family friend, who vehemently denied this. In any event, clearly the consent has to come from the person who approved the original contract, and is doing the paying.

“The owner will not give my car back for the original quote,” Rachille said.

I was itching to get stuck into this case, but before I could, the owner relented and agreed to release the car to Rachille for the original quotation amount.

“I think my mentioning your name got him worried,” she said.

Let’s hope he’s worried enough not to try that one again.

One more time for those in the back

Here’s what you really, really need to know if you buy something in a physical store.

You have no legal right to return it if there is nothing wrong with the items. If you change your mind, or you took the wrong size, you are completely at the mercy of that store if you want to return for an exchange or credit. Refunds in such cases are extremely rare.

All major stores do accept change-of-heart returns, but they have the right to impose their own terms and conditions, so it’s crucial to interrogate those before you make a purchase.

Some are less flexible than others, and I think it is fair to say Zara is the most inflexible when it comes to their non-defective returns policy. That’s why I get a steady stream of e-mails from Zara customers who have felt unfairly treated at the returns counter. Bianca is the latest.

“I recently bought an item from Zara Gateway, for which I unfortunately lost the slip.

“The garment has not been worn and is in the bag with the swing tag attached to it, but they will not allow me to return it for an exchange without a slip.

“I have contacted customer services with all the relevant information, date, time, and place of purchase, but they do not offer ‘reprint’ services and cannot help me to exchange my item. 

“My only choice is to keep the item that doesn’t fit. Surely this is against the Consumer Protection Act?”

No, it’s not. No retailer anywhere in the world is compelled to take back a non-defective item. Most do, as a customer service, with the result that many consumers assume it is their legal right.

In a case such as Bianca’s, many would have sourced proof of purchase on their systems, and done an exchange, but Zara is not defying any law by refusing to do so.

You can return an item for a refund (within seven days of delivery), even if there is nothing “wrong” with it, if you’ve bought it online. That “cooling off” period is compensation for the fact that you didn’t have an opportunity to interact with the product before purchase.

What’s in the box? Best you find out quickly

Ideally you should open the box in which your online order is delivered while the courier is at your premises so you have proof, and a witness, should the contents be broken or not pristine in some way.

However, that is not always practical and I imagine courier delivery rates would plummet if everyone did that.

A consumer who opened his cardboard box days after it was delivered, only to find what looked like a used product inside it, tweeted: “They denied my return because we didn’t immediately tell them, but we didn’t expect this from them so we didn’t check”.

Always check as soon as you can. Do not leave the box sealed until you need to use the contents, or wrap them as a gift. You need to log the return as soon as possible after delivery to protect your rights.

• GET IN TOUCH: You can contact Wendy Knowler for advice on your consumer issues via e-mail: consumer@knowler.co.za or on Twitter: @wendyknowler.