While Halfords can be ok, their recomendation on batteries are a bit suspect. I think they tend to recomend what they have that fits, rather than what the manfacturer says is needed. The ampere hour capacity of their recomendation on a TD5 Defender was certainly a bit small. It would have worked to start with, but for how long?

Got a bigger and much more correct one from a local factors when I replaced the Defenders one.

Not trying to defend them but as usual we only have one side of the story, yours.... and the version of events now seems to have changed!! so its difficult to form a fair opinion.

The usual way when querying service charges is to ask for a breakdown of individual costs, then you can question each item before paying......this didnt happen.

However, now that the bill has been settled and they are unlikely to see any repeat business from your side its probable that they will ignore any requests for such. If they do they its likely they will use any old figures and reasons to justify their costs.

Your party was under no obligation to use the garage in question and didnt ask for a price beforehand, they received exactly the goods/services requested for a not wildly unrealistic sum. Not sure how you could go about demanding money back now and any attempt to make it `legal` would undoubtedly cost more than you you could hope to get back. Perhaps you could ask the question in a consumer advice based forum rather than a motoring one.

Appreciate you **** is boiling but take it on the chin, learn from it and move on

Caveat emptor......and all that

Edited by TedCrilly on 30/11/2015 at 10:41

www.tayna.co.uk/096-Enduroline-Car-Battery-700CCA-...l

Not as i'd necessarily buy there but just to give you an idea, most makes prices listed bottom left, be interesting to see exactly what make and model of battery has been fitted, hope its not some unheard of accessory shop tat.

Not the most impressive, no that's being kind, it's poor and greedy afterservice from a selling dealer who should be, but won't be, ashamed of themselves, one visit, one new battery, no diagnosis time nor repeat trips.

edit, Galileo, yes the likes of us can sort things like this out, but as Wackyracer points out correctly, we're disappearing fast...one of our full time drivers had a trailer bulb out at work yesterday, ''have you got a screwdriver cos i don't carry one?'' no probs, two minutes later ''have you got a bulb'' i should add we have a good stock of every conceivable bulband fuses etc in our oil store 50 yards away (obviously most of us carry a small stock of what we might need and relevant tools for out on the road), and i had to do the same for this one driver a few weeks back whilst we were tipping at the same customer....God help us if we have another war.

Edited by gordonbennet on 30/11/2015 at 10:48

I just got it confirmed as to what happened. The owner called the dealer on monday morning and said it was dead. He couldn't even open the doors and didn't even know about the deadlocking unlock via the flap on the passenger door etc. At the time the dealer actually said "you need a new battery. I will order one and fit it Wednesday". On the Wednesday the battery was fitted in just a few minutes and the bill was paid via card (over the phone). So this is not a traditional "call out", and it did not involve 3+ hours of labour or travel. As for the make of battery I will find out and check if it is brand new or not. I hope it is but won't be surprised if not. ---- BTW if you are covered by AA/RAC how would they have dealt with this? Would they have jump started it to get you home or do they provide a battery fitting service?

If the battery was fitted - and the car was dead as described - then there would have been a callout travel to the place where the dead car was. So a clalout charge IS appropriate.

During my years of running old cars I carried a kit of spanners, screwdrivers, spare plugs, condenser, insulating tape, jump leads and spare coolant, as breakdown cover (and garage servicing) were beyond my means.

Now I have newer cars and breadown cover but out of habit still have some essential bits packed in the boot, they come in handy when called upon by my grown up kids to sort their bangers out.

Those were the days when you could actually solve problems at the side of the road and get yourself going with a few basic tools and sundries. That was something I liked about Jap cars of the 80's and 90's, they actually were sold with a basic tool kit.

With Christmas approaching I'd suggest the best solution would be a battery charger or decent set of jump leads as a Christmas present.

It was expensive, yes, but it was the buyer's choice.

As far as "warranty" is concerned if you buy an 8 year old car you are "entitled" to an 8 year old battery which will be at or near the end of it's life. Only way you can really expect a new one is to buy a new car.

All part of the joys of used car motoring (and why used cars are cheaper than new)!

I think it is expensive, but I am surprised no cost was discussed before it was carried out.

Of course, we don't know the dealer's side of the story, which might be different.

The moral is always agree a cost before agreeing to having anything done.

Thanks for the update, i bet it still leaves a nasty taste mind, it would if it were one of my flock.