[Closed] Car repair woes - failed repair, who pays?

Surely the first thing they do is plug it into the diagnostic equipment?
Unfortunately though I suspect you're SOOL, as you agreed to the work.

Yes, both garages plugged it into the diagnostic machine. Unfortunately the error code is very vague. To be fair to the Ford dealer, his logic for diagnosing the fuel pump sensor seemed logical to my untrained ears. But I am untrained - if he got it wrong and the Ford expert online chap got it right (yet to be confirmed) then it seems to me that it was a lack of knowledge that has cost me £650.

By the sound of it, you were aware that the fuel pump was slight “guesswork” by your description.
So unless he said “it’s definitely the fuel pump/relay that needs doing, that will solve the problem”
Then I think you are out of luck with the actual dealer.
For future reference, it’s useful to have the “what if that doesn’t work” conversation before agreeing to the work being done.

On the other hand, it was a main dealer, and they misdiagnosed a fault, so I think a conversation with Ford UK would be your best bet to see what they will offer as “compensation/goodwill”

My mum has just had a similar thing with the local BMW garage. The alarm kept going off on her mini and they changed several parts (costing around£500) but didn't solve it. They then changed the battery (which is an eye watering£450) which solved it. My dad kicked off a bit and they did not charge for the battery.

You might want to tell Ford when they respond to you that, as you relied on the dealer's experience and technical knowledge, you are both concerned and disappointed that they failed to make an accurate diagnosis.
Be pleasant and polite but firm.
Do not get shouty or difficult.
Good luck. Tell us how you get on.

changed the battery (which is an eye watering£450)

How can any car battery cost £450!!!!!!!

That is what I said, it has to be paired to the car as well???!

Madness - that said a colleague had to scrap her Mini Cooper S with an electrical fault !

Fuel pump, including fitting on a Yaris is about £250 - it's easy to get to.

Kick up a fuss, especially at those prices.

So far everyone has been pleasant to deal with, including me. No money has changed hands yet, so I’ll take the advice to ask nicely to Ford and/or dealer and see where that gets me.

So the Ford dealer diagnosed either an issue with the fuel pump sensor or the actual fuel pump. I agreed to go with a sensor first, being the cheapest option (£650!). So that didn’t work and the dealer got it touch with Ford to plug the car in and go through the fault online. They now says it needs a new PCM at £1500! Nothing to do with the fuel pump.

So two levels of diagnosis were possible, but they didn’t offer the second level until the first fix didn’t work? Something not quite right there. How will they guarantee the PCM fix? More parts bingo?

It's tricky though isn't it. Who'd fix cars for a living if you only got paid for the time and parts when the fix worked.

I suppose it all boils down to competence and reasonable.

This is why I hate garages, they don't bother diagnosing stuff properly, preferring to just trust the computer, and swap out expensive components until the fault goes away

This is the problem with fault diagnosis these days - it's all a bit of a gamble and tbh it can go on for ever or more likely until you can't stomach it anymore.

I think your nice and smiley approach is your best option but as someone else said, nobody does work for free.

Who’d fix cars for a living if you only got paid for the time and parts when the fix worked.

My local chap does just this. Mrs S Nissan had a fault that they spent nearly 2 days on but could not fix. Fitted parts removed and we were not charged for any labour/parts other than the bits they did fix for us. By comparison the injection repair people did the work but didn't properly re-install the birds that they had to move for the work. Mrs S now knows to check under the bonnet before driving the car away.

but didn’t properly re-install the birds that they had to move for the work. Mrs S now knows to check under the bonnet before driving the car away.

Important to check the birds have been re-instated.
The BMW battery thing is hilarious, it’s due to the stop start tech I gather.

My local chap does just this. Mrs S Nissan had a fault that they spent nearly 2 days on but could not fix. Fitted parts removed and we were not charged for any labour/parts other than the bits they did fix for us.

Great service. But you surely that isn't viable if you do it very often

They have been running for more than 30 years so it can’t be all bad Ampthill.

That’s utter bullshit that a Mini battery is £450.
Supply and fit an AGM Stop/Start battery to a 6 cylinder 1 Series is only £128 including it being coded.
Coding btw is only telling the cars battery management unit that the battery is new so it doesn’t try and charge it like the old one.
Alternators now are intelligent and will charge well in excess of 150A in some cases from tickover.

This is the problem with fault diagnosis these days – it’s all a bit of a gamble

It needn't be, but properly diagnosing a fault requires a lot of time and either intelligence or experience or possibly both. And there are far more cars on the road than there are mechanics falling into those categories.

I figured out what was wrong with my Passat but it took many months of googling and learning about how cars actually work, and to pay someone who hadn't come across it before or been very well trained would've cost a mint.

Supply and fit an AGM Stop/Start battery to a 6 cylinder 1 Series is only £128 including it being coded.

At a BMW dealer ?

Yes - at the main dealer trail_rat.
Drive in - drive out.
Took longer to go upstairs and get a coffee than them changing it.
Was even cleaned in/out before they handed me the keys.

That's surprising given the cost of an off brand battery alone for the AGM stop start required for the mini is about 125 quid.

Coupled with the high number of threads on piston heads expressing shock at 4-500 quid bills for the same battery swap and reprogram on their minis.

BMw branded, coded in minutes and they quoted that over the phone with them on the shelf.
They do loads every day apparently so stated they make a point of being competitive

Update from OP. Ford have offered to pay £1000 of the repair, so I’m chuffed. Hopefully it fixes the issues.