MOT Failure Unjust!

[01Binary10]

Hi, I am new here and just want some advice on Citroen DS3 MOTS, and see who else has bad fedback from MOT's

Well I put my car in for it MOT today , as it was cancelled 2 days prior to a malfunction to the garages shutter door not opening...However, lef the car with a Franchise car sale company. I got an text stating that they have done a Visual health check, so ok, i will see this in an email when i get home. I then got a phone call some hours later , the service advise staes that the DS3 has failed it MOT on the following ( is a 1.6 2012 ) Nearside Headlamp not working. ( I just bought them in November cost a fortune), nearside front anti-roll bar linkage has exessive play in ball joint( whatever that means) , offside Rear Coil spring Broken and brakes.

So I asked about the brakes as they are all brand new, pads and disc;s along with the tyres ( about 3 week old), he said that the brakes failed because there where not greased, ( I was thinking EH! you for real), so i said ok i will talk to the other garage who put them on. so rang the other garage and asked him about the grease on the brakes. The respnse was that grease is standard practice and that woudl not fail and MOT as it is juts the to stop the Pad from sticking to the caliper. He asked for my REG so i told him, as he wanted to so what exactly it failed on. is reply to me was, " The Brakes haven't failed, it's not on the failed MOT notes on the Gov. uk website"... I was confused...so I rang the Fanchise car company back, and asked about the brake again, and said the grease is just to stop the brakes from binding to the calipers, it should not fail anh MOT, so he spoke to the mechanic, came back and said this..." Your brake padswhere put in the wrong way"..OMG i was about to throttle the guy, I said to him if they where metal to metel i wouldn't stop, so i this point i said, well i am not happy at all, to the fact that you have fail my brakes, trying to charge me for an inspection of my brakes and it not on my MOT as a failure, so again put me on hold again, came back and said " my manager said as a goog will gesture, we will give you this free of charge". EH! the cheak!. so I left that and ask him about my coil spring, and how was it broken, as my front went and and they was no space between my arch and my tyre, and there was clearly space in my rear arch. came sapce and said the coil is broken on the end at the bottom. WTF...at the bottom, how the hell can you see a coil spring broken on the bottom in it holder on a ramp? surely the coil would fall out when lifted off the gound. Anyway... Remeber the Headlight... good... come to that in a sec. so i asked him for a price for this work and he said 185.00...You're joking...

So when i got home i check the "Health check visual inspection"...OMG.

Electrics, pass ALL electric including my lights!
under bonnet, PASSED
Tyres - Firstly got the wrong maufacture for my tyres, and it said that my drive front is almost below legal limit..WFT...they F***king brand new.
Brakes - front PADS Worn 80% rear PADS worn 60%...WTF Front Discs Worn, MOT Advisory Rear worn.

WFT is going on, everything is brand new, so , i am thinking of going to trading standard about this. My MOT has ran out and is still with the garage for repairs, but my other greivence is that the cost is way over, 20 for a anti-rollbar link, 50 for a spring, and 9 for a bulb... 2 hour work if that, is 80 quid, with part which only come to what... 140 -150 max. Comments welcome...

P.S Sorry for the story, just well hacked off!

[BenS]

To be honest this sounds like nothing to do with it being a DS3 and everything to do with a dodgy garage.

Spring snapping at bottom is fairly common on the car, and won't be noticeable visually or by feel. When checking for MOT they do look at the whole spring so that's the only time it'll really get picked up. Ball joints will wear over time, just had both mine replaced and mine's a 61 plate. The ball joint is a suspension component which allows for movement when steering.

The rest sounds like a joke, attempting to scam you out of money with some fake common MOT fails. Vehicle health checks are completely unnecessary if you know how to check bulbs and fluid levels. Headlight you would have noticed when driving, and the rest is new as you said. Double check your MOT status on the Govt website yourself and print it off so you have clear evidence of their claims versus the actual report. Get proof from the other garage of the brakes work. I honestly would have taken it to them for its MOT if you trust them to do the proper work.

Avoid paying for anything until you clearly know what is wrong and what they say is wrong. The headlight, check it in person. Make sure it's plugged in and the fuse is OK (individual fuses for each side), in case they're trying to pull a fast one by switching it on to show you but without it connected.

Hope you win the case

[01Binary10]

Thanks BenS, yes I know it not much about the DS3, but I've joined the DS3 club, awesome car... I value your opinion thanks, and yes they probably are broken and worn , but the cost of them is my issue, I am sure he mentioned that either my spring or my ball joint is going to 110? this can't be right ? I am going to ask them for a total brake down of my prices with an invoice for the parts.

P.S apologies about the spelling, V tired, been digging snow drifts all day....P.S.S what DS you got?

[BenS]

110 sounds very wrong for either. Think my ball joints were about 35 each.

My DS is a 2011 DStyle Plus VTi 120, with a few cosmetic changes

[pmk]

Try using a council MOT test centre - they ONLY do MOT test, nothing else so you will be unlikely to be scammed as they don't do repairs etc.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-mot

[Chris_Blue]

certainly try somewhere else
brand new tyres failing a MOT- dont sound right