Are Seat being reasonable here?

[Noel<>leoN]

Hi all, the compressor in my aircon has broken. It is going to cost in the region of £1000 to fix, simply because the part alone is £690+VAT. It was broken when I came to use it 2 weeks out of the warranty period (and I was away on holiday for one of those 2 weeks, so not in the car to try the aircon) and Seat have offered to pay 50% of the cost.

Does 50% sound reasonable? I can see that on one side it is out of warranty so they could say "tough", but on the other hand, it was only just out of warranty when I noticed it was broken, and I don't think it is very reasonable to expect such a lightly used part to fail in such a short space of time. The car has only done 25k miles in the 3 years, so it is lightly used, and I do try to run the aircon every so often as that's meant to be good for it.

The car was purchased from a Seat dealer and has a full Seat service history, and the last service, just before the warranty expired, I reported that I'd been hearing a rattling noise from outside the car (i.e. when the windows were open). It may be unrelated, but I think it was the compressor on the way out while the car was still in warranty.

When (if?) it goes in to be fixed, this will be the 11th time it has had to go in for a repair (not including services/MOT or anything) in 2 years. I think it is a car bulit on Friday afternoon. Certainly it doesn't seem to be up to the standard of quality Seat sell their cars on?

I'm going to speak to Seat customer services, but would like to get others' opinions on whether I'm being unreasonable in expecting Seat to cover this under the warranty given the circumstances.

 

[*Lou*]

I would say thats very reasonable! Not every day you get a dealership offering to pay for some of your work

 

[andycupra]

can you add up all the time its been in for repair, (how many days etc) it its more than 14 days then you could argue that you have in fact not had the pleasure of having the car for 2 years...

alternatively id look into getting it repaired elsewhere to see how much you coudl potentially save.

But on the face of it id say seat are somewhere between reasonable and tight.

IMO seat customer services are very poor.

 

[Noel<>leoN]

Andy: I suspect it would be cheaper elsewhere...but it is unlikely to be less than half the price. I can get the part for half the price (£340), but doubt I'll get it delivered, fitted and VAT paid for less than the Seat offer, so I'm not convinced it is worth the hassle.

Lou: I see your point, but Seat would have had to pay 100% just days earlier, and realistically the part was either broken or on its last legs at that point, the only difference being I didn't need the aircon on then so didn't try it. If it was well out of warranty then a I'd be happy with just a contribution, but this is clearly a part that wasn't designed/made/fitted correctly originally, which is what the warranty is there for.

 

[si-mate]

alternatively id look into getting it repaired elsewhere to see how much you coudl potentially save.

Yep, I'd try an air-con specialist who may be able to repair your compressor or fit a recon unit for less than the discounted SEAT rate.

 

[/dev/null]

I'd say yes they are being very reasonable - they could (although it wouldn't be good PR! ) just tell you where to stick it!

 

[dave_ph]

I had an air con compressor on my LCR fail also. luckily it was in warrenty.

My parents had a car that broke a few days when it went out of warrenty (was a renault, need i say any more) and they repaired it under warrenty, so try squeezing them some more. As mentioned though, its completely at their discretion as it is out of warrenty

 

[AusCupra]

I'd also ask what's broken on the compressor?

If it's the clutch then this can usually be replaced / repaired. Just because you don't use the aircon that often you need to remember that it is still part of drive belt system so is still being used to some description.

Although it's unfortunate that this happened outside of warranty it's a good that they've offered you something rather than nothing.

 

[Noel<>leoN]

They could tell me it isn't covered by the 3 year warranty, but there is also the aspect of my statutory rights- I think it is far to say there is a reasonable expectation for a lightly used part like this in a lightly used car to last for more than 3 years and 2 weeks. Cars should last for many years, and I agree parts will wear out or break, but this particular part after so little use and so little time? It certainly isn't wear and tear and it isn't the case that you'd expect to replace the air con system every 3 years.

It is a similar case with appliances like fridges and ovens etc- you can reasonably expect them to last far longer than the manufacturer's warranty period (often only a year), and outside of this time the manufacturer still has an obligation for a "reasonable" time (more than 2 weeks to fix or replace broken items based on your statutory consumer rights.

 

[Noel<>leoN]

I don't know what has broken about the compressor- the Seat dealer just said it was broken and needed replacing. When I try to turn my air con on while the engine is idling the revs do climb slightly, so something is trying to work. No cold air comes out though.

 

[andycupra]

id also agree with comments asking what has actaully failed.
First of all there is no 100% guarantee it will fix the problem, - it certainly wouldnt be the first time a dealer gets a pricey part replaced to find it changes nothing.
Then if it is the compressor it could be a silly little thing.

 

[cuprabod]

When i was at my local Seat dealer the other day it had a sign up saying that all Seat parts were warrantied for two years, so it may be better to let them do it ,at least you will have two years peace of mind

 

[robdf2]

can you not , take out the extended warranty , as its so close to your one ending and just get it repaired?
doesnt have to be a seat warranty , and claim for it in a couple of weeks?

 

[si-mate]

id also agree with comments asking what has actaully failed.
First of all there is no 100% guarantee it will fix the problem, - it certainly wouldnt be the first time a dealer gets a pricey part replaced to find it changes nothing.
Then if it is the compressor it could be a silly little thing.

hence why I suggest getting a specialist opinion.

 

[EoinM]

Mine bit the dust just outside warranty (2 year warranty in Ireland) and Seat refused point blank. Dealer tried everything. Lucky for me though that the dealer warranty covered the cost

 

[chris4817]

A warranty actually means nothing. The law says under the sales of goods act that an item should be 'fit for purpose' and last a 'reasonable time'. This differs with the item of course but a judge in a stated case has deemed it to be up to 6 years.

I had a VW which was four years old and the electric window winders broke. I contacted Trading Standards and despite it being a year out of warranty they stated that it had not lasted a reasonable time. They gave me advice on what to write in a recorded delivery letter to VW, including the legal acts etc which I did and VW paid for the lot!

Get in touch with Trading Standards and they will help you do the same. Good luck

 

[Marshall]

As far as I know lots of people have had there compressor replaced during warranty and its a common failure. The new one is modified and has a different style pulley clutch assembly. If you can't get any further with Seat I would still get it repaired by them and then you would have the later style compressor which is reliable and also a full 2 year warranty on the part. Thats what i would do. Kev

 

[Noel<>leoN]

I've just found this thread full of people having the same issue:

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=221994

Seat are being extremely unhelpful, which seems particularly unfair in light of it being a fairly common part known to break easily judging by the above thread.

I've contacted Trading Standards to try to get Seat to fix its inadequate part, will post with how I get on in case it helps anyone else in the future.