Not sure where else to put this really!:
OK guys in rather a spot of bother with the car and need some serious advice. I bought the fully comp cat kit with all the donor parts and a recon
pinto engine from Tiger about 18 months ago. (engine cost £600 at the time). Took it for its SVA last week and the sump dropped its guts all other the
test bay. I haven't touched the engine at all (the reason for buying recon in the first place), I figured the gasket wasn't on right no
biggy be like £50 all in for a garage to do it and then re-test fee nothing to bad to get in a knot about....Had the car recovered to our local (very
trustworthy) garage cost me £100 as the AA are scum (another rant entirely!) Phoned the garage up today and chatted to the owner about it to see if
the job had been done. Turns out the sump gasket isn't on right, neither are the:
Crankshaft front or rear seals and various other ones.
Estimate for repair is 40 hours (roughly £2,000 plus bits). Now I'm not arguing over whether this is too much for the job or not as I paid alot
of money for a recon engine that obviously wasn't put back together right. I've got the garage to write me a letter confirming that the
failure was due to it being fitted incorrectly but wisely apart from that they don't want to get involved even with the repair work as it means
completely rebuilding the engine. I've not spoken to Tiger about it yet as I think I'll flip my lid which wont help (I was gonna get one of
the parental units to chat to them instead - level headedly). I know the response I will get from Tiger though and I wont like it, so what am I
supposed to do?? I'll also loose my re-test SVA £150 fee as its going to be at least 6 months to have it sorted and back together again?! Anyone
know how much an almost finished CAT is worth??? Might just cut my losses sell it and buy something else......What do people think? Cheers Oli
I believe solicitors should offer an inital 30min free consultation so do that first.
I think that even though 18 months have passed Tiger should bear some responsibility for this as your garage says that the seals etc were incorrectly
fitted.
I believe the law says something like there is no time limit on responsibility for defective workmanship.
You should try Tiger and/or get some legal advice on this.
However you will need something in writing from your garage to say what was wrong otherwise you have no proof....
Failing that rebuilding a pinto is not all that hard, you could get yourself a gasket set and do it your self for just a few quid.
Good luck
Mark
Don't panic. First thing to do is to try and get some/all of your money back for the engine.
Rebuilding a Pinto is a simple job and nothing like 40 hours even for a total rebuild which isn't going to be needed.
It needs stripping down and checking and then putting back together correctly. Maybe new bearings if you let it run dry when the oil all came out. I
could do this in less than a weekend so if you find your locally engine whizz (grubby bloke in a shed usually) it should only cost you a few hundred
pounds.
IMHO to be fair to Tiger you should contact them as first step.
You will have to do this anyway to show that they have been given fair chance to put things right before you take any legal action.
Keep a paper trail.
Contact Tiger first.
Let them have the opportunity to reimburse/replace engine before you start to talk about selling the kit etc. Its only a pinto after all ! A weekends
inconvienence at worst !
As above, give Tiger first chance to put it right. If they refuse, THEN speak to a solicitor and get them to send a letter to Tiger stating you may take them to a small claims court if not resolved. Court is a last resort, and I'm sure they won't want the adverse publicity. They're usually decent blokes and should listen to reason.
as marcus etc says, only thing i would add is that i'd use the 'not fit for purpose' line regardless of when you bought it its not been
used until now and in its current state it clearly isn't fit for purpose.
Ned.
I would speak to trading standards first so you can find out what the situation is with what Tiger are legally obliged to offer.
If what they've sold is 'not fit for purpose' then you've got comeback. For some products the sale of goods act (look it up on the
Trading Standards website) is good for 6 years!
It depends on the value of the product and what one would 'expect' of the product for that money.
For example, when my Dad's £60 printer failed after 6 months Trading Standards said there wasn't much could be done as what do you expect
from a £60 printer! If he'd paid £600 it should last much longer.
Then speak to Tiger. Don't necessarily mention Trading Standards, but it means you know what's going on!
Hope that helps,
James
I think that it is important to point out that Tiger do not recondition their engines - They are outsourced to another company.
You should contact Tiger to see if they can help (Sue is normally very helpful) but she will probably put you in touch with the company.
You seem to have bad luck what with the the AA, the engine and then the quote to fix it - you could do some serious work to it for £2,000.
A quick fix would be to get another second hand engine for £75-100 and then drop that in for the SVA and rest of the summer.
Mark.
quote:
Originally posted by Tiger Super Six
I think that it is important to point out that Tiger do not recondition their engines - They are outsourced to another company.
You should contact Tiger to see if they can help (Sue is normally very helpful) but she will probably put you in touch with the company.
quote:
Originally posted by chockymonster
quote:
Originally posted by Tiger Super Six
I think that it is important to point out that Tiger do not recondition their engines - They are outsourced to another company.
You should contact Tiger to see if they can help (Sue is normally very helpful) but she will probably put you in touch with the company.
Although Tiger outsource the recon work on their engines Oli should have no contact with the 3rd party reconditioner.
His contract of supply is with Tiger and it is Tiger's responsibility to resolve the situation. Contact Tiger and see what they say.
I believe your contract is with the people you gave the money, the fact a 3rd party supplier was used to provide the service isn't relevant.
It usually depends on what warantee was offered with the recon engine, but in this case it appears to have had a manufacturing fault and so it sounds
like the sale of goods act is applicable.
http://www.dti.gov.uk/consumers/buying-selling/sale-supply/supply-of-goods-services/page8628.html
I never understand this - why are people quoting 'I believe solicitors should offer an inital 30min free consultation so do that first',
'go to trading standards' and 'it sounds like the sale of goods act is applicable'
I appreciate that people are trying to help but surely like some other people have said the answer should be to pick up the phone to Tiger and see
what they have to say.
If that's a no-go then think about other courses of action. But through dealings with Tiger and through the replies to this post on the main
Tiger forum this has happened before (which is not good), but people have had the problems fixed at no cost.
Just my opinion.
quote:
Originally posted by Tiger Super Six
I never understand this - why are people quoting 'I believe solicitors should offer an inital 30min free consultation so do that first', 'go to trading standards' and 'it sounds like the sale of goods act is applicable'
I appreciate that people are trying to help but surely like some other people have said the answer should be to pick up the phone to Tiger and see what they have to say.
If that's a no-go then think about other courses of action. But through dealings with Tiger and through the replies to this post on the main Tiger forum this has happened before (which is not good), but people have had the problems fixed at no cost.
Just my opinion.
quote:
Originally posted by Tiger Super Six
I never understand this - why are people quoting 'I believe solicitors should offer an inital 30min free consultation so do that first', 'go to trading standards' and 'it sounds like the sale of goods act is applicable'
I appreciate that people are trying to help but surely like some other people have said the answer should be to pick up the phone to Tiger and see what they have to say.
If that's a no-go then think about other courses of action. But through dealings with Tiger and through the replies to this post on the main Tiger forum this has happened before (which is not good), but people have had the problems fixed at no cost.
Just my opinion.
Don't disagree that they are not correct actions to take in the longer run, but personally I would make a call and see if the response back is
'really sorry, we'll get it sorted' first of all.
Whilst others have only heard negative feedback for Tiger there are a lot of people that say their response is very good, which has been backed up by
the repsonses to this same thread posted on the Tiger site. As far as I am aware the problem was with an engine, not bodywork 
quote:
Originally posted by iank
The ideal scenario would be 1. Phone tiger with the facts and ask them to sort it out. 2. Tiger phone the engine rebuilder and tell them to sort it out asap. 3. Engine builder sorts it out. Everyone happy, hope it really is that straightforward.
p.s. would you agree putting seals/gaskets in backwards is a manufacturing fault?
[Edited on 6/7/06 by iank]
Tiger have never been anything but helpful to me. Sure the quality of some of their stuff is not great but they are not the only kit company with faults. Approaching them with the problem in a calm manner and giving them the chance to out things right is the best initial step. Quoting trading standards, solicitors etc at this stage will only inflame the situation. Remember if it does go legal it could cost ££££, even if you are sure you'll win the case. It is best kept out of the legal field for as long as possible in my opinion.
"Tiger silencers never fail", Boll**ks mine did before SVA.That woman on the phone always multitasking and making you feel like your holding
her up,told me nothing we can do about that.
Chucked it in the skip.Plenty of other companies to deal with!
Thanks for all the replies guys some usefull ideas. I'm affraid I have to agree with some of the people on here that Tiger have just fcuked me about from the on set. They're expensive, not particularly good quality and their service (in my opinion) is terrible! However, that doesn't solve my immediate problem. I've put my hands up over this one and passed it on to my parents who are going to deal with it as I will only loose my temper and will be worse in the long run. Their opinion on the situation is that Tiger can either refund me the £600 for the engine willingly or we'll take them to the small claims court and claim for the SVA test to be refunded the £100 recovery charge and anything else we can possibly come up with. Its a real shame as the people at Tiger are generally a pleasure to deal with (with in reason!) The solution to the car problem is fairly straigh forward. I'm dropping it off at Chester sportscars who are either going to fix the 1600 or replace it with a 2L unit and SVA it for me in time for August. Not cheap but hey I guess thats what overdrafts are for! Cheers for the input guys and I'll let you know how I get on with Tiger which wont be until the engineers report comes back next week sometime.....Thanks Oli.