AA parts and labour problem

Ok so last year i had vandalism on my car, i realised that i had AA parts and labour so i called them and asked if they could repair it. I was given the details of Halfords as they are one of their preferred partners (if they are preferred, they can pay the company direct rather than myself paying and me having to claim it back) so they could not complete the repairs and i called the AA again, they gave me the details of Prestige as next on their list of preferred partners. They messaged me via Whatsapp (now i very rarely use Whatsapp and i can never hear a message tone to say that i have received a message) and they asked if the car had been remapped at all, i said yes it had, they then said that they would not be able to repair it for that reason, i said that when i purchased the vehicle it had been remapped, i took it to BMW and had it put back to its factory settings so it is ok. They still said that they would not be able to complete any repairs, now i am a key worker as is my wife (NHS) and i needed my car for work (i also receive a car allowance) and as this was dragging on i had to buy a cheap run-around (£600) so that i and my wife could continue to work. I called my insurance company and asked if i could make a claim for the criminal damage as i was getting the run around from AA,s preferred partners and i am only entitled to one tow per problem, and i had already received two with the vehicle still not repaired. Anyway my insurance company were more than helpful, they said that they could go and see the vehicle on site and check if it would come under their remit, at this time i also learned that my father had passed away that night due to Covid complications, and i let Prestige motors know via the same Whatspp message that they sent to me and via email. Some days had passed and i had heard nothing the next thing i know is Prestige motors have sent a message via Whatspp ro say that the car needs collecting and that storage fees are owed, they then called me but i could not answer as i was at work. Rather than call the garage that works to Prestige, i called Prestige themselves, i explained what had happened and i was told "leave this with me i will contact Vanquish garage and get back to you". 1 week later no one had contacted me so again i called Prestige motors, this time i spoke to a supervisor and explained the situation again, and i was told " you have come through to the right person as i am the supervisor" and we do not advise storage fees i will speak to Vanquish and get this resolved, i also asked why the company thought it was good business practise top contact me via Whatsapp and not call or email me, had they done so then maybe alarm bells would have rung regarding the storage fees and this would have been resolved. Again he said that this was unprofessional and he would resolve this and contact me. 1 week later and still no one had contacted me, so yet again called Prestige, the previous supervisor was not there so whomever took the call said that they would contact Vanquish and resolve, and get back to me, i added that this would indeed be a first as previously no one had kept good their word. Again no call came, so again i contacted Prestige, i spoke to the previous supervisor who said i had come through to the correct person, i said "ahh its *** who said they would call me back but never did" he said that he thought that this had been resolved, i said no it hasn't, in fact it is dragging on and Vanquish are still adding storage fees and and my vehicle is still not repaired, my car insurance company sent someone to inspect the vehicle and if it came under the terms of my vehicle insurance they would repair it, and Vanquish told them that there was only simple criminal damage and did not grant him to inspect the vehicle. I said that my patience had worn pretty thin now and i would be making a claim against Prestige it my vehicle was not returned, he seemed shocked at this but i informed him that they were dealing with my car so the claim would come to them. At this point he said he would contact Vanquish and TELL them to release the vehicle to me, and they would discuss any storage fees, he instruct me to call Vanquish and relay this and he would also do the same (in the meantime i sent a DSAR to both Vanquish and Prestige, Vanquish returned only a bill owed with no other information and Prestige have still to reply and it has been over two weeks) I called Vanquish and relayed the message, they said that they would need to confirm this with Prestige, and that they would "call me back", it has been two weeks and still no call has come. Please can someone.....anyone help me here, i have had to pay for vehicle to travel to and from work and insure and tax it, when i already have a vehicle, and no one is doing anything. Please can someone advise me here.

Please can anyone help with this? nothing has happened since and i do not know where to start with this.

First, stop dealing by telephone and e mails, deal only through written correspondence.

Because thay have caused you harm and loss you can make a claim against them for this and you will need evidence such as receipts, you assess the inconvenience they have caused you and put a value on this.

Ultimately the insurers are liable but in such instances they employ an agent who deals with everything, they arrange for repairs, collection of your vehicle, and any hire car if your policy allows one; they also deal with medical assessments for any injuries and legal expenses if you have legal cover.

You can find their CEO on Google and give him/her 14 days to sort this issue out under threat of legal action and do this only in writing.

assassin wrote:First, stop dealing by telephone and e mails, deal only through written correspondence.

Because thay have caused you harm and loss you can make a claim against them for this and you will need evidence such as receipts, you assess the inconvenience they have caused you and put a value on this.

Ultimately the insurers are liable but in such instances they employ an agent who deals with everything, they arrange for repairs, collection of your vehicle, and any hire car if your policy allows one; they also deal with medical assessments for any injuries and legal expenses if you have legal cover.

You can find their CEO on Google and give him/her 14 days to sort this issue out under threat of legal action and do this only in writing.

Sorry just so i am clear, do i contact the CEO of Prestige who were meant to be dealing with my vehicle?

Thank you for the response as this has been dragging out and i just do not know where to start.

EDIT

Prestige Motors had instructed Vanquish to release the vehicle in writing and in email, and they were under the impression that it had been released, with this in mind do i issue the letter to the CEO of Vanquish? i am paid a monthly amount to use my own vehicle for work which i have been unable to do. So i would assume that i would be able to claim this back plus the money that i had to spend on a replacement, plus my insurance for the car that both cars as one was unnecessary due to their mistake and the other because i did not have use of the vehicle..

Yes, you can discuss this with them and if all else fails you take them through the courts in a civil claim.

Ok so an update on this. i contacted the AA as i had been receiving messages (SMS) to contact them regarding my claim (for the parts and labour). when i did i spoke to someone at a low level who was unaware of what had happened. I informed her that this was quite serious now and had dragged on, and she told me that someone more senior would contact me (this was a week ago now) i then spoke to someone at Prestige motors and asked to speak to the supervisor that i had previously spoken to regarding my issue, only to be informed that he was no longer at the company, but someone else would contact me (again i stressed the importance that someone did....in a polite way) and again no one has contacted me. So how do i get the ball rolling please regarding a civil claim through the courts as they really are taking the urine out of me now and i have been above and beyond fair. Also who do i make the claim against as there are three parties involved 1) AA whom i pay for my recovery and parts and labour 2) Prestige motors who are one of their preferred partners for parts and labour 3)Vanquish motors who were supposed to be completing the works and have held my vehicle.
To add insult to injury Vanquish motors have emailed me a bill of £3528, over storage charges. Please can someone help me here as i am now beginning to struggle mentally after recently losing my father and my mum is also struggling and i am trying to help her. How the hell do i end up owing money to these people when i asked for my car to be repaired, and they haven't even completed the repairs. And FIVE times I was told in front of witnesses that Prestige had instructed Vanquish to release my car.

Hi buddy I have been reading the post and am gutted for you, assassin has been doing he’s bit as usual with some great knowledge and advice, my only advice as I am no where near as experienced as most of the guys on here would be to stop phoning them and do everything in writing, a phone call cant be proven (unless you are recording the conversations) and always send them recorded delivery, if this goes to court you unfortunately are going to have little evidence of who said what and when, just my humble opinion mate and sorry I cant be more informative to help get these fookers to do the right thing.

I agree 100% with sharpysparky.

I believe your claim should be against the AA they are the ones you paid
and have a contract with. NO MORE PHONE CALLS.

Send them a Letter Before Action and give them 14 days to resolve this dispute, if it isn't resolved to your satisfaction then stste thet proceedings will be issued.

If you go onto the County Court site you can either fill in, or download the N1 form which can be filled in and the fee enclosed, send it back and the court decides.

Only deal in writing and never by phone, texts, or E-mail as these are NOT classed as "served" and if they put something in writing they cannot say they didn't say that, remember they they create conflict deliberately and they cannot deny paperwork.

I do apologise for the lengthy delay in responding, i had a serious injury and was in hospital. Thank you for your help thus far, i really do appreciate you taking the time to respond, i shall start this now, are there any templates or material where i can take a look to see how i should format a LBA. Again thank you so much as this company keep sending me invoices adding costs weekly which is disgusting.

There are quite a few samples floating around. Make sure you use one that's correct for your country which I am assuming is England or Wales.  Here's one ...
https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/letter/letter-before-small-claims-court-claim-aSFAC8Q6Jqan

Ok before i proceed i just want to update the post and make sure that i proceed correctly. So on the 11.03.21 i submitted a request to Vanquish and Prestige AA. Vanquish simply responded with an an invoice via email for storage fees. Prestige AA never responded at all, as you know from my initial post i lost my father during the pandemic, and i then had the funeral, his will and issues to deal with. I reminded both Vanquish and Prestige AA (80 days later) that they were legally obliged to supply the information, Vanquish responded with an invoice for storage fees, and then a separate invoice of £36 to fulfil the DSAR. I contacted the AA for the details to send the LBA (as it is a minefield to find out who, with Prestige also involved) naturally this sparked a response from AA. I was told that they would get the information and contact me, which they did 48 hours later. I then received a call from Prestige, they informed me that my vehicle would be released from Vanquish with no charges, and they required an address to return to. I have received my vehicle and it is now in an even worse state than before it was taken, there are bumps and dints that both i and the recovery provide that dropped off the vehicle took pictures of. Now if they truly believed that they (Vanquish) were owed this money, they would not have returned my vehicle, i also am now in possession of the the DSAR contents including the comments from Prestige saying "we do not condone storage fees, and we have no commercial agreement in our contract" and i have this on audio from Prestige. It also states that Prestige will instruct Vanquish to release the vehicle, which they did not. One thing i have noticed, and have requested as it is missing, there is no data from Vanquish, and these are important as they claim to have tried to contact me to collect the car, which they did...….after the fact that they were already charging for storage fees. So i need the call logs, and audio, as what they are saying is untrue. I have contacted AA today and requested this and stated that it falls under the same timeframe for the original request as the data is incomplete. Now i have requested all of this before the LBA as if this goes to a court then i want a timeframe built up showing the history in its entirety. Please advise if possible.

Whoever you have a contract with is the one any claim should be against.
Do you have any additional contracts or written agreements with any others
involved ? If not you should direct all your efforts towards the one you do have
a contract with.
If you submitted a DSAR and it did not fully comply with what you requested,
report it to the ICO immediately.

Make a list of the events in cronalogical order. number each paragraph .

Start your notice with the heading  Notice of Letter Before Action,then list
the events and also what you require as remedy.
Make sure your numbered list is accurate and true because if you need to take this
to court you can provide it in the form of an affidavit & any of the points
they cannot rebut will stand as truth in law.(be very carefull to only state the truth.)

If you have not done it yet ,get all your evidence in order.

Thank you for the response, this is exactly why i wanted the DSAR, i want to be absolutely certain of all my facts and have them in chronological order. I can do this without the call logs and recordings from Vanquish (via The AA) but the logs will back everything that i am saying 100%, i wasn't aware that you could record calls so didn't do so, but i made sure there were witnesses (work colleagues) that heard everything in case they "lost" anything. I have contacted The AA and requested that they complete my request and i will raise a complaint with the ICO now.

What i have found to be one of the best bits of kit i have ever bought is a
'True call' system for my landline ,ok it was about £100.00 but has saved me that
amount many times over (over £400.00 on a dispute with BT alone).
Its now providing evidence in my upcomming case against Morrisons.

Update

Ok so The AA have supplied the DSAR as i requested, there is information missing which is the calls and conversation between myself and Vanquish, this is relevant as it ties in the timeline for myself. When i responded to The AA they said that i need to speak with Vanquish for these details as my contract is with them for any works carried out, I responded to tell them that i pay The AA and no one else so they need to respond with the information that i have requested, and followed up with another complaint to the ICO, i have yet to receive a response back (two days) i also then contacted Vanquish for this information and received a request for payment of £36 for the DSAR. I responded that payment can no longer be requested for a DSAR unless repetitive or unfounded (which this is neither as The AA have supplied the information and retuned the vehicle and admitted on a recorded call that "they have no contract for storage fees") . They have then replied with "you need to check the ICO we can charge a fee, please pay the £36 fee and we can supply the information". My response was.
"
GDPR, Article 12 (5) states that the response to a DSAR must be provided free of charge,"

I will accept this as non compliance seeing as though the original request was made on 11/03/21.

I have now created my LBA and everything is in chronological order, i was just waiting on this information, my question is are The AA correct in that my contract is with Vanquish for any repairs (i actually never had any repairs as nothing was completed) and do i submit the LBA to The AA?

Thank you all for your help thus far, i really do appreciate it, and i am not giving up on this, i will follow this through to the very end.

I would write to the AA requesting a true copy of the contract between
you and them. Also the same to Vanquish

daveiron wrote:I would write to the AA requesting a true copy of the contract between
you and them. Also the same to Vanquish

Thank you i will do this.

Sorry for the late response i have had quite a few family issues to deal with, Vanquish are still ignoring me and requesting payment for the DSAR and i have emailed The AA CEO who is on annual leave, and my request has been passed on to someone to deal. Also when i requested the DSAR from Vanquish (via The AA  for them to request the information as Vanquish are trying to request payment of £36 for the DSAR which they are not allowed to do unless the request is manifestly unfounded which mine is not, and they simply ignore me)  The AA stated that my contract for any work carried out is with the third party that completes the work, and this is correct as per their contract, but i have not had any work carried out. Therefore The AA should honour my request? So i have read thoroughly the contract supplied to me from The AA, and i have found the following sections.

6 . The law and language, which applies to the policy

Save for the rights granted to Automobile Association Insurance Services Limited under this policy 
any person or company who is not a party to this contract does not have any rights they can enforce 
under this contract by virtue of the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 except those they 
have by law.

Surely this means that unless any works has been carried out by the third party supplier, then my contract reverts back to The AA and no one else can enforce under this contract?

4 . What will you have to pay for services provided by AAIS?

AAIS will always inform you of, or confirm, in writing its fees for the services it provides under 
this contract. These fees will be advised in the contract, in the accompanying letter, or separately 
in writing and will be identified separately from the premium. Subject to any statutory rights you 
may have, AAIS will not refund any of its fees except where it has arranged a refund of premium 
following cancellation in the cooling off period of the AA Parts and Garage Cover Policy. AAIS 
will also tell you about any other charges relating to your AA Parts and Garage Cover. 

Storage fees should not have been applied by Vanquish as there was no prior agreement and i was not notified by The AA or in writing by Vanquish (except for a Whatsapp message which is an app i really do not use and it was after the fact and storage fees were already applied) I also have the DSAR from The AA where Prestige have said on a recorded call that they should not have been applied.