Price for MOT - thought it was £29.65, garage invoicing for £50

[steve 10562cc]

Try reporting it to trading standards they would be interested in this blatant rip off.

[mtread]

  I questioned it and they said it's a "check that guarantees the bike will pass when the MOT is done"

Not if the fork seals are knackered and it's got a bald tyre, it won't

[Grahamm]

When they gave me the printed invoice it had an extra £17+VAT for a "Pre-MOT check".  I questioned it and they said it's a "check that guarantees the bike will pass when the MOT is done".  I pointed out that I spent the previous evening checking the bike myself plus no-one told me when I brought the bike in that this would be done, they said "they do it unless told otherwise"....duh, obvs eh?!?  Lucky they didn't replace both the wheels with giant Danish whirls while they were at it.

Go back to them and tell them about the Unsolicited Goods and Services Act.

It was written precisely to stop garages pulling this sort of BS, you'd take it in for an oil change, when you get back "oh, we decided you needed new tyres, here's the bill and we won't give you it back until you pay".

If you only asked the garage to do a specific piece of work and they did extra work that you didn’t ask for, you can ask them to undo the work. If this isn't possible, you should insist you only pay for the work that was agreed.

- https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/buying-or-repairing-a-car/problems-with-a-car-repair/

If they start messing you about, contact your local Trading Standards.

[Buzz]

Ouch...I didn't expect this to blow up so much!


The garage in question was this one http://www.citybikeservice.co.uk/, you can see the frontpage mentions a "£50 same day MOT service"


They don't do the MOT on site, they do the check then take it to the test site in Bow, 3 miles up the road - so the same person doesn't really do the same checks twice.  Also I guess that if the seals/tyre are knackered they charge you the Pre-test fee but you save the £30 MOT fee until after the faults are fixed.


To be honest I can't really be arsed to pursue it any further, it's not worth my time, I'm just happy the bike is on the road for another year ...and still with no advisories. 


As mentioned on my first post they ripped apart my rear caliper for £20 allowing me to rebuild it instead of them and so saving £60...I'm still happy and would take the bike back there as it's 10 mins from work, I'll just make sure that I ask for the charges beforehand in future.


They still should've asked me if I wanted it done though, that goes without saying.