Antste

Well chaps Some really interesting twists and turns yesterday. I received a letter from a director at Gordon Lamb responding to my last plea for help. It was a very patronising piece of prose but the general jist was it was all my fault that I had such a badly maintained vehicle, a vehicle that passed its MOT first time on the 4th August 2013, 10 days before the incident, and I should be grateful that I didn't injure myself or the general public, again absolving themselves of any blame what so ever. Spoke to my solicitor, who is now going away for a week and he has written to them advising they have 14 days to reconsider or we will start legal action, also mentioned that we will in the meantime be talking to press and social media outlets. I have also had a call from a jaguar customer relationship advisor, as I sent head office an email, to state categorically that there has never been a reported instance of a bonnet releasing on its own. If there was they would of acted on it as it is a very serious safety concern. All goes to help my case it think. With this info I decided it was going to take a long time to get anything sorted so I have gone out and bought another S Type, newer than mine and if im honest a bit nicer.:) on the strength of Lambs saying it was going to basically be write off This morning I got a phone call fro Just Car Clinic, the garage my insurance company sent the car to, to say they have done the estimate and the work will be carried out next week, so not a write off lol. Upshot is im going to have an S-Type for sale very soon if any one is interested but rest assured the fight will go on. I want them to pay Steve

Once again, thanks for your support. The Garage in question is Gordon Lamb's , based in Chesterfield and I think I will start another thread on the forum naming and shaming for the general populous. I have been to a solicitor who has suggested in the first instance to write the directors a letter to try and appeal to their better nature before I start to threaten them with press and publicity etc. This I have done today so I will keep you informed of the outcome. Best wishes to All Steve

Geoff Thanks for the support. They will not budge on this, they say the car must of been faulty when it came in to them, they didnt open the bonnet so it isnt their responsibility. I am in contact with a solicitor and am thinking of trying to give them some bad press with local papers and social media etc . My insurance company have also said as there is no evidence that they opened the bonnet from the drivers statement, they will not pursue them for liability and its all down to me Im livid but the fight goes on. Just needed to see if there was any other instances of this issue to help fight the cause Steve

Hello All First time poster so please be gentle. I own a Gorgeous S-type 2002 3.0 Automatic and last week decided to take it to an approved Jaguar service centre to have them look at something that has been niggling me for a while. The Speed/sport button was only working intermittently, not a big problem but very annoying. Dropped the car off in the morning and went shopping with my wife, 2 hours later I get a call to say that there had been an "accident" with the car and could I come back as soon as possible. On getting to dealership I could see that the bonnet was badly damaged, the windscreen was smashed and the roof was covered in dents. The explanation I have had is that the bonnet flew up whilst the driver was doing a test run. The service manager then waggled the bonnet safety catch on the mangled bonnet and said it had seized up. Very annoyed but quite philosophical, no one hurt etc., I left the car in their hands and tootled off in the Nissan Micra they gave me. This morning I have heard from the garage and they are basically wiping their hands of this matter and are accepting no liability whatsoever. I have now had to instruct my insurance company and am looking at a write off. My beloved family car, that had just passed its MOT a few days before will now be deemed dead and after my excess charge I will be left with around £600.00 after taking a perfectly good car in for some diagnostic work. My question to the forum is this .The garage are saying the car was faulty when I took it in, I have never had an issue with the bonnet in my ownership, how is it possible for the bonnet to open whilst driving, has anyone any stories of the bonnet opening unexpectedly ?. Anyone any ideas on how to deal with the garage ? do I have a course of action I can take ? Many thanks Steve