A Cape Town woman is caught in a distressing dispute with Bosch Auto Services in Montague Gardens over repairs to her vehicle, which has left her without transportation for nearly two months. 

Nolwandle Ntshiza’s saga began in early November when her car unexpectedly broke down while she was driving.

“I called Bosch and explained what happened, and they advised me to tow the car to them,” Ntshiza recounted, recalling the decision that led her down this tumultuous path.

Through their guidance, she had her vehicle towed and was told she would need to pay R1,800 for a diagnosis. “I agreed to pay the amount because I wanted my car to be fixed,” she said.

Following the diagnosis, Bosch informed Ntshiza that her car had suffered a blown head gasket and that it was sent to engineers for a detailed analysis of the necessary repairs.

Frustration began to mount when days passed without any updates regarding her vehicle’s status. Upon reaching out for information, she was reassured by Bosch that the car was progressing, although specific parts were being sourced.

“I humbly apologise for the lack of communication, I have moved your job card for tomorrow as we need to source a part for the engineers, so they are busy with it, not forgotten,” read a message from Bosch.

In one unexpected turn, Bosch sent Ntshiza a voice note recorded by an engineer, who discussed a potential solution involving welding a part of the camshaft. The message was sent to her by one of the employees she had been communicating with.

“Hi Barbara, so we found where the piece came from, it’s basically like a locating groove for the camshaft. On the camshaft you have like a little lip that keeps it obviously from drifting. So, we can weld the piece back up, there’s no oil pressure. It just needs a little bit of strength on the side so we can aluminum weld it and the head will be good to go.

“If your customer is not happy with that, we can supply them with a cylinder head, I think that is going to be a lot more expensive, in my opinion, because we can just weld it and it should be okay,” said the engineer on the voice note.

Grasping the seemingly cost-effective solution, Ntshiza directed Bosch to provide her with a quote for the repairs.

However, when the quote was ultimately presented to her, it bore a staggering total of over R25,000, which included charges for a new cylinder head and numerous additional costs.

“There is no way that I could ever afford this,” Ntshiza told Bosch.

“I just want to weld the piece back as per this voice note and nothing else…Please don’t do anything additional. I just need the car to move at the cheapest cost,” she added.

According to Ntshiza, what followed was a frustrating chain of events which prompted her to engage the engineer directly and wanted to him to fix the car, but she was met with a dead end.

Bosch stated that the car had overheated and was completely stripped, and it can’t be assembled and driven immediately, even if the head was welded. They advised Ntshiza to pay for the strip as well as the assemble and then she can take her car to her preferred mechanic.

Unhappy with the response, Ntshiza adamantly stated that she owed R1,800 and was not willing to pay for unapproved services.

“I agreed to pay R1,800 hence the head was removed and I’m willing to settle the amount…I rejected the quote that was sent to me. Therefore, none of the items listed in that quote should have been carried out, including the stripping. You cannot charge me for any items from a quote I declined,” she said in a message.

However, Bosch insisted that she had to pay for the stripping and assembling before the car gets released to her.

The situation reached an impasse, and Bosch later sent her a message informing her that the car has been at their premises for a while and they will be charging her a daily R200 for storage fees.

“You gave us permission to have the vehicle stripped and with that has incurred stripping fees. The vehicle has been with us for a while, and we have to start charging storage fees if not collected and invoice settled,” read the message.

Almost two months later, Ntshiza remains without her car. She expressed fear that Bosch might eventually sell the car to recoup the funds they allege she owes.

“This is frustrating because they are charging me for services I never approved. Again, the engineer said there’s a cheaper option to fix the car, but they ignored it and quoted me for the expensive option,” she said, sounding despondent.

Meanwhile, Barbara from Bosch, who had been assisting Ntshiza, declined to provide a comprehensive comment when contacted by IOL. Instead, she advised Ntshiza to approach the Retail Motor Industry Organisation (RMI) if she felt she had been wronged.

“There is a process, if she wants to complain she needs to follow the process and go through the RMI,” she said.

sinenhlanhla.masilela@iol.co.za

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