Not had my fabia vrs long and have been saving up to have the usual upgrades done.

I bought some second hand octavia vrs calipers and had them fitted, along with other work at a garage.

The scheduled time for completion came and as I arrived to collect my car I was told there had been a problem with one of the calipers I had supplied.

And that they had fitted a brand new one for me without contacting me first due to trying to get the car completed on time.

I thought ok as they had only charged me cost price for the part, however when I got the car in daylight the next day I found the caliper was not the vrs green but silver.

When I questioned this I was told the green ones are not readily available, and they were short on time, and suggested I get it painted.

Had I been consulted before the part was purchased and fitted I wouldnt have agreed to a silver caliper being fitted as it does not match the other three, and I would have told them to keep the car another day in which time I could have sourced one the correct colour.

I am reluctant to accept the part and paint it as I have already paid for the extra labour ro remove the broken one and to fit the new one, and then for the brakes to be bled again and then the caliper on top of that.

To have it painted I would then be paying to have it painted properly to match and also paying for removal and refitting again.

Any advice or opinions would be a help.

Is there a garage manager you could talk to about the matter? as when I worked in customer service not letting the customer know if there is a change of plan was unacceptable, because of such an event could of happen ect.

I imagine they should of contacted you before going ahead with the new part, as this is additional cost to you which you hadn't originally agreed.

Them saying they didn't contact you first is because they wanted to complete it on time? A quick phone call to ask you would of only taken a minute or two...

But if you signed off all the work done as being fine when you collected the car then I doubt they are obliged to do anything about it.

That's my thoughts on it anyway..

Are callipers supplied by Skoda painted green as standard ? If not, you cannot expect the garage to paint them for you.

I always leave a note and also state that if anything needs replacing, they must get my agreement first.

DB.

you can buy green calipers

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-SKODA-O-S-R-RIGHT-REAR-MINT-GREEN-BRAKE-CALIPER-1U0615424-/380437329938?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&fits=Model%3AOctavia%7CCars+Type%3ARS+1.8+T&hash=item5893d4f812

that is a genuine rear caliper for an octavia vrs from rainworth skoda's ebay shop. It also specifies in the ad that its in 'mint green' they are fairly easy to get hold of and as they are on the internet they have them in stock.

you can buy green calipers

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-SKODA-O-S-R-RIGHT-REAR-MINT-GREEN-BRAKE-CALIPER-1U0615424-/380437329938?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&fits=Model%3AOctavia%7CCars+Type%3ARS+1.8+T&hash=item5893d4f812

that is a genuine rear caliper for an octavia vrs from rainworth skoda's ebay shop. It also specifies in the ad that its in 'mint green' they are fairly easy to get hold of and as they are on the internet they have them in stock.

Ordered a new 312mm caliper from them, just got an email from them saying they are out of green ones! (http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=320866157970)

Wouldn't it be easier to just source some paint and paint them

in the long run? And just chalk this one down to experience?

Ordered a new 312mm caliper from them, just got an email from them saying they are out of green ones! (http://item.mobilewe...Id=320866157970)

They shouldnt be selling stuff they dont actually have. it says that in ebay regs, it maybe worth an email asking for a time frame when you will receive the caliper. it may be reasonable.

The second hand ones were from an octavia vrs so were powder coated green from skoda and no i dont expect the garage to paint it, but had I been contacted before the part was ordered and fitted, I would have said no to a silver one as i would have been able to source a green one myself from a few locations.

And tbh because I asked if what they had got was the same and was told yes, i never checked as I assumed maybe wrongly that no garage would get a different coloured caliper.

Or am i being picky for wanting them all to match?

Just paint them

If the skoda one is 2nd hand it could probably do with a sprucing up anyways

The other three are second hand but paint is in great condition and replacement is brand new.

For the people saying just paint and forget I give you a scenerio.

If you yourselves had gone to a well known garage, and lets say you supplied them with 4 black brembo calipers to be fitted, and when you went to collect they told you there was a fault on one but they had managed to get same part and fitted without your permission.

Would you assume that they had got another black one?

To then find its yellow would you be annoyed? I suppose you could just paint it?

To have it powder coated to match aint cheap and requires removal of caliper again another expense where as i could have got a new green one had I been consulted in the first place.

Dont quote me on this but to uprate disc size from 288 to 312mm all i believe you need is the caliper carriers... The calipers are the same so you could of used original calipers

Thats what you do on the likes of leons / octavias as only the caliper carrier differs. I assume this is the same for the fabia

Half right Jase, on the golf platform it's just the carriers but on the fabia platform it's both caliper and carrier. 99% sure on this because I remember Trevor using golf calipers on his 288 discs as a test.

The other three are second hand but paint is in great condition and replacement is brand new.

For the people saying just paint and forget I give you a scenerio.

If you yourselves had gone to a well known garage, and lets say you supplied them with 4 black brembo calipers to be fitted, and when you went to collect they told you there was a fault on one but they had managed to get same part and fitted without your permission.

Would you assume that they had got another black one?

To then find its yellow would you be annoyed? I suppose you could just paint it?

To have it powder coated to match aint cheap and requires removal of caliper again another expense where as i could have got a new green one had I been consulted in the first place.

You forgot to mention the part you given them to fix was buggered so they had to put more resource to source a part, fit and complete on time plus give it to you at cost price...

Personally I wouldn't give parts to garage which didnt fit/work correctly as thats just a bit rude to waste their time. They stretched their arms out to accommodate your mistakes however it wasn't 100% to your liking. Albeit a courtesy call would be best I agree to that, but at least they got the job done for you on schedule. Most people wouldn't have time to source the part there and then on the day/hour anyway (ie 2nd hand caliper with colour code paint).

If they went with your solution, it would mean extra downtime (days/week?) for your car, hassle on your behalf on sourcing a part plus if you needed the car daily etc and also hassle for them as job is yet to be complete.

I worked on boats before and we had similar situations, in our case we had lead times of days rather than hours as people normally give jobs weeks in advance so if there are any mess ups/complications a call and reconfiguring can be sorted by customer and the guys but still kept to schedule. I don't believe many garages have that luxury of such leway in time.

Going to be an old fart and moan now so skip this part if you like - Think society/education nowadays focus to much on the little things that has to be in order and had to follow all the guidelines/rules or simply too "PC" rather than actually getting the task in hand completed. Unfortunately it breeds people to simply follow and not use their little muscle in the head.

As far as I was aware the caliper I supplied was ok.

The problem arose when bleeding the brakes the bleed nipple was loosened off and they were unable to tighten it back up as seems to have been cross threaded.

So i wouldnt have found out there was a problem unless I went taking them apart when they arrived to me.

I was embarassed for supplying them and where i purchased them from has had plenty of stick.

But topics drifting as I just asked people readings opinion had it been your car.

If i had supplied new parts and not second hand and something similar happened whats the situation then?

And I could have got a part to them the next morning not second hand but new in green.

If it had been new parts i'd ask for compensation from the company who supplied you the part. Though it really depends if ones time is worth ones hassle. Simply as grr666 says, perhaps just chalk it as experience, win some, lose some.

I would just get some Hammerite smooth green paint and have a go at it. If your near me you can feel free to borrow mine. I still have 4/5 of a can. Though you'll need to supply your own brush.. .