adminTalent Gore
A HARARE woman is up in arms with a leading car firm for allegedly not honouring its promise to fix her Mercedes Benz vehicle following a fuel mix-up at its filling station in Mount Pleasant.
The 40-year-old woman has been having battles with the company after a fuel attendant mistakenly filled her car with diesel instead of petrol.
Following the mix-up, the woman, who preferred anonymity, alerted the fuel attendant that he had put diesel instead of petrol.
“I alerted the fuel attendant that he had filled my car with diesel instead of petrol and they started draining it, but the way they were doing it was not right.
“I told them, but they said they knew what they were doing since they deal with cars regularly. After cranking my car for a few minutes, they then said it was sorted and ready to go.
“I went on my way, but after a few kilometres, the car was no longer responding and I went back and told them about the problem.
“They said they would take the car to their workshop in Graniteside and I agreed,” she said.
They then gave the woman a branded Ford Ranger single cab courtesy car for use, while fixing her Benz. The woman insisted that she told the company to take her car to Mercedes Benz specialists ZIMOCO to get a full report on what had actually happened.
“I had told them to take the car to ZIMOCO to get checked.
“They took it there but they just told ZIMOCO what they wanted, so they got a report of those faults.
“They came back to me and said the problems with my car had nothing to do with them. What they didn’t know is that I was going to take the car to ZIMOCO myself for an actual assessment.
“When I then took it to ZIMOCO on my own, that’s when I was told that they had changed my car parts, and some of them were not Mercedes Benz parts.
“They took parts from another car and put them in my car.”
She said her car had spent almost three weeks at their workshop and they failed to start it during that period.
“What I know is that Croco Motors are not Mercedes Benz specialists.
“Their mechanics cannot fix Mercedes Benz cars, so in those three weeks vaitokodora mota yangu, that’s when they changed the car parts,” she said.
“Right now, my car is completely dead and they still have it. I think this is something they often do.”
The woman said she never reported the case to the police because she believed the company would do the right thing.
“They went and towed my car from where it was to their workshop in Graniteside,” she said. “It’s only after they had stayed with my car for a long time that I went to demand it back.
“They instead gave me their branded Ford Ranger for use, which was an acknowledgement of guilt on their part.
“I am still using their car to this day.
“It is only now, after discovering that they actually changed my car parts without my permission, that I involved my lawyers in the case.
“I didn’t find it necessary then to report to the police but, right now, the issue is before the courts.”
Efforts to get a comment from the company’s managing director were fruitless.
He did not respond to written questions and messages sent to him.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter