Legal Question in Consumer Law in Virginia

I\'ll try to make it short....I\'m actually possibly the guilty party in this but I want to make sure that I\'m not taken for a ride on what my company will be respnsible for. We are a automotive repair shop that in the month of April 2009 did a repair on a vehicle that included replacing the timing belt, water pump and should have changed then tensioner for the timing belt....but appearently didn\'t. I wrote the estimate and charged for everything including the tensioner which is what broke causing engine damage...I believe I did an estimate, called the customer, they approved....I wrote up the invoice had the job done....but somewhere along the line I forgot to order the part, but charged for it. I double and triple checked my invoices from my vendors and found invoices for all parts except for the failed part, the tensioner. Now I am willing to pay for my mistake....but I need to know what I need should be repsonsible for as far as staying in a hotel, retal car....etc....customer lives in VA but car broke down in SC. At what point can I start to question unreasonable requests from the customer?


Asked on 7/29/09, 8:00 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Assuming that you are indeed liable for proximately causing the extra expenses which your customer incurred in getting back to Virginia from S. Carolina as a result of your faulty repair of his car, you can, nevertheless, certainly begin to question and refuse to pay any claims arising from the matter which you regard as objectively unreasonable at any point that they are asserted by the customer. (It might be advisable for you, however, to retain legal assistance in helping you to negotiate a reasonable settlement of the customer's entire claim for damages.)

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Answered on 8/05/09, 5:05 pm


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