Well, even though nobody has commented, I'll still put in a follow up.
Emailed LM, got a call back from the manager the next day and they agreed to do follow up warranty work. The sparky they used was local to my work, but shut down over the xmas break, so I'd have to wait until the 7th of Jan before we could do anything. They told me who they use and said I can go through them directly for the work if I want. They're closer, easier to get to and I don't have to deal with a middle-man, so I went for that.
Dropped by after work on the 7th and booked it in for the week after. Left the car with them on the agreed day and was told I'd get a call later in the day to let me know how it went. So I stopped by on my way to a job the day after and checked up on how it was going.
(Seriously. Do people who work on cars actually call customers? Wow.) They told me that after some testing they narrowed it down to the
ECU being at fault. They'd sent it off to another place over east for fixing and should be there by Monday. Woah, alright then, nice to be informed prior.
ECU got fixed, came back Thursday and was back in the car that arvo. They held on to it and tested that the car would start up until mid Friday when I got the call saying it's good to go. Sweet. I stop in after work and get the good news.
They want to charge me another $700. The
BCM cost me $1480,
ECU $700. Diagnosis from other sparky $88. So I'd be out of pocket $2,268. Just to get my damn car to start. Wonderful. And none of the costs for either computer replacement was I actually informed of prior to the work being done. I really feel like I've been had on this one.
I didn't pay for the work yet, told them to hold on to the keys for now while I sort this out with LM. I want them to cover the costs (or even a good chunk of it) for this latest repair, since the work was still technically being done under their warranty order. If anyone's reading this at all, do I have a leg to stand on to demand this?
Despite not being able to afford it (this repair will be yet another large, unexpected bill to go on the credit card) I'm very likely going to have to sell the car in the coming months (Because I can't afford a second car right now with the wife out of work) and I'm not entirely certain I'll get much more than what these repairs alone have cost me. Never mind the other costs I'll be facing to make the car sellable for a decent price.
Well, going to start compiling the email now. If you've been reading this thread, thanks. If not, well ...
