2001 Renault Clio review from UK and Ireland

I have a Renault Clio for the past few years now, and had no problems at all with it until recently.

When I was driving to work one morning, the orange coil light - indicating an electric fault - came on. The car immediately slowed down and seem to just roll. No power at all in it.

I had it towed to the main dealer (upon advice from my own mechanic as it was an electric fault). The main dealer had the car for 3 weeks. They said initially that it was the throttle (the fault showed up on some computer) and got a new one for me. They put in it, but it didn't work. They then got a second one, but that didn't work either.

Eventually they re-programed something and that apparently sorted it. I had the car back for 2 weeks and the exact same thing happened again. It was towed back to them. the main mechanic just informed me that it still appears that the throttle isn't functioning (according to the computer) but he cannot guarantee this.

If he tries it, it will cost me between €300 and €400. If this doesn't work, they will have to do a bigger job with reprogramming which will cost in the region of €700-800. He's telling me that it's just basically a chance they are taking with the throttle and cannot guarantee anything!!! I'm so annoyed now as I feel I'm left with no option but to go with this.

I'm surprised that main dealers treat people in this way. You rely and pay them for their expertise, and hope they can solve the problem, instead of paying out a fortune on something that they won't even guarantee will work. Has anyone else had this experience?? I love this car, but the whole thing is stressing me out at this point.