The dealer insisted that the work was done properly and that the mechanic is highly skilled and reliable. Maybe it was corrosion, they suggested!

Of course, there was no actual damage (thanks to my ingenuity with the pipe from H.D.), so there's nothing I can do (viz., law suits, insist on a repair, etc.

The only casualty is my trust in this dealer. I certainly won't be using them ever again, but my dilemma is, when I encounter a problem I can't fix, what to do. The only indy specializing in Volvos is not that reliable, too, tending to substitute generic parts even when I ask for Volvo-brand (so I stopped using him).