ooh ya thievin Kwik Fit bastewards!

[scooters]

Well, the front pads on the XM were on their last legs so I drpooed the car at our local KF this am. No problem Mr S, £106 for new pads and fitting kit fitted. Now I thought - well ok, I don't have time to do this myself and the car MUST be back on the road come the 4th Jan so no chance of the Citroen specialist between now and then...bullet bitten car put in. Well, an hour later the feckers call me and say - oh, the handbrake cables are linked to the front discs - "I know, what of it" says I...""well, we will need to replace them as they are stretched and we have already replaced the pads - to put everything back together we need new cables" says they..."how much" says I...."all in £249" says they....."well - why did you start work quoting me £100 and then halfway through the job - when I have no option - discover that actually the job is a lot bigger than you thought especially annoying as I did tell you that the handbrake is likned to the front discs and this could be an issue ...but you said...no it won't?"I paid them anyway but made my displeasure noted - the cheeky bugger then said "well it needed doing anyway" to which I replied -"well, that maybe the case BUT had I known it was going to require new handbrake cables then you would not have had the work and had I known that it was gonna be £250 then I also would have done the work after Christmas rather than before"cheeky bugger then says:"well what would you have driven as it needed doing and wouldn't have been safe"me - "not that it is any of your business but I would have selected from one of my other 5 cars!!!!"I knew it was a bad idea - serves me right for being lazy/disorganisedcheeky bugger then tried to sell me 2 new tyres - told him "thanks but I'll buy from etyres" - he then made a comment about "cowboys" to which I said "pots and kettles"exunt stage left

[FredTransit]

Did any of them wear a mask or at any time carry a sack labelled 'SWAG'?

[RedSparrow]

This is the reason why small garages, like my dad's, still survive. 20 years good reputation and word of mouth counts for a lot.

[Cavcraft]

I see they haven't changed then? Biggest bunch of robbing cowboys out there.They did the same to me when my missus was in hopsital in a bad way and I desperately need the car. Told me it needed all kinds of other work too so I booked it in and never went back. Robbing, lying, cheating fucking bastards. I'd rather walk than use that shower of shite ever again, and for the record I lay the blame for their thieving shitbag-ness squarely at the door of the bosses.

[CortinaDave]

I always laugh whenever anyone gets pads fitted at kwak fat, they are almost always told they need new discs as well. Load of shite!I had a couple of tyres fitted a month or so ago by a garage (not kwak fat) and was told my pads were "getting low and would be better changed sooner than later" and that i "Might get away with the discs but they're not too clever" which amused me when I'd changed the discs/pads about 6 weeks earlier.Chancing gits.

[FredTransit]

I make a point of not letting anybody younger than the van work on it.....

[scooters]

shame for a company that used to have a 1st class reputation for customer service. Up here in Edinburgh the guy who founded Kwick Fit and then sold it has set up a chain of garages called Farmer Automotive Centres - Sir Tom Farmer - he obviously saw a gap in the market given the pisspoor customer service folk were getting at his former company - Farmers are brilliant -I took a mondeo with leaky alloy rims there last year and they took the tyres off - ground the rims and put the tyres back on to see if that would solve the problem - no charge sir, we don't know if the problem is fixed yet do we?brilliant service - not the cheapest but first classKwik Fit - crooks

[Rod/b]

They told me the brake discs on my old Metro needed replacing, even though i'd only put them on about a week earlier. "They're below tolerance sir".I made him put the car back on the ramp, get the wheels off and measure the discs, in front of the depot manager. 1x rather red faced tyre monkey and 1x apology from depot manager= half price tyres for me.Thing is though, how often do they try this on? How many people do just fist over a load of wedge because they've been told their car is unsafe?

[FredTransit]

They told me the brake discs on my old Metro needed replacing, even though i'd only put them on about a week earlier. "They're below tolerance sir".I made him put the car back on the ramp, get the wheels off and measure the discs, in front of the depot manager. 1x rather red faced tyre monkey and 1x apology from depot manager= half price tyres for me.Thing is though, how often do they try this on? How many people do just fist over a load of wedge because they've been told their car is unsafe?

Good for you getting cheap tyres, but isn't that practice called fraud? I would be off to trading standards as fast as me half price tyres would follow me!

[Mad Cyril]

Suprising they're still open. Perhaps not for too much longer. According to their own financial reports (linked off their website):

The group loss for the year (2008) was £125.2m (2007- loss £73.6m)

http://www.kwik-fit.com/assets/pdf/speedy-1-limited-financial-statements-december-2008.pdf

[Rod/b]

Obtaining monies by deception, potentially, but they'd have had to have had the money. Still, i'm sure Trading Standards would have taken a dim view.

[Justin Case]

I'm surprised they didn't try their ' your shock absorbers are dangerously worn and need replacing' trick, even on an XM

[Rod/b]

I've only ever been back their once. A parts company delivered me the wrong back box for my Carlton (they delivered a Mondeo piece...) and I needed it sorted for the heritage run. They had the right piece in so I gritted my teeth and went for it.I made a point of saying before they put it on the ramp that I knew it was hanging apart and didn't need reminding, thanks very much...

[55bloke]

I've heard a lot of negative stuff about Kwik Fit but, to be honest, I've found them to be very helpful and fair. You do need to know what you're talking about though, to resist the inevitable attempts to sell you stuff you don't need, which I'm sure is part of their training programme. Couple of examples: Had an exhaust fitted to the Renault 25 I had before my current one about 10 years ago. When it eventually rusted through and began to blow, I checked the guarantee, and found it had 1 week left to run. They fitted a full new system, free, no questions asked. More recently, when I got my current 25, I had a full brake overhaul- pads and discs, drums and shoes (the drums were actually oval, and squealing horribly!) Recently, almost 4 years later, pads and shoes needed replacing. I had the guarantee to "replace them free for as long as you own the car" and took it back to Kwik Fit. Pads fitted free, no probs. But, when they took the drums off, the self adjusting mechanism for the handbrake fell onto the floor in several bits! The shoes their suppliers provide come without the adjuster, they are expected to reuse the old ones. They put the drums back on and I spent a week driving very carefully whilst I got a genuine set of Renault shoes, with adjusters, off e-bay, which they then fitted, free! Can't really fault that, surely?

[Cavcraft]

They told me the brake discs on my old Metro needed replacing, even though i'd only put them on about a week earlier. "They're below tolerance sir".

 

I made him put the car back on the ramp, get the wheels off and measure the discs, in front of the depot manager. 1x rather red faced tyre monkey and 1x apology from depot manager= half price tyres for me.

 

Thing is though, how often do they try this on? How many people do just fist over a load of wedge because they've been told their car is unsafe?[/quote]

 

From a former Kwik-Fit Up manager I know:

 

Someone worked out that every year 'X' amount of new drivers hit the road, which leads to 'X' amount of new customers so if they turned anyone over they weren't too worried.

 

Allegations of getting a household plant water squirty thing, filling full of oil and spraying on random shock absorbers: telling anyone with kids their car was dangerous: working from the back to the front and finding a minimum of a hundred's quid worth of work and snapping bleed nipples were common things I hard many times about them.

 

Remember Apples Car Clinic? They were linked to Kwik Shit (they 'rented the building off them') featured in a Rogue Trader type programme and got a reputation so bad they had to change their name.

[scooters]

I'm surprised they didn't try their ' your shock absorbers are dangerously worn and need replacing' trick, even on an XM

oh - when the young fitter took the wheels off he told me there was 'somthing funny aboot thae suspension and the shocks "didnae" workI told him to ask his boss to explain hydrodynamic suspension to him......muppet

[warren t claim]

A Shit-Fit favourite used to be refusing to put your wheels back on after changing your brakes because your tyres were defective (in their opinion) and if you had an accident they would be up for "Manslaughter". Total wankers.

[Mr Lobster]

Theiving barstids. Used to work with a guy who was either ex KF or ATS - can't remember which now nad they HAD to sell X number of shock absorbers per day and relied upon the fact that the overwhelming majority of their customers didn't know the first thing so would take their word for it and have the work done.

[Split_Pin]

 

I wouldnt even put Granny_L's wheelbarrow into Kwik-Fit.

 

Complete bunch of theiving tossers. I stupidly put the Vectra in for an oil change in Feb. Total laziness as I am perfectly capable of doing them myself. Car came back with a snapped handbrake cable. It was fine before so Christ knows what happened there.

 

The worst part was being asked 'and what are our plans this afternoon Sir', by some jakey wee ned behind the cash desk, without so much as a whiff of irony.

 

This is probably why my good local garage is so busy, and deservedly so.

[Father Ted]

[ I stupidly put the Vectra in for an oil change in Feb. Car came back with a snapped handbrake cable. It was fine before so Christ knows what happened there.

This perhaps....

Spool forward to 6:00

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MxPoxxt7n0

[aled]

i used to have my own garage for 6 years (repairs,servicing and welding) i naver advertised i used to work from 7am to 7pm most days and w/ends but a thieving ex girlfriend put an end to that she got the house and car and then wanted half the buisness, one big padlock and 6 months later i sold it to my mate who is still there. the stories i had off customers about the amount of times they have been tucked up by quick shit, halfrauds, and ats.

[Guest greenvanman]

A girlfriend from way back had a mangy Smoothrite-black R5 I'd given her to run around in. As I had no time to do it myself she took it straight from work to KF to have new shoes in the rear drums and guess what? Of course - her discs, pads and front shocks were dangerously fucked and needed replacing that instant. Fortunately she had the prescence of mind to ring me and I turned up with the receipt for the new discs and pads I'd fitted for the old heap's MOT two months previously, politely asking them to repeat their diagnosis for my benefit. Lots of shuffling around and very little eye contact on their behalf, and when I demanded to see the manager he tried to tell me that the scrote who'd worked on her car had got mixed up with another job they'd had in that afternoon. Which is, of course, an entirely plausible explanation as I imagine they had brush-painted Mk1 R5s in there all the time

[Cavcraft]

Theiving barstids. Used to work with a guy who was either ex KF or ATS - can't remember which now nad they HAD to sell X number of shock absorbers per day and relied upon the fact that the overwhelming majority of their customers didn't know the first thing so would take their word for it and have the work done.

I'm guessing Kwik Shit.I worked for ATS a few years back and whilst they weren't cheap we were never instructed to try and rip people off/change what didn't need changing.

[Split_Pin]

[ I stupidly put the Vectra in for an oil change in Feb. Car came back with a snapped handbrake cable. It was fine before so Christ knows what happened there.

This perhaps....

Spool forward to 6:00

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MxPoxxt7n0

He he, but if they tried that in the Vectra they would surely meet a firey death.

 

I'm 99% certain thats how my Astra got damaged though.

[CIH]

Trust me guys, you have no idea......

[Mr Lobster]

I worked for ATS a few years back and whilst they weren't cheap we were never instructed to try and rip people off/change what didn't need changing.

Probably. I actually don't mind ATS too much. Took the SEAT there for two tyres a few months back, didn't try and sell me anything at all. I just sat there drinking coffee as they had left the machine on free vend. Which was handy.

[Cavcraft]

There used to be a sort of thought that because Avon owned Motorway Tyres, Michelin own ATS and Pirelli owned Central Tyres that they were the best places to got for those particular brands. I never tried too hard to find out if it was true.I like taking cars for MOTs to tyre places as they aren't interested in dodgy failures over welding and stuff that doesn't actually need doing because they don't 'do' those sort of repairs.If your tyre/shock/exhaust is knackered it's relatively easy to be shown or you'll know anyway.

[aled]

Theiving barstids. Used to work with a guy who was either ex KF or ATS - can't remember which now nad they HAD to sell X number of shock absorbers per day and relied upon the fact that the overwhelming majority of their customers didn't know the first thing so would take their word for it and have the work done.

I'm guessing Kwik Shit.I worked for ATS a few years back and whilst they weren't cheap we were never instructed to try and rip people off/change what didn't need changing.

but ats did have quotas from month to month where thay did have to sell x amounts of brakes or shocks i know this as 1 of my mates used to be a manager at one of the branches here in south wales.

[Cavcraft]

To be fair that could well be correct now. I left the depot I worked at about 16 years back now and was on the commercial side but to be fair they never, EVER asked anyone to try and rip people off and I certainly wouldn't have anyhow.

[Mr H Sceptre]

I used to use ATS for MOTs, & never found them excessive. These days, since driving older cars, I prefer proper 'old school' garages. OK it might take them a bit longer to sort the car, but you know the job will be well done & they won't rip you off. Plus, you get that warm feeling of supporting a local private business.