Kwik Fit do not do 4x4's

[JULI99]

This saga started a week last Monday when I want to get the brakes on my car fixed at K.

I arrived only to be told by the guy behind the desk that he'd already got one set of brakes to do and it would take all day "if" he got round to it and I would be better off coming back the following day although he couldn't guarantee the work would be done then either.

I asked this ray of human sunshine if I could book the car in for the following day. The answer was no so I drove to another branch who booked the car in for Wednesday.

Wednesday

9.00am. Arrived and left vehicle on fore court, told the guy behind the desk that it did not have a locking wheel nut key (a special attachment that gets one special nut off the wheel). However as I had a puncture about 3 weeks before and they had taken the wheel off the car, repaired the tyre and put the wheel back on without my own personal locking wheel nut key I really didn't think it mattered too much. How wrong could I be.

About 2pm got a call from a guy from K saying they were having trouble getting the wheel off and did I have a locking wheel nut key. I explained that they had actually got the wheel off before without the wheel nut key. He said he would have a word with his manager.

5pm Returned after 8 hours in the local town with 2 small children to find that nothing had been done. Was told that the guy who had taken off the wheel before wasn't in that day but to come back the following day as he might have used his own tool to get the wheel off.

Thursday

This was the day we were supposed to be going on holiday. (You know the advert about getting you off on time and no hassle).

9am Arrived at K. Spoke to the guy who had taken the wheel off before. He remembered me and told me he had used another guys tool to get the wheel off. Unfortunately this man did not work at K anymore but he did work round the corner at a car parts shop.

9.30am Car Parts Shop. Asked to speak to C. C wasn't in till 11.30am. At this point I thought I would go home. Fortunately there was a traffic jam, as I approached a roundabout, I put my foot gently on the brakes only for them to go completely. So called AA out and was towed back to K.

Sometime during Thursday/Friday morning C went round to K and got the wheel off.

Friday morning recieved a call from K with a quote for the work. Told them to get on with it.

Friday 5pm recieved a call saying that the hub nut was stuck and the car needed to be towed to a Vauxhall garage as they had the piece of equipment to get the hub nut off.

Monday morning called the Vauxhall garage who said that if K gave the parts department a call they would be able to pop the piece of equipment over to them.

Relaid this message on to K who announced that they are not allowed to use other peoples equipment. Given they had already used someone elses equipment to remove one nut then I really could not see the difference in using another garage's piece of equipment to remove a different nut.

I then spoke to the Head Office at Kwik Fit who got the area manager to call me. At this point he said that Kwik Fit do not repair brakes on 4x4's. I thought this was an unbelievable thing to say given I had never hidden the fact that the car standing outside was a 4x4 and asked him to confirm what he had just said which he did.

At this point I handed the phone to my other half who got them to take the car round to the Vauxhall garaage in order we thought to remove the hub nut or at the very least loosen it.

I recieved a call that afternoon to say the car had been taken to vauxhall and they were just waiting to get it back.

Tuesday. The car was still at the Vauxhall Garage.

Wednesday. Vauxhall Garage called me to give me a quote on the work that needed doing. Basically so much that it was not worth repairing.

Kwik fit have washed their hands of it having said they told me that they could not repair my car although it did take them a week to realise it was a type of car they did not repair.

In the meantime I'm having to hire a car at a small fortune per week and no one seems to want take responsibility for stringing me along for the past 10 days.

Anyone any idea as to what to do now.

JULI99

[MATTYFEZ]

Theres not much you can do about the locking wheel nut issue, expept it is worth buying a replacement set of locking nuts and keeping the key safe in future, this will help you avoid the hastle again.

A good brand of locking nut is made by "Mcguard" which I belive are available from halfords.

What brake parts were in need of replacement origionaly when you took the car top kwik fit?
what are vauxhall now saying needs doing and how much are they asking for the work?

[patdavies]

If it a locking nut with a key - as in small yale-type key than the best thing to do is get rid of them anyway - if they are not regularly locked/unlocked, they seize in all the crud that a wheel usually gets.

If they are seized or the type that needs a matching 'nut' with a pattern of pins or similar, then the standard technique for removing them is one of the 'alligator' multi-fit sockets.

[blfamily]

As a general rule, I would avoid Kwik Fit like the plague.

I

[teethgrinder]

Depending on the exact type of alloy, and the type of nut, a sacrificial socket can be hammered onto the locking nut and removed - worked for me when I lost the Wife's