Last month, while I was out of the country my girlfriend, a shy kindly easily intimidated lady

(who wouldn't say boo to a goose but would give her last penny to help somebody in need)

had a flat tyre in her old but reliable Toyota Yaris.

A work collegue fitted the space saver wheel and unfortunately told her she must go directly to the nearest tyre place (rather than her usual trusted garage) and have it fixed

.She took the car K.F. Chesterfield branch on Lordsmill street expecting to pay up to £50 for a new tyre if it wasn't repairable.

Without being asked they checked and found she had not noticed her MOT had run out and persuaded her to let them do the test.

They issued a failure certificate claiming the NSF brake pads were showing less than 1.5mm.

They told her it was a serious safety issue

in a panic she agreed to let them do the work, expecting to be charged for a tyre and a set of pads. The resulting bill beggars belief

When she got the bill for £608.07 and she was told she couldn't have the car back till she paid it.

She was so shocked and upset that she spent the rest of the day in tears,

she earns the minimum wage and doesn't have a credit card

a bill like this means she can't even afford to buy groceries.

The car is only worth £500!

When I returned to the UK she showed me the bill still shaking.

I was horrified, she didn't understand how it could be so much but having been connected with the motor trade and being an engineer I could.

She went in for one flat tyre to be repaired there was no uneven tyre wear, she didn't report any judder or pulling.

I had driven the car to the airport a few days before, it drove and handled fine.

The other front tyre was only fitted and balanced (by a trusted garage we know well) a couple of weeks earlier and the tyre pressures checked (for free) then.

why was she charged for balancing all 4 wheels?

Why was she charged for 4 wheel inflation with nitrogen?

Why was she charged for tracking?

She never requested a fuel treatment and the MOT failure refusal sheet showed emissions 1/20th of the legal limit so why was she charged £20.00 plus VAT for fuel additive?

The MOT refusal made no mention of broken springs.

I live up a very rough farm track and she lives in Chesterfield in an area with many speed humps,

if the springs were in any way weak they would have broken.

Yet with no justification other than surface rust (and the employee's parts sold bonus)

they replaced the rear springs and charged her £175.36 plus VAT

There was no need to replace the brake fluid and she did not ask them to but they did it anyway and charged her £39.95 plus VAT

Had the front disks been badly worn it would have been picked up on the MOT failure and the mechanic who fitted the other tyre 2 weeks earlier would have advised

replacement but again they replaced the 2 front disks and charged 129.16 plus VAT

It seems clear to me KF employees have seen a vulnerable mechanically illiterate woman and taken full advantage of the opportunity.

I've sent them an email about all this but I wanted to warn others about this criminal behaviour and from what I've read on here I don't expect to get any response from them with just an email but you have to start somewhere. I feel they aught to be investigated by trading standards

but looking at their own trumpet blowing web site it looks like they are too important to talk to ordinary people so just push people off to citizens advice.

What have others found?

Welcome to CAG

You need to make your attachment in to a JPEG please...

Um, it is a jpeg, when I hover over it is says KF001.jpg

I think Mikeymack meant .pdf format but your .jpg is perfectly readable on my computer.

There has been many cases of this from Kwik Fit here on CAG, please do a search and read the other threads similar to yours.

Stigman

Hi and welcome to CAG.

If you wish to deal with this on behalf of the lady, you will need her permission, either in writing or by telephone (writing is best)

The Kwik Fit rep does come here quite regularly.

What I would want is proof that this lady either verbally agreed to the repairs or a signature to accept the work.

I would imagine that when the car reg number was put into their computer this may have shown the MOT status however, IF they have done all this work without permission, complain long and hard.

I don't think for one minute they have the old bits now and I can say with some certainty that they won't put the car back into its previous condition.

It seems clear to me KF employees have seen a vulnerable mechanically illiterate woman and taken full advantage of the opportunity.

I would put a definite 'yes' on that statement, I can vouch from personal experience that they do this.

It could even be that they haven't carried out the work they billed for, this is also a known fact.

Get an email sent in the strongest but polite terms to the CEO

Mr Kenji Murai Chief Executive

Email [email protected]

You might also want to take it to your usual garage and ask him to check on the claimed work to see if it has actually been done.

As for the "What have others found?" do a search on here and on Google and you will be inundated with reports of their bad practices and rip-off ways.

Has the bill been now paid or are they still holding the car ?

Thanks,

I've emailed their chief exec and quickly received an email this evening from their area manager asking for my mobile number.

As for authorising the work,

she was in such a state she can't remember exactly what she was coerced into saying

but thinks it was something like "if the brakes are dangerous you had beter fix them".

I've had it up on the ramp of a friend's garage

I can see 3 of the wheels have new balance

there are new front pads, discs and springs -

obviously I can't check the fuel additive

and brake fluid

but in any case if these things were not necessary to fix the tyre or pass the mot

they had no business fitting them

if the cost of the repairs they believed necessary was more than the car was worth

they should have advised her of that before doing any work.

She paid immediately as she was in shock

she had already lost half a day's pay and needed the car to return to work.

Thanks for the support, it helps a lot!

Disgraceful!

I had this level of service a few years ago.

I went into KF to have a tyre changed and they ended up giving me some cock and bull story the front disc was below the legal limit and that they could not release the car until they were replaced.

Strange as the car passed its MOT a few days before with no advisory

After a few choice words i left and had the tyre changed at HIQ with no issues

I mentioned about the front disc and they said they were fine

How did she pay?

By debit card as she has no credit cards - which is a pity.

There is a chargeback scheme for debit cards, but unfortunately in this case as all the work appears to have been carried out you will have a hard job trying to convince your bank that you have paid for something you haven't had.

Not a lot more can be said until your next post once you have had a reply.

I meant to say yesterday. It's a bit of a folly to fit a tyre and not check the tracking. Should that tyre wear prematurely, it's most likely the customer would blame the fitter for either a duff tyre or because he didn't check the tracking after fitting.

I don't think we are going to agree on that one. If the tyres are not unevenly worn what is the point in doubling the cost of replacement by an unnecessary tracking check. If one side wears off the tyre I'm hardly going to say the fitter damaged the tracking or somehow fitted the tyre only half on the rim. Surely you don't have your wheels tracked every time you have a puncture or need a new tyre? In 40 years of motoring I've never known a tyre place want to check the tracking unless there is uneven tyre wear / feathering of the tread. You might as well suggest they fit new rims incase the old ones leak and the customer claims it's the tyre/fitter's fault.

The area manager called briefly to say he couldn't comment untill he's spoken to the lads at the branch. Said he didn't want to upset them before the weekend. I commented that they had upset the customer so much she was in tears for the rest of the day and miserable for the next week.

I'm truly shocked that they haven't cleaned up their acts after so many complaints.

As I mentioned in another thread, my only experience with kf was when I took my car for ac regassing and they said that I needed new pads and discs at the front because they were dangerously worn.

They sheeply went quite when I pointed out that discs and pads had been replaced a week before.

From a legal point of view there's no much you can do in this case.

Your gf agreed to the work and paid.

The "damaged" parts have been disposed of.

So it's impossible to assess whether the car needed all that work or not.

Keep bothering the ceo and see if you can get some money back, but don't hold your breath

Again, their continued existence and work practice is because of our own Trading Standards who are probably the weakest of all departments and just seem to sit in an office all day drinking coffee and scratching their balls.

They are the only ones who can take action, but as per usual, then don't seem to be bothered. It will be a different story when one of their wives gets caught.

I don't think we are going to agree on that one. If the tyres are not unevenly worn what is the point in doubling the cost of replacement by an unnecessary tracking check. If one side wears off the tyre I'm hardly going to say the fitter damaged the tracking or somehow fitted the tyre only half on the rim. Surely you don't have your wheels tracked every time you have a puncture or need a new tyre? In 40 years of motoring I've never known a tyre place want to check the tracking unless there is uneven tyre wear / feathering of the tread. You might as well suggest they fit new rims incase the old ones leak and the customer claims it's the tyre/fitter's fault.

Correct wheel alignment isn't just about tyres feathering or wearing at the edges, it will also improve fuel economy, handling and driving safety by reducing steering and stability problems. Things that might not be obvious during normal driving.

I think wheel alignment should be a preventative measure and done at every service to take account of normal wear and tear of other suspension component.

They should of been out of existence years ago

Trading Standards to go there is no such thing, as Trading Standards if they cannot act in the correct manner running their organisation then another Quango

Yes the trading standards web site is an own trumpet blowing bit of propaganda which basically says "we are too busy being important to talk to ordinary people, contact the citizens advice service in stead"

Trading standards is not another Quango, is a Local Authority department. Local authorities are elected, Quango are unelected bodies

Trading standards are so overworked now since not only Trading Standards issues but also work place inspections on health and safety. There staffing counts in these departments have been more than halved

The Government through the HSE now only do work place inspections on essential services such as nuclear power and airlines. The other has now been placed on trading standards.

Even the fire service no longer do work place inspections due to Government cuts

Trading standards and enviromental health have basically merged and pooled resources

If you have objections as to the capability of Trading Standards look to the real cause, that is lack of funding from central Government to do their job. Since 2010 local authorities each on average have had their funding cut by 80 million from central government

I just read back and can't see anything mentioned by anyone about a quango. What I do know is that TS are the bottom of the pile when it comes to the consumer.

They should of been out of existence years ago

 

Trading Standards to go there is no such thing, as Trading Standards if they cannot act in the correct manner running their organisation then another Quango

I just read back and can't see anything mentioned by anyone about a quango. What I do know is that TS are the bottom of the pile when it comes to the consumer.

Mentioned above

So it is, ah well, quango is as good a name for them as any other.

I had a long talk with KF area manager yesterday afternoon. He claimed they asked my girlfriend if she would like them to balance the wheels while they had them off to check the brakes, which is a definite lie, she was never asked any such thing and would not have agreed. He positioned it as though he was on our side and had got the fitters to agree the nitrogen inflation was not strictly necessary. He told me the fuel additive was a fantastic product positioning it as though they were doing her such a big favour by adding it he said "to help it through any future mots", why would they need to ask first? He made great play of how onced added to the fuel tank it lasted for the full life of the fuel in the tank! When I persisted pointing out the ridiculously low emissions reading on the mot he said I needed to google it. They claimed they changed the brake fluid because my GF didn't know when it was last changed. I never got an explanation for the tracking, he just repeated several times that he had get the fitters to agree they had done a couple of jobs which were not strictly necessary. In light of that he was prepared to offer a refund for what he said were the unnecessary (low cost) items, so for 3x wheel balancing, 3x nitrogen filling, fuel additive and alignment he said he was prepared to send a refund cheque for £89.70. No mention of the VAT which would take this to £107.64. No mention of a refund for replacing the brake fluid.

I suggested that as they agreed they had done unnecessary work for no good reason, it called into question the need for the other jobs to which he responded that it was all documented so in his mind he was happy it was all correct. (so although fitters lie about what they have said to the customer and do unnecessary work not requested, they apparently always tell the truth when typing into the computer?) They agreed it drove in fine, claimed they noticed the spring when they put the car on the lift to fit the tyre so they fitted 2 springs before the mot. They claimed on their system when a car fails the mot on anything to do with brakes it automatically triggers a full brake check, (though earlier he had said they hadn't checked the rears because they didn't want to make any more work for the customer). They said on the (fitter's) report the brake check revealed one front disc was 0.3mm below the minimum 18mm and the other 0.5mm. As the discs are long gone now I have no way of checking this but equally I have no reason to believe in it, the calibration of their equipment, or the skill of the fitter (who wants it to be low) when measuring fractions of a mm either. When I asked why the discs were not mentioned on the MOT he said they couldn't see them to check on an MOT so they only check the efficiency of the brake pedal. Similarly, I raised the question of whether the spring really was broken as I had driven it to the airport with my GF and my luggage without clanks, creaks or handling problems only a few days before. He said he understood what I was saying but they didn't take photos so he could offer me no evidence on that.

The call finished with him pressing me to accept a cheque for £89.70 then re-iterating that he was happy with everything except the items he was prepared to refund and me saying "well you would say that wouldn't you, I will have to think about it"