Kwik fit how to complain

[casper1963]

Hi booked my car (chrysler voyager) in for a front break check Knowing my pads where low having covered 12000 miles since last set of pads and new discs fitted by kwick fit.

 

on the day my wife took the car in for me some time later a fitter comes back and tells my wife will they had the car on the ramp they decided to do a rear break check aswell and that they had found that both rear brake cylinders where leakin and had contaminated the break drums and would need new cylinders,brake drums + fixing kit and brake pads costing £475 then went on to say we would proberly need front discs as well at £150 so toal £625 .

 

when my wife said no to the work they tried to convince her that she couldnt take the car as it was un road worthy she then said we didnt have the money at the time to pay for the repairs they said she could leave the car there till she had the funds.

Anyway some 2hrs latter and some arguing they agreed to put the car bk together so she could leave.

 

Today we took the car to a chrysler specialist for a second oppinion any way what kwik fit had told her was nothing but lies the the front discs where as good as new drivers side rear brakes had no faults drum,pads and cylinder fine, offside rear drum and pads fine and a slight leak from the cylinder so all that was needed was the front pads as we new plus one rear cylinder.

 

surely this not exceptable conduct from kwik fit, any advice as how to deal with this would be apprciated

Regards casper

[maroondevo52]

Hi,

 

Fill in this form from their Customer Services as this will be dealt with by head office, better if you get the name of the Operations Manager at the Branch also.

 

http://www.kwik-fit.com/customer-comments.asp

[casper1963]

Hi,

 

Fill in this form from their Customer Services as this will be dealt with by head office, better if you get the name of the Operations Manager at the Branch also.

 

http://www.kwik-fit.com/customer-comments.asp

 

Cheers for that will fill that in and send off will post bk when i get a response

regards casper

[oddjobbob]

They are charlatans and well known for this sort of thing.

 

Best avoided... a friend of mnie ws told she needed a new exhaust + cat (£480) on an old car car worth £400.

 

Can't be welded, can't separate cat from rest, nothing we can do etc.

 

She booked it in.

 

I got her to book it out and a £25 weld later from a guy I know and she was on her way.

 

That was 3 1/2 years ago and now 3 MOT tests later.

 

Charlatans

[grahamengineering]

They aren't called kwik fit up for nothing!

[heliosuk]

I always buy my tyres from Kwik **it. Not just because they are competitive but because I take great pleasure in getting the keys back and then giving them back to them with the words " now go back and do it properley".

The brake report always makes interesting reading as does the shock absorber report. One of them once read, "rear struts leaking"............er it has torsion bar suspension.

[Ed Gasket]

I always buy my tyres from Kwik **it. Not just because they are competitive but because I take great pleasure in getting the keys back and then giving them back to them with the words " now go back and do it properley".

The brake report always makes interesting reading as does the shock absorber report. One of them once read, "rear struts leaking"............er it has torsion bar suspension.

Seems a bit daft; they could damage your car out of spite if you wind them up. just go to somewhere you can trust in the first place !

[KwikFit Official Customer]

Hi booked my car (chrysler voyager) in for a front break check Knowing my pads where low having covered 12000 miles since last set of pads and new discs fitted by kwick fit.

 

on the day my wife took the car in for me some time later a fitter comes back and tells my wife will they had the car on the ramp they decided to do a rear break check aswell and that they had found that both rear brake cylinders where leakin and had contaminated the break drums and would need new cylinders,brake drums + fixing kit and brake pads costing £475 then went on to say we would proberly need front discs as well at £150 so toal £625 .

 

when my wife said no to the work they tried to convince her that she couldnt take the car as it was un road worthy she then said we didnt have the money at the time to pay for the repairs they said she could leave the car there till she had the funds.

Anyway some 2hrs latter and some arguing they agreed to put the car bk together so she could leave.

 

Today we took the car to a chrysler specialist for a second oppinion any way what kwik fit had told her was nothing but lies the the front discs where as good as new drivers side rear brakes had no faults drum,pads and cylinder fine, offside rear drum and pads fine and a slight leak from the cylinder so all that was needed was the front pads as we new plus one rear cylinder.

 

surely this not exceptable conduct from kwik fit, any advice as how to deal with this would be apprciated

Regards casper

 

Hi Casper

 

We were concerned to read about your wife's experience with Kwik Fit. We would like to discuss this further with you if you dont mind - I will drop you a message with my contact email address to discuss further.

 

Kind regards,

Gerry

[KwikFit Official Customer]

Hi Casper

 

We were concerned to read about your wife's experience with Kwik Fit. We would like to discuss this further with you if you dont mind - I will drop you a message with my contact email address to discuss further.

 

Kind regards,

Gerry

 

Hi Casper

 

Sorry unable to send you a message, please email me on: kwikfitwebcare AT kwik-fit DOT com.

 

Thanks

Gerry

[Surfer01]

We got caught the same way many years ago and being naive agreed to the work. A week later we ran into the previous owner who advised that all the brakes a etc had been changed about a month prior to him selling the car. He posted the receipts to us, but by that time we were a couple of hundred quid down. Seems that this issue has been happening for quite a number of years with this "fault"

[scaniaman]

If this Gerry chap doesn't deliver then write to Sir Tam Farmer the owner of kwik fit at their head office.

 

Sir Tom is one of a few "Sirs" in the Scottish motor trade who's business practices are of dubious reputation.

 

The zombies who work in this part of the motor trade are paid in part by sales related bonuses hence such complaints.

 

As Surfer says, this has been going on for years.

 

The story in this area about kwik fit is that many years ago an old codger went into his local branch and asked for a part of his exhaust to be replaced.

He was told they don't do this but would replace the whole system which would give him a long warranty.

He agreed and his car was taken up on a ramp.

 

Shortly after, the depot mouth piece came and informed him (bad news) that he had a leaking rear shocker.

The codger agreed to replace to which the mouth replied that they had to be replaced in pairs. Again the codger agreed.

 

When the work was completed the mouth presented the codger with a huge bill at which point the codger said he needed to get into the glove compartment.

 

From here he produced a receipt showing that the shockers had recently been renewed by kwik fit under their lifetime guarntee. So the old guy paid the exhaust and drove away.

[casper1963]

[casper1963]

Have now emailed Gerry at Kwik Fit copy of email below minus the attachments.

 

Dear Gerry thank you for responding to my post on the consumer action group which i have copied and pasted below for ease of reference i have all so attached the quote which has also been posted on CAG i look forward to your response as to how this sort of conduct can be allowed to be carried out in your garages in particular i believe they tried to take advantage of a female who they thought to be a push over to the point were two employees tried thee old double act trick of further trying to get her to have these unnessary repairs.

 

Further more as per Kwik Fits life time guarantee we did not get our free brake pad change because they kept argueing that the discs needed replacing dispite the fact they were in very good condition as they were only relaced by Kwik Fit 12000 miles previous, by this time my wife really had had enough and demanded the car be put back together so she could leave.

 

Now as the brake pads were in fact needed sh took the car to another garage were the pads were replaced at a cost of £80 ( which i trust given the circumstnces you will be refunding to us. )

After this work was carried out the car was then taken to a specialist to have all the brakes examined the results of which are in the post you replied to.

 

I will now await your reply and at the sametime i will be considering sending a copy of this email and all relevent information to Trading Standards, Watchdog and the local press.

[casper1963]

Ok had a response from Kwik Fit who have agreed to send us a cheque for the work carried out at another garage and have assured us that the 2 employees involved will be repremanded but didnt explain how this would actually stop the same to other customers in the future, so will poss send all the details to trading standards or watch dog havnt made my mind up on that one yet.

[maroondevo52]

Hi, casper.

 

Was the reply from Gerry the rep, glad you got something back.

[casper1963]

 

Hi yes it was then he past it on to our area manger whos office happens to be above the kwik fit centre in question went down stares got it sorted strait away and the guys in question had voided the brake check so had nothing to back there side up lol.

 

Not sure it wont happen to someone else though .

 

Regards casper

[kurvaface]

I think this must be very common at Kwik Fit these days - perhaps the pressure of the recession is starting to make them cut corners.

 

Recently we had our ageing but very reliable V40 in kwik Fit for an MOT. They told my wife the rear discs / calipers and pads needed changing to pass the MOT and that the exhaust was blowing. I went to pick the car up to have a look and thought they were trying to pull a fast one so took it to the Volvo main dealer to check. They said the car was perfect and put it through its MOT and it passed with no advisories. And as for the exhaust, it made the noise it was meant to make, a sort of pretendy sporty grrrrr.

 

The other thing that annoyed me was the price Kwik Fit quoted. Something ridiculous like £750 - they said to my wife it was because our V40 was a rare premium car lol. Infact, its the bottom of the range, even has wind up windows. The only thing premium about it is it's looked after!

 

My advice is that some kwik fits are only interested in a fast buck and you should always get a second quote. ATS is often much cheaper...

[casper1963]

I think this must be very common at Kwik Fit these days - perhaps the pressure of the recession is starting to make them cut corners.

 

Recently we had our ageing but very reliable V40 in kwik Fit for an MOT. They told my wife the rear discs / calipers and pads needed changing to pass the MOT and that the exhaust was blowing. I went to pick the car up to have a look and thought they were trying to pull a fast one so took it to the Volvo main dealer to check. They said the car was perfect and put it through its MOT and it passed with no advisories. And as for the exhaust, it made the noise it was meant to make, a sort of pretendy sporty grrrrr.

 

The other thing that annoyed me was the price Kwik Fit quoted. Something ridiculous like £750 - they said to my wife it was because our V40 was a rare premium car lol. Infact, its the bottom of the range, even has wind up windows. The only thing premium about it is it's looked after!

 

My advice is that some kwik fits are only interested in a fast buck and you should always get a second quote. ATS is often much cheaper...

 

Did you make a formal complaint to them ?

[kurvaface]

No I didn't. Frankly I was relieved that the car passed it's mot without massive further expense. With hindsight I should have complained - it was only this year so perhaps our resident Official Kwik Fit Cagger can comment.

 

 

(Edit)

Edited December 9, 2011 by maroondevo52
Removed unsuitable comment.

[casper1963]

No I didn't. Frankly I was relieved that the car passed it's mot without massive further expense. With hindsight I should have complained - it was only this year so perhaps our resident Official Kwik Fit Cagger can comment

 

Indeed it would good if he could post his comments on all the above goings on and what is being done to rectify these issues.

[KwikFit Official Customer]

I think this must be very common at Kwik Fit these days - perhaps the pressure of the recession is starting to make them cut corners.

 

Recently we had our ageing but very reliable V40 in kwik Fit for an MOT. They told my wife the rear discs / calipers and pads needed changing to pass the MOT and that the exhaust was blowing. I went to pick the car up to have a look and thought they were trying to pull a fast one so took it to the Volvo main dealer to check. They said the car was perfect and put it through its MOT and it passed with no advisories. And as for the exhaust, it made the noise it was meant to make, a sort of pretendy sporty grrrrr.

 

The other thing that annoyed me was the price Kwik Fit quoted. Something ridiculous like £750 - they said to my wife it was because our V40 was a rare premium car lol. Infact, its the bottom of the range, even has wind up windows. The only thing premium about it is it's looked after!

 

My advice is that some kwik fits are only interested in a fast buck and you should always get a second quote. ATS is often much cheaper...

 

Hi there,

 

We saw your comments above. If there's anything about your experience that you'd like to discuss with us directly, then please feel free to send me an email - kwikfitwebcare AT kwik-fit DOT com

 

Kind regards,

Gerry

[kurvaface]

Hi Gerry,

 

We managed to get out of there without losing money so we have nothing to complain about really. To be fair, when we purchased the car ages ago, I was a bit suspicious of the kind of farty noise the exhaust made so I took it to my local Kwik Fit and the guy stuck it on the ramp and explained it all to me in a very professional manner and reassured me that there was absolutely nothing to worry about - all at no cost. That was very good, just like the adverts that stated how trustworthy and honest kwik fit are.

 

After the recent experience, I have no reason not to believe and have no doubt that your company would have ripped off my wife - without question.

 

So, what we do now is to allow Kwik Fit to give quotes for work our cars need and then go elsewhere and price match. Suprisingly, even our Volvo main dealer will price match. As for ATS, they have consistently been cheaper than Kwik fit, recently quoting us exctly half the price of Kwik Fit for rear discs and trimmings on our XC90.

[lee2009]

having problems with kwik fit after catalytic converter for my citreon picasso rang up asked if they could price match said they couldnt go that low. I rang customer services and e mailed them no reply to numerous e mails, had to ring again stated not part of the exhaust system so it could not be price matched. Lady was very aggressive and impolite when i stated that it suggested on there website that it was my g/f could hear her raised voice from the other room!!. havent even had teh decency to reply to my messages appauling service and inflated prices.

[casper1963]

the more people i speak to about the issue we have the more i hear of other peoples bad expiriences with Kwick Fit

 

I would still like to here from gerry as to what action was taken against the 2 muppets that tried to fleece my mrs

[lee2009]

they r rip off merchants poor service all round, internet is littered with customers ripped off and dissatisfied i would also like this gerry to explain why