KWIK FIT+£500 Exhaust = Destroyed Drive Way

[WrathOfKain]

The debacle continues.

 

Great work customer services. I end up getting a call by the guy (Operations/Area manager ) that refused to discuss further with the insistence that "get it steam cleaned" in the first place. Put me back exactly where I left off.

 

Anyway this would bring a tear to a glass eye. Against my better judgment I capitulated and asked the garage that was doing my MOT to give it a steam clean.

 

I get a call back that an item it failed on is "Exhaust system not adequately supported" .... it appears that it is also impinging on the suspension. It is quite clearly a completely botched job !

 

Seriously this is customer contempt on epic levels !

[DragonFly1967]

I'd now get a full garage report on it, and a QUOTE (not estimate) for the total repair cost using genuine manufacturer parts, the garage that have done your MOT will be fine, and then issue a LBA to kwik fart enclosing a COPY of that report and quotation, and asking for full settlement.

 

Get a second quote for the complete repair/relaying of your driveway.

 

You might also want to claim for any additional expenses (public transport/hire car what have you) and loss of enjoyment of your vehicle. Though I'm not too sure how you'd quantify the latter.

 

Be prepared to issue proceedings in the county court (Small Claims Track) if they don't satisfy your terms though. (it'll cost you £25 using MCOL). Too many people threaten to take action and never do, that people like this can assume that they'll get away with it. Prove them wrong!

[WrathOfKain]

I'd now get a full garage report on it, and a QUOTE (not estimate) for the total repair cost using genuine manufacturer parts, the garage that have done your MOT will be fine, and then issue a LBA to kwik fart enclosing a COPY of that report and quotation, and asking for full settlement.

 

Get a second quote for the complete repair/relaying of your driveway.

 

You might also want to claim for any additional expenses (public transport/hire car what have you) and loss of enjoyment of your vehicle. Though I'm not too sure how you'd quantify the latter.

 

Be prepared to issue proceedings in the county court (Small Claims Track) if they don't satisfy your terms though. (it'll cost you £25 using MCOL). Too many people threaten to take action and never do, that people like this can assume that they'll get away with it. Prove them wrong!

 

TBH they are giving me no option on this now. I know they have screwed this up, Halfords know they have screwed this up, the other garage where I got my MOT have identified another thing they have screwed up ...... the only people in denial here are Kwik Fit.

 

I e-mailed their Customer Services Director yesterday and still waiting for a response. If I don't hear from him then we can clearly conclude that this is not just a single point customer failure but a policy that goes top down.

[DragonFly1967]

If it helps at all, here's the CEO's details

 

Mr Kenji Murai

ETEL House, Avenue One, Letchworth Garden City, Herts, SG6 2HU

 

[email protected]

[WrathOfKain]

If it helps at all, here's the CEO's details

 

Mr Kenji Murai

ETEL House, Avenue One, Letchworth Garden City, Herts, SG6 2HU

 

[email protected]

 

 

Thanks m8 .... he is already on my e-mail

 

BTW could you clarify what an LBA is ?

 

I am currently contacting Citizens Advice, Ombudsman, Council Trading Standards and I believe I can get some free legal advice from some local budding Ally McBeals

[DragonFly1967]

An LBA is a letter before action. It's basically laying out your requirements to settle the matter before you take legal action against them.

 

There's a much better explanation than I could offer on the Citizens Advice website (click here)

[Conniff]

How are things progressing WOK?

[JoeyJoeC]

Any update?

[Guest]

seeing the pic in post #1, they're having a laugh that that wld be caused by a 'seal leak from the top of the engine'.

 

keep us updated wrath

[WrathOfKain]

Sorry gents .... should have kept you updated.

 

They swapped the operation manager out and he quickly agreed with me that the engine was not leaking certainly nothing that could cause the damage seen. Mind you I think he is still not openly admitting it but he has arranged for the cleaning of the driveway which was carried out a week ago. It looked pretty decent on a really hot day but the second there is a wee bit of moisture you can see staining.

 

But it really descended into a debacle. They had to fix my exhaust so I could get it retested but took so long that the MOT ran out. Eventually it was completed and the branch manager offered to do the MOT for free. Would have been fine if it didn't also need a tyre. He said he would see what he could do .... was thinking he was going to give it for free ..... but somewhat predictably they couldn't source a tyre ... was pretty laughable ..... tbh I don't even think they would have offered the tyre for free ..... just the MOT test for free

 

So I basically have:

 

Driveway - much much better than it was but still stained

Exhaust - Replaced with OEM exhaust

 

TBH I really don't think they have gone anywhere near what they should be doing. Was told the CEO was also involved so clearly the chap still sees customer satisfaction low down on his list. The best thing he did was getting the OPs Manager swapped.

 

 

Anyway the new Operations Manager was professional, well-mannered and phoned me on most days to keep me updated on the driveway cleaning and only called me just last week again to see if I was happy. I will have a think about what to do and give him a call as I have been away on business.

[Conniff]

Thanks for the update. It's good that you finally got satisfaction. Your drive will weather and what you can see in the wet will gradually fade.

[JoeyJoeC]

That's good to hear that they finally sorted out the problems. Shouldn't be a reason to use them again though!

[Guest]

well done wrath for sticking to your guns.

[WrathOfKain]

TBH I am not satisfied. I paid £500 for a poor quality exhaust and a worse installation, driveway not what it used to be, god knows how much time off work to sort drive, meet with their reps and going between their garages .... all in all I think they have shown the bare minimum in this debacle.

 

The driveway guys came back to sand the drive and I mentioned about the staining .... seems to be fine in a hot day ..... don't get many of them up here ...... but when its damp you can see it all again. I think the chemicals they used penetrated right into the brick and probably made it more porous.

[Guest]

let them know when you/they call back. see what they come up with?

if the drive cannot be cleaned back, and is permanently damaged...?

something also for all the inconvenience?