Kwik Fit - Will I never learn?

Thought I'd drag up an old fred.

Used my local Kwik Fit for MOTs over the years as the manager was a decent guy and never tried any upselling crap

Sadly he's moved on and the place has gone to ruin.

Wife's car went in for a £135 service (yes i know should have done it myself but was away), to only be presented with £1,600 worth of 'urgent must do work'

New shocks - nope, 6 years old and not leaking

4 new brake discs - nope, just above the min spec, which is designed to allow one more set of pads to be used before needing replacing

2 rear tyres - well, yes but not from them as £60 corner more than ATS!

I won't be going back, and would suggest folks double check before parting with cash when Kwik Fit tell you you need the things they just happen to focus on fitting!@!

Unfortunately my lease work car has to go to them for tyres. I am sure they bump. Bit extra on....

well if you think they are bumping the price up try ringing them first and ask for a best price ,then see what they say but for god's sake do not tell them where you are from.

flat said:

Unfortunately my lease work car has to go to them for tyres. I am sure they bump. Bit extra on....

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They do. I have a lease car which has to go to Kwik Fit, but each year I have winter tyres fitted and the lease company pass the cost through for the winter tyres as they are not part of the maintenance budget. Took it in December, got 4 Goodyear UltraGrips fitted which were really good. January a bill for £930 arrives for 4 tyres, valves and disposal. The tyres were £180 each on their website - fitted and balanced. And they never changed the valves as on my VW they are also the tyre pressure sensors.

When I complained to lease company their apathetic response was that they deal with the lease department which is not retail....

You have to watch them like a hawk.

The no fix no charge aircon service is useful though.

dont use kwik fit! i dont trust them as far as i can throw them. I bought my hippo in november and it was MOT'd by crap fit in october ( the car had done 12 miles between the mot and me buying it. Anyhow with one advisory of a worn tyre i purchased the car and took it home. I decided to take off all the wheels and have a good check of the tyres. to my atonisment the tyre was fine, but the brake pipes were leaking fluid from a bad (non flared joint ) the spring was corroded and fractured at the top, the fuel tank carrier was also rusted with jagged metal everywhere etc etc. to cut a long story short the car which was MOT'd at s**t fit and passed was dangerous and should never have been allowed on the road!
its a good job i didnt take my daughter in the car. all fixed now, did it myself and its all hunky dory! (except the clutch.... that next)

Tannaton said:

The no fix no charge aircon service is useful though.

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I made use of that, grandparents car & uncles car both got gassed but compressors weren't working so no charge!

My cousin is married to a former area manager for Kwik-Fit. He left because he got fed up with telling the "mechanics" off for poor quality work.
The good mechanics are put under pressure to cut corners & rush jobs & the others who work there shouldn't be let near a car with a cleaning cloth let alone tools!

I work for kwik ****'s main competitor and the bonus scheme is offensive and not worth working for as it's pennies and doesn't get effected by how hard someone works for it, e.g. if I do 4 trackings and no-one else does any then come payday 'my' 4 tracking bonus cash gets shared equally between all 4 of us. nice incentive scheme , not.
as for upselling yes it does happen and personally I can't stand it. I will let customers know if and only if there is something neccessary and leave the choice to them to go for the work. If I find nothing then I don't make crap up and I can't stand the BS that gets told to customers daily via my colleges just to get a tyre instead of sorting a puncture that is fixable or the much more appalling doing a puncture repair on a completely dead tyre. the stupid thing is that by doing the puncture repair we get more profit for the company and more bonus payout than selling tyres. anyway rant over about work and yes I will probably get a 'If you don't like it change job' from someone and that is exactly what I am trying to do

Animal88 said:

I will probably get a 'If you don't like it change job' from someone and that is exactly what I am trying to do

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Not from me you won't. Work isn't easy to come by these days. Respect to you for knuckling down & doing your best.
We could all do with more honest people like you in services & sales.

Yes,Kwik Fit are robbers. My other half was insured with Kwik fit and took advantage of the free MOT that came with the insurance. Failed the MOT on brakes was told the brakes all round were dangerous (TBH they were always a little ropey) and Kwik Fit stated they would replace any brake components they had fitted for free for the life of the car so it would be cheaper in the long run and best to leave the vehicle with them and that although the MOT was free, the re-test wouldn't be . Upshot was the best part of £500 was handed over to replace the brakes. The vehicle FAILED the re-test on a seized and heavily corroded ride height indicator - something not mentioned in the original MOT and this part was no longer available to buy so according to Kwik Fit the vehicle needed to be scrapped as without this part being replaced it would never pass an MOT.

Sought advice elsewhere, removed the remaining ride height indicator,took it to another testing station who failed the car on..................you guessed it, the brakes. It was the ABS module that had failed meaning the brakes would never work properly until it was changed. Kwik Fit denied any responsibility and claimed the fitter who carried out the work was "no longer employed by them".

Oh,and they also stripped a stud and charged to replace that too.

My sister took her 10 year old Volvo V70 D5 to Kwik Fit for a free check - they reported all was well except needed a new auxiliary belt idler pulley as it was noisy. I knew already that it was the a/c compressor clutch bearing, but she had it done anyway after some persuasion from them and £120+ later no difference.

On another tack, a chap in the pub has a son who works at Kwik Fit and a customer brought a Corsa in for tracking due to tyre wear - he declined to track it citing that two wishbone bushes had collapsed completely on one side and there was play in one track rod end - hence it would need re-tracking again if either or both of those parts were replaced. He was disciplined and given a warning...

I went to kwik fit and the chap on the counter wasn't very nice to ma hippo so I left without them doing anything.

I went into kwik once and there was a girl changing tyres.........couldn't find revesre quick enough......

jedi said:

I went into kwik once and there was a girl changing tyres.........couldn't find revesre quick enough......

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And how does that affect competence? I'm all for level playing field if someome doesn't want special exemptions

I was joking she actually changed my tyres and it made a refreshing change to have a female instead of an oily fat bloke...

jedi said:

I was joking she actually changed my tyres and it made a refreshing change to have a female instead of an oily fat bloke...

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Was she debbie dingle like?

No quite...but there was something about her in that kwik fit overall covered in oil....

jedi said:

No quite...but there was something about her in that kwik fit overall covered in oil....

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Somehow I think that you'd only get a bill, reach a round not included

Gotta love the old 'we have a special offer on tyres but it ends today' crap you get from quick fit, wouldn't go anywhere near the thieving *****s though.

No different from main dealers or any where else for that matter......kwik fit can put a few main dealers to shame let me tell you.......there all pirates in any case.....