Beware the kwikfit guys

[jnnfr]

My mother in law, visited the Kwikfit at Goole, East Yorks on 25 September 2019. She is in her 70s. She was charged £333.71 for 4 tyres on a Citreon C3 that gets little use. There was a £63.96 charge for a 'Tyre fitting' Package and a charge of £49.95 for adjustment. She also found that loose change was missing from inside the car after her visit. I complained to Kwikfit as soon as I found out but left it till recently due to a family illness.

I recently received a response from the ‘Master Manager Kwik-Fit Northern Division’ who explained the invoice and gave the following sage advice:

“Poor alignment has an effect on tyre wear and fuel economy to an extent dependent on the deviation from tolerances.”

The ‘Master Manger’ then went on to say that they had all of the invoices and the person that worked on the car was no longer employed there so the missisng coints not be investigated. He stated:
“I am not aware of any incidents of a similar nature in this centre during all the time that I have been the overseeing manager and would reassure you of my confidence in the current team that work in this location.”

I made it clear that neither myself or a number of family and friends will be using their services again as we believe that my mother in law was taken advantage of due to her age and gender, she feels violated.

I damaged our suspension in January. The insurance approved garage weren't sure how bad it was and asked us to get KwikFit to put in on their telemetry machine and get a report. We had no idea how much that might cost. Turns out it was £0.

Sounds like any nationwide business. Sometimes you will get what seems to be ripped off. Sometimes you get great service for nothing.

That's a classic - old lady car, rarely driven, 'ooh you're gonna need a whole new set of tyres on that love'......

The exhaust of my previous car started dragging on the road when I was about 300 yards from a Kwik Fit.

I pulled in, they put my car up on the ramp thingy, had a look, came out and told me I needed a new exhaust and it would be in the region of £250-£350. I was a bit as it had only been MOT'd by my (normally very reliable) mechanic a couple of weeks earlier and there were no advisories.

I walked into the bay and asked the guy to show me what the problem was. He spluttered and muttered then blushed as I got hold of the "S" shaped hook that had previously held the exhaust to a rubber bracket, and hooked it back together again.

I smiled sweetly, thanked him for his kindness, and said I would take it to my own garage to fix as this was clearly something they'd overlooked at service/MOT, then drove up the road thinking that they were robbing bastards and I'd never go in there again.

When I got home, I got a pair of pliers and bent the S-hook to close the opening slightly and had that car for 4 more years without any problems.

They're really expensive for tyres, too, they charge £80 more (per tyre) for the tyres I have than either my garage or a local tyre specialist.

Mine are ok. They do give you premium and budget options so they can upsell a bit and they do add on charges for their alignment thing.

I went to Kwikfit one day when my exhaust dropped off. They gave me the bill for £350. I was about to pay it and realised they had charged me for four tyres. My reg no was on the invoice as well. I wouldn't trust them at all.

My local Kwik Fit are fab, polite, friendly and often fix minor things for no charge. One of the few garages I've been to where I don't feel I'm getting ripped off for being female and not knowing a lot about cars. Maybe depends on the branch. I would also say it's probably not sensible to leave coins or other valuables in the car.