Rab
Member
Registered: 10th Jun 07
Location: Alloa, Scotland Drives: Subaru Hawkeye STi
User status: Offline
|
Around 3 weeks ago, I had an accident in my car earlyish one morning going to college, hit a kerb straight on. Tracking was f$$ked pretty bad, had to drive on the motorway at around 40... was no other way to go, as it happened just before turning onto it on the way to Dunfermline. Anyways... had no option, but to put it into Kwik Fit whilst I was at college, could'nt have drove home with it like that (KF in Dunfermline). They charged 25quid ish to fix the tracking, we thought the track rod end would have been away, but it was ok. On the way back, the tracking was not 100% right... but was 10 times better. So, with my reciept, I went into Kwik Fit in Alloa that night, to get it done spot on (for free ofcourse), and that was it, all seemed fine.
During the next week or so, I noticed a grinding noise, from front left wheel, was not sure what it was (only happened when wheel was totally locked, so didnt really notice it happening alot). So I took it to Alan on Tully road, and he noticed that they way they had done the tracking, it was causing my alloy to rub against the roll bar. Scrapping away all the time when its at a lock... So pretty mad at this time, take my car back to Kwik Fit, and they say to me: "It can't be fixed" only option apparently was to "cut a bit of the roll bar off" he also said, (this is the MANAGER by the way) That my wheels are not sitting right, they are basically like this: / \ and that he would need to STRIP the steering rack to fix it! So, not impressed, went to the Express Fit garage in Stirling, and when the guy got it up on the ramp, he laughed, at how bad it was done. He fixed it, and also said, that the wheels were like / \ because of how the tracking was done. So KF had said they could'nt do the tracking because of a strange wheel problem (which they caused).
Once it was fixed it went down to alloa KF and said I wanted a refund, he refused. So I asked for the managers name and number... which happened to be the guy that served me, so I got a number for custormer services. Phoned them up, and he forwarded what had happened to the Area Manager. And said he would be in contact with me in the next few days.
I phoned KF in Alloa back, and said to the manager a few nice things 
Then! My step dad told me the Area Manager had phoned, and said I would be getting VOUCHERS (Yes, vouchers to go get my car fixed again, wrong, but for free!). But he did say he would phone back... which he didnt, as I wanted to speak to him. Then the other day a letter came through, with £30 of vouchers. Now costs in all this to me:
- £24.99 to get tracking done 1st time
- Running back and forward all Saturday morning
- £20 to get tracking re-done
- And a scraped to f*** alloy (inside only though, can't see it, but they were brand new in the summer)
Think I'm happy? The letter also said "Enclosed is the £30 vouchers for Kwik Fit that we agreed on" Agreed? I did'nt even talk to the guy...
Anyways, can't be arsed to take it any further now, don't want any more hastle... but next time, I wont be back there, not even if its a must, will just drive home from where ever it is at 10mph...
/Rant over
[Edited on 28-12-2007 by RabR89]
|
Mattb
Member
Registered: 2nd Feb 03
Location: Under your sisters bed
User status: Offline
|
To be fair....
You can get shitter than a kwik fit fitter.. 
|
Colin
Member
Registered: 4th Apr 02
User status: Offline
|
Yeah im not sure about them doing anything other than tyres & exhausts tbh. Ive found them to be quite reasonable with tyres in the last 12 months, ive bought quite a lot off them.
|
Andrew
Member
Registered: 5th May 04
Location: Skoda Octavia Estate, Ford Puma
User status: Offline
|
Never used them. Used a National Garage for an oil change but didn't like the guys attitude one bit. Won't be using those again!
Found a nice little garage down the road from work. Really friendly bunch and didn't mark my wheel at all when i got a punture repaired a few weeks back. I'll be using them from now on! Plus, it's 2 mins from work. Little jobs i think will be ok from there. Will get my servicing done at Top Gear NW as i trust them to do what is needed and not rip me off. Don't really have time to fuck about with cars at the minute.
[Edited on 28-12-2007 by Andrew]
|
corsasriboy
Member
Registered: 23rd Mar 07
Location: leicestershire
User status: Offline
|
i had similar issue with tanvic
|
Colin
Member
Registered: 4th Apr 02
User status: Offline
|
I used a National for an oil change once & my big end bearings went 300 miles later. Fuck knows what sort of oil they used but I 100% blame them for fucking up my car & costing me £1500 for a new engine!!
|
flybikeslee
Member
Registered: 2nd Jan 07
Location: Liverpool
User status: Offline
|
you got off easy..... kwik fit smashed the front endof my car up....pics and details in progress thread  badgers........
|
davcohen
Member
Registered: 1st Nov 03
Location: North London
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by Mattb
To be fair....
You can get shitter than a kwik fit fitter..
spoke to them considering they are actually across the road from my house literally, after realising the guy i was talking to was the dumbest fk i have ever spoken to in my life i thought best to try somewhere else
|
Rab
Member
Registered: 10th Jun 07
Location: Alloa, Scotland Drives: Subaru Hawkeye STi
User status: Offline
|
Yep well, pretty sure I wont go back there, no matter what 
|
ShEp
Member
Registered: 9th Aug 05
Location: Dingwall, Highland
User status: Offline
|
tbf everyone on this site who has asked about kwik-fit has been told the truth by me as i used to work for them
shower of money grabbing dangerous cunts
If your brake pad aint brand new you need new ones
If you need pads you need discs
If there is any corrosion on your exhaust (even if its still structurally fine, and not holed) it needs changed
If the back box needs changed so does the centre pipe,
WE DO NOT do one tyre, 2 at least or give them a high price so they go elsewhere
Tracking haha (we don't have time for that, rub it with a wire brush)
Check tyres on every car, even if they dont want them mark them down on the check sheet 1mm less than what they actually are, pass the job sheet to the anager to work his magic, he'l sell the tyres.
Fleet cars MUST all be marked 1mm down on tyre tread (they dont pay for them anyway)
some of the things said to me by my supervisor on the first day there....
|
Jordan C
Member
Registered: 3rd Dec 07
Location: Dundee City Drives: Valver Corsa
User status: Offline
|
Ha i used to work there to! Depends on the manager really!
1st manager made me dill a hole in the side of a customers tyre so it needed replaced! £150 later the lad had his new tyre!
Manager no 2 made sure everything was done spot on! copper grease on the brake pads and trackings double checked etc
|
Dave A
USER UNDER INVESTIGATION - DO NOT TRADE
Registered: 10th Dec 03
Location: County Durham
User status: Offline
|
its not so much kwikfits service and skills that shock me but their rediculous mark-up on prices.
a local company had kwikfit do the servicing on their combo van and they needed new front brakes, they were quoted £147.
we used genuine mintex discs and pads and it came to just £75 inc parts and fitting 
same for the exhaust, kwikfit wanted £189 for a cat back system fitted, we supplied and fitted it for £70
|
SportBoy
Member
Registered: 5th Oct 01
Location: Retford, Nottinghamshire
User status: Offline
|
most fast fit places are the same tbh . they all get targets to hit and dont really give a shit how they get them
|
JM_16v
Member
Registered: 17th Oct 05
Location: Essex Drives: GLC63S
User status: Offline
|
tbh thats the fitters not the brand
|
Dave A
USER UNDER INVESTIGATION - DO NOT TRADE
Registered: 10th Dec 03
Location: County Durham
User status: Offline
|
actually we had a BMW in a while back, customer insisted on new brakes as he was told by a fast fit place that they were in need of replacement. we checked the dics and pads all round and they were fine so we refused to fit new ones.
he wasnt too happy that we refused to do them and went back to the fast fit who gladly changed them for the bargain price of £ 460.
parts came to just £ 210 on trade for genuine BMW parts and just £160 for cheapo aftermarket ones that fastfit places use, thats a markup of 300 for 1.5 hours labour to fit.
|
SportBoy
Member
Registered: 5th Oct 01
Location: Retford, Nottinghamshire
User status: Offline
|
one of my mates used to be a manager of a few fast fit depos and i remember one day i went down to see him to see how he was doing .. anyway a young lass brought a 1.1 106 in with her boyfriend .. front pipe had broke/rotten .. so they had a new one fitted . now people in the trade know a frontpipe for a 106 which doesnt have a cat in it is prob about 20 quid . they charged her just for the part not inc fitting etc 120 quid! .. she said yeah thats fine and to crack on with the job .. madness
[Edited on 29-12-2007 by SportyBoy]
|
ShEp
Member
Registered: 9th Aug 05
Location: Dingwall, Highland
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by JM_16v
tbh thats the fitters not the brand
not when your job is in jeapordy
I hate it when people say this...
We all have things to pay for... can you afford to walk out of a job not knowing when you;ll work again? I doubt it.
We're told as a matter of our job to do these things,
I wouldn't hence the reason I'm not working there now, and it was a customer who fcuked me up
I said that the boss wanted al his brakes changed but they didnt need done so to just say he was going to do them himself,
he challenged my manager and I ended up fired
|
SportBoy
Member
Registered: 5th Oct 01
Location: Retford, Nottinghamshire
User status: Offline
|
yeah when you work there it can be a tough place to be . if it means keeping a job to pay the bills you will do it too
|
Dave A
USER UNDER INVESTIGATION - DO NOT TRADE
Registered: 10th Dec 03
Location: County Durham
User status: Offline
|
but if you were a skilled mechanic with qualifications you would be far better off working for volvo or Audi on £30k a year surely?
|
SportBoy
Member
Registered: 5th Oct 01
Location: Retford, Nottinghamshire
User status: Offline
|
lol kiwk fit dont genrally have skilled mecanics tho . not many fast fit places will do engine jobs etc . not even cambelts . plus if you were skilled and working at one i think youd want your head looking at
|
ShEp
Member
Registered: 9th Aug 05
Location: Dingwall, Highland
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by Dave A
but if you were a skilled mechanic with qualifications you would be far better off working for volvo or Audi on £30k a year surely?
Yeah get me a job then,...?
I'm a fully trained vauxhall mechanic, they offered me £5 per hour after my apprenticeship was done, so I left, but with my expierience limited to vauxhall i was finding it difficult to get a job, went to kwik-fit as a mate worked there,it was only ever a stop gap.
I'm now working for a company in my hometown, doing repairs, but planing the offshore route,
No garages around here pay 30k a year, volvo or not
|
SportBoy
Member
Registered: 5th Oct 01
Location: Retford, Nottinghamshire
User status: Offline
|
most people i know that are mechanics have work at a fast fit place to bide time till another job comes along . motortrade sucks ass
|
Dave A
USER UNDER INVESTIGATION - DO NOT TRADE
Registered: 10th Dec 03
Location: County Durham
User status: Offline
|
a lad I trained with at Ford is now working as a transmission technician at a Landrover dealers, he makes over £40k a year. before that he was an engine tech at Volvo on £32k a year. the money is there if you get in the right part of the trade with a specialist area of knowledge.
|
SportBoy
Member
Registered: 5th Oct 01
Location: Retford, Nottinghamshire
User status: Offline
|
alot in the motortrade is low wage and the rest is bonuses etc
|
ShEp
Member
Registered: 9th Aug 05
Location: Dingwall, Highland
User status: Offline
|
I was well into the diagnostic side of things
But i got fcuked over, I was stuck doing servicing, head gaskets and pdi's I complained umpteen times about it.
I couldnt confidently go into another dealership and say YES i can do anything you throw at me, and neither can anyone else who is dealer trained,
It really does suck, and i was knocking my cunt in doing every saturday, and 2hours overtime a night for 5quid an hour
|
