Nationwide Autocentres

Zeitgeist

Zaphod_Beblebrocks wrote: »

Went in there for one of their cheap oil changes, the muppets filled it to the top of the writing on the dipstick not the line, 1 litre of oil had to be drained out!

You are not thinking about National Autocentres are you, rather than Nationwide Autocentres? They do oil and oil filter changes for £25 or so depending on the oil used.

Chia

dangeroussports wrote: »

People on here have an American mentality.....shoot first then ask questions.

And YOU apparently have a stereotyping mentality.

Anyway, does anyone have any opinions on which Nationwides in the greater Birmingham area are good / not good?

angelaharding85

I've always found them to be fine!

balfy

How this company keep trading i don't know, for every honest repair they do there must be 5 that get ripped off.

I took my 4 year old renault laguna there for the MOT as they only charged £35 booking online, anyway 3 hours later i recieved the phone call telling me it had failed on the track rod-end being worn and also both front tyres needed to be replaced, i asked for a price and was told £85 for track rod end and £110 each for the tryes although i could have the budget tyre at £85 each.

When i looked around for the tyres i found i could get both mid range tyres done for £160 elsewhere, so i contacted them back and said for them to do the track rod end but i will get tyres elsewhere to which they carried out the work.

Later that day i went to collect the car and paid the £120 for MOT and rod-end but was told that because they had failed it on the tyres that no MOT cert would be given and if i drive the car off the forecourt it would need a further MOT payment.

Why they did'nt tell me on the phone i have no idea as i would have collected the car straight away.

Anyway i paid for the budget tyres to be fitted and recieved the MOT cert but questioned 1 of the tyres which they said was legal but i would only get 1k miles or so out of it.

I then drove 4 miles from the garage to home and parked the car for the night, woke up next morning and set off for work, drove literally 5 miles on the moterway doing 70mph and "oh i think i have a flat tyre i better pull over" so gradually slowed down and pulled onto the hardshoulder to discover the NSF tyre flat, after changing the tyre i checked for nails/puncture and proceded to nationwide where i got the work done, dropped the tyre off to be repaired whilst i did my days work and went back that evening thinking it would be a case of repair done here is your wheel, OH NO! apparently because i had driven the tyre flat it had damaged the sidewall and there it was a 3" nail stuck in the tyre.

After informing the manager i had checked for nails and found nothing when removing, he shrugged his shoulders and said "well as you can see thats what we found and you will need to pay another £85 for a new tyre.

Not happy i asked for the wheel back and took it to a local independant tyre service garage who informed me that the tyre was damaged but the seal around the wheel had not been cleaned properly before the new tyre was fitted as it was old sealant, which could be the reason the tyre went flat due to not being properly sealed.

He then fitted a new mid range tyre for £90 and i contacted nationwide head office to make complaint.

I won't go into details of the conversation i had with the area manager but basically he told me to get whoever or whatever agency i wanted to involved and they would take anyone of them on, i had mentioned VOSA and trading standards.

So i feel they get you in by promotng cheep MOT's but then hammer you with repairs and shoddy work.

CarolinePittard

DO NOT USE NATIONWIDE AUTOCENTRES - they have OVERCHARGED me! At Nationwide Autocentre, Shirley Retail Park, Solihull my bill totalled £283 for a radiator replacement on Friday 12th June 2009.This was for a job taking less than 1/2 hour on my Peugeot 206 1.1. I suspected that I had been overcharged so contacted Nationwide Autocentre, Olton Branch, to see what they would quote..I am now in receipt of a fax quoting £198 for the same job! So I have been overcharged more than 40% and completely ripped off!! DO NOT USE NATIONWIDE AUTOCENTRES

I have since made a complaint to their Customer Services Department in Olton, Solihull on 0121 707 5811. They have confirmed the overcharged and tried to attribute blame to themselves being given an overinflated price on the radiator part from one of their suppliers. I do not believe this as the part was in stock and fitted immediately! They are simply trying to cover up their overcharge rip-off inflated labour price.

As Nationwide Autocentre is "audited by the AA every 6 months to ensure costs are correct and quality is to high standards" ..they have a lot to lose. I will be writing to the Managing Director of Nationwide Autocentre, Duncan Wilkes, and also the Operations Director, Bill Duffy, to highlight this scandalous service which I have received. Nationwide Autocentre is also a member of the trade association "Traders of the Retail Motor Industry Federation" and so I will be writing to them also to highlight Nationwide Autocentre's overcharging as this trade association is supposed to ensure certain standards are complied with, which Nationwide Autocentre has breached in my experience.
Under consumer law, for example the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 (and subsequent Acts) consumers have the right to complain if the service or repair work is not carried out with reasonable care and skill, in a reasonable time and for a reasonable PRICE.

Make sure you complain about your experience if you suspect that you have been treated unfairly.. I have written to the BBC..at The One Show, and also intend to write to Trading Standards, the Managing Director and Operations Director at Nationwide Autocentre, and the Traders of the Retail Motor Industry Federation.

If you visit other websites such as Ciao, Canyoutrustthem, Dooyoo and you will see other similar complaints about Nationwide Autocentre...get justice and complain now..let your voice be heard and for your complaint to count, to hopefully stop this scandalous over pricing happening to other members of the public.

CarolinePittard

DO NOT USE NATIONWIDE AUTOCENTRES - they have OVERCHARGED me! At Nationwide Autocentre, Shirley Retail Park, Solihull my bill totalled £283 for a radiator replacement on Friday 12th June 2009.This was for a job taking less than 1/2 hour on my Peugeot 206 1.1. I suspected that I had been overcharged so contacted Nationwide Autocentre, Olton Branch, to see what they would quote..I am now in receipt of a fax quoting £198 for the same job! So I have been overcharged more than 40% and completely ripped off!! DO NOT USE NATIONWIDE AUTOCENTRES

I have since made a complaint to their Customer Services Department in Olton, Solihull on 0121 707 5811. They have confirmed the overcharged and tried to attribute blame to themselves being given an overinflated price on the radiator part from one of their suppliers. I do not believe this as the part was in stock and fitted immediately! They are simply trying to cover up their overcharge rip-off inflated labour price.

As Nationwide Autocentre is "audited by the AA every 6 months to ensure costs are correct and quality is to high standards" ..they have a lot to lose. I will be writing to the Managing Director of Nationwide Autocentre, Duncan Wilkes, and also the Operations Director, Bill Duffy, to highlight this scandalous service which I have received. Nationwide Autocentre is also a member of the trade association "Traders of the Retail Motor Industry Federation" and so I will be writing to them also to highlight Nationwide Autocentre's overcharging as this trade association is supposed to ensure certain standards are complied with, which Nationwide Autocentre has breached in my experience.
Under consumer law, for example the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 (and subsequent Acts) consumers have the right to complain if the service or repair work is not carried out with reasonable care and skill, in a reasonable time and for a reasonable PRICE.

Make sure you complain about your experience if you suspect that you have been treated unfairly.. I have written to the BBC..at The One Show, and also intend to write to Trading Standards, the Managing Director and Operations Director at Nationwide Autocentre, and the Traders of the Retail Motor Industry Federation.

If you visit other websites such as Ciao, Canyoutrustthem, Dooyoo and you will see other similar complaints about Nationwide Autocentre...get justice and complain now..let your voice be heard and for your complaint to count, to hopefully stop this scandalous over pricing happening to other members of the public.

payless

I haven't got much regard for this firm either but spamming the forums is OTT

Tozer

"Under consumer law, for example the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 (and subsequent Acts) consumers have the right to complain if the service or repair work is not carried out with reasonable care and skill, in a reasonable time and for a reasonable PRICE."


Sorry, this is not correct. You are entitled to be charged a reasonable price IF no price is fixed at the time of contract. If you accepted a quotation there is nothing in law which enables you to challenge that price retrospectively.

Pound

I had a similar problem at the same place. I took my car in for some repairs and when I came to collect it the guy had a big list of things that were wrong with my car that he recommended having fixed that would probably be very expensive. One of them was that there was an oil leak, apparently the dipstick showed that it was very low but he'd apparently refilled it for me free of charge. One thing I did do before I took it in was check the oil level and it was fine. So the rest of the things on his list were probably tosh as well.

Bob_the_Saver

Haynes DIY book £12. Excellent money saving investment. If a repair is going to cost say £120 and the 'special tool' required is £100 = saving of £20 plus there to use again or sell for maybe £70 on e-bay. Just a thought, works for me but not everone.