Found Air-con leaks after Kwik Fit air-con recharge

mulmul

My air-con was not cold, so I booked an air-con recharge and MO with Kwik Fit for £60 all together.

Took them 2 hours to done everything, the air-con is cool again, but then afterward I found there is a leaks near from the front radiator, the fluid is green like the coolant Kwik-fit put into the air-con during recharge.

Would I be able to get a refund from them for the air-con recharge because there was a leak and they still charge the system, totally ignored it?

The air-con will still be cool now but with the leak, I bet I wont last long:(

bob_a_builder

I thought that was the entire premise behind their 'free' offer, after all it is kwik fit we're talking about

Re-Fill it with gas
now feels cold
so can take the money
gas leaks out again

Ollieblackdog

From the 4th July 2010 the law of handling refrigerant gases inc. (R134a)will change and become much, much stricter. Any reputable A/C repairer will already be adhering to these new rules.

It is technically illegal to re-gas a knowingly leaking system. A/C systems do naturally lose pressure over the years but if one is empty you can bet there is a leak. The system should be pressure tested with oxygen free nitrogen and all leaks repaired before re-gassing.

The fluid is probably UV dye that is added during an automated re-gas process.

If you want your money back just mention the words DEFRA and Fgas to them!

As a new user I am not allowed to post links but a quick google search should give you all the info you need.

Hope this helps
Mark

plane_boy2000

I think you are cofused between coolant and refrigerant. If your air con system is leaking then it will not run - they have low presure cut off's.

The Refrigerant is a gas so if it was leaking it would be hard to detect - last time i had mine leak checkeded they used a neon yellow dye so it was easy to see.

The leak you refer to sounds more like coolant from the rad / pipes. Are you sure it isn't just the condensation now the aircon is running properly?

mulmul

plane_boy2000 wrote: »

I think you are cofused between coolant and refrigerant. If your air con system is leaking then it will not run - they have low presure cut off's.

The Refrigerant is a gas so if it was leaking it would be hard to detect - last time i had mine leak checkeded they used a neon yellow dye so it was easy to see.

The leak you refer to sounds more like coolant from the rad / pipes. Are you sure it isn't just the condensation now the aircon is running properly?

I had it refiled yesterday so the system will run no matter it is leaking or not cos the pressure still high in the system, it is the dye they put in during the re-gas leak between the joint of the pipe and the condenser.

Since the system is cool and kwik fit policy say only if they can make it kooler than 10% they will refund, so no matter what they will take the money off even there is a leak in the system

do you think i should contact the customer service about this ?

Rolandtheroadie

Depends what you paid for. Did you pay to get it re gassed? Or did you pay for them to fix a faulty system.

jcb208

Had the same thing with my car but gas was all leaked out within 15 mins!!.went back to quick fit and after a heated argument they would not refund so got on to customer services and they refunded me with out any problems but would never trust quick fit to do my air con again even though there cheaper than most at re charging

mulmul

scotsman4th wrote:

Depends what you paid for. Did you pay to get it re gassed? Or did you pay for them to fix a faulty system.

I only Paid for a re-gas, but I would of thought if there was a leak the machine would of detected it and stop the re-gas progress.

jcb208 wrote: »

Had the same thing with my car but gas was all leaked out within 15 mins!!.went back to quick fit and after a heated argument they would not refund so got on to customer services and they refunded me with out any problems but would never trust quick fit to do my air con again even though there cheaper than most at re charging

How did you contact the customer service? they have no number on their site apart from a contact form to fill in and I doubt they will reply to that

Ollieblackdog

mulmul wrote: »

I only Paid for a re-gas, but I would of thought if there was a leak the machine would of detected it and stop the re-gas progress.

The automated A/C machine they would have used will only warn the user if the A/C system does not maintain a good vacuum once evacuated. This warning can be by-passed and the re-gas done anyway. As I said before the system should be pressure tested with OFN. Many leaks will not be apparent under a vacuum as the normal conditions of use are under pressure (upto 15 bar, sometimes more).

Lots of people are going on about reducing CO2 emissions, CO2 has a calculated Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 1.
R134a the refrigerant gas currently used in most vehicle A/C systems has a GWP of 1300.

Quite a difference as you can see! I hope the new Fgas rules are properly policed to stop the A/C 'Gas and Go' merchants out there.

bexbrad

I had my air con recharged at quick fit and it stopped working after a week. Went back and they said after a much heated arguement they would give me a refund. The guy on the desk was instantly hostile the moment I even said it had stopped working which made me think this happens a lot. I eventually went back with my receipt and tough looking man in tow....he was as nice as can be-'refund straight away of course madam'. Funny that. I have taken my car to a different garage now. When I mentioned quick fit they instantly said 'did the air con run out after a week? yep thought so...'. So unfortunately I think I'm not alone. And I shouldn't have to resort to such old fashioned measures to get my money back in a garage these days or am I asking too much?!