Advise desperatly needed. Have i been ripped off?

kev1n3

There seems to be so many knowledgeable people use this forum that I thought I’d ask if anyone knows of a forum for my type of issues?

Six months ago I had a small knocking on the front of my Renault Laguna 2.2 I took the car to a (don’t want to say name at this stage) express tyre and exhaust centre.
“You can’t get better though!! ………..” They advised 2 x front Coil springs, 2 x new top rubber mountings, 1 x track rod end, to stop the knocking noise.. Total cost would be £230.00 without argument and because I trusted them to be an honest, caring company I agreed and had the work carried out a couple of days later.

After the repairs were completed I took the car away and the knocking was still there, so I took it back the next day. They seemed to be a little sheepish with me but did eventually put it on the ramps and discovered the knocking was coming from a worn ball joint. A great big question mark flashing into my head appeared. (Did I really need all that work done?) They also said they could not track my front wheels because of this worn ball joint. ( I thought that had already been done this because it say’s clearly on my sales receipt £20.00 for wheel alignment (tracking) I was advised by the manager I best go and get the ball joint repaired and return the car for the tracking to be done.

I expressively asked if the car was in a dangerous condition with regards to the worn ball join. I also advised them my MOT was due in August, and would it be ok until July? The manager quite clearly told me the ball joint was not dangerous and would quite happily last me until the MOT test in August.

I put the car thru its pre MOT test in mid July, but no mention of a worn ball joint. I asked the MOT tester to take another look at the ball joint; again he said there is nothing wrong with the ball joint,

On Sunday 10th August I took the car back to the centre and told them there was no worn ball joint making any noises, or needed repair and showed them the MOT failure sheet. I told them quite firmly that I was not happy because the knocking sound was still there and showed him the MOT failure sheet with no mention of a worn ball joint Again they put the car on the ramps and 3 fitters fiddled around for 5 minutes and Guess what? They have now found the problem (again) a little play in the steering arm.

I was having none of this and got out of there. I called there head office to complain on the above. Some 3 days later I received a call from there area manger with an offer of a 50% discount on two new front tyres that have been badly worn due to them not track my wheels. I refused point blank; he asked what I wanted to happen?
I wanted to know why all this work was carried out also I wanted two new front tyres and my tracking done. He said he would talk to his manager and get back to me within a couple of hours.

A manager called me 3 hours later to offer me the same, His reply to my question of was all that work necessary. He said “if our engineers say it needs doing, then I have no doubt it would need doing. I refused his offer and advised I would seek legal advice with a view to legal action against the company.

If anyone knows of a Forum or good website that can give good advise on this sort of thing It would be of great help.
Thanks in advance

Kev.

PS
IF ANYONE HAS HAD A SIMULAR EXPERIENCE WITH THE SAME COMPANY PLEASE ADD YOUR COMMENTS TO THIS THREAD AS I WOULD LIKE TO POINT THERE MD THIS WAY. thanks

mrbadexample

Kwik-Fit - idiots, the lot of them. Wouldn't trust them to change a fuse. I like to use them for their free checks, and then go somewhere else to get any work done.

skintchick

I'd demand all my money back, report to trading standards, and go to my local paper.

MarkyMarkD

Your problem is that any of those things might have ALSO need doing. Just because they didn't resolve the noise, doesn't mean they weren't necessarily required.

kev1n3

MarkyMarkD wrote:

Your problem is that any of those things might have ALSO need doing. Just because they didn't resolve the noise, doesn't mean they weren't necessarily required.

But shoudn't that have been explained to me?

tomstickland

Locating suspension noise causes is very hit and miss and it's quite normal to end up replacing everything. Scatter gun trial and error approach.
However, I'd not use the aforementioned rapid fit company for anything.

MarkyMarkD

Yes, but if they did work which was required to make the car safe (even if it didn't resolve the noise) you can't really complain about paying for it, IMHO.

mrbadexample

MarkyMarkD wrote:

Yes, but if they did work which was required to make the car safe (even if it didn't resolve the noise) you can't really complain about paying for it, IMHO.

But that's not what the OP asked them to do. He asked them to stop the knocking. They didn't. Whether or not the work they carried out was required, it wasn't what was requested.

lemontart

also they did turn round and say after wards tracking could not be done yet claimed and charged for it on the invoice..........dodgy yes

Beth
xx

BigDunc

Try asking on https://www.honestjohn.co.uk - look for the link to the back room, their technical forum.

Silent_Bob_3

MarkyMarkD wrote:

Yes, but if they did work which was required to make the car safe (even if it didn't resolve the noise) you can't really complain about paying for it, IMHO.

Any reputable garage would have found the reported cause (worn ball joint) in this instance. They've replaced stuff that ultimately hasnt made the car safe and have charged for something they have said they couldnt do because of the ball joint fault. A fault that was never found elsewhere.

This smacks of a rip off and I would be asking for a full explanation and some recompense for this. Not that I would have gone there in the first place.

Advice to the OP - get it checked at one or two more reputable (go on recommendations) independent garages and ask if they will write a report on condition of the car etc - collate these with the facts of the case and send a copy off to the garage and head office requesting something be done about this/compensation.