Kwit Fit nightmare

EleanorRig

I was driving my car on Friday and when I hit the brake the pedal went to the floor before it worked. This hadn't happened the day before and I hadn't made any sudden brakes at all.
I took it to Kwik Fit (as it was a bank holiday and my regular garage was shut) and they spent 6 hours looking at it (Kwik?) then rang me back to tell me that it would need discs pads pipes drums (basically everything related to brakes) totalling £700
I thought this strange as my car had passed its MOT just the week before and the garage I use didn't mention my discs or pads being in need of change.
Needless to say I picked my car up from Kwik Fit and when I drove it home it made a strange clunking sound which it didn't before hand.

After reading online reviews about Kwik Fit I now see that they are notorius for ripping people off and I'm really worried that they've actually done more damage. Anyone else had similar experience?

paddedjohn

So your brakes failed and you got a quote you didnt like then continued driving the car knowing full well that if a kid ran out in front of you you wouldnt be able to stop? You couldnt make it up. People like you should not be allowed to drive.

jase1

If you were not prepared to pay KF's rates you should not have taken the car there in the first place.

That said, £700 does sound like daylight robbery. It is very unlikely all that work is required -- although the fact you drove the car home in this state perhaps says something about the way you have looked after the vehicle.

EleanorRig

Of course, I should have left it with them to do as they please and charge whatever they wanted to without getting a second opinion.
Silly me!

By the way I did actually run over several cats and 4 OAPs on the way home. You're both right.

EleanorRig

jase1 wrote: »

If you were not prepared to pay KF's rates you should not have taken the car there in the first place.

That said, £700 does sound like daylight robbery. It is very unlikely all that work is required -- although the fact you drove the car home in this state perhaps says something about the way you have looked after the vehicle.

I wasn't actually aware that their rates were so extortionate, had I, I would obviously have avoided them like the plague. Sadly it was a bank holiday and they were the only garage open, which I've realised is the only reason anyone would go there in the first place.

EleanorRig

paddedjohn wrote: »

So your brakes failed and you got a quote you didnt like then continued driving the car knowing full well that if a kid ran out in front of you you wouldnt be able to stop? You couldnt make it up. People like you should not be allowed to drive.

"you couldn't make it up" and "people like you" haha, classic Daily Mail quotes. How funny.

paddedjohn

EleanorRig wrote: »

Of course, I should have left it with them to do as they please and charge whatever they wanted to without getting a second opinion.
Silly me!

By the way I did actually run over several cats and 4 OAPs on the way home. You're both right.

And arent you lucky that the above is not true, with defective brakes you where putting lives at risk.

jim22

Apart from the issues about driving the car clearly this diagnosis must be ridiculous. You have suggested almost total brake failure which cannot be as a result of worn shoes all round. Is there any brake fluid in the reservoir? I believe the MOT records brake efficiency as a percentage and if it was low (though passable) would have been recorded, and made aware, to you as an advisory.

EleanorRig

jim22 wrote: »

Apart from the issues about driving the car clearly this diagnosis must be ridiculous. You have suggested almost total brake failure which cannot be as a result of worn shoes all round. Is there any brake fluid in the reservoir? I believe the MOT records brake efficiency as a percentage and if it was low (though passable) would have been recorded, and made aware, to you as an advisory.

This is what I thought. If it had been low I would have been informed.
I will get it towed to my garage on Tuesday and ask them what the score is.
Thank you for responding with some useful advice, which I (perhaps naively) was under the impression was what these forums were for.

clever_username

EleanorRig wrote: »

This is what I thought. If it had been low I would have been informed.
I will get it towed to my garage on Tuesday and ask them what the score is.
Thank you for responding with some useful advice, which I (perhaps naively) was under the impression was what these forums were for.

Probably just the case that a lot of people (perhaps naively) were under the impression that anyone with half an ounce of common sense or some consideration for human life would decide not to continue driving a car whose brakes had appeared to suffer such a major failure...

EleanorRig

clever_username wrote: »

Probably just the case that a lot of people (perhaps naively) were under the impression that anyone with half an ounce of common sense or some consideration for human life would decide not to continue driving a car whose brakes had appeared to suffer such a major failure...

Is Mr Bump intentional or just an ironic coincidence?