****Cosumer Advice needed*****

Brokenninja

Hello, Yesterday my wife visited a Kwik Fit garage for a winter tyre check. She was advised by the garage staff that all 4 of her tyres were dangerous and needed immediate replacements. As she is not very clued up on motoring matters she reluctantly agreed, and requested some good winter / all year tyres.

The fitter sold her 4 x Goodyear tyres for a total price of £484.00 inc VAT and tracking!!!

She paid her bill on MasterCard and came home, slightly shell shocked.

I was not happy at the price she had paid, so I got the tyre details off her bill and looked on Kwik Fit's own online website. I was horrified to see that the tyres she was sold were registered as summer tyres!!! and had she booked the fitting online first, the total cost for the exact same tyres would have been £284.00........

Surly this kind of practice is wrong? I'm disgusted at Kwik Fit, that they can effectively bully someone with limited mechanical knowledge in to panic buying a product.

Is there anything we can do?

Dave

bod1467

First things first - go and speak to the branch manager with your concerns. Keep it civil and polite and ask them how they are going to resolve your complaint.

If they have mis-sold (summer tyres when all-year/winter was requested) then you are technically entitled to return the goods for a refund and they should return your original tyres. This might be slightly problematic though as they've likely disposed of the originals. (Although it would have been interesting to see the originals, to check whether they were in fact dangerous - legal minimum tread depth is 1.6mm across 75% of the width, around the whole circumference, and with no damaged side-walls).

visidigi

KwikFit - TWO tyres requested in branch for my car £598.

Kwikfit - TWO tyres pre-ordered online for fitment in same branch as above £424 (before anyone asks, im not making those prices up either! - runflats )

Are they allowed to do this, yes - is it shady, maybe, they know you are coming in in your own time and you are not in desperate must have it fitted now as its flat syndrome.

Your issue is NOT the cost varience in pre ordering online - you can have no dispute on the cost of them on the grounds they were offered to your wife and technical knowledge aside she accepted and paid the price for the tyres as presented.

The thing is you mention winter tyres/all year tyres - this maybe why they have fitted some sitting ina primarily summer tyre range - as this may, in their opinion be the best 'all round' option. It is this, which IMO is your best point of dispute...

Googlies_2

Destroy your wifes credit cards.

texranger

visidigi wrote: »

KwikFit - TWO tyres requested in branch for my car £598.

Kwikfit - TWO tyres pre-ordered online for fitment in same branch as above £424 (before anyone asks, im not making those prices up either! - runflats )

Are they allowed to do this, yes - is it shady, maybe, they know you are coming in in your own time and you are not in desperate must have it fitted now as its flat syndrome.

Your issue is NOT the cost varience in pre ordering online - you can have no dispute on the cost of them on the grounds they were offered to your wife and technical knowledge aside she accepted and paid the price for the tyres as presented.

The thing is you mention winter tyres/all year tyres - this maybe why they have fitted some sitting ina primarily summer tyre range - as this may, in their opinion be the best 'all round' option. It is this, which IMO is your best point of dispute...

a load of retailers do this

whsmiths a £12.99 book instore is only £9.99 online

Asda/Tesco you will find items cheaper ordering online for store pickup than instore

Hintza

OP everything you buy can and will be cheaper somewhere else. Do you go back to Teco wih your can of beans wen you find it cheaper online or at Asda?

sarahg1969

Never mind the price or the suitability of the tyres; I'd be wondering whether or not the car even needed four tyres in the first place.

bod1467

Exactly my thoughts. The problem will be proving they gave misguided advice if the original tyres are no longer available.

molerat

Surely as drivers you or your wife knew whether the tyres were dangerously low or not ? ( it is the driver's responsibility to know).

Brokenninja

Thanks for all the replies. Most useful, some not. But I took the advise of a mixture of you. I contacted Kwik Fit UK sales manager, and told him my concerns. He was apologetic, and stated that to re-inspect the removed tyres was not an option, as they would have been destroyed. He agreed that 4 tyres at once was unusual but he had to trust his staff.

He has however decided to re-fund the cost difference between the Online price and store price. So all in all a great result.

Thanks for your help

Dave