Kwikfit

Slowhand

sillygoose wrote: »

VOSA do regulate MOT stations, they don't regulate servicing garages to my knowledge so I don't suppose they will be terribly interested. I could be wrong though!

So what regulatory body would you report a VOSA regulated MOT garage to for claiming that £700 of unnecessary work was required to get a car through an MOT?

sillygoose

Slowhand wrote: »

So what regulatory body would you report a VOSA regulated MOT garage to for claiming that £700 of unnecessary work was required to get a car through an MOT?

Well we don't know if they were going to get the MOT done at Kwikfit or even if this Kwikfit is even an MOT station... my reading of it is they took it in advance to get it SERVICED & checked to see if anything needed doing to get it ready for MOT.

If they are not an MOT station and were just servicing and prepping the car then VOSA have no authority.

VOSA do have authority over the other place where the MOT was done and that was fine.

I agree with op, its more a trading standards issue with Kwikfit.

barbiedoll

I bought a banger with a full year's MOT but my DH insisted that I get the brakes checked, plus I had an advisory on the MOT (front ball joint or something) and as he loves Kwikfit, I dropped it in there and asked for their "free" brake check. They told me that the brakes were at the end of their life, that they were the original drums (on a 15 yr old car) and that the whole unit would need replacing at a cost of almost £200. That was without the cost of the ball joint which they estimated at costing almost £100. To be honest, all of this is like a foreign language to me but I do know when I'm being ripped off, if the brakes were so bad, how did the car pass an MOT just a week earlier?

I thought that the brakes were fine anyway and I'd already had a quote of £70 for the ball joint from our local garage so I took it there and asked them to check the brakes too. It cost me £30 for the check but they said that the brakes were fine but that someone had taken the drum apart and not put it back together properly. They fixed that for me during the check and didn't charge me a penny for it.

I'd never use Kwikfit again!

HoneyAndLemon

Just to clarify, I'm in Northern Ireland, and over here you can only go to official DVA test centres for an MOT, and there are only about 10 or so in NI. Garages, and the likes of Kwikfit etc, cannot perform MOT's. Which is great because you know its official people carrying it out.

My complaint is solely with Kwikfit. I appreciate the responses, and thankfully I'm not alone in thinking they are rip off merchants. I've complained to them, and sent watchdog an email. Will see what replies I get, though I may still go to trading standards.

Thanks everyone.

johnsons_baby

I've never heard a good word about kwikfit in my circle if friends, it's all been similar issues to the OP, high charges, unnecessary work being made out as if it was urgent.
I would certainly fire off a letter of complaint to their head office, it can't hurt....I'm not sure what response you'll get, you may get a straightforward apology for the rudeness but I'm not sure they'd admit any liability for what you were told.
Good luck though & hope you do get a response to your complaint

gregg1

johnsons_baby wrote: »

I've never heard a good word about kwikfit in my circle if friends, it's all been similar issues to the OP, high charges, unnecessary work being made out as if it was urgent.
I would certainly fire off a letter of complaint to their head office, it can't hurt....I'm not sure what response you'll get, you may get a straightforward apology for the rudeness but I'm not sure they'd admit any liability for what you were told.
Good luck though & hope you do get a response to your complaint

Kwik Fit are rubbish. How in God's name they managed to get the contract for replacing tyres on Motability cars is a mystery.

redux

HoneyAndLemon wrote: »

Just to clarify, I'm in Northern Ireland, and over here you can only go to official DVA test centres for an MOT, and there are only about 10 or so in NI. Garages, and the likes of Kwikfit etc, cannot perform MOT's. Which is great because you know its official people carrying it out.

My complaint is solely with Kwikfit. I appreciate the responses, and thankfully I'm not alone in thinking they are rip off merchants. I've complained to them, and sent watchdog an email. Will see what replies I get, though I may still go to trading standards.

Thanks everyone.

I know you feel strongly about it at the moment, but as you've managed to escape their clutches without too much damage I'd say just promise yourself to never go there again.

I did that over 20 years ago.

Your and other people's comments show me I'm still right.

cherie1122

I left my car with them to replace the front brakes (I knew they needed attention and Kwikfit was very near where I worked)

They rang me and said my rear brakes were dirty and offered to clean them for me for £40 - I'm still laughing .........

Mupette

few years back i left a car with them for a service, came back to me with a broken handbrake, and claimed it came in like it, NEVER AGAIN

bargainbetty

My friend rejected my offer of contacting the mechanic I use, because Kwik-fit were doing a 'special offer' on servicing and the guy he had spoken to really knew his stuff on the model of car.

Four days, £300 and a several phonecalls later, he got his car back. They had put the cheapest brand oils in, opened, looked at but not changed the filters, the brakes were squeaking, and more than 75 miles had appeared on the clock. The electric front window went from squeaking to occasionally jamming open after they 'fixed it' and one of his indicator bulbs blew. I know that wasn't their fault, but they didn't spot it while servicing.

On the rare occasions I needed the most urgent of tyre repairs, I got the same old routine about my brakes needing work, shock absorbers being damaged etc. The car was perfectly fine, had been service and passed the MOT two weeks previously and I had simply got a nail in the rear offside tyre. The chap got most offended when I indicated very politely that I didn't believe that the work was necessary.