I had all the brake pads and shoes on my car replaced. They charge me £500. A year later I had some problem with a wheel, non brake related. The mechanic at the desk put the car on the ramp and came back said I needed a bearing replaced and oh and my brakes needed replacing. I pointed out that they did that only last year, he seemed embarrassingly caught out when I told him and stuttered, oh yeah well it is normal for them to needing replacing each year.
I told him to take my car down off the ramp immediately I had no work carried out by them.
Why would a nationwide brand try scamming me like that? This is the Cheltenham Kwik Fit in Gloucestershire.
Update:Pogo, I paid £500.
Verified answer
The good branches are very good.
I had an exhaust replaced at very short notice at Kendal and have nothing but praise for them.
Friends have had less than happy experience at some city branches.
They like to do unnecessary work, just keep an eye on them!
Kwik Fit Peterborough
We used to put our car in to Kwik Fit for its MOT and after about 2 years running we realised that we always had a problem with the way the car was running shortly afterwards. It would never run as smoothly as it did before putting it in. At this realization, we changed to somewhere else to have our MOT done. They were good but a little pricey and last time we found a local place that were doing MOTs for £35. Bargain! And she (the car) is running great. So, yes we have had probs with Kwik Fit, and no, we wouldn't use them again. Shop around and see if there are any good offers on for what you want or ask people you know and trust about where they take their cars and who they would recommend. Good luck next time.
I had a problem with quick fit in Peterborough a few years ago. I had 2 new tyres on my car and they said the tracking needed doing. I had the work done and was visiting a Friend later on that day who is a mechanic. He had a look at the track rod ends and saw that no adjustments had been made we put it in his workshop and checked the tracking and it was still out. I called Quick fit and complained and they told me to bring it back which I did. They tried to adjust it and said that the track rod ends needed replacing as they where seized and could not be adjusted and they wanted another £70.00. I told them that they had supposedly done it already and I had paid for it. The manager didn't even want to know. I got my Friend to do it for me and wrote a letter of complaint to Tom Farmer the chairman of quick fit. I never received a reply. So yes it would appear they are scam merchants and my advice to anyone is don't use them.
Each garage is different, some try and scam you some don't, that's the real trick finding one that doesn't. A common scam is when your car goes in for other work they say your brakes need doing. I once went to a garage to get my tracking done and he said I needed my front pads replaced, and quoted me 400 pounds! I went and bought the pads myself for about 20-30 pounds, went to fit them and found out that the old ones had minimal wear and didn't need replacing at all! The moral of the story is get yourself clued up and buy yourself a haynes manual, it'll tell you how to check your own brakes and do your own checks so you won't get caught out again!
£500 for brakes? What you got? A lamborghini?
Yeah kwikfit are the worst rip off merchants on the planet. Quite a lot of people on here with the same issues as yourself.
Lesson learned I hope!!
Unless you drive a company car which is contracted to use Kwik Fit then I'd say to everyone:
DO NOT USE KWIK FIT UNLESS IT IS AN ABSOLUTE EMERGENCY AND THEY ARE THE ONLY GARAGE WITHIN A 5 MILE RADIUS!
To be fair, there are some branches that are decent, but not very many by the look of it. Seems to be down to the branch manager.
I have a relative who worked for them once, at one branch he was told to spray some WD40 on the dampers, call the customer over and point out "leaking" dampers which needed immediate replacement. Then he moved to another branch where the manager emphatically wouldn't have "any of those tricks", but insisted on a decent job so that customers came back, rather than ripping them off . . .
I went to our local kwik fit as I was unsure about one of my tyres. The man their put it up on the ramp and said I really needed a complete new set and that i needed to get new brake cylinders for the back and needed brake pads for the front ( I had a new tyre and brake pads fitted a month earlier for the mot). He gave me an estimate for over 500 pounds and asked how i wanted to pay! I said I didnt have that sort of money and he said maybe they could get me finance for it but I said I didnt want it and could he please get my car down from the ramp and go so I could let my husband know of the situation. He (the kwik fot bloke) said I should get the work done as soon as possible. I went back to the place I had work done on my car for the mot and got them to have a look, they showed me that I didnt need brake cylinders and the new brake pads and the only problem was with my tyre that it had a slow puncture!! Total cost to me was a fiver for the repair!!
of course they are ,pads and shoes £500 wow! ,I make that about £300 for doing the job ,thats on a bad day ,unless you drive something exotic.
They base the business on people that dont know to much about cars ,a customer a little older in years might have said"oh dear do they need doing again" ,and had them done [another £500 pounds] thank you come again.
I dont believe you paid £500, BUT if you did I apologise. You should have asked them for a written breakdown of the costs, and then sued the *** off them. I'd take them to the small claims court. A main dealership wouldnt even charge half that amount.