think garage is trying to rip me off

[gregers]

few years back my m/in/law took her car to a fast fit outlet for an mot,and a few hrs later got a phone call saying the shocks were leaking etc,they told her it was going to cost in excess of £500 odd.luckily she refused them to do the job.f/in/law took it to the local bus station for a mot and it passed with flying colours.turned out they to had used the oil can trick.

i only use a place called 'just mot's ' because thats all they do.

 

[Avocet]

I know someone who had that happen to them (oil squirted round the top of the damper body and told he needed a new one). Quick as a flash, he said "That's odd, these are gas-filled"! Mechanic hastily back-pedaled and decided the oil must have dripped on it from somewhere else.

Now this is bad on two levels. First of all, it's dishonest, of course, but secondly, when you're too thick to know that gas pressurised dampers ARE filled with oil, you really should be asking yourself questions about whether you're in the right line of work!

 

[Agile]

I doubt that K-F are much worse than many places.

Have heard of horror stories about main dealers and I have had my own bad experiences with them too.

But I did have a puncture repaired free by K-F once!

Another gave me an exhaust rubber rather than bother to charge me for it.

 

[Spark123]

should be an interesting morning.

Going to the independent today to have a chat, and then on the national to get the final quotation and recover my vehicle.

labour wise, I was watching some instruction videos which were slow and easily to follow.

Replacing the rear brakes completely took about 20 minutes in the video, given this was a demo and explaining everything, the work condensed down to less than 15 minutes a wheel, and less for the front.

So an hour to 2 hours max I would guess. (I wont replace my brakes, I do need to stop)

Sometimes in an ideal world it will take 15mins. Other times, in a less than ideal world it will take hours and hours!! Think how nice all the nuts and bolts will be after not being moved for 10 years and covered in salt!

 

[xr4x4]

Not Kwik-Fit, but I had one of these sort of places once claim I needed replacement shock absorbers.

On my Citroen BX...

Ha...!

 

[mfarrow]

I know this is probably more 'finger trouble' than anything else, but if you go to honest John's website and take a look at the MoT results pages, you'll be amazed at what cars fail on.

I've seen trafficators on Corsas listed, and gas suspension on Astras. Plus load more besides I'm sure!

 

[madwayne]

the work did need doing in my case.

but it was well overpriced and they missed things.

It was the mechanics attitude that alerted me to being ripped off.

He was being a smug little........

Next time i will just wait until the local garage is open, would have missed a day only.


I know next to nothing about cars, but the whole way they handled things was ringing alarm bells in my head, thing is I did take on board that things needed sorting and I got them sorted.

I could complain to head office, but they probably offer me a free something that well cost me 1k........lol

 

[Astra99]

Some twenty years ago, not long after "tyre and exhaust places" could apply to become MOT test centres, the MOT man from VOSA told me (I was testing at the time) that he was having some "problems" with at least some of the fast-fit testing stations and the quality of the testing. It was mentioned that brake discs and shock absorbers were the favourite for unwarranted replacement, but (especially on certain vehicles) worn suspension bushes were overlooked! 'Nuff said!

I am sure Burnerman (among others) will agree that if unskilled operators attempt to do skilled jobs, quality will suffer.