Kwik-Fit

Review on appalling treatment at Kwik-fit, Berwick-upon-Tweed
Preface
I am a retired consulting engineer who enjoys the restoration of classic motor cars and also as an Advanced motorist I take my legal obligations on Road Traffic and Construction and use matters very seriously, I have been involved in the restoration of Jaguars, Rovers SAABs and Triumph motor cars and have a wealth of experience and expertise in all the engineering aspects of motor car design, for example a mechanic when asked why a certain figure is given for the torque on a particular bolt or nut, the mechanic’s reply typically would be that’s what the workshop manual states, in my career I was able to do the mathematical equation to assess the correct value.
Background
I identified an issue with a tyre on my car that would, in time require that the tyre be replaced. I have all the tools required to change a wheel in a totally safe manner, so I arrived at the depot with my tools and proceeded to remove the wheel prior to the replacement of the tyre. I was informed that the company would not allow this to happen and I was asked to replace the wheel so that the vehicle could be put on the ramp where in addition to changing the tyre a report on the vehicle would be undertaken, on the basis of the foregoing I decided that the company had no right to detain my car so that a report be compiled, my suspicion was that the company would look for additional work to be carried out so that a much higher bill be generated for this additional usually unnecessary work, I decided to leave the depot
Observations
That Kwik-fit has not changed its policy of trying to obtain as much money as possible from customers; you may ask how I have come to this conclusion? In 1984 I was employed as an internal auditor by Kwik-fit and as such I witnessed the sharp practices at various depots in and around the Edinburgh area, one memorable incident involved a senior citizen who was persuaded by the depot manager to purchase four new shock-absorbers he did not need, the manager in question said to me before the gentleman got out of his car that he would sell him four shock absorbers!!. I left the company, and several weeks later an article appeared in the Scottish Daily Record highlighting what I had already discovered
Conclusion
Due to the foregoing I would advise that any motorist should, under no circumstances use this company for the reasons given

Car failed mot at Kwik fit due to upper front strut top bearing or bush took it back for repair and retest @£125 checked car over once at home none of the bolts on the strut had been touched even the spring was still dusty indicating to me that nothing had been done the car passed but had it failed in the first place won't be using them again

I had a mobile tyre fitting booked and the engineer not only didn’t turn up but made no contact whatsoever to tell me. I then called and was then told the next appointment was a week away. No effort to prioritise my booking despite being entirely their fault. I then got a refund which takes a week to process and in the meantime had to spend money on cabs whilst I found another company to fit the tyre. All round appalling service. Will never recommend or use again

Very poor customer service and lack of communication after ordered two new tyres for my car to be done by a mobile fitter, he didn't show up on the day when I booked the fitting, promised was going to be done the following day but same story again. Tried to contact customer care but no answer to calls managed to get a refund after several emails sent to them. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone as not reliable and professional

My wife’s car failed it’s MOT ! Very happy about this as it’s been laid up for the winter in the garage and I didn’t notice the 50mm split in the tyre on taking it for the MOT. A pair of rear tyres being fitted tomorrow.

Kwik Fit Grimsby are outstanding.
They go out of their way to make sure that you are happy with the service received.
Chris and his team are superb and we will be continuing to use them.

Kwik fit Harlow today was very friendly.
As a wheelchair user I found it easily accessible, receptionist was friendly,very helpful & knowledgeable on the tyres I enquired about.
Would use again & would recommend.

Kwik fit failed to fix my car properly, meaning more damage was done to my engine when I drove it away before it promptly failed again. They also failed to give me any reassurance whatsoever that I wasn’t going to have to pay full price for the damage incurred by their half job and for them to have a second chance to get it right. The guy on the phone told me yes the alternator should have been checked as well as the battery. But then backpeddled big time and told me a garbled bunch of nonsense to try to get out of what he’d just said. These guys are half asleep, don’t trust your car with them, it will cost you more.

The most horrible place to be , rude customer service specialy dereham in norwich , they mess with your car and lose things and parts from it and tell you its already missing and charge you for new parts while they fit used parts frlm other cars!!! Never had an experience like that!!!

I have visited a Kwik fit centre for wheel tracking check.
There was no any issue but I just wanted to check the car and I told this to the manager. But after checking, I have been told that the front wheels need alignment.
I surprised but accepted
After the wheel alignment, the car got problems and the control of the car got difficult and it pulled to the left severely.
I think Kwik-Fit just wanted to change me by making a problem to my car.

I was charged for a suspension arm 260£ and still have problems with my car, they didn't manage to fix the problem, they didn't fixed properly one bolt from the arm🤦‍♂️this are the Kwik Fit "engineers", I was back to them and let them know cos i still have a problem with my suspension and one guy said to me, we was 3 guys checking your car, 2 of them MOT guys🤦‍♂️and didn't find nothing wrong with your car, guys my advice is to be careful where you take your car to be fixed, is about yours and other traffic participants safety! Stay safe! Shame Kwik Fit!!!

Paul
I had a notification that Adam was on his way at 15.18 it’s now 20.19 and no one has arrived. Please could you arrange to refund me total cost which was taken last week £ 298.50 . I shall go elsewhere, I tried to get in touch with your organisation by phone on 4 occasions today spending over 30 minutes waiting to no avail. After many years of using Kwik Fit i shall do somewhere more attuned to customer service. Please confirm the refund has been made .
Andrew Menzies

Put my car in for routine wheel alignment, car was there for 7 days due to their incompetence, I was continually lied too they replaced new parts with new parts? The car was in a mess when I eventually picked it up, grease all over steering wheel, gearstick door handles etc, after all this steering is still not straight and loud rattling sounds coming from that area also damage to rear bumper and bodywork. This was caterham Surrey branch use at your peril.

Great MOT System in place.Staff working hard to get my work done quickly and politely. Had a really insightful advice and top quality service. Highly recommend and special thanks to Bav from Kwik Fit Plus - London - Colindale.

I put my car in for a wheel alignment check at Kwik Fit (Hospital Hill Dunfermline branch) late December. Usually I would use my local independent garage but as my car is an all wheel drive model I needed somewhere that had the kit for 4 wheel alignment. I was duly informed that the tracking required adjustment and that both track rod ends had a fair amount of play and replacement was recommended (which made sense as there'd been the odd bit of squealing on turning for the previous couple of months). The work was done and all was apparently well. Cue 3 months (but due to covid only 800 miles) later during its annual service and MOT (at my local garage) I was informed that the nearside ball joint was very badly worn and required replacement. The garage owner (a very experienced mechanic) informed me that said ball joint would certainly have been showing significant play back in December and therefore should have been picked up by the Kwik Fit technician. He advised me to go back to KF and request that they redo the tracking for free. I duly returned to Kwik Fit Hospital Hill to discuss the issue and was greeted by a manager who was disinterested, rude and combative. I was told that the guarentee for wheel alignment was a month (personally I think the guarentee should be based on mileage covered rather than a time interval, but I digress) and that a 'ball joint could go at anytime'. Now I'm a reasonably capable DIY mechanic and I know the odour of BS when I smell it and the whiff was strong. In my experience (and clearly the experience of my local mechanic) ball joints wear over time, they do occasionally fail suddenly but only due to a significant impact like hitting a large pot hole at speed. To be balanced the KF manager did say that it could have failed due to hitting a pot hole, but the fact is if you hit a pot hole hard enough to knacker a ball joint you're going to do damage to other suspension components (and very likely your alloy/tyre). I explained that I had not hit any pot holes, but was simply told tough and that I would need to pay for another alignment. At that point I informed him that there was more chance of Satan ice skating to work tomorrow morning than there was me forking out another 80 odd quid when KF clearly hadn't done the job properly first time round and that I would never darken the door of KF Hospital Hill (or indeed any other KF garage) ever again. His response was 'Fine, whatever!'.
So to conclude Kwik Fit, if your business model is predicated on repeat business and good customer service generating recommendations I think you may soon find yourself up a creek without a paddle!

Kwik fit Ealing, do not bother. The man at the desk could barely take his eyes off his phone could barely be bothered explaining to me what they have done very unprofessional very sloppy.

This is a warning to any potential customers for Kwik Fit. I recently took my car to Kwik Fit, Long Lane, Blackheath, which is listed as being in Halesowen on the website, for an MOT and a service. The service wasn't carried out properly, the work which was supposed to have been done hadn't been because the car was thoroughly checked independently on my return from Kwik Fit. Also the rear offside passenger door was very severely dented, completely staved in. The offside bumper is also very badly scratched. In short what is only a 3 year old car which was in perfect condition before Kwik Fit's so called mechanics got hold of it now looks like a beaten up, scratched and neglected old wreck. This is an appalling way to conduct what purports to be a professional business. I have never had any damage done to a car when I have taken it in to any independent garages in the past and this is the very first and very last time that I would ever entrust Kwik Fit to work on my car again. They are just a bunch of unprofessional cowboys. Also the fuel level was considerably lower when I came to collect the car than it had been when it was dropped in at Kwik Fit, which leads me to only one conclusion there...... So I would warn any future customers about the folly of choosing to take your car to Kwik Fit, Long Lane, Blackheath, Halesowen. This was a very expensive waste of time and has resulted in considerable damage being done totally unnecessarily to what is only a 3 year old car. It's an awful place and should be closed down as being not fit for purpose. They are rip off merchants of the very worst kind who obviously think that it's acceptable to damage their customer's cars. Do they get perverse pleasure out of doing this?????? Kwik Fit are the worst cowboy outfit I've ever encountered. So beware!
I was asked to contact Kwik Fit to discuss the damage and other issues that had been caused to my car. The interview was a non-starter because Matt Brookes, the arrogant and rude so called customer services rep for Kwik Fit had already made up his mind to deny any of the issues that I raised in my complaint. I received total dissatisfaction from this interview with this Matt Brookes, with whom I've had a very unhelpful and accusatory conversation. In short I have been accused of lying, that my car wasn't damaged by Kwik Fit employees, that no fuel was stolen from my car, and that the service wasn't carried out to any proper standard, and when I explained that on top of this distressing situation I have had to encounter a very recent and unexpected family bereavement, I have been met with NO sympathy and NO offer to redress the damage which has been caused to my vehicle. I am totally appalled.
If this is how customers of Kwik Fit are treated when they dare to make legitimate complaints against any damage occurring to their vehicle when they leave it with a so-called reputable car repair company, then I really do not want to be a customer of Kwik Fit in future and I deeply regret having taken my car to Long Lane, Halesowen in the first place.
The truth is that Kwik Fit is at fault but will not address the damage and other issues that have been caused to my car. It's always the easy option to apportion blame to an unwitting car owner, who has clearly misguidedly entrusted what was a 3 year old car with no damage on it to a COWBOY outfit of rip off merchants, and not accept blame that lies squarely at the rogue conmen who work at Kwik Fit Long Lane Blackheath, Halesowen.
SO BE WARNED DO NOT ENTRUST YOUR CAR TO A BUNCH OF COWBOYS WHO WILL DAMAGE YOUR CAR, NOT DO THE WORK ON IT THAT YOU HAVE PAID THEM TO DO AND THEN STEAL YOUR FUEL AS A PARTING SHOT. KWIK FIT ARE A DISHONOURABLE COMPANY AND DO NOT DESERVE TO HAVE ANY CUSTOMERS.

These guys were trying to milk us for money, taking advantage of our perceived naivety! The guy we spoke to chose not to mention the possibility of repair and instead exaggerated an issue to persuade us to buy a new tyre, and quoted way higher prices than was advertised online. Would not recommend. The only plus point is they seem to work quite quickly, and would have had our unnecessary repairs done promptly.

Had 2 new tyres fitted to my car over Christmas, booked online, arrived no problem. I Was told that the car also required 4 wheel alignment which I agreed to. Upon completion and leaving the garage, the wheel alignment was out by an absolute mile so much that I had to physically steer the car to the right to keep the car away from running into the kerbs. They also scratched the paint off both wheels they fitted the new tyres to with and even the wheel balancing at motorway speeds is horrific its like holding onto a hammer drill, I'm sure they've just guessed the balance weights and done the alignment by eye at best. The only thing they did right was fit the tyres I asked for, everything else was utterly rubbish.
Complained to head office, after about 3 weeks I got an email with the area managers number on, who asked what I wanted to resolve the situation and asked for pictures. That's the last I've heard for about 3 or 4 weeks, they're literally not interested at all. I will never ever use them again.
DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY WITH THIS BUNCH OF CLOWNS!!!!! GO ELSEWHERE

Had 2 front tyres fitted, my car was a little dirty so couldn’t see at first, then after I got it washed it revealed scratches all the way around my alloys. Deep scratches, I will be returning to show them the damage, I’m sure they will say they were already there. Will never go back.