use kwikfit mobile nothing like the depot's there not sale or target driven like the depot's . the managers are on a right mint any way .

 

mate pads discks and filters are a MIN of 50% mark up on parts,, it IS a business after all with rent, staff and rates to pay,, peoples mark ups should never be in question,im sure you dont think your being paied too much and wish to earn less money instead,, exhausts can have upto 80% mark up, btw i used to supply parts to quick fit,,, now i sell them to partco who then sell them to quickfit

partcos prices can be the reason for there prices im afraid

 

what,,, you think its some sort of charity thing they run ??

everyone is target driven, some staff dont care about it but some DO as they get great commision at the end of the month

 

i would bet a large amount of cash that the centre manager did not get a bollocking for this, head office would have probably not even mentioned it.

they will have funds set apart to "pay off" complaining customers, you leave with 2 new tyres and leave them alone, it costs them pennies to get rid of you.



they (managers) are quite aggressively forced to upsell to hit targets and the like (a mate is a centre manger)

my mate when starting out was getting hammered by upper management for not hitting targets and all that crap, so he simply adapted to the situation.

while you might think its a bit ****ty, its just the way lots of retail places work.

was the same when i worked for currys as a 16year old chap, the salesmen were always getting hammered about not hitting targets

 

Years ago i took a ford cortina of mine to kwik fit for a new exhaust, after about 20 minutes the spotty little runt comes over and says "i need to show you something, your rear shocks are both leaking oil and need changing" pointing to the oil that was running down both shocks, that's strange i said, "not at all he said its quite common" but these shocks are gas filled not oil i replied so how do you explain that, "so where did the oil come from" he said, with a worried look on his spotty face, probably from the can of 3in1 in your top pocket i replied, that's the last time i ever used them, they are in my opinion a bunch of cowboys.

 

i agree

if people are to winge about markups then i would like to see them run a business

with any stock i personally sell, like air fresheners, dash dusters etc etc, i always aim for a healthy markup.

i actually bumped into one of the carwash regulars who was a bit annoyed because he had now found where i got my microfibre clothes and apparently i had "ripped him off"

it cost me 77p + vat to buy it, i sold it for £1.50 and that is all wrong according to him, what he did not see was it sat on the shelf for a long time, i paid tax on the profit and had to pay a young chap to bloody sell the thing, maybe if he got off his fat **** and bought a load in, then started up a business selling them he might not think its such a rip off

but that is slightly off topic

ps. i used to buy my magic trees for 50p ish in asda and sell them across the road at my place for £1

 

the gas section of the shock aint leaking but the gas aint lubricating the shock absorber,,, you do realise gas filled are oil AND gas shocks inside dont you

let me find a link for you to help understand what gas filled shocks do

 

I love my local Kwik Fit, always see the lads right if you need a favour.

Where else can you get those awkward nuts, bolts, washers on a Sunday ?

Halfrauds ?

LOL

dunx

 

Hold on a minute mate!!

Im not wingeing about the mark up on prices, my beef is paying for these parts when you dont need them!

I bought the parts I needed from Pages for less than 3/4 of the price from kwik fit! Pages is a bussines, they can sell the same parts for less how? they have rent to pay, staff to pay...................

Sounds to me like you should be the manager at kwik fit!

 

personally i hate most of the quickfits, the techs are all generally the type that will stick there hands down the back of you seats to find the loose change

the staff order stuff then send it back, claim warrantys for anything that aint even warranty and DONT EVEN UNDERSTAND HOW THERE PRODUCTS WORK

cat issues are a pain in the **** with kwickfit,,, a tech whos just about qualified to change a wheel nut,,, they send there exhaust boys on courses to do services,, otherwise they are only allowed to do brakes,,,, how GREAT a idea is that

BUT,, some of the stuff on this post is rubbish, slate a company if they do wrong ill agree with, the gas filled comment,,,, honestly

 

they buy parts at generally a 30% discount that what you get, THOUGH they have to order the parts, pay a mechanic, pay for a HUGE site, pay to dispose of the old oils/tyres ect which aint cheep btw, then reorder the parts should they get sent the wrong ones,, they will ONLY sell parts they can get AT EVERY BRANCH, that means they cant buy from anywhere UNLESS there national for there warranty purposes, so you can go into any kwickfit anywhere and get the warranty sorted !!!!

oh and there a business\


i sell brake cv joints that ALL cost me 9 quid each cost plus vat,,, i sell them from 30 to 90 quid dependiing on the application, main reason is is nobody would buy a cv joint for there 330ci for 20 quid, but would pay 65 quid ???

i also have brake discs on my car that cost me 7 quid for a pair, they lasted longer than the ones that cost the first owner 230 quid !!!

distribution is a funny old game,,, people who aint got a clue are experts with the " how good can a part be that costs 10 quid"

if you knew what stuff REALLY cost to make in life you would cry im sure

 

Kwik Fit are a COMPLETE rip off and have always been so...tried ripping my Mrs off once and i went fuming back to them for the disgrace.

 

think we all understand about making a profit! in general most people are saying kwikfit upsell parts that dont need changing! we're had customers come into us saying kwikfit told them they need brakes, but dont! ripp off company

 

mobile is not target driven .mobile's work is 99% fleet and any cash customer's request whats done befor they evan arrive !!!
plus all they do is tyres and repair's i think saying the whold of kwikfit is a ripoff is wrong you get some good centers and bad ok ill agree there is more bad than good but still ....

 

Never went back to them after asking a "fitter" to have a look at the o/s brake on my Fiesta RS Turbo as I felt it was sticking.
I was told the calliper was u/s and a new one would be £120. This was quite a bit of money 20 years ago so I enquired at the local Ford dealer if there was a calliper seal kit available. There was a kit and it cost around £10. I fitted it myself in 30 minutes or so.
In my experience places like this are not interested in repairing anything.

Mouser.

 

this is one of the reasons i would never own a garage, you go to a place, take there time to diagnose a problem,,, get a price for a REMANUFACTURED part,, then go else where and get a seal kit and claim there ripping you off as YOU bodged the issue,, do you also take the missus out for a curry,,,, walk in there get the recipe and then come home and just in a birdeye curry claiming there ripping you off

sticking caliper is NOT fixed with a seal kit, they change them when they strip the caliper apart but then strip the caliper and find whats causing the sticking, should it be scored they bin the caliper, should it need new pistons they fit that, they blast them clean and then swop the seals

understand what people do before you slate them

just like the other bloke " quoted me 120 quid for NEW tyres,,,, i got 3 SECOND HAND TYRES for a tenner ON EBAY"

i just bought 10 thomas pink shirts, all cost between 100 and 150 quid each,,, i could have bought them in a charity shop for 3 quid each but ITS NOT THE SAME THING !!!!

i had a moron today complaining that a driveshaft for hes galaxy was 200 quid,, yes he got one a few weeks ago that was 30 quid,,, " tell me how you can charge different prices"

the driveshaft the moron bought before was for a peugeot 205 and hes galaxy is a 2005,,,, i told him if he aint happy with the price sell the galaxy to be for 200 quid as thats all the 205 is worth,,,, he STILL didnt understand what i was trying to tell him,,, i gave up on him and sent him to kwickfit actually pmsl

 

If you had read my post correctly,I more or less told the fitter what the problem was.
There was no offer to repair the calliper
The problem WAS solved by fitting a new seal kit after,of course,cleaning out the muck from the calliper. I ran the car for another two years and it was still working properly when I sold it on.
This is probably why you would never own a garage.

How do you know if I am married or even like a curry?

I hope you are happy with your Thomas Pink shirts. Are people supposed to be impressed with your spending prowess?

Mouser.

 

ginge mr friend, you seem to be taking this very personally, all most are saying from experience is kwik fit rip you off!
i work in a garage and seen cars that have been to kwik fit and they are trying to rip people off in them cases! if they treated customers fairly and were honest about the faults, brakes wear out eventually as tyres do and they would repair the cars in the future!
people will only be ripped off once, you'll never see them again!
i'm sure if your shown that your pads for instants were 80% worn and that they'll need doing in 1000 miles they would come back and have them done! and be happy to pay the bill

 

not taking anything personal, just i deal with garages and general retail ( though not many retail im glad to sa if im honest) and some of the posts are just band wagon, adding extras about things that aint related,,,changing seals wont solve a sticking caliper,,, the cleaning out the muc will BUT remanufactering is alot more than just brushing out dirt, it needs to be done proper cause not even seized caliper is the same

i deal with alot of warranty issues/technical issues at work and speak to loads of people,, its what i do for a living basically

i AGREE that quickfit DO bump there sales up,, just like anyone in there job to a point, i had a copper tell me my tyres are bald, i TOLD HIM the legal limit, asked how he can measure them with hes eye when i need to use a gauge for legal reasons,, lets use one and see hey

hes reply was theres only about 1000miles left in em,,,, i had to tell the same copper that you cant do someone cause they MAY comit a crime in the future

but thats ANOTHER example of people trying to get there job done at any cost

and kwickfit are still targeted no matter the department, even if they are call out based then still have to make them worth while employing

PS: i work for a company with a REAL bad rep for customer service thats almost on par with kwickfit,,, down side is the only companys turning a profit at the moment seem to be the ruthless ones im afraid

 

ps: i would never own a garage as i see what they have to deal with from people,,, the customer who take there car in for a service then complain there radio dont work and want a new one as it was working before the service

that and i aint got the paitence for retail people, they either know everything and how its done,( yet are getting a garage to do the "easy" job), they AINT got a clue but think its over priced.... even though they dont know what it does, what it looks like and where the hell it is on the car,,, its just alot money for a ford/mazda/bmw ect ect ect

they get the work done then claim they aint got the cash to pay it as it took longer than expected,,, even though they agreed the work

garages DO have to deal with crap at times,,,, alot of crap from some and i couldnt deal with em

 

ive worked in a tyre depot seen car's from , kwikfit, ford, peugeot, renault, protyre, bmw etc etc and most of them all said they needed work that we didnt agree with . 1 person 1 opinion .

 

Err, quick fit FITTER, not mechanic

 

btw i never mentiond the shirts to show off at all, it was to give a example of someone ELSES comment and not yours, comparing new tyre prices to second hand,, which is stupid and irrelevent imo

if i wanted to be smug i would take a photo of my barkers collection for work or my iceberg casual stuff as they cost far more than my work shirts and the iceberg stuff is used to work on the car these days too

 

Yes, I'd agree with that the "needs disks and pads" upsell is a very common and nice money earner for garages. Often encouraged at main dealers. I do know several people who work at main dealerships and when they started there, they went on induction courses that basically, to quote one of them "ways to rip off the customer".

Their justification is usually that the car has long service intervals upwards of 12,000 to 15,000 miles. So regardless of the car being brought in under annual servicing and covering much less annual mileage, they'll still reject a set of pads they think will not last another 15,000 miles, and they'll also change the disks for good measure. So they are doing the customer a favour by ensuring they won't need to come back inbetween services, but obviously paying a premium because of that.

The problem these days is that alot of people are aware of upsell tricks, and its detrimental to garages that are more honest, who get treated like rip-off merchants and have constant cynical accusations when they say something really does need replacing, whilst quoting fair rates to cover the overheads and maintain a sustainable business (cheers Labour). Even showing the customer the worn/damaged parts is no good as most haven't a clue of what they are looking at, or go as far as accusing that the part is not off their car. The end result is the customer huffs and puffs and has it done anyway (complaining throughout - even when given the chance to go elsewhere), or they don't get any work done and then come back later with their tail between their legs. Or some walk in with some cheap and nasty replica (ebay) or second hand parts and ask them to fit them instead. Of course with the latter, the garage has to spell it out in very basic english that they will not warranty any work or consequences involving such parts. Even then, when the dubious parts do prematurely fail or cause another component to fail, the garage still gets the blame not the substandard parts the customer supplied (this happens alot with "performance" parts claimed to be superior to factory parts: Dump valves, cone filters, braided steel brake hoses, coil-overs, 6pot calipers, uprated clutches etc.which often are not as durable, reliable as OE or cause some sort of secondary problem).

The only thing you can do with those type of customer if they think the garage is "that" bad and ripping them off so much is tell them to go to Kiwk-fit or a main dealer and see how far they get. Pandering to theses types of people is just futile. And its good to know that of the ones that get sent away, some do come back rather sheepishly, with a much better/trusting and less cynical attitude.

 

Sometimes, you can't win it when you're in the Motor Trade.
People like KF only have themselves to blame when the management style is clearly aimed at milking as much profit out of the situation as possible. We don't have bonus schemes, as it only encourages cutting corners.
Typical example of the situations you can get into concerns an old customer of ours going back decades ago. He was about 70 at the time, and had a Marina Coupe, in tidy condition, and we'd looked after it for ages. He lived in the next street, and used it to go shopping and to visit some family 15 miles away, and that was about it.
He went into a KF style place ( now closed!) and they told him it needed new shocks all round, and that we should have told him when we serviced it. They had an offer on! His shocks were fine, adequate for the purpose, not leaking. Whatever, they convinced him, so he had them fitted and came back to me moaning his head off. What do you do? I strolled out to the car and gave it a bounce, and it flapped about all over the place like every other Marina. Total waste of money, and I wouldn't have suggested that he had them done, as I'm not into pumping my customers dry. If he'd wandered in and said he was going to track it (!) I'd look at it differently of course, but...
I won't change, I'm just going to carry on giving advice based on my instincts and what I know to be true, and at least my sleep will be sound.

 

Upselling is a part of business and companies need to do it to make more or any profit, everyone does this not just garages eg mcdonalds, "do you want a drink with that" and "do you want large meal".

Theres a line between up selling parts that need changing and ripping people off. The line obvoisly can move abit with peoples personal opinions. And yea gets very annoying if they try to or you do get ripped off.

People on the shop floor are forced to upsell as much as possible by there boss's even to keep there jobs and this creates people going over the line. Kwik fit gets blamed quite a bit, its not all the centers though probably just a few give a bad name for the others that do a good job.

 

Didnt MR CLUTCH have a good flameing a while back on T.V? (im sure it was the one on ancoats in Manchester)

I think it was on one of them nightmare tradesmen programs where they get a perfectly good working car, checked by a professional who is watching and send it in to a dodgey garage and see what they say?

But I guess thats opening up another can of worms?

2 things Ive learnt this week Never buy a renault and Never go to Kwik fit

The missus bought the car brand new 3 years ago and its been nothin but problems mainly electrics!

BUT WHOS THE MUG HERE THEN?

I think Scoobyclinic is a good garage but ive noticed they have been under the spot light recently on here, I personally have had no problems with them, I take my scooby there for all its work.........................

Am I blinded by the Subaru badge that I carnt see past the service costs there ? I could pay a back street garage £150 for a full service But scoobyclinc charged me £100 just to do the oil and filter for the 67500 mile sevice( i follow there service schedule like the bible)Next sevice is 75,000 and it costs £170.26 and i get spark plugs extra!


All this stuff just makes me mad and I want to learn at night school, how to do it all myself!!! Am i on my own.........................

 

i have heard lots about kwick fit incliding one guys car they set fire to changing exhaust , and never even mentioned it till went back two days later reporting a burning smell they tried to deny it but guy insisted it went up on ramp and they ened up re undersealin half the back end around petrol tank which had burnt off .dont know if he got any money back though ....i would never use them

 

iv learned how to do all servicing myself, lots of readin etc, and plenty of potching. 3 years later im rebuilding my engine myself, lol

 

quick version lady comes in talbot samba i need a tyre ok she leaves for the shops tyre of easy puncture to repair guy runs a probs through the wall and pulls wire out also runs the probe up the other tyre walls lady comes back he explains the nail was on the wall of tyre illegal to fix need replaced and also other tyres are scored at wall may cause blow out lady replies i can,t afford to fix this she starts crying and phones her dad who comes down a old guy now i am training at this place at the time the old boy goes to pay and i told him it was these guy,s that had done it and i will witness this for him i was sacked lady got 4 tyres brand new tyres for nothing and compensation i can,t stand dishonesty if you want to run a company trust is the key this lady is now a good friend of mine who uses my own garage now