Kwik to overcharge?

Mr Henderson told us, "After three quarters of an hour I enquired about what the delay was for a simple oil change and filter change and they said they were obliged to do a complete check which I accepted for safety reasons".

Kwik Fit then claimed their 'complete check' had revealed the need for more work which included new front brakes. Mr Henderson declined having the work done and was told that, "if you take the car away as it is, it is dangerous, if you want to do that that is down to you." Len drove away and kept hold of his money. Three months later, having had no problems with the car, he booked an MOT at his local garage. He told them what Kwik Fit had said and gave them the interim service sheet Kwik Fit had given him with their recommendations and asked them to check the things listed on there.

The garage told him there was nothing wrong with his vehicle. We sent in our expert car engineer John Dabek to examine Len's car, to find out who was right. We asked John about Len's front brakes and he said:

"I discovered that the front brakes on his car were absolutely, perfectly functional, no problems at all". So Kwik Fit had quoted for work that wasn't necessary....

Sadly, Len Henderson's case wasn't a one off. Watchdog met up with Malcolm Charnock who took his car to a Kwik Fit garage in Southend after it developed an exhaust problem. Mr Charnock left the car with Kwik Fit and asked them to have a look at what needed doing to the exhaust. He was hoping it would be something straightforward, but Kwik Fit had other ideas. Malcolm said:

"They told me that it would cost almost £150 to replace the back section of the exhaust. It could also require replacement of the middle section but they wouldn't be able to confirm that until they had taken the back section off and started the work".

Malcolm was unsure about this diagnosis and so took the car to another garage. The garage told him there was no damage to the exhaust and all it needed was a replacement clamp costing £15 which was ten times less than Kwik-Fit's quote. Again when our expert John Dabek examined the car he agreed Kwik Fit had tried to charge for work that didn't need doing. John told us:

"The exhaust repair in this case that was necessary was the replacement of the clamp, nothing more, nothing less".

All Kwik Fit garages conform to the company's code of practice. This says that vehicles will be fully inspected ahead of any repairs, and that all work will be agreed with the owners beforehand. But Kwik Fit also says it's sometimes a matter of opinion whether a part needs replacing, and says customers are free to get one.

Joanne Hanscombe is glad she did. She took her Mitsubishi to a Kwik Fit in Hastings to have its air con, tyres and squeaky wheel checked over. Ms Hanscombe told us:

"They also said it needed new front discs and pads, and that it also needed rear brake drums and cylinders which they said had started leaking. Kwik Fit quoted six hundred and fifty pounds for this work - and advised her to get it done for safety reasons. Joanne agreed, but then had second thoughts and took the car to her local Mitsubishi garage instead. Joanne told us:

"The mechanic actually came out to see me and he said none of the work that was quoted was necessary for the brakes, either front or rear. I must say I didn't want to let this lie, and I was so cross about it I emailed Kwik Fit on their website".

Kwik Fit responded and apologised, saying they had investigated and later sent Joanne £250 worth of Kwik Fit vouchers. But what would have happened if Joanne hadn't got that second opinion?

Joanne said: "If I hadn't questioned it and had just thought they are the mechanics, they know what they are talking about, I would have parted with my money and been none the wiser. I'm pleased that they gave me £250 worth of vouchers, however, it could have cost me £650".

That would have been a big enough bill at any time. But for repairs that didn't need doing? It would take more than a few vouchers to put that right.

Kwik Fit: Services

After finding out what Kwik Fit had done to you, we decided to send in some cars of our own. We sent ten cars in for ten services at ten different Kwik Fit garages, and it wasn't just overcharging for unnecessary work that we discovered.

Our expert John Dabek checked all ten cars before we booked them into Kwik Fit branches up and down the country. The cost of a full service was up to £185. We found shocking results. John commented in relation to one service:

"... that is the worst service I have seen... for a long time".

On two out of the ten services Kwik Fit attempted to charge us for unnecessary extra work. They claimed one of the cars we sent in for servicing needed new rear shock absorbers, upper mountings, springs and lower suspension arms costing in total £588 and completely unnecessary. Kwik Fit also charged us for work that they hadn't done on this car - £28.95 for wheel alignment or tracking. John told us:

"No adjustment has been made to the tracking on this car".

We were amazed, but we were far from impressed. Kwik Fit had not only tried to charged for unnecessary work, they had failed to complete crucial checks - some of which could have a serious impact on safety.

On all ten services Kwik Fit failed to complete all the checks listed on their own service sheets. But that didn't stop them ticking each one off to say they had. They claimed to have checked the clutch on a car we sent in for servicing, but the car is an automatic with no clutch to check. On other cars, Kwik Fit didn't spot or rectify things like misaligned washer jets. On others the light bulbs we had displaced were completely missed, and door hinges were left ungreased. They were all simple things and not putting them right wasn't going to cause an accident.

But on some cars Kwik Fit also failed to make two checks vital on any service - the tyres and the brakes, both of which have big safety implications. It wasn't just nails or cuts in tyres that Kwik Fit missed. Kwik Fit had written incorrect pressures for at least one tyre on the service sheets for seven out of our ten cars. On four cars they were low enough to potentially affect the handling of the vehicle.

When we asked our expert John Dabek how crucial it is to check tyres as part of the service, he told us:

"It's absolutely vital, it's the basic element of any service. The tyre puts you in contact with the road, it is the last point of contact isn't it? If that's not right, then you've got a safety implication".

We also asked John about the tyres that came back underinflated, and the spare tyres that came back without being checked, as well as the tyres with cuts in the walls. He told Watchdog:

"These are the basics of any servicing procedure, and it's been missed. It potentially allows vehicles to go on the road in an unsafe condition".

With regard to the brakes John told us:

"All of these services part of the service was a full brake check. That means examination of the brakes, a physical examination hasn't been carried out in many of the cases".

In fact, five out of the ten cars hadn't had all the items on the braking system checked properly. On one car we put silicon on two of the wheels, which was completely undisturbed after the service, indicating that those brakes had not been fully inspected. On another, marks we had placed on the wheel were in exactly the same position after the service. On three of the cars, Kwik Fit gave us incorrect measurements for the brake discs or pads. These were more crucial checks that Kwik Fit claimed to have carried out, but our expert disagrees.

John told Watchdog:

"The cars should always be serviced knowing that they may not be seen again for another year, so the brake examination should be very, very thorough. Without the full brake check, which wasn't carried out, you don't know the condition of the brakes, simple as."

According to John, "of the ten cars that went in not one of them came back with a satisfactory service having been carried out."

When we put our findings to Kwik Fit, their customer services director David White told us:

"We take the allegations made by Watchdog extremely seriously and are examining them in detail, conducting our own investigations and interviewing our staff.

"While we seriously dispute several of the factual and technical points made by Watchdog, we accept that in some areas we have not lived up to the high standards that we set ourselves and apologise to any customers who feel let down. We are putting into place a robust plan to ensure that we address the issues raised.

"Our company policy on recommending unnecessary work is very clear; we operate a zero tolerance policy and any proven cases result in disciplinary action. We provide written guidelines to our staff to help them to diagnose problems and advise customers accurately and consistently.

"Kwik Fit serves over 4 million customers every year with a customer satisfaction rating of 97%. Furthermore our internal customer research shows that 9 out of 10 customers will happily return to Kwik-Fit for an MOT and Service. In both cases our constant focus is how to get this to 100%.

"Our staff are actively incentivised to provide high levels of customer service and compliance. Staff compensation depends on performance achieved in our own mystery shopping programme.

"We accept that in the cases highlighted some things were not done as they should have been, and we are putting a number of measures in place to address this. These include:

- An immediate doubling of our own ongoing independent mystery shopping programme
- Increasing our consistent commitment to training by the additional investment of £1m
- Further supervisory quality checks on all services carried out at our centres
- Face to face meetings with all centre managers and service technicians.

"We will not rest in our efforts to maintain the high standards we set for ourselves."

Watchdog Viewers' Responses:

We've received a large volume of comments about this report. Here are just some of our viewers' responses:

I had cause to complain last year after a service and MOT. The mechanic phoned me and misled me to believe that I required brake pads etc for the MOT. However, this was not neccesary. I complained and they split the difference. I would warn anyone to be very clear as to why their car is failling an MOT when having an MOT AND a service
Mary McNulty, Glasgow

My local kwik-fit tried to charge me nearly £40 to adjust my head-lights when there was nothing wrong with them. Its a favourite way to scam extra cash off their customers.
Mark from Bridgend, South Wales

After hearing tonight's story I also have had trouble with Kwik FIt. I had rear brake pads go and when I called Kwik Fit over the phone they said I would need rear disc as well as pads and would take no for an answer and assisted I need discs as well.

I also took my car to get it's tracking done. I was called over to be told my exhaust would need changing. This did need doing but they told me it would cost me over £400 when another local garage did it for £130.
Martin from Hull

I had exactly the same experience with Kwik Fit. They told me that the brakes on my Mini were dangerous all round and quoted me £540 for discs, pads and brake cables. I drove to to my local MOT station and was told that the car was perfectly road legal.
Matt, South Wales

I am a manager of a kwik fit site and I can assure customers that there is no over selling what so ever, I do agree mistakes can happen and when that happens we will strive to rectify this, don't be put off by this report, if there's any doubt contact the branch manager.
Watchdog viewer

Hi
My local Kwik Fit quoted me £180 worth of 'urgent' (they said my car was almost unsafe) repairs to my front brakes having only carried out replacements to my rear brakes in the service six months prior. Just out of coincidence I took my car to another Kwik Fit branch where I was quoted only £60 and told me my car was a long way off unsafe. Left me feeling either overcharged or under examined!?

The guys in the local branch had previously told me they had been brought in to bring a new branch up to standard - I wonder whether they were trying to push sales to meet targets?
Victoria in Southsea

Hi,

Two personal stories about Kwik Fit, 2 different garages, several years apart!

Firstly getting my tyres changed many years ago, I had my tyres replaced and then was told (and shown!) that my rear suspension was leaking. And yes it was wet on one side! I said OK to replacing it, but as it turned out they didn't have the item in stock. Having waited well over a 90 minutes for the tyre to be delivered & fitted I said I would leave it for now and left.

Several days later, whilst at work, I spoke to the mechanic from my company's vehicle workshop. He told me to drive it onto the ramp - and guess what? Upon inspection I was told that everything was fine - no leak!

More recently I drove into another depot with a leaking exhaust; holes had developed in the end "can". I was told that they could replace it but due to corrosion on the rest of the system and the brackets, etc it was very likely that the rest of the system would need to be replaced. The price - complete with catalytic converter over £630! I left to "think it over", drove 5 miles down the road and had the offending item replaced for £36!

I now believe this behaviour is endemic within this company!!

Take care out there!
Regards
Chris

I have to say, I'm a bit shocked at this story tonight. I went in after my service with my car dealership said they couldn't replace a tyre as it had a slow puncture. I was caught on the hop with my 1 year old in the car with me a mile away from home. I took the car to Kwikfit who managed to the repair the puncture, rather than a new tyre, costing £20 instead of £100 odd. They explained that the dealer couldn't mend it because where the puncture was located but they could. 6 months later, I'm still driving around and the tyre is fine, although I am a little concerned after your report! There's possibly a chance they were one branch that were being honest?
Claire Jones-Hughes

I took my car into my local Kwik fit in may this year to have the wheel balanced and the tracking adjusted. When i returned to collect my car they told me i had brake fluid leaking from the rear disc and that it needed repairing immediately. I informed them that my husband was a mechanic and would fix it and that the only reason i had taken my car to them was because we were going on holiday the following day and my husband hadn't had time to check my car. The mans face dropped and he quickly lowered my car off the ramp and let me go. When i drove the car away it didn't feel any different so my husband checked it over and he could see nothing had been done not even the work they charged me for. When he took the car back the following day they told him they hadn't done it as there machine was broken(even thought hay had charged me for the work) My husband asked for the money back they said they don't refund the money but they would fix the problem. Amazing the difference when a man takes the car in.
Amanda near Kings Lynn, Norfolk

Watchdog viewers' responses were received between 16/09/10 and 22/09/10.