Please read - hillarious

Hmmm. The original estimate of 570 quid sounds about right for that job, in order for you to keep your mouth shut. Don't accept a penny less.

Cheers,

Colin.

I would suggest to them that they sort the problem, that they don't bill you for the fix, and that they pay for an independant inspector to check it out after the repair, while you are present to confirm the full job has been done and it is safe, and you will say nothing more to the police, their head office, trading standards or any any trade associations that they may be members of.

But the cu nt s really need a day in court. It would be a public service to give them that day.

And 3-6 months inside.

It must have worked before and only failed due to the mishap of the intended victim finding his car on the road away from the garage. How many others have they ripped off? How many more victims would you let them have? Allowing them to continue and turning a blind eye is accessory to all further crimes.

Oddly enough some years ago I had a handbrake cable go on my Cavalier, which although old (90k) was in almost perfect condition.

This was a Sunday.

I rang K.... F.. local branch on Monday morning and they said drop it around and we'll give a quote. This was a bit of an emergency, and they are only

1/2 mile away ...

By the evening I had

1) been told on the phone that it needed new shocks all round, and new discs because they were too thin (they weren't - Id measure them the week before), and the front pads were worn to 2mm (they weren't) and lots of other bits for several hundred pounds

2) been refused a quote for the handbrake cable because I did not want the other work done(!)

3) Complained to their customer service dept. to no avail (why does a tyre/exhaust depot need a customer service call centre?

4) left work early to collect the car - was refused a written report and estimate on the work that was supposedly needed, and found the car parked around the back On a slope facing forward Next to a wrecked car on its left - like about 6 inches away from a jagged piece of metal sticking out of said car with the steering turned on full left lock held back only by being in 1st gear (remember what it went in for?)

5) Took it to my local branch of Halfords garages (sadly no longer open), who - stored the car in their workshop for me overnight nice and secure - checked the cable the next day, quoted me and fitted a new one, no problem - produced a written report on all the other bits - smiley faces all round

To be fair that branch of K--- F-- had had different managers over the years, good and bad -

under a previous manager we had taken my wife's 1973 escort in for an MOT and it failed

- It failed on Emissions (note the year) alone

- My wife was told it would cost too much to fix

- They offered her £80 for it as scrap

- I subsequently had a conversation with the manager who -Insisted the emission did need checking and that the engine was scrap (HC reading too high - remember that) -Argued the toss for several minutes against my implacable insistence otherwise (I still don't know how I managed it) -Finally threatened (not agreed!) to get the testers book out and show me -did so, and changed his mind!

With MOT cert hot in hand I got my local tune-up guy to have a quick look - and he pronounced That the new needle valve I had put in the week before was not correctly fitted *Doh!) Fixed it Showed me his testing handbook, but connected the car up to his kit to see what sort of readings he got Pronounced that the emissions were much better that some cars only 2 or

3 years old that he had tested (this car was 20 years old)

A couple of years later I sold the car - for £350 pounds! - to an avid Mk1 escort fan

I have not done business of any kid with K--- F--- since.

And as you can see although this happened 6 years ago (for the Cavalier) I am still angry!

Its normal practise for Kwick Fitup. Years ago I told my girlfriend she needed new front brake pads on her AX. She went to KF and phoned me in tears as it turned out she needed new disks and callipers and new rear drums all coming to £1300, the only consolation was that they offered her credit terms. Needless to say I told her to bring the car back. Front slides needed regreased and a set of pads, passed the MOT for years afterwards on the same discs and drums.

People still don't believe me when I tell them why not to go to KF, I'm sure these procedures are all in a secret company manual somewhere because all the branches seem to do it ;-)

Z

I had to get a new tyre for my caravan and the nearest tyre place was K F. The chap there tried to get me to bring in the caravan for new shockers. It seems he could tell by looking at the tyre that both needed to be replaced. I had quite a game getting him to fit me a tyre on the wheel, as he tried his best to tell me it would be illegal to allow me to tow the 'van.

Yup - especially as caravans made in the last 20 years don't have separate shockers anyway; they have rubber torsion axles.