Problem With Service Received By Kwik Fit

[Tim C]

I took my car to Kwik Fit beginning of August 2011 for a brake check, as I was taking my family on holiday three weeks later and since we would be traveling a 3000 mile round trip I figured it was a sensible thing to do just to be on the safe side (as there was some vibration and juddering during hard braking). After two hours in the garage, they called me to pick the car up, and I was told that everything was fine and the check sheet they produced had all the ticks and no service required. As for the juddering, I was told that maybe the discs are slightly warped but it's something you might have to live with. So we decided to go for it and on the second day of our trip, driving through Germany, we started hearing this knocking sound which grew louder and louder and the ABS light came on. I decided to stop and call RAC Europe which I'm a member of. The car was picked up and taken to a main dealership, where the mechanic confirmed that the thread on the two main bolts that connect the caliper to the mount was totally non-existent and he showed me how the whole assembly could move freely just by pushing it by hand. They deemed the car unsafe to drive therefore after a nightmare evening thanks to the RAC as well (whose service was appalling, but that's another story) we had to drive a rental car back to the UK. Because the trade value of the car, I was told that the car could not be repatriated, so I had to bite the bullet and ended up paying over 500 GBP to have it fixed, and eventually had to go and pick it up. When I went to drive the car off, the ABS light came on, so I went back in the shop and asked the mechanic and he said that as he had told me earlier (but I hadn't figured out what he was saying because his English wasn't very good), this was because the wire to the sensor on the other side had been cut and taped at some point by someone. Anyway, I contacted Kwik Fit because I was very angry after being told by both the mechanic in Germany and my mechanic in the UK (who I now wish I had gone to in the first place), that the outcome could have been much worse, the car could have rolled and all sorts. After several letters and phone calls (they even asked me to go and see one of their ops managers at one of their centers and bring the old part which I brought back from Germany, but he never showed up), they have finally sent me a cheque for 150 GBP for the inconvenience and reassured me that a full investigation has taken place so that this kind of thing never happens again, but I don't feel the offer is enough and was wondering if anyone knows if it's worth taking matters further, and if so where.

[rebel11]

Hi Tim

 

Welcome to CAG

 

We have a Kwik Fit Rep on site who can look into the matter for you:- http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/member.php?344137-KwikFit-Official-Customer-services-team

 

Please let us know the outcome. The Rep should pick your thread up.

[kurvaface]

This is totally unacceptable and you must take this further. On issues such as this that could have resulted in death and serious injury it is imperative that Kwik fit demonstrate with absolute clarity that they take the matter extremely seriously. Not only could you have been killed, but other members of the public could have died too and their response from what you have said displays a cavalier disregard for public safety.

 

Email your local trading standards. You can get the email adress of your local trading standards officer by ringing 08454 040506. Do not raise a formal complaint on the phone as they are under pressure and often can be uninterested in complaints like this. I suggest you engage them with this by email.

[traffer]

Nasty failure.

The bolts concenred would have been removed when disks/pads were replaced before. If it is the bolts that hold the carrier assembly to the suspension upright, these are usually quite strong and would be difficult to strip, and unlikely to be stripped unless a very inexperienced mechanic was feeling overly strong.

The bolts that hold the carrier casting that secures the pads and caliper assembly together are another matter. These are usually not overly tight and in my experience, the bolts supplied with some replacement brake pad kits are very soft and easy to strip. Either way, it is unlikely that KF would have spotted this as unless parts were obviously insecure as they probably did little more than a visual inspection to see if the disks and pads were excessively or unevenly worn. What did the garage replace?

[dannysport]

I have seen some fitters leave the springs off the brake calipers

as they could not get them on

one of the drivers in work left with his focus st with no front springs put back on

its 2 mins to get them on but they are a pain