23-07-2013, 09:31 PM
I went to kwikshit when I bought my first car as I didn't know any better at the time.
Was having braking issues (in that they weren't working!) so took it for their free brake test - expected them to say lots needs doing to it but a short while later they came into the waiting room and said 'your car's fine, it passed the braking efficiency test'.
Anyway I basically carried on that something WAS wrong despite it scraping through the test and they reluctantly did the brake strip (part of the free test lol, they just CBA) while I watched them. As they took a rear drum off a load of fluid dribbled onto the floor....nothing wrong there lol.
So they replaced the cylinder and 'cleaned' the fluid off the shoes (umm, you cant clean brake fluid off shoes but ok) and bled the system with a half arsed approach.
After several hours I left with a much lighter wallet........and the brakes felt worse, then the brake dash light came on, pulled over and checked fluid level....none visible!
Drove home anyway as I was desperate for the loo by then and phoned up to complain...they just told me to bring it back and theyd check the level (as if I was blind). Long story short I took it back, they filled it up and bled it properly. Still didn't feel great but first car so nothing to compare with.
The MOT came up a month later, took it to the local, and it failed on rear brake imbalance and handbrake efficiency......brilliant considering I'd had a supposed 'full brake check' done not long before.
Since that incident I've never returned to kwik fit and done all work myself (except stuff like tyres and MOT obv). I make a lot of f*ck ups, but at least I know when I've f*cked up and will put it right!
Also I did see them on Watchdog a couple of weeks back, but they won't change, I'd bet even if the people that saw the watchdog thing stopped going it wouldn't even make a noticeable dent in their profits....
Was having braking issues (in that they weren't working!) so took it for their free brake test - expected them to say lots needs doing to it but a short while later they came into the waiting room and said 'your car's fine, it passed the braking efficiency test'.
Anyway I basically carried on that something WAS wrong despite it scraping through the test and they reluctantly did the brake strip (part of the free test lol, they just CBA) while I watched them. As they took a rear drum off a load of fluid dribbled onto the floor....nothing wrong there lol.
So they replaced the cylinder and 'cleaned' the fluid off the shoes (umm, you cant clean brake fluid off shoes but ok) and bled the system with a half arsed approach.
After several hours I left with a much lighter wallet........and the brakes felt worse, then the brake dash light came on, pulled over and checked fluid level....none visible!
Drove home anyway as I was desperate for the loo by then and phoned up to complain...they just told me to bring it back and theyd check the level (as if I was blind). Long story short I took it back, they filled it up and bled it properly. Still didn't feel great but first car so nothing to compare with.
The MOT came up a month later, took it to the local, and it failed on rear brake imbalance and handbrake efficiency......brilliant considering I'd had a supposed 'full brake check' done not long before.
Since that incident I've never returned to kwik fit and done all work myself (except stuff like tyres and MOT obv). I make a lot of f*ck ups, but at least I know when I've f*cked up and will put it right!
Also I did see them on Watchdog a couple of weeks back, but they won't change, I'd bet even if the people that saw the watchdog thing stopped going it wouldn't even make a noticeable dent in their profits....