Thursday, January 26, 2012

Open Letter to Kwik-Fit

To whom it may concern.
I just had a puncture fixed by Kwik-Fit.  The price of £21.50! was excessive, but I had no choice at the time or else I would have gone elsewhere.
The experience started badly as the fitter just HAD to look at some amusing content on his colleagues iPhone before dealing with my tyre.  I did point this out to the chaps in the office, but they were not interested and seemed to think that keeping a customer waiting was ok. 
I was shocked when I got the bill to see the breakdown.  I neither asked for nor wanted "Nitrogen inflation" or a "New Inflation Valve".  That would have saved me £6.50.  £15 is still steep for a puncture repair!
This just strikes me as gross profiteering.  I know for a fact that my local tyre shop charges £10 for a puncture repair.
I am shocked and disappointed that you would take advantage of customers in this way.  If you must add extra services to a simple request then you should inform the customer BEFORE so they can choose NOT to have them.  As I said, I did not want "Nitrogen inflation" and there was nothing wrong with the valve (I have difficulty believing a valve costs more than £1).
I take it that you price promise your work.  What documentation do you need in order to prove that other businesses charge a reasonable amount?
Regards
An annoyed customer

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Owning an independent tyre outlet, I was interested in the customers perspective on the 'right costings' of a puncture repair price. with responses from £5.00 to £80.00 found on forums it is amazing the difference out there. the reason I was browsing this is that I currently charge £16.00 for a repair, which includes re-balancing the wheel and replacing the tubeless valve (which SHOULD always be done whenever the tyre is removed and replaced as it is a deteriating part of the assembly. This operation from car pulling in to car leaving generally takes around 20+ minutes, not 10 or 5 as sometimes explained. But the question needs to be asked, how much would you expect to pay for your front wheel to be balanced? around £5 to £8 should be expected. How much would you expect to pay if you turned up with a couple of 16" tyres and asked to have them fitted inc balance to the front of your car? well Black Circle, the largest online tyre supplier pays around £13.00 to its fitting partners so why would an end user expect to pay less? hence, when i'm charging £16.00 to repair a puncture, i'm truely assessing, and fixing that tyre for around £3.00, which I would deem a very cheap price.

Cosma said...

To answer your questions...

>Owning an independent tyre outlet,

Please identify which one or give an email address, to add credibility to your comments.

>I was interested in the customers perspective on the 'right costings'
>of a puncture repair price. with responses from £5.00 to £80.00 found
>on forums it is amazing the difference out there.

$80!!! If someone pays £80 to have a puncture fixed then they clearly have too much money and no sense. Allow me to hand over my paypal details as they NEED to pay me lots!

£10-£15 is a reasonable price for a puncture repair.

>the reason I was browsing this is that I currently charge £16.00 for a repair,

>I can live with that.

>which includes re-balancing the wheel and replacing the tubeless valve
>which SHOULD always be done whenever the tyre is removed and replaced
>as it is a deteriating part of the assembly.

I am not questioning that. I am questioning charging me £5 for a valve and £1.50 for a nitrogen fill, without asking me if I wanted it. £21.50 is too much for a puncture repair.

>This operation from car pulling in to car leaving generally takes around
>20+ minutes, not 10 or 5 as sometimes explained.

True. but make that + another 5 mins while the person looks at pictures on his friends phone!

>But the question needs to be asked, how much would you expect to pay for
>your front wheel to be balanced? around £5 to £8 should be expected.

Sounds in the ball park.

>How much would you expect to pay if you turned up with a couple of 16"
>tyres and asked to have them fitted inc balance to the front of your car?

If I supplied the tyres, Say £8 for the balancing and a reasonable amount (say £10) for the fitting. If you supplied the tyre, then I expect fitting and balancing to be included as part of the deal, not extras.

>well Black Circle, the largest online tyre supplier pays around £13.00
>to its fitting partners so why would an end user expect to pay less?

I don't. But just because they pay one price I do not see what baring it has on what it costs me.

>hence, when i'm charging £16.00 to repair a puncture, i'm truely assessing,
>and fixing that tyre for around £3.00, which I would deem a very cheap
>price.

Err no. You are doing it for £13 + £16 = £29

That is how business works, you buy for price a, sell for price b and that is your profit (less costs), there is no need to fleece the customer just because they are desperate and you are the only shop in the area.

Kwik fit should have made it all transparent and given me the choice. Not charge a price, then itemise it and let me know I had paid for stuff I did not want.

Clearly they agreed with me as they refunded the cost of the valve and the Nitrogen fill.

David Fleming said...

I had a nail in my front tyre and I took it to Kwik Fit I received a bill for £22.50. They took £9.50 for the puncture,£4.50 for the new valve,£6.75 for the wheel balance and £1,50 for nitrogen inflation. I will never enter a Kwik F it garage again. My name's David Fleming. e-mail annfleming@sky.com. This incident happened on 25th may 2012.

Cosma said...

You are lucky the cheeky devils did not decide that you had to buy a new tyre!

I like going to a place in Essex (Right buy the old Ford Factory at Dagenham). Called Elite. They give great service, do a good job, are polite and have reasonable prices for better products (in fact they are usually cheaper than Kwik Fit), also the environment is clean.

Did you ask for a Nitrogen fill?

While I accept that it may be advisable to put a new valve on, they should have given you the choice, and I think that balancing is part of the process and should not be charged as an extra.

£14 for a puncture I can live with. £22.50 is having a laugh!

Tom Paterson said...

I hope all your tyres were filled with Nitrogen and not just the one under repair, as that could well be a safety hazzard.

Cosma said...

You know what Tom. That had crossed my mind, but I did not want to make an issue of it as in reality they would have had to empty all 4 tyres and re-inflate them to make any difference at all!

Anonymous said...

Malcolm Griffin griffinmal1980@yahoo.co.uk

Feeling very ripped off, although I did expect it. Rather than blow the tyre up at the local petrol station to get me home, take it off myself once at home put the spare on and then go to my local garage where they often just charge a few quid I popped into Kwik Fit and £25.90 later I have a puncture repaired tyre (£11.50) plus additional extras that I did NOT want and was NOT pre-advised of, namely new valve, wheel balancing and nitrogen inflation. Fair play £11.50 to repair a puncture but to not be told in advance of the additional charges is blatant extortion. I have learnt from this and will warn others of Kwik Fit. I knew they were robbers anyway to be honest so I am to blame.

Cosma said...

So getting for 2 years since this thread started, and nothing has changed at Kwik Fit.

I, for one, will not go back. Or if I do I will make it clear what I will or will not be paying for.

Miss Fox said...

They have just done the same to me and dragged it out for an hour so I paid as they closed, before I had a chance to look at why it cost so much. They also claimed that one of my tyres was not the right size so changed that as well. I was thinking of chaning the 2 front tyres anyway as they were winter tyres but I feel like they fleeced me.