Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: wheels-inmotion on 17 September 2010, 21:38:26
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From what i've read online today KF crashed and burned on Watchdog last night, i also read a company statement today highlighting a new initiative toward training staff......
wim says
To late, KF is despised online with endless horror story's. The report was so damaging no national company could honestly hold their head up and say "training" will solve the problem.
I know whats wrong with KF and indeed other national chains because i worked within that arena for 25yrs. It's a realm of starvation wages and bonus's / commission. Staff are forced or lead by greed to hit bonus targets simple as that. Remove the need for greed and offer a true customer service with cheap prices.... Happy days.
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if i charged a decent wad for the work i did i would be worth a fortune. unfortunatly i have a consience and cannot rip anyone off. but there are so many who dont give a shite who they rip off. makes me angry.small subcontractors are the worse
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From what i've read online today KF crashed and burned on Watchdog last night, i also read a company statement today highlighting a new initiative toward training staff......
wim says
To late, KF is despised online with endless horror story's. The report was so damaging no national company could honestly hold their head up and say "training" will solve the problem.
I know whats wrong with KF and indeed other national chains because i worked within that arena for 25yrs. It's a realm of starvation wages and bonus's / commission. Staff are forced or lead by greed to hit bonus targets simple as that. Remove the need for greed and offer a true customer service with cheap prices.... Happy days.
Yes, to my knowledge and experience KF's problems go back that far, even when Farmer was in charge!! ::) ::) ::)
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From what i've read online today KF crashed and burned on Watchdog last night, .....
First quarter of an hour .... ish :y :y
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00tt96k/Watchdog_16_09_2010/
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In many years I have had no problem with KF, however has been mostly tyres or work that I have identified... :) I can't think of a time when they have done a full inspection report like the ones shown, I have never seen on..... :D :D :D
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Hope they go under, no sympathy. >:(
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Brings back memorys,after doing a stub axle watching the back wheel overtake me on the a19 >:( :( :o :o
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From what i've read online today KF crashed and burned on Watchdog last night, .....
First quarter of an hour .... ish :y :y
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00tt96k/Watchdog_16_09_2010/
Very disappointing indeed :( :(
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seven years ago when i was not available to do the job, kwik fit charged £400 for pads and discs all round on a...
rover 400. not the most expensive in the parts dept. :(
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I have always found KF to be a bunch of sharks, with the exception of the occasional decent centre, which sadly don't last long. I only ever went to KF twice, first time they tried to sell me everything (tyres, shocks, exhaust), etc... The second time was purely for an exhaust, but then they ordered the wrong one and what should have been a morning, ended up being all day... Certainly left me feeling with the big avoid... Then again, I avoid pretty much all of the main stream tyre/exhaust places anyway...
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wim. do you sell tyres as well? ::)
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I went in a KF for an exhaust on a cavalier sri, was then told my struts were leaking, luckily i knew the smell of duck oil which at the time was only available to the trade, the buggers had sprayed my struts with it, after an arguement with the spotty manager he told me just to go & didnt charge me for the exhaust :y
& on another occasion i saw one of them destroy the wheel studs on a rolls royce, he didnt know that they were left hand thread when trying to put the nuts back on. ;D ;D
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wim. do you sell tyres as well? ::)
Yep :y
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From what i've read online today KF crashed and burned on Watchdog last night, .....
First quarter of an hour .... ish :y :y
http://[/highlight]http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00tt96k/Watchdog_16_09_2010/
Very disappointing indeed :( :(
Just had a look at it and the guy that came to check out the Volvo was in an Omega :y :y.
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wim. do you sell tyres as well? ::)
Yep and suspension, brakes, exhausts :y
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wim. do you sell tyres as well? ::)
Yep and suspension, brakes, exhausts :y
Ooh, just saying those words together makes me cringe. Good job Wim present to the public in a deferent way, don't want that association or to be seen even competing at that level IMO.
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Never used them. The name puts me off for a start. If it's gonna be quick I might as well do it myself.
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I have always found KF to be a bunch of sharks, with the exception of the occasional decent centre, which sadly don't last long. I only ever went to KF twice, first time they tried to sell me everything (tyres, shocks, exhaust), etc... The second time was purely for an exhaust, but then they ordered the wrong one and what should have been a morning, ended up being all day... Certainly left me feeling with the big avoid... Then again, I avoid pretty much all of the main stream tyre/exhaust places anyway...
One of my sons actually had these cowboys fit the wrong exhaust to his Nova, which was confirmed by Vauxhall's after he got tired of the pipework banging on the underside of his car and KF arguing they had done a good job!! ::) ::) ::)
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[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NroSVa0jHQU&feature=related[/media]
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wim. do you sell tyres as well? ::)
Yes they do (under the guise of sister company Blackboots). I'm not sure WIM look at KwikFit as a competitor - the sort of people generally who use Kwikfit do so due to it being local and a 'known' brand (hence unlikely to rip off - yeah, right!). There is not, as far as I can remember, one in Chesham - nearest I can think of is Berko, Hemel or Wycombe.
It may sound like a cliche, or that I am an employee/shareholder/commission/related (I'm not), but WIM do offer a different level of service to most other fastfit places I have used. Every time I have been, I have been delighted with the service, not just to my car, but also to me (shame the free tea and coffee has gone :P). Very different to the service I received at places such as KF/ATF/STS/Just Tyres/independents. Its not like its simply 'round the corner' for me, but I do continue to use them until I start receiving poor service (to the car).
I reserve judgement on how the other/franchised/expanded WIM centres will work, as they are existing tyre centres, possibly with the 'fastfit mentality'. I have discussed these concerns with wheels-inmotion, I like what I hear back, but reserve judgement until we know how well it works in practice. It seems wheels-inmotion is prepared to dump centres that are not up to scratch.
Back to KF - I suspect BBC, as is the new style, only mentioned/reported on the bad ones, and the good cars they put in were probably not mentioned at all.
Additionally, any large company will have good eggs and bad apples, be it Vauxhall dealer networks, fastfit, police, tinpot yankee computer firms...
When Mrs TB used to work for Ford, our company car had to have tyres/exhausts (at less than 2yrs old!!!) down at KF, as Ford was a part owner. The local KF centre in Banbury knew this was a money spinner, and would quote for the most expense tyres, and do the routine about shocks (we only had car for 2yrs ;)) and brakes. We always refused the Michelin tyres, and said we would get shocks/brakes done at dealer who'd used genuine parts (who said nought wrong).
I did hear from an ex-employee that they had a target (in the 1990s) of £40 per customer, if one customer just had a single cheap tyre, the next had to have extra work.
But the local ATS in Brackley seem to be more honest. It seems to have an older workforce rather than kids. Likewise with the ATS in Bletchley. Though other centres have not been so great.
Specifically for KF, I would imagine we all know somebody who has been poorly treated by a KF centre, yet they are always busy :-/
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Thank you Theboy, that was a very commendable explanation of wim/BB.
We are not fast fit, in fact we're not fast anything, our focus is the customer and job in hand, 99% of the time the customer knows exactly what the bill will be before they even arrive.
Most of the suspension/ brake and other mods we install, including part from members here are "customers own parts", reason being we don't have the buying power for most parts so i advise owners to buy them direct and we fit.... I could buy cheap and nasty and be seen to be cheap but i won't.
My national network...... Well it's hard work!. First geometry calibration network in the world so if it's easy everyone would be doing it but it's not.
A few member here have used the network and i hope for them it's been problem free.
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I am speaking as a 'network' customer...
I booked for the local centre, to be told they werent up to scratch, then redirected to the next nearest....
Annoying, Yes. The right course of action for Tony and myself, Definately Yes, and proves his commitment to this idea.
I can't argue that its not more of a pain to drive 3/4 of an hour instead of 10 mins, but when you want / need / demand the WIM precision, then its the only course of action.
One of ours is booked in for Monday up in Bolton, and I have no reason to doubt the work will be as if Tony had done it himself, and I have made the long trip several times as I know that is worthwhile. :y
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Worst I heard was around 6 months ago.
A work college took his 2.2 Astra SRi there for front discs and pads.
He got the car back and the pad wear light was on so he took it back.
They told him they could not get the wear sesnor to fit but had this time modified the caliper so it would.
He asked me to look at it and the monkeys had fitted pads and discs for a 1.8 which are smaller and had taken an angle grinder to the brake caliper to get the wear sensor to clip into the pad!
Absolutely F-ing terrible.
So he called trading standards, took it to Vx, who fitted genuine pads, discs and new caliper at a cost of a grand and then billed Kwikfit who finaly paid up!
It beggers belief that a fitter can look at something that is clearly wrong and come to the conclusion that it must be the 6 year old caliper that has been made wrong and not the new parts just fitted.
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hence i always make the effort for a trip to you Tony :y
Actually I will need an appointment for some geometry within next few days if you have any last minute ones available, as my shocks are well past their prime ::)
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Well. I know the manager of my local KF. He is a good bloke and has pride in his work. They are not all the same.
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My father in law took his liana to kf and was told he needed discs+pads he said carry on the nice chap gave him a bill for £265.00 my father-in-law gave him a receipt for the life time warenty he got 5 months previous from another kf. he said the chaps face was pricless ;D ;D ;D
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My father in law took his liana to kf and was told he needed discs+pads he said carry on the nice chap gave him a bill for £265.00 my father-in-law gave him a receipt for the life time warenty he got 5 months previous from another kf. he said the chaps face was pricless ;D ;D ;D
Love it.
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My father in law took his liana to kf and was told he needed discs+pads he said carry on the nice chap gave him a bill for £265.00 my father-in-law gave him a receipt for the life time warenty he got 5 months previous from another kf. he said the chaps face was pricless ;D ;D ;D
Poetic justice 8-) :y
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My father in law took his liana to kf and was told he needed discs+pads he said carry on the nice chap gave him a bill for £265.00 my father-in-law gave him a receipt for the life time warenty he got 5 months previous from another kf. he said the chaps face was pricless ;D ;D ;D
Poetic justice 8-) :y
rofl.... nearly spat my beer out my mouth through laughing... I would love to have seen his face...
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Worst I heard was around 6 months ago.
A work college took his 2.2 Astra SRi there for front discs and pads.
He got the car back and the pad wear light was on so he took it back.
They told him they could not get the wear sesnor to fit but had this time modified the caliper so it would.
He asked me to look at it and the monkeys had fitted pads and discs for a 1.8 which are smaller and had taken an angle grinder to the brake caliper to get the wear sensor to clip into the pad!
Absolutely F-ing terrible.
So he called trading standards, took it to Vx, who fitted genuine pads, discs and new caliper at a cost of a grand and then billed Kwikfit who finaly paid up!
It beggers belief that a fitter can look at something that is clearly wrong and come to the conclusion that it must be the 6 year old caliper that has been made wrong and not the new parts just fitted.
That is just unbeleiveable :o :o :o :o
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Well. I know the manager of my local KF. He is a good bloke and has pride in his work. They are not all the same.
I have also known my local KF manager for 19 years. I have always had good reliable service.
Three months ago he was moved elsewhere, since then a really dodgy group are operating from my local branch, their reputation is rapidly going downhill :'( :'(
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My father in law took his liana to kf and was told he needed discs+pads he said carry on the nice chap gave him a bill for £265.00 my father-in-law gave him a receipt for the life time warenty he got 5 months previous from another kf. he said the chaps face was pricless ;D ;D ;D
Poetic justice 8-) :y
rofl.... nearly spat my beer out my mouth through laughing... I would love to have seen his face...
Whisky, but the same idea........ ;D ;D ;D