Today went and collected my new wheels (Dotz Mugellos) and thought i would get them fitted properly ie ;tracking etc at my local Formula 1 tyrefitters all for the princely sum of £35 so not too bad .

Whilst up on the ramps i get a call from the fitter that my brake shoes need doing so after agreeing a price which totalled £89 i let them carry on , after running round to get some cash out the ATM machine i return to find they have another problem with the disks apparently they had warped adding another £90 on the bill and they made the excuse that i would not be able to drive away as the onest would be on them if i had a crash as apparently they were that dangerous so after spending almost an hr at this garage which is nationwide they had managed to extract an extra £144 out of me .

Now many of you would be out there saying they could not do that but according to this depot laws are changing that if they feel that a car is that dangerous they can refuse the customer to drive away if you had already taken out a contract for them to repair or do work on yr car so please people be aware and before you get any work done whether its fitting a tyre or anythg else get a price first before you enter any kind of work needing done as i feel with this present time where companies are out to get money they have no probs trying to mug their customers

as if mate, i would have told them to f**k right off, you are well within your own right, they can advise you not to drive the car, but they have no right to stop you from driving off.

you got bummed bad styles, first rule of thumb is not to go to chain outlets for any servicing, tracking or tyre fitting works, as they make a very good markup by fitting unneccesary parts of cars. if you ever take a car thats just passed an mot to a kwik fit or similar garage, you would be amazed at the list of fails they will give you!

as if mate, i would have told them to f**k right off, you are well within your own right, they can advise you not to drive the car, but they have no right to stop you from driving off.

you got bummed bad styles, first rule of thumb is not to go to chain outlets for any servicing, tracking or tyre fitting works, as they make a very good markup by fitting unneccesary parts of cars. if you ever take a car thats just passed an mot to a kwik fit or similar garage, you would be amazed at the list of fails they will give you!

+1 exactly the same with main dealers.

found out the hard way as did not feel there would be any probs just by having my wheels fitted admittedly i could see the shoes were a little shot but the disks not too sure but with the manager and a couple of his office crew standing there made a very convincing story and as a result shall not be going back

do you have the tools or knowledge to have replaced the shoes and discs yourself? if not, dont worry about it too much.

and always if you get a garage to do anything for you, to give you all removed parts, so that you can be sure they have been changed (they could give you any old random part lying around however, but you should be able to tell after driving if they had actually replaced the brakes or not)

not the sort of knowledge to be able to feel confident but yes i did see new parts replaced as they had a viewing panel for you to see the work being carried out its all down to you live and learn but i will be talking to a friend of mine who is in the legal trade to find out about these supposed new laws that are coming into force .

thats one of the reasons i don't use a garage for anything other than the mot.

How are they going to stop you from driving your car away? It's your property and if they won't give it you back then that's theft, they are not a government agency and have no powers in that area, and I can't see them being given any either. It's a well known fact that these places can't be trusted so giving them powers like that would be like giving Dick turpin a job at Nat west

Stories like this really piss me off, these places should have to have some kind of licence so anywhere caught taking the piss or ripping people off can have it taken away so they can't trade any more.

Being a nationwide company you would assume that what they say is based on truth as they as a company could find themselves in a lot of hot water if they are teaching their staff to quote a supposed law that does not hold up ,I'm aware that alot of companies are feeling the pinch but this sort of strategy is completely wrong another thg i learnt was that many of these companies staff earn bonuses if they can get a customer to spend over ex amount .

and always if you get a garage to do anything for you, to give you all removed parts

Will remember that one. I am prime target for rip offage! If this was asked before they even touch your car they'll think twice about ripping you off.

On a positive note...you have new brakes, which isn't a bad thing :-)

:-D True but no going out Sat on the lash

Same thing goes for MOTs, I won't take my car to a Kwik-fit or similar just for the fact that they might make something up, I only go to garages that specialise in MOTs only, where they're not going to fob you off for uneccesary work as they won't make anything from it.

Best bet is to ask to see the vehicle. And as said they cannot force you not to drive it.

I work as a Apprentis in a Mazda/Kia Dealer and take offence at the 3rd post! Times when cars have been really dodgey (Citreon Xara with 3 completly bald tyres with cords showing springs to mind) We had him sign a contract saying he knows the score and if he get tugged by the plod or has an acciedent its his fault.

Same thing goes for MOTs, I won't take my car to a Kwik-fit or similar just for the fact that they might make something up, I only go to garages that specialise in MOTs only, where they're not going to fob you off for uneccesary work as they won't make anything from it.

I agree with this, I took my polo to a nationwide autocentre for its MOT last year, they failed it on a 3 page list of things, such as suspension dangerously hard etc. then gave me a piece of paper with how much it would cost to have them sort it all out.

I presume they do this so the un-mechanically minded person will just give them the car and they can sort out problems that never even existed and charge for it. As it is, I took the car home, sorted the few things that were obviously wrong and took it to a different place where it passed with no advisories.

So far in nearly 2 years as a car owner I have only ever used a garage to do my MOT's. Done cambelt, waterpump, fitted coilovers etc. all myself, and I've learnt stuff from it so I am fairly confident at doing most things now.

as if mate, i would have told them to f**k right off, you are well within your own right, they can advise you not to drive the car, but they have no right to stop you from driving off.

you got bummed bad styles, first rule of thumb is not to go to chain outlets for any servicing, tracking or tyre fitting works, as they make a very good markup by fitting unneccesary parts of cars. if you ever take a car thats just passed an mot to a kwik fit or similar garage, you would be amazed at the list of fails they will give you!

I took my astra to Kwikfit back in august. You could literally tell they couldnt wait to give me (22yr old female) a right list of stuff wrong with it.

Only thing it needed was a mid & back box on the exhaust as it had fell off and sounded horiffic. The astras a 1.4 petrol, got nearly 200,000 miles on it, it looks like sh*t but its got a good engine so I'm running it into the ground.

They try first telling me its 'got a whine' and 'perhaps the turbos gone' - do they seriously think I'm going to believe that on a 1.4 8V!!

Secondly they try telling me as I go to leave that it needs a cambelt or else its going to blow up 'due to age' its only 16yrs old! Had a cambelt 4000 miles ago w*nkers............

An old trick this one...looks like it worked.

Find a mechanic you trust and stick with them. Failing that, invest in some tools and have a crack at it yourself!

I never take my car in to do something i conceivebaly can. ALthough had tracking done recently, i think the ATS center was glad for the work, was dead! He did advise me on a bald tyre, but i had literally had my MOT the day before, with no advisory. My dad has used the garage for MOTs for 20 years, and I have always taken my car in too. It failed first time on a few things like tie rods etc. When i took it for a retest, I'm convinced they didnt move it to have a look, as it was in exactly the same spot i left it in! I replaced the suspension a few days later too, due to raising it back to standard, and i found one of the shocks was totally buggered, which is a failure on an MOT. So now I'm dubious about taking it to a garage that 'does favours' in case my car in unsafe to drive Or were ATS just trying to get a tyre out of me?

Kwikfit also tried to screw my GF over too. One front srping, shock and tie rod had gone, and they wanted to charge to replace both, telling her she had to. Also, she had her Clutch replaced on the advise of her trusted independent garage, only for it to make the same noise it did before. So he put some grease on it, and that sorted it. No need for new clutch or anything. Still charged her £500! Its only an R-reg clio, barely worth the tyres it rolls on!

I also have experience of working in an independent garage. I was doing the hubs on an old beetle, and forgot to mark the tracking shims. Told my boss that i couldnt remember the exact position and he said "never mind, it didnt come in to have the tracking done"!

I guess the moral of the story is you cant trust too many folk in that particular trade. Sorry if that causes offence to anyone

Trust no one.

A garage can't refuse to let you drive away, it's your car, and that's the way it goes under the law of Tort.

Formula1 are the worst,a mate worked for one a few years ago and they turned him into a criminal with their mentality and methods - they were nicking parts off newer and lower mileage cars,swapping them for their own cars. They fitted cheap shyte the customer didn't need and sold it as premium quality.

One branch of course,cant speculate on other branches or staff,but it doesn't look good on the rest when one branch have such practices.

My mams just been charged 350+ vat for a radiator on a 96 celica GT. 5 hours labour on a fucking radiator? pull the other one...

My mams just been charged 350+ vat for a radiator on a 96 celica GT. 5 hours labour on a fucking radiator? pull the other one...

The Autodata book time for rad replacement is 1.1hr

Exactly! worst bit is i couldve done it easily but 'well its booked in now'. Theres no helping some people....

My mams just been charged 350+ vat for a radiator on a 96 celica GT. 5 hours labour on a fucking radiator? pull the other one...

thats like a 20 min job on a celica, pretty sure its 2 bolts and 3 pipes to undo. how do these garage's get away with it

My mams just been charged 350+ vat for a radiator on a 96 celica GT. 5 hours labour on a fucking radiator? pull the other one...

thats like a 20 min job on a celica, pretty sure its 2 bolts and 3 pipes to undo. how do these garage's get away with it

employing monkeys to work for them, don't know their arse from their elbow