Kwik Fit are truly shocking, just the online tyre prices alone should be enough of a warning.
ATS are no better, our child minder had a puncture last week on her Ford Focus and ended up there in a bit of a panic they convinced her that all 4 tyres needed changing on a car that has done only 9000 miles from new!!! I'm sure they see a woman walk in and £££ signs start rolling across their eyes.
My wife went in to ATS years ago with her E30 318i convertible about a week after I had put a new cylinder head gasket on it.
I told her to ask them to fit a down pipe fitting kit and sealing ring as it had a wee blow from there ( I was working flat out and the car was due an MOT )
they told her the complete exhaust was rotten and needed replaced and the down pipe had never been split from the manifold in years that if they touched it it would fall to peaces!! she called me and told me I told her just to get the car out and I would just pay the MOT boy to do it..
they refused to let the car off the ramp and tried to tell her it was a danger and unfit for the road so she called me again..
I left my work and went over to the garage and when I walked in I asked what the problem was. they hit me with the same story that the exhaust was rotten and if they touched it it would fall to peaces so I asked them to show me..
they told me they weren't allowed to due to insurance reasons!! so my response was so have I just to take you're word for it that my car needs £500 spent on it? they responded yes we aren't allowed to show you and we wouldn't rip you off!!!
so at that I asked if they thought I was stupid? I told them that the down pipe had new nuts and bolts in it ( which I had fitted when I done the head gasket ) and I knew there was nothing wrong with the exhaust that all it needed was a sealing ring and a fitting kit!! they then told me whoever told me it had new nuts and bolts fitted to it must have lied to me!!
at that point I lost the rag and told them straight that it was me that had fitted the new nuts and bolts at the same time as doing the head gasket on the car and I had the exhaust off the car as it wasn't the one that had been fitted to it when the head went so hence I knew there was feck all wrong with it and told them straight to get the car off the ramp..
they threatened me with the police trying to tell me it was illegal for them to realese my car!! I offered to call the local station there and then from my mobile and strangely there attitude changed!!
after all that carry on I ended out going 50 yards down the road and bought the sealing ring and fitting kit from the motor factors and went home and fixed it