An eventful experience

I decided to get my Ford Mondeo serviced at Tyresales Solihull because: • It was affiliated with Kwikfit • Was the nearest car service center from my house • Price was very tempting I ordered the service via website of kwikfit. It was quite straight forward. I went to drop the car on Saturday morning, as instructed on the site. I was told that since its an interim service, it would take about an hour max. So, I should expect a call. I went back home, and waited for the call. The first disappointment: I found communication very poor. I never received a call. So, I called the center at afternoon. The guy told me that he was just about to call me. He told me I need to get my break pads & discs changed – 400£. I hope they didn't rip me off. I agreed for the change, and the guy told me that he will give me a call as soon as he finishes the job. Never received that second call either. I called again in the evening at around 16:00, and I was told that the car is ready. I went to the center, paid in full, got back my car. After reaching my house, I had noticed two things. One, a knocking noise in rear side of passenger door, and a small dent on trunk cover. I felt that dent was more important, so I immediately went back to the center. The guy there saw the dent and told me to come back the next day as the center was almost closed. So, I went back. I went to the center at 10:00 in the morning as I was told. After waiting for about half and hour, the guy shocked me by telling they won't be able to do anything. I told him that before putting they car for servicing I didn't have the dent. He replied that the car was out on street after being ready, where something might have happened, and the center won't take responsibility for the same. I came back and immediately sent a mail detailing the incident to Kwikfit customer service. They promptly did something and I got a call a couple of days later from Tyresales, requesting me to get the car back to their center, and they will take care of the issue. I went back. They showed my car to an opposite body work shop. I was told to go back & was promised that I will receive a call once they schedule the repair. I waited for 3 days, no call. I called them up, and they said that they were too busy this week, so they will definitely call me next week. No call the other week. I called up again. The manager told me that he will call me back in a few mins. Thankfully, he called me back. But he said that I will have to take my car to Kwikfit Birmingham to get it fixed. I told him that was not possible for me, as I stay in Solihull & I don't usually go to Birmingham. He was helpful enough to tell me that I can drop the car to his center tomorrow, and he will get things done. By this time, that noise from passenger rear side had become unbearable for me. I dropped the car at Tyresales next day morning. At that time I told the manager about the noise. He told me that let's first fix the paint job issue. I was told that I should receive a call once it's ready. Again, no call. When I called up in the evening to check the progress, I was told that the paint is fresh, so it might not dry up by 6:00 PM, yet I should call back just before 6. I called up just before 6, and I was told to come to the center next day morning to pick up the car. When I went there the next day, I was expecting the car to be ready at the center. Unfortunately, it was ready at Kwikfit Birmingham. The manager took me to Birmingham in his car, and handed me over my car with the paint job done. I was happy. But the guy gave me a bad news saying he wasn't able to notice any noise in the car. It drove me crazy, as I could hear that noise while coming back from Birmingham. A couple of days later I again went back to the center, and asked the guy to have a look at the noise. He got my car on to the ramp, checked the tyres, took the car for a taste drive & came back saying he wasn't able to hear a single thing. I had lost it with the centre, but it turned out that a nationwide centre was also not able to identify the noise & fix it. Eventually I fixed it myself by surfing through a number of sites & putting some paper packaging in hand brake cables passing by the wheel. So, all in all, not a bad customer service experience, but definitely an eventful one :)

kaushal shah - 08/05/2009 | report this review