Kwik(Frauds)Fit experience

[Linas.P]

This probably would apply to all models, but as work was done on GS I will put it here. 

Little pre-amble - So I have long running theme with auto-centre chains and absolutely horrific quality of their work. Halfrauds is well known offender, but this time I decided to punish myself with KwikFrauds...

The only reason I even went that way is because the work required was so simple that it can't be messed-up (or so I thought). So I just needed quick A/C refill, A/C was working fine, but because I have recently acquired the car and had no record of anything done to A/C I decided it would be good to do preventative maintenance, because when they blow-up (A/C compressors that is) it is expensive to fix. 

Now for those of you that don't know, A/C service works as follows - they connect the machine to two inlets of A/C system, punch in the VRN, enter the correct amount of coolant and oil to be filled (which is model specific), press the button and that is all! From there on everything is automated, machine does all the work itself, beeps after ~25-45min (again model dependant) and prints out the receipt. The receipt says VRN, sometimes model, what was specified amount of oil/coolant, how much oil/coolant was recovered, vaccum test results (generally just say "Pass", but sometimes on more sophisticated machines it specifies parameters, like for how long and how much vacuum was kept/lost) and finally how much oil/coolant was put back into the system. Anyway - that is key evidence of the work being performed and useful information to have in terms of any leaks and whenever more involved service is required. And the only reason I don't mind doing this with fraudsters like Halfords is that they use exactly the same machine as Lexus would have (Denso, or Bosch or similar) and all the work is automated, so Lexus would not do anything different for £149, that KwikFrauds do for £64.99 (...in theory).

Okey - so the appointment was at 12:30, I have called 3 days before to check if they can as well perform alignment check, they said it would be fine. Came 12:25, dropped off the car and was told it will take ~1h 40min, which is fine as I have as well added "debug" service (which is basically a smoke bomb in interior which disinfects the A/C system), so that adds-up - 40min for A/C, 30min for "smoke-bomb" and another 30min to ventilate the car afterwards. So... I decided to comeback later (which probably where everything went wrong), came back ~14:15 and found car parked outside with parking fine on it. Didn't even mention the fine to them as I don't care - it is their liability if the fine is issued during the time of appointment when the car is in their possession, but asked for receipt, at which the mechanic responded - "all good car now blows cold air! Receipt will be e-mailed to you". I thought that is little bit strange, considering it was blowing cold air all along and if they would have done "performance test", as they suppose, to then they would have known. "Were you able to do alignment check"? "nope we short on mechanics today, maybe come back later or another day".

Not amazing so far... then I got into the car prepared to open all the windows as after "debug" it usually stinks inside, they use very strong artificial lemon/mentol flavours usually and it literally burns the eyes... but NO... nothing like that. At first I thought... okey, maybe they switched to odourless debug, which does exist as well and that would be preferable for me. 

Anyway, by now I guess you see where this is going... later on the day I popped into local workshop just to replace the oil, again just preventative maintenance, had my own oils, filters etc. so just lift the car drain it and refill it. Whilst waiting for them to finish another car I am looking under the bonnet and one thing occurs to me... the plastic cover in the front of the car where A/C inlet is located is still stuck with dirt, I try to remove it, it pops out with quite a force and dirt and moss falls off. Quite clearly it was not removed recently. The other inlet is behind the Battery and difficult to access without removing it, but in my case impossible, because previous owner fitted the Battery incorrectly (still securely mounted, but Battery cover upside-down), so the Battery temp sensor etc. is the way. Realistically to connect the hose it would require to either disconnect the positive terminal, or remove the Battery altogether and then fit it correctly... ideally.

In short - no filling ports were accessed and I am quite confident nothing was done to the car, they got in did performance check, it was blowing cold air, so they just set A/C to 16C and left it running for 30 min at some point to cold down the car to give impression of "good performance", I doubt they did debug, because car was rather clean and A/C didn't really had any bad smell. So all they did was the free performance check, but they still kept £64.99 for refill and £20 for debug.

So how can you mess-up even the simplest job on the car? BY NOT DOING IT! I think KwikFrauds lives-up to their name, they don't do complex jobs, they don't do complex frauds, there is no sophistication... they just do KwikFrauds!

I have asked them for receipt 3 times now, I have sent them one final email stating that unless they come-up with conclusive evidence soon I will recover my money. So the lesson learned - there is no job too small for KwikFrauds or Halfrauds to screw-up, in theory there should be no difference, but I have not accounted for them not actually doing the job at all!

[steve2006]

Did the car actually move from where you left it initially?

As the TV ads used to say...

”You can’t get better than a Kwik S**t fitter, they’re the guys not to trust”

I am now eagerly awaiting further updates Linas 😀

[Linas.P]

It did move, I mean they even managed to park it on the footpath somewhere at some point... at least according to council ticket. Although council attendants are being di*** as well (shocker I know), as pretty much all of their car are parked on footpath, so why issue the fine to the driver when it is clearly the auto service fault/common practice. 

I doubt there will be any sophisticated ending, if they had the receipt and if it would be common practice to send them out via e-mails I assume I would have received it since Thursday. Now they can only try to fake it, or simply send me the invoice instead of actual receipt, but the outcome 99% will be refund. Even if they actually did something to the car (which I am 99% confident they didn't) and had CCTV of it, then they would still refund rather than sharing the footage.

So in short - make a complain, get the money back, just the waste of time and that feeling that I am being gaslighted "was it actually done, or wasn't it done, is it placebo, am I stupid or just paranoid", but it is weird feeling as obviously no one expects to take car somewhere pay money and it turns out they blatantly haven't even done anything. Just weird feeling... I assume people usually trusts the shop to do what they were paid to do, they may not do it well, but not doing it at all is kind of unusual... perhaps not for KwikFrauds. 

[hockeyedwards]

Usually get a mobile guy out to do the AC side of things, 1000x better than going to any of the above mentioned places. They tend to care about their name, business and workmanship for future recommendations. I would sit out with them and chat, offer food and drinks etc, make it a more personable experience.

Having worked as a teenager in Halfords, I can only attest to some of the janky stuff happening back then, that no doubt is still a mainstay today!

[Linas.P]

I reckon it is probably worse now... as I assume in older days people cared more about their cars and were more knowledgeable, whereas majority of drivers nowadays have no clue.

In my teenage times I was as well working in friends garage and not all the work was amazing, although we mostly worked on rusty old bangers, so often there was no option of doing stuff right, but at no point we had thought of not doing the job and saying that we did it. How rotten the corporation has to be to attempt to play such game or not being able to discourage such behaviour? Because I reckon this is gross-misconduct, people should be fired for such behaviour.

[Steven Lockey]

On 6/12/2023 at 10:38 AM, Linas.P said:

This probably would apply to all models, but as work was done on GS I will put it here. 

Little pre-amble - So I have long running theme with auto-centre chains and absolutely horrific quality of their work. Halfrauds is well known offender, but this time I decided to punish myself with KwikFrauds...

The only reason I even went that way is because the work required was so simple that it can't be messed-up (or so I thought). So I just needed quick A/C refill, A/C was working fine, but because I have recently acquired the car and had no record of anything done to A/C I decided it would be good to do preventative maintenance, because when they blow-up (A/C compressors that is) it is expensive to fix. 

Now for those of you that don't know, A/C service works as follows - they connect the machine to two inlets of A/C system, punch in the VRN, enter the correct amount of coolant and oil to be filled (which is model specific), press the button and that is all! From there on everything is automated, machine does all the work itself, beeps after ~25-45min (again model dependant) and prints out the receipt. The receipt says VRN, sometimes model, what was specified amount of oil/coolant, how much oil/coolant was recovered, vaccum test results (generally just say "Pass", but sometimes on more sophisticated machines it specifies parameters, like for how long and how much vacuum was kept/lost) and finally how much oil/coolant was put back into the system. Anyway - that is key evidence of the work being performed and useful information to have in terms of any leaks and whenever more involved service is required. And the only reason I don't mind doing this with fraudsters like halfords is that they use exactly the same machine as Lexus would have (Denso, or Bosch or similar) and all the work is automated, so Lexus would not do anything different for £149, that KwikFrauds do for £64.99 (...in theory).

Okey - so the appointment was at 12:30, I have called 3 days before to check if they can as well perform alignment check, they said it would be fine. Came 12:25, dropped off the car and was told it will take ~1h 40min, which is fine as I have as well added "debug" service (which is basically a smoke bomb in interior which disinfects the A/C system), so that adds-up - 40min for A/C, 30min for "smoke-bomb" and another 30min to ventilate the car afterwards. So... I decided to comeback later (which probably where everything went wrong), came back ~14:15 and found car parked outside with parking fine on it. Didn't even mention the fine to them as I don't care - it is their liability if the fine is issued during the time of appointment when the car is in their possession, but asked for receipt, at which the mechanic responded - "all good car now blows cold air! Receipt will be e-mailed to you". I thought that is little bit strange, considering it was blowing cold air all along and if they would have done "performance test", as they suppose, to then they would have known. "Were you able to do alignment check"? "nope we short on mechanics today, maybe come back later or another day".

Not amazing so far... then I got into the car prepared to open all the windows as after "debug" it usually stinks inside, they use very strong artificial lemon/mentol flavours usually and it literally burns the eyes... but NO... nothing like that. At first I thought... okey, maybe they switched to odourless debug, which does exist as well and that would be preferable for me. 

Anyway, by now I guess you see where this is going... later on the day I popped into local workshop just to replace the oil, again just preventative maintenance, had my own oils, filters etc. so just lift the car drain it and refill it. Whilst waiting for them to finish another car I am looking under the bonnet and one thing occurs to me... the plastic cover in the front of the car where A/C inlet is located is still stuck with dirt, I try to remove it, it pops out with quite a force and dirt and moss falls off. Quite clearly it was not removed recently. The other inlet is behind the battery and difficult to access without removing it, but in my case impossible, because previous owner fitted the battery incorrectly (still securely mounted, but battery cover upside-down), so the battery temp sensor etc. is the way. Realistically to connect the hose it would require to either disconnect the positive terminal, or remove the battery altogether and then fit it correctly... ideally.

In short - no filling ports were accessed and I am quite confident nothing was done to the car, they got in did performance check, it was blowing cold air, so they just set A/C to 16C and left it running for 30 min at some point to cold down the car to give impression of "good performance", I doubt they did debug, because car was rather clean and A/C didn't really had any bad smell. So all they did was the free performance check, but they still kept £64.99 for refill and £20 for debug.

So how can you mess-up even the simplest job on the car? BY NOT DOING IT! I think KwikFrauds lives-up to their name, they don't do complex jobs, they don't do complex frauds, there is no sophistication... they just do KwikFrauds!

I have asked them for receipt 3 times now, I have sent them one final email stating that unless they come-up with conclusive evidence soon I will recover my money. So the lesson learned - there is no job too small for KwikFrauds or Halfrauds to screw-up, in theory there should be no difference, but I have not accounted for them not actually doing the job at all!

All the chains have the same issue, the quality is incredibly variable.

Try going up the chain to corporate, even if the garage doesn't give a ****, corporate normally does cos the cost of redoing it (or actually doing it) is far less
than the cost of the reputation damage.

I've been to Halfords that are extremely good and ones that are extremely bad.
The local one to me didn't even know how to reset the tracking on the GS450h after doing a wheel alignment.

[Illogan]

And, of course, apart from mediocre management in some of (any type) of chain structured business, one is oft presented with the problem of "pay peanuts, and attract monkeys". Sometimes the staff will be pleasant, efficient and ace at their work, and other times they're disenchanted, overworked and not good at their job, and that's where poor management really comes into play - and does nothing!

[Linas.P]

Yes - corporate were quite efficient... although outcome is still as I expected. 

So they got in touch with garage and their manager tried to give me the call to probably gaslight me a little bit more. To be fair I didn't pick-up because there was nothing that I wanted to discuss or that was not explained in the e-mail.

My request in the e-mail was very simple, I want print out from refill station with following information - settings, recovered amount, leak test result and refilled amount. This is standard information. Secondly, as performance test was booked I want to see results i.e. performance before, after and delta. I hope that is not something that could be confusing or need further discussion.

What they sent me back? As I expected - they just sent me invoice again, so that I could remind myself the amount of money I have paid for work they didn't carry out.

19 minutes ago, Illogan said:

 "pay peanuts, and attract monkeys"

It is like McDonalds of Restaurants basically. People desperate for job (in this case mechanics) will inevitably have to start somewhere and I have no doubt every single on of them are there only temporary until they can get into better mechanic job or start their own business. Likewise I don't believe people looking to work in McDonalds in long-term (at least I hope they are not), so same in KwikFrauds and Halfrauds, it is fast food of the auto mechanics. I would assume the path for progression is getting into dealership network and later opening their own independent specialist shop for certain brand. In short nobody is employed there for long terms and that means they don't really care about their work and thus whatever way you look at it - engagement is minimal.

Could there be some new naive mechanics who really tries? Yes sure, but they don't last long or they quickly become numb considering overall toxic and negligent environment.

Again - as I am not expecting amazing food in the McDonalds, I would not expect amazing service in KwikFrauds, but it is okey sometimes to get a quick coffee and maybe ice-cream in McDonalds in the rush (I would not touch their burgers with the stick), so in theory it should be okey to get AC refill in KwikFit... again I would not trust them for anything more complex... but what I do not expect when ordering coffee and ice-cream is to get 2 empty cups with a parking fine. 

[Duggie B]

1 hour ago, Steven Lockey said:

I've been to halfords that are extremely good and ones that are extremely bad.

My local Halfords (Autocentre) long ago were extremely good with very knowledgeable mechanics ....should that be technicians?...., apart from the routine servicing work they changed all of my diesel injector seals on my Citroën work van and the usual high mileage disc and pad changes, but due to management restructuring the good mechanics (whom I got to know quite well due to the few vehicles we had going there) all left to be replaced by "service & mot" technicians... after having had my van serviced and mot'd, I had a coincidental problem with my engine temperature sensor (temp gauge went straight off the scale) after it had come out of their workshop I popped back to them to enquire if they had disturbed anything, not blaming them in any way, and if needs be sort the issue for me only to be told "sorry we do not have any staff here with that type of skill set but if you leave it with us we can diagnose the problem for ££££" ....I turned on my heels and found another garage closer to home ....sorry Halfords but you'll not be seeing me again....ironically some of the techs went to work for F1 Autocentres where I now go with my 15yr old van and sons (was my fathers) 23yr old golf .....

[Steven Lockey]

1 hour ago, Duggie B said:

My local Halfords (Autocentre) long ago were extremely good with very knowledgeable mechanics ....should that be technicians?...., apart from the routine servicing work they changed all of my diesel injector seals on my Citroën work van and the usual high mileage disc and pad changes, but due to management restructuring the good mechanics (whom I got to know quite well due to the few vehicles we had going there) all left to be replaced by "service & mot" technicians... after having had my van serviced and mot'd, I had a coincidental problem with my engine temperature sensor (temp gauge went straight off the scale) after it had come out of their workshop I popped back to them to enquire if they had disturbed anything, not blaming them in any way, and if needs be sort the issue for me only to be told "sorry we do not have any staff here with that type of skill set but if you leave it with us we can diagnose the problem for ££££" ....I turned on my heels and found another garage closer to home ....sorry Halfords but you'll not be seeing me again....ironically some of the techs went to work for F1 Autocentres where I now go with my 15yr old van and sons (was my fathers) 23yr old golf .....

Yep, the garages generally depend on good managers. With **** managers the good employees leave.
 

[Linas.P]

Quick update - so after 2 weeks of backwards and forwards e-mails and Centre Manager trying to call me they have refunded the amount in full. I did not pick-up the calls, partially because I was on holidays, but partially because I just don't want to hear their excuses and BS. I asked them very simple thing which they clearly didn't have and which is basically the only possible proof of AC service being carried out. If there is no print out of recovered/refilled amount and leak test then there is nothing else to discuss, they can tell me anything, but there is no way to actually check it. 

They did send me invoice week later which had both incorrect registration number and incorrect mileage, so again laughable proof of work. If they have not checked the mileage then I doubt they were even in the car for much more than just moving it between parking spaces. I think from legal perspective that would count as no proof as well - as even if I am asked to provide proof myself,  I have nothing (lets say if I decide to sell the car) - no performance test, no refilled amount, no leak test results and even registration number and mileage is wrong.

Regarding the parking fine - they asked me to send them over the receipt of me paying it and the picture of the charge itself, so I expect them to cover it soon.

All in all, they are completely useless for any work, but I must give credit to their customer service team for at least refunding it and not making even bigger issue here. But imagine somebody less knowledgeable going there - would come out without money, without service and with extra £65 parking fine. 

[DavidCM]

Linas,I'm glad you got it sorted out--they clearly didn't have a leg to stand on.

Absolutely appalling service,yes you won't have to pay for it,but this sort of thing just shouldn't happen and customers shouldn't have to go through the aggravation to clear up after these incompetents.

I think it was Herbie who said he wouldn't let them fit a tea bag to a mug of hot water...

[Herbie]

1 hour ago, DavidCM said:

I think it was Herbie who said he wouldn't let them fit a tea bag to a mug of hot water...

It was indeed...and I mean it too

[DavidCM]

44 minutes ago, Herbie said:

It was indeed...and I mean it too

Couldn't have put it better myself.

[RadicalCoupe-Fuji]

some years ago took a car to Kwik fit to get 2 new tyres & have the alignment checked because I managed to kiss the kerb with the front wheel on an icy mini roundabout & wanted to be sure nothing had happened to the alignment, I booked online, I waited while they did the work, they did the tyres & noticed that I never saw them do the alignment. They billed me for it & told me everything was done, I had to point out that I didnt see them do the alignment & then they did it. i think they were trying it on. I also paid to have nitrogen in the tyres instead of air as it was a thing at that time but who knows if I got that haha. 

Went another time to a different kwik fit a year or so ago for some new tyres & they did an alignment check without asking or mentioning it & claimed the alignment was way out & showed me a dodgy printout with the scary red readings on it, except the car drove fine, no pulling in the steering or uneven tyre wear or anything so I really thought they were trying a scam. They had me a bit paranoid though, so took it elsewhere for a free alignment check & it was all fine. Time wasted.

I actually went back to the same kwik fit a few weeks ago in the rcf because I had a slow puncture in one of the rear tyres, I only went because it was closest & I wanted it sorted out asap, went into the reception & asked if they could do it, the young guy there said they didnt have time, I asked if I could make an appointment, they said no but they could get a new tyre. They have time if you want to buy a new tyre but not for a puncture!

While I was there the cocky 19/20 year old behind the counter who was managing the garage it seemed informed me that my brakes were shot because they squealed a bit when I was parking up, I told him it was the oem pads & high carbon discs on that model & it was unfortunately common, I knew the brakes were fine but he said I was wrong & that he would put it on a lifter right then & prove it (after he told me he didnt have time to repair a puncture in a tyre) I guess at 20 years old all the years of experience he had being a trained mechanic at a kwik fit meant he knew more about my car than me. 

Id rather go further out of my way than go back to a kwik fit now, there seems to be a pattern of dodgy practices.

 

[jdlexus]

I used quick fitt a few years ago for air con clean and recharge.booked in for 10.30 finally finished at 2.45 . need I say more will not be using them again.

[DavidCM]

Moral of the story is they need to change their advertising strapline from"you can't get quicker than a Kwik Fit Fitter" to "you won't get screwed quicker than by Kwik Fit Fitter"

[steve2006]

16 minutes ago, DavidCM said:

Moral of the story is they need to change their advertising strapline from"you can't get quicker than a Kwik Fit Fitter" to "you won't get screwed quicker than by Kwik Fit Fitter"

There’s also mine “ You can’t get better than a Kwik S**t fitter” 😀

[DavidCM]

Our versions are the more accurate.

[Thackeray]

I once went to Kwik-Fit about 30 years ago. I had a new company car on which one of the front tyres had been damaged and needed replacing.

For company tax reasons, the car was legally mine and they paid me additional salary to cover the cost of the car but the maintenance was handled by the company account and I had a charge card for any of the work that needed doing.

So I went into KwikFit and said I needed a new tyre for my nearly new car. They went out the back to look for the tyre and then made a phone call to the service card provider. After a little while they came back and I asked them how it was going. They arrogantly responded, as if I was wasting their time, that they were in the process of fitting two new tyres. "Wait a minute," I said, "I only asked you to replace the damaged tyre. The other one is virtually new." "No," they said. "We're fitting two new tyres."

So I told them this was my car and I wanted one new tyre and didn't want money wasted replacing a virtually new undamaged tyre. They said, "That's ok, we've checked with the service provider for your company car and we're fitting two new tyres."

I eventually persuaded them that as it was my car, it was my choice what was replaced and they just fitted the one new tyre.

I've never been back to Kwik-Fit.

[runsgrateasanut]

I would think that they did not do the work because as you quote" The other inlet is behind the Battery and difficult to access without removing it, but in my case impossible, because previous owner fitted the Battery incorrectly (still securely mounted, but Battery cover upside-down), so the Battery temp sensor etc. is the way. Realistically to connect the hose it would require to either disconnect the positive terminal, or remove the Battery altogether and then fit it correctly... ideally. "unquote.

The Battery has to be connected to run the Car whilst doing the service.  I last week had my A/C topped up a Kwik Fit, Clacton, and it took over an hour to do but the temp now goes down to 9.2. My low pressure line is easy to get to at the back of the engine - yours clearly baffled them and they should have just told you they can't do the job for that reason. Clacton got my A/C working when the car had been unused in France for fourteen months and there was no cycling, so I am happy with their work at reasonable cost.

[Linas.P]

I guess the biggest mistake and main reason was that I left, they told me it will be 1h 40 min and I can wait or come back latter. Realistically there is no wait area, just two plastic chairs in the corner and as it was ~10min walk home I decided to leave and comeback later.

This is obviously speculation, but as you said they may have ran into complications with locating charge points (my past experience in Halfrauds was similar - I have to show them where the ports were, but from there on everything was smooth), complication with Battery being in the way (although it would have taken 3 minutes to remove it and fit it correctly) and maybe they planned to do car eventually. In mean time they did performance test "before", realised it is working quite well left it for latter. As well as I didn't call, nor waited for their call and just walked in 2 hours latter he wasn't prepared. If I would have called, he may have said it will be another 2 hours or whatever, but now that I was standing inside and the car was not done he probably was embarrassed to say that I have to leave again and comeback later... so speculation again, but maybe in that split moment service manager decided to say it was simply done and avoid argument of why. Again this would be sort of thing for which people should be fired, but as their standards are generally so low he probably thought he could get away with that. His obvious mistake was that he didn't prepare any documents, that raised my suspicion and the rest is history. Honestly, if he would have given me generic print-out without registration number stapled to invoice and made-up performance test results I won't have had any second thought. Yes, I may have eventually realised something amiss, but by then it would have been too late.

Again... the assumption could be made that anyone that knows anything about the cars avoids them like a plague, so they are just used to clients who have absolutely no clue what is going on and are not expected to be challenged about anything. 

[dutchie01]

Kwikfitters are not car mechanics. Simple folk that are taught to change tyres. Some are lucky and are allowed to touch your exhaust. The best ones even can change your oil or do an mot! I went in to change wintertyres for summers at my companycar. There is a window between the waitingroom and the the garage so i always keep looking at my car. The brightest young man walked to my car with a bucket and started to unloose the oilplug. I ran towards him asked what the hell he was doing reply was a simple huh change oil Sir. I drove off with different tyres but will never ever go back. Whilst waiting a lady that brought her car in for mot got the message it would fail as the discs and exhaust were worn and needed replacement. I wanted to scream to her Run Run while you still can but didnt. Still feel sorry i didnt.

[Linas.P]

Taking car for MOT there would be literal suicide. Because then they have leverage against you and can manufacture literally anything and with new MOT rules you wouldn't even be able to leave before paying thousands to fix everything. Not KwikFrauds, but once I took my car to Halfrauds, mainly because it had Halfrauds Battery that was failing (I have told this story few times), so I have booked free Battery check and free safety check hoping that they would find their own Battery faulty and then could not wiggle out of replacing it under warranty. 

They had car for whole day and when I came back in the evening they told me it will be something ridiculous like £900 (again if memory serves). They counted 2 rear tyres for £160 each, because "inside edge was worn", they said new front disks and rear pads are needed for £200+£120, "because of the lip", then £12 for parking light, new Battery is needed for £140 (it was actually faulty and I knew it)... some other stuff... again prices are just from memory.

So I said ok - "The tyres Dunlop RT2 are £80 fitted, what tyres are you offering me for £160" - he was like "ok you want Dunlop, ok we can do Dunlop for £108 each" and shows me the screen with Sport 001 (which at the time was the cheapest tyre that Dunlop made). No thank you.

Brakes, I said "are you sure it is front brakes that need replacing"... and he is like "yeah yeah I can show you". We walk into the shop he looks at the front brakes and they are literally brand new, because I had them replaced 2 days ago and all 4 pads... and he is like... "ahhh maybe it was rear disks then". And the rear likewise were pretty much unworn except of little bit of contrast between clean face and rust on the hub. No again...

Then the Battery - I am like "sure, it needs doing, but it is your Battery under warranty", show him the receipt and he is like "ohhh this is halford retail that sold it, we are Halfords autoservices, so we can't replace it". By the way halfrauds retail as well refused to replace it, because as they explained the "warranty is not transferable" and because it was different card on receipt they can't honour it. Back then I was naive, so they got away with this BS. 

Finally, the parking light... I was like "I don't need it, it costs £2 for two, why would I pay £12"... and he is like "yeah but we have already fitted it"...  me "I hope you didn't, because few weeks ago I have fitted all LED lights which literally last lifetime"... and he "ohhh whatever you don't need to pay for it, it will be good will gesture from us".  yeah sure - "good will" when you are caught red handed adding random shaite onto the bill. 

[steve2006]

Although this was a more local set up with maybe 12 branches I took my old 94 Celsior there back in 2007 for its MOT.

Car passed but had advisories for corroded front discs and cracking front brake hoses.

After then it went to my local independent garage in the village for every MOT still presented with those apparent defects as I never changed the discs or hoses and it never got a mention of them after another 14 years had passed.