Tyre fitters scam
Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2020 8:54 am
Well - that's 2 1/2 hours of my life I'm not getting back
I needed a couple of new rear tyres for Mrs. Nef's Clio, so ordered some off Blackcircles and selected the nearest place round the corner to get them fitted - Kwik-Fit-a-like called McConechey's. I've used them before. Cheap and a bit grubby, but whatja want for fitting a pair of tyres?
Anyway, I duly turn up on the dot of 8.30, as requested and hand over the keys. 2 minutes later the boy is back saying the locking wheel nut is broken and would I like him to use their "special tool" to remove it. At a cost of £80. WTF?? I inspect the locking nut and key. Nope - nothing broken. Sure, it's a wee bit loose - the Renault "puzzle keys" were shit out of the factory, and 15 years of use hasn't improved things - but not broken. He shows me his attempt to get it off with a 3' breaker bar and it keeps slipping off. "Fine", I say, just stick the rattle gun on it. The boy's got a big battery Snap-on rattle gun sitting on the bench. He umms and errs and then says he doesn't want to - "I don't want to break my gun" (WTF is a rattle gun for???). He again offers me the £80 deal to use their "special tool". I politely decline and resist the urge to suggest an orifice to insert his special tool into.
So, I take the car away, traipse across town in morning traffic to my workshop to pick up my own impact gun. Of course, the nut spins off at the vaguest threat, so I pop it back on loosely and head back to the tyre place. This time the excuse is "we can't let you use your own tools in our workshop". Fine. So I take the car back out into the carpark and remove the nut all together. He gives me a long speech about the safety of driving on 3 studs - for the 2 car-lengths the car has to travel to get back into the workshop. I smile and nod, and explain that I'm comfortable with the risks involved.
Out of excuses, I finally get my new boots fitted, and the boy hands me a clip board with the Blackcircles sign-off sheet on it. I decline to sign the bit where it says "I am fully satisfied with the service I have received today", and share my opinion that the failure to remove the locking nut and the proposed £80 charge was at best pretty useless and at worst, an outright scam. His mate (big fella) comes round the desk, stands 3"from my face, says it is not company policy to use impact guns to remove wheelnuts (despite the fact I've just watched him spin the other 3 off with his rattle gun), and suggests it's time for me to leave. Reasoning that further conversation will only result in him introducing me to one of the many, many heavy objects he has to hand, I take him up on his suggestion.
Like the big, tough guy I am, I went home and phoned Blackcirlces, who refunded my fitting charges and gave me £10 towards my wasted petrol. Good on them for doing the right thing, but I'm still mildly irked by the incident...
I needed a couple of new rear tyres for Mrs. Nef's Clio, so ordered some off Blackcircles and selected the nearest place round the corner to get them fitted - Kwik-Fit-a-like called McConechey's. I've used them before. Cheap and a bit grubby, but whatja want for fitting a pair of tyres?
Anyway, I duly turn up on the dot of 8.30, as requested and hand over the keys. 2 minutes later the boy is back saying the locking wheel nut is broken and would I like him to use their "special tool" to remove it. At a cost of £80. WTF?? I inspect the locking nut and key. Nope - nothing broken. Sure, it's a wee bit loose - the Renault "puzzle keys" were shit out of the factory, and 15 years of use hasn't improved things - but not broken. He shows me his attempt to get it off with a 3' breaker bar and it keeps slipping off. "Fine", I say, just stick the rattle gun on it. The boy's got a big battery Snap-on rattle gun sitting on the bench. He umms and errs and then says he doesn't want to - "I don't want to break my gun" (WTF is a rattle gun for???). He again offers me the £80 deal to use their "special tool". I politely decline and resist the urge to suggest an orifice to insert his special tool into.
So, I take the car away, traipse across town in morning traffic to my workshop to pick up my own impact gun. Of course, the nut spins off at the vaguest threat, so I pop it back on loosely and head back to the tyre place. This time the excuse is "we can't let you use your own tools in our workshop". Fine. So I take the car back out into the carpark and remove the nut all together. He gives me a long speech about the safety of driving on 3 studs - for the 2 car-lengths the car has to travel to get back into the workshop. I smile and nod, and explain that I'm comfortable with the risks involved.
Out of excuses, I finally get my new boots fitted, and the boy hands me a clip board with the Blackcircles sign-off sheet on it. I decline to sign the bit where it says "I am fully satisfied with the service I have received today", and share my opinion that the failure to remove the locking nut and the proposed £80 charge was at best pretty useless and at worst, an outright scam. His mate (big fella) comes round the desk, stands 3"from my face, says it is not company policy to use impact guns to remove wheelnuts (despite the fact I've just watched him spin the other 3 off with his rattle gun), and suggests it's time for me to leave. Reasoning that further conversation will only result in him introducing me to one of the many, many heavy objects he has to hand, I take him up on his suggestion.
Like the big, tough guy I am, I went home and phoned Blackcirlces, who refunded my fitting charges and gave me £10 towards my wasted petrol. Good on them for doing the right thing, but I'm still mildly irked by the incident...