On 2nd September, I received a letter from Walkers Tyre Service based at 34A Narborough Road, Leicester, LE3 2FN advising me that my MOT was due and that they could do it for just £20.
What a bargain! I thought as I arranged to have my car tested at 4pm that day.
As I sat in the waiting room I could hear staff talking to other customers, one lady was very upset at the number of faults found with her vehicle and she ended up having to get a taxi home and leave her vehicle at the garage as they told her it was illegal and dangerous to drive.
The person examining my car had been inspecting it for about 40minutes and I could see him and the manager whispering to each other.
I started to get a bad feeling that they were determined to find some fault with my car in order to get more money out of me and how right I was.
The MOT person told me that my car had failed and the following faults were listed:
• Brake hose excessively twisted nearside front.
• Service brake excessively fluctuating rear.
The manager told me that whoever had put new brakes on my car had fitted a brake pipe incorrectly and the calliper was in the wrong way around.
I did not believe what I was being told. I paid my £20 and left.
When I got home I googled the faults and it quickly became apparent that scam artist garages seem to use the same faults to fail cheap MOT’s and gain extra work.
The following day I took my car to a reputable garage where it passed the MOT with flying colours.
I was advised that there had been nothing at all wrong with my car and also that it would be impossible to put a calliper back onto a brake pipe the wrong way.
“A big thank you to Walkers Tyres Services (Bradgate Street) for their service which was second to none. On the web was a company offering a Black Friday deal where they promised to call out the next day. Walker's however outshone that by being with us within two hours of our phone call. When I rang they checked that the two tyres we requested were in stock. Their driver was out at the time but they told us as soon as he was back they would put the tyres on the van and he would be with us. Within two hours Ash was on the drive, checked that we wanted the new tyres on the front and moved the one to the back. He fitted them straight away and made sure everything was alright so we were able to drive to Bradgate Street to have them aligned. That was done straight away and they showed us on the printout exactly what they had done. It all went so smoothly enabling us to get back on the road safely long before we would have been otherwise. Superb efficient and friendly service - 5 stars.”
“These guys were first class. My wife had a slow puncture. They change the tyre for the spare and repaired the puncture in under 20 mins. Best of all they charged only £30 ????”