STUART McGINLEY: Persistence pays off if you’re a customer

ONE thing that really annoys me is when people or companies try to rip you off or be a bit sneaky to charge you more money.

I had experience of this last week when I took my car in to a national tyre company to have two new tyres fitted.

I had used them before and felt they would charge me a fair price for the work and do a good job.

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When they quoted me £290 for two ‘top of the range’ tyres I thought it was a bit more than I had paid before, but none the less, based on my previous experience with them, thought this would be a fair deal.

Once I got home, curiosity got the better

of me and I had to check on the same company’s website.

I was shocked to discover I could have exactly the same make of tyres fully fitted at the same garage for £80 less!

I popped back to the branch and was fobbed off and told there was nothing they could do as the price in the workshop was different to the one online, but he couldn’t really offer a convincing explanation as to why.

He looked a little embarrassed and clearly I wasn’t the first or will probably be the last to feel angry at being charged not just a few quid extra, but the equivalent to a whole extra tyre!

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Eventually he agreed to speak to his regional manager and would get back to me. I left thinking I was never going to get any money back but much to my amazement after another call to chase this up, they agreed to refund the difference (minus the VAT!) but I felt happy my persistence had paid off.

I understand that some companies offer better deals online to customers, but what annoyed me was the fact there was no mention of this in the garage either from the staff or with posters, etc. The large amount of money I was overcharged was unacceptable.

I urge them to look at this policy because once a customer finds out they may have been treated this way, they certainly won’t come back and use them again next time, and that’s not good for business.

If you have had a similar experience, keep complaining and you might get some money back too!

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