“I went to the Musselburgh branch today to get my car tyres changed, the person at the reception told me that they are busy today and come tomorrow.
I asked him very nicely if he can check my car tyres if they are safe to drive and under the legal limit, he told me no he can't and to come tomorrow.
It was only a minute job to have a look at tyres but he was not concerned about the customer and other road user safety and was reluctant to do his job, this is not professional at all.
I have been there many times and every time they are a bit reluctant to do the job and ask to come later or tomorrow. Once they kept my car for 2 days for a fault and returned the car with the engine light on as they were unable to find the fault and only changed my car battery in 2 days.”
“Definitely Avoid Farmer Autocare
My son’s girlfriend visited the Farmer Autocare on Monday 10th August on discovering that she had a puncture on one of the tyres of her Mini Cooper. They told her that they could not find the tool to remove her locking wheel nut and said that it would be best to get all four locking nuts removed at the same time. The price quoted was £160 (this did not include the replacement tyre and valve which cost an extra £70) including the four replacement standard wheel bolts. She agreed for them to go ahead with this thinking that this price would be competitive. She then collected the car after the work was completed.
On checking on the phone and online afterwards it seems that she may been greatly overcharged.
I phoned another Farmer Autocare site in Paisley (same company) to be told that their price to do the same job would be £70. Yes that’s £90 less for the same job!
On the Checkatrade website (where members of the public can find reputable tradesmen) it says that the average guide price to replace four locking wheel nuts is £65.
Locking Wheel Nut Removal Specialists quoted £80.
Wheelnutman quoted £50 on their website.
Kwikfit quoted £90 over the phone but this included new locking wheel nuts and a new key to remove them.
I spoke to the Edinburgh store manager Michael Gray who was not prepared to compromise with the price (even after pointing out to him that another Farmer Autocare store was providing the exact same job for less than half the price - £90 less) and then subsequently phoned the Farmer Autocare head office to complain and spoke to the area manager Jason Horne who responded in the same way unfortunately. They had her money and were really not interested.
How is it possible for a national company like Farmer Autocare to charge vastly different prices at different stores for the exactly the same job? Over double the normal price? Can it be that each store is simply allowed to make up their own prices?
I would say buyer beware and would certainly advise any poor unsuspecting customers to avoid shopping there in the future.”
“When for MOT..............while sitting waiting a female customer came in obviously aggrieved about her MOT failure. Her car, driving well, could not believe the number of faults found. Got my MOT which failed and read like a restaurant menu. Took my car out and sent to another garage. Passed, with no work needed. John Vass, beware, Livingston is a village. Go like this and this branch will be out of business within 12 months. This customer 10+ years for exhausts and tyres, will never return.”
“Very suspect MOT Failure!
I recently used Farmer Autocare in Edinburgh for and MOT for my Lexus. After announcing in a smug manner that my car had failed, I was then told in an equally smug manner that they could not fix the car as it was a hybrid. I took the car to the main dealer and they said they'd never seen this part fail and actually only carried one spare. Not sure what to conclude from this! I've never gone back.”
