Well I went to get my alloys refurbished as they had a few kerbing marks and my spare was buckled due to a pothole.

 

Looked online and other than wheel specialist, I found these guys with a good rating on Facebook and they seemed to do everything that they should do.

 

Anyway, I went down to drop off the wheels and had a chat, deciding to get my old Toyo T1-R tyres put onto the alfa alloys so I could leave the alloys with them so as to get a good finish, wasn't bothered about turnaround time as I could get about's on my alfas as long as the finish was excellent when they were finally done.

 

The guy said that they would all be done for the following Monday, including the buckled wheel being fixed....Great I thought......Now the problems started!

 

Turned up at 1pm on the Monday only to be told that the welder he uses to repair buckles etc was away and that the damaged one would need to stay a bit longer... Ok, people have time off.  

 

Would have been nice to be told during the week as he had my contact number etc but chose not to until I came to collect.

 

He shows me the wheels and to my surprise he had completely ignored the colour change I said, and that he wrote down and decided to powder coat them back to gunmetal.

 

When I tell him about this he says that they are back to the colour they were, and after 2 attempts of me telling him what was originally agreed he finally held his hands up and said he would do them again, when i asked when would they be done, he said that the buckled wheel would be ready next Monday but to come by Tuesday to give him time to get them all powdercoated and ready....so this would be 2 weeks after originally dropping them off on a 24hr service in a quote from them.

 

Roll forward to the Tuesday and the buckled wheel is back repaired, but only the buckle, none of the smaller dents or scrapes inside the barrel have been filled/repaired this is the same on 3 out of 5 alloys...The wheels were dropped off for a full refurbishment not just for powder coating.

 

When asked about this and whether or not they fill in any imperfections and flat back before powder coating, I was told that they do not repair these as it would take too long.  Well at this point I was starting to get a bit p****d off with them but as I had already paid (stupidly) I accepted this as I was not getting anywhere with them trying to put my point across.

 

 

The powder coating was not amazing either, there were pits in the powder and large ripples inside the barrel son all wheels, along with a ridge on the rear of one of the wheels where too much powder was applied and had separated.

 

 

 

I also noticed that one of the wheel bolt holes had been totally f****d up and that the bolt was now not seating at the correct height and would just keep going down, as if the radius the bolt sits in was damaged.  Upon turning the wheel round, it was clear that this is what had happened, and that the bolt hole had somehow been pushed through the hole and out the back.

 

 

 

I said to the guy what had happened and was told that it had not happened here, as they hand the wheel up by the valve hole...I said it was fine before I left them with you as the wheel would now not seat on the hub due to the hole protruding out of the back of the wheel, once again he said that it would not be done here and then went on about what they do etc.... I told him I was not happy about this but all he said was basically it wasnt done here tough (did say tough but stated that nothing to do with him).

 

Said I wasn't happy and he said that he would re powder coat the wheels again and get a better finish this time, I said the only time i can drop them off is Monday (11th) as I am away for a week, he says fine.

 

Roll forward to this Monday (11th) and I turn up at 9am when he says and no-one is there, 9:15 he finally turns up in a car with his wife takes the key from me and says it will be done by 6 then gets back n the car as it is raining....RUDE!

 

Come 6pm, I get a phone call to say the wheels are taking longer to strip the old powder coating off and that they wouldn't be done today and guaranteed they would be done by 1pm Tuesday (yesterday).

 

12:30 get a phone call to say that one of the new guys took the wheels out of the acid tank overnight and that it would need to stay in a bit longer, saying that it would be done for 4pm, now I am really p****d off and say I will be down at 3;30 make sure they are ready.

 

I get down at 4pm to make sure everything is done and they were not even powdercoated, they had been stripped back to bare metal (guy said this like he had done it better, but surely it needs to go back for the powder to stick...)

 

Says it will be about an hour and a half to powder coat and bake before the tyres are fitted, 6:50 they tyres are finally fitted and put on the car, once again the bolt hole which was damaged would not torque down to the correct setting, which to me sounds not safe.  Driving back, the tyre/alloy with the bolt not torqued up is now shimming side to side (lateral runout?) all tyres are brand new NEXEN N8000

 

The quality is still not amazing with pitting holes in some spokes and patches inside the wheel which were not covered properly.

 

 

 

 

Sorry for the long rant, but just making sure no-one uses this company in the future as it was the biggest waste of £300 i had done, and I now have 1 alloy which I think i will need to scrap at some point due to the bolt hole damage.

 

http://www.smartwheels.co.uk/

Edited 13 July, 20169 yr by Stewpotz

If people want to share this around so others dont get done by these guys, there was a guy with an S8 there at the same time and he had similar problems with them, so it is not just on lower value cars, they do not seem to take pride in their work.

Wow, what a complete mess. I'd be ashamed if I had done those wheels.

 

As for the Tyre, rim edge photo it looks like the tyres have been fitted when the coating was still wet.

Forgot to mention, I went down to my local wheel specialist to see what they thought of the finish and the manager was appalled by it, saying it was an awful job where they have thrown too much powder on in some places and where the 'pitting' is they have not put enough on.

 

When i went back to SmartWheels, i said I had gone down to see wheel specialist about the finish and said that the pitting was not enough powder to which i was laughed at and told the guy didn't know what he was talking about.....

Wow, what a complete mess. I'd be ashamed if I had done those wheels.

 

As for the Tyre, rim edge photo it looks like the tyres have been fitted when the coating was still wet.

nope, wheels were totally cool before tyres were fitted (if you mean the pic with the crack in the powder)

I've just had a look at there web site, ask them to put the photo's of your wheels in the Gallery section.

Edited 13 July, 20169 yr by Auric Goldfinger

There gallery section is well out of date, the yard in the photos is totally different to how it is now.

 

I'm either guessing new owners or they just CBA anymore and are just in it for the money and will make up any excuse now.

Edited 13 July, 20169 yr by Stewpotz

What a mess!

 

Well if you need anyone else in future, I can recommend Diamond Wheels in Stockport.

Stick 'em on Facebook

What a mess!

 

Well if you need anyone else in future, I can recommend Diamond Wheels in Stockport.

I have seen a van for these guys driving around.

Pretty sure Steve there has an Mitsub LV200 pickup with interesting wheels on it

 

Plus a van as well possibly

Seen better jobs done at CAS in Bradford and its £1/inch for silver 

Seen better jobs done at CAS in Bradford and its £1/inch for silver 

I'm actually tempted to take them there, had them done there before and the quality was 1000000000000000000(and some more 0's)% better than this.

 

Only reason for taking it there was that 2 had curb damage and another was buckled from a pothole.

 

Managed to possibly fix the knackered bolt hole with some metal filler, filled the hole completely then pushed the bolt through until it was at the correct depth and held it there.  Left it to dry for an hour or so now and took a blowtorch to the bolt and whizzed it out with an impact driver.  Hole is pretty much perfect now, little bit of sanding to do but otherwise perfect.

Edited 13 July, 20169 yr by Stewpotz

I'm actually tempted to take them there, had them done there before and the quality was 1000000000000000000(and some more 0's)% better than this.

 

Only reason for taking it there was that 2 had curb damage and another was buckled from a pothole.

 

Managed to possibly fix the knackered bolt hole with some metal filler, filled the hole completely then pushed the bolt through until it was at the correct depth and held it there.  Left it to dry for an hour or so now and took a blowtorch to the bolt and whizzed it out with an impact driver.  Hole is pretty much perfect now, little bit of sanding to do but otherwise perfect.

I've recently used a company called clover coatings over Bradford and their powder coating finish was spot on and only cost me £120.

You have to remove the tyres before dropping them off though

Actually thinking about taking them to trading standards to try to get the money back and go elsewhere.

 

Not sure how i would go about it though.

 

Have given them fair enough chances to get it done correctly and still nothing, it will be 3 'repairs' now which from working in sales would be deemed excessive repair amounts.

Edited 13 July, 20169 yr by Stewpotz

I have raised a complaint through citizens advice who will pass it on to trading standards now.

Gotta be worth a try - best of luck with it.

Nightmare Stew! Appalling! I hope you get a result from trading standards.

Thanks for the post bro. Hopefully save someone the same ordeal.

What a mess!

 

Well if you need anyone else in future, I can recommend Diamond Wheels in Stockport.

 

Another vote for these guys, or Prestige wheels up on Hillgate

Had a reply back from Citizens Advice,

 

 

Dear Mr ZIeba,

Thank you for your enquiry to the Citizens Advice consumer service dated 13/07/2016.  Your reference number for this enquiry is AW:13733932.

We understand from your email that you paid £330 to have your alloy wheels refurbished. The trader caused damage to a wheel while carrying out the service, in addition, the service you received is substandard. 

Your rights and obligations

 

Your contract is governed by the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which states that any service must be carried out with reasonable care and skill. This means the service should be carried out to the standard you would expect of a trader that is competent in that particular trade.

 

If the trader has failed to meet these requirements you could look to hold the trader in breach of contract and pursue them for a suitable form of redress. You have the right to request a repeat performance of the service. Alternatively, when a trader does not appear to be able or willing to carry out the service again or, if a repeat performance is impossible and causes a significant inconvenience, you may request a price reduction of up to 100%.

 

Any other costs you incur as a direct result of the breach of contract would be considered ‘consequential losses’ and you may also ask to be reimbursed for these costs.  It is important to note that you would be expected to take all reasonable steps to keep such costs to a minimum, and you may also need to provide some evidence of what the losses are and why you believe that Smart Wheels would be responsible for those losses.

 

As this is a service contract the onus or 'burden of proof', would be with you to show that the service provided was not carried out with reasonable care and skill. You may wish to have the work inspected to provide a second opinion, if this is necessary we would advise having the inspection recorded in writing from a trader in the same profession. We would also advise you take photos of any substandard work and/or damages where possible.

 

You can read more about your rights under the Consumer Rights Act here.             

 

Your next steps

 

Bearing in mind the information detailed above; we would suggest that you check any paperwork supplied by the trader to determine if there is a complaints procedure you could follow.  Once you have exhausted that complaints procedure you could then to escalate your claim with the appropriate body.  To expand further, some traders will outline a specific complaints procedure.  Once that procedure has been exhausted you could approach the relevant Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Scheme or ombudsman as an alternative to court. The ADR scheme would then attempt to resolve the issue through mediation or arbitration.

 

If the trader does not have a complaints procedure then we would advise that you write to the trader. We would suggest that any letter is sent via recorded delivery as this will provide proof of postage. 

 

Sample letters are available here.

 

What we will do

 

We will notify Trading Standards about this issue. Whilst this doesn't help you resolve your problem, it gives Trading Standards vital intelligence about how the trader operates their business.

  

If you would like to discuss this further please call us on 03454 04 05 06 or reply to this email.

 

Kind regards,

Letter stating I want a full refund and reimbursement for a replacement wheel has now been sent recorded delivery, lets see how this pans out.

 

I know a few final year/graduate law students from uni so i'm sure i can call in a favour with one of them...for beer tokens.

Here's hoping for a decent result!

Definitely want to hear how you get on. If my dog didn't need to be taken to the vets, I was booking my alloys into this place...

Diamond wheels or prestige wheels are roughly the same price, maybe £10-15 per wheel more, but finish is better and look a lot more professional.

What an absolute dogs mess! These should not be trading, simple as. I took my car to TWS in Birmingham and looking at the pictures as a reference, I'm glad I did, although that won't make you feel any better I'm sure.

 

Take this as far as it can go mate and keep a record of all your correspondence. I know it sounds trivial, but you could get them on 'the sales of goods act' too by way of "rejecting" said goods as unfit for purpose. You expected a top quality job and they failed to deliver. They are at fault and I would chase them to the ends of the earth until they got it right.

 

Note down anything like any phone calls, emails ect. If it were me, I'd threaten to go to the papers and expose them for the idiots that they are but I'd use that as a very last resort as I don't want to hurt a business but they are taking the **** and by taking your money and producing shoddy work that is paramount to robbery in my eyes.

 

They owe you more than just a refund/repair. They owe you a flippin' massive apology on top of what you've asked for and a written one at that!!

 

Good luck.

Edited 27 July, 20169 yr by LordRaiden84