MK5 Golf GTI
Forum Market Place & Useful Links => Member Recommendations and Useful Links => Topic started by: RedRobin on October 02, 2012, 09:28:29 am
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What do folks here think of ATS?
There's a very convenient ATS in my town and I used to dismiss them as a Kwik-Fit style of shop - In fact I even didn't read the sign properly and thought they were Kwik-Fit or similar and so never used them.
However, after a local small family tyre business refused to get me a pair of Goodyear Asymmetric 2's for themselves to fit, refused to fit them if I supplied them, and also refused to change my brake pads in the same session (AP Racing pads on AP brakes), I went to ATS out of desperation and was very pleased. ATS not only fitted my new brake pads but also refilled all my tyres with nitrogen and gave me nice green valve caps - All free of charge:
(https://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdaz.co%2Fmedia%2Fb308%2FRedRobin_05%2FEagleF1_Asym2_1503.jpg&hash=4c1e31ee18f87ac27c50b2f6d8126ec3b1e79aeb)
The guy who usually works on my car at ATS Bridport has an immaculate Mk3 GTI and the Manager is also a car enthusiast. They have offered to always refill my tyres with nitrogen for free - I think it's an excuse to see my car and chat while it's being done and they know I'll only drop by when they tell me it's less busy.
I heard later from someone who used to work there that the outfit that refused to sell me Goodyear Asymmetric 2's uses one big supplier and gets holidays abroad as an incentive. Word gets around easily in a small town and I won't be using or recommending them to anyone - Quite the contrary!
As usual, it's all about the people in the company and not just the company itself.
My local ATS place is doing the PS2's for £135 each fully fitted plus there's an offer on which would mean I'd get £50 worth of fuel too when buying two or more tyres.
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I've used my local ats when I needed 2 new ps3's and when I've had a puncture done and can't fault them. My local one is more geared towards hgv and can tyres but have started to do the car side of things. They was careful with my Monza's aswell which was good.
On the 2nd visit for the puncture repair I was talking to the chap doing it and it turns out he used to work for kwik fit lol. So that shows its the the companies reputation rather than the individuals who work there
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My girlfriend used our local ATS in Glasgow when she had a puncture and I was away.
At first the service and price seemed good until they over torqued the wheel bolts causing them to stretch and ultimately snap off.
Personal experience of ATS leads me to say avoid but I understand this is an isolated incident. Luckily she was only going at 30mph on the slip road off a motorway. Things could have been a lot worse.
I now always insist a torque wrench is used on my wheel bolts.
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Well if you lived near me R/R i would have done it for you--but it might cost a bit in fuel but the drive up here would be a good one :signLOL:
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i used to manage a kwik fit garage and let me tell you all these places are all the same, the problem is the staff are overworked and under payed, so you are always going to get problems, all the bloody same,,, i am getting my new f1s tomorrow and i wouldnt even let these places fit them foc, if they dont scratch them they will over gun them, do the tracking wrong as most dont know how to do it and if there is a track rod end stiff they will just leave it,,,, wouldnt touch them with a barge poll,,,, try and find a garage that is well reputed and not a garage that is interested in mods on your car - that just means they are full of young guys usually.
i have a garage 500 yards away but i will do a round trip of 40 miles for peace of mind.
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wouldnt touch them with a barge poll,,,, try and find a garage that is well reputed and not a garage that is interested in mods on your car - that just means they are full of young guys usually.
....I think that is a ridiculous an absurd generalisation to make. My VW dealership ever since I first bought my GTI 7 years ago has always expressed interest in my car's mods, as have VW Racing, JKM, TTshop, and every single workshop/garage which has worked on my car. I would far rather have people work on my car who have some degree of enthusiasm for it.
I am so far totally happy with my local ATS and, being a small town, I already know who the staff are and they know who I am. As a result, there is a mutual trust.
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I used them for wheel alignement as they use hunter alignment.
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I used them for wheel alignement as they use hunter alignment.
....My car is always done on a Hunter laser rig but down near JKM. Hunter have a very highly regarded reputation.
(https://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi22.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fb308%2FRedRobin_05%2FHunterLaserRig.jpg&hash=fe1e08eedf551b19dcfc936ac2257129a8ee3cf5)
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I agree the Hunter system is very accurate and I dont use anything other. Since moving home, the local ATS is the nearest place with the Hunter system and have always given excellent service.
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wouldnt touch them with a barge poll,,,, try and find a garage that is well reputed and not a garage that is interested in mods on your car - that just means they are full of young guys usually.
....I think that is a ridiculous generalisation to make. My VW dealership ever since I first bought my GTI 7 years ago has always expressed interest in my car's mods, as have VW Racing, JKM, TTshop, and every single workshop/garage which has worked on my car. I would far rather have people work on my car who have some degree of enthusiasm for it.
I am so far totally happy with my local ATS and, being a small town, I already know who the staff are and they know who I am. As a result, there is a mutual trust.
red robin your comment is laughable and also ridiculous, if you are happy with your local garage because you know them then bully for you but not all people have this option open to them, my so called ridiculous generalisation is based on a lot more facts that your relationship with your local garage.
without listing all the garages you have so successfully used im sure it is great that they are interested in your mods, and note you mention your local vw dealer ? my comment was on garages like kwik fit, smiley, budget, ats etc etc etc,,,, at no point did i mention a vw dealer so stop throwing your toys out of your pram and read things properly before you garble.
i was a tyre fitter with kwik fit for 1 year, then i was a trainee manager with budget for 2 years, then manager for kwik fit again for a while then finally an area manager for budget for 4 years,, so thats around 9 years in the game,,, whats your experience to call my comment ridiculous ?????
thats twice now you have rudely commented on one of my own comments and twice now you have talked rubbish,
all the garages like ats etc are all pretty much the same and swap staff all the time, when someone gets fired they simply go to the competitor who usually take them on,,,, it just keeps going round in circles, it is a cold and dirty job, long hours and tough conditions of which they get paid peanuts for,, i know ive done it,,,, or should i just dismiss all that and listen to your opinion because you have good local garages,,, i comment on things to help people out - after all thats what we are all on here for and i wouldnt be so rude to call peoples opinions ( absolutelly ridiculous ) if you disgaree with someone then fine disagree but dont do it in a way that makes you look like an arse :booty:
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@ scottm72:
Your post didn't make it clear enough that the "garages" you were so wisely advising I shouldn't use were in fact tyre businesses. And hence my response and mention of other automotive businesses.
If you are offended by my opinion that you made a generalisation which I thought was ridiculous or absurd (meaning unreasonable), then I'm sorry. I should have perhaps used the word "absurd" rather than "ridiculous". I'll modify my earlier post accordingly.
However, your posts would be much easier to read and understand if you bothered to use capital letters where it is normally appropriate in the English language and also paragraph spacing.
Your total of 9 years experience "in the game" as you describe it, are only in KwikFit and Budget. It appears from many other people's reports that ATS are somewhat better and the fact that you use the term "in the game" doesn't reflect well on the nature of the tyre businesses you have your experience in.
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I'd like to add that the local National Tyres when I lived in Stoke were excellent as well. They too took an interest in my mods. They took extra good care of my brand new wheels. And they fitted spark plugs for me for free. One of the lads had a very nice Ibiza Bocanegra too.
I don't agree with your tarring all chains with the same brush opinion either Scott. Irrespective of your experience, unless you've been to every single one and worked with every single person individually your opinion on the staff is an unfounded generalisation.
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wouldnt touch them with a barge poll,,,, try and find a garage that is well reputed and not a garage that is interested in mods on your car - that just means they are full of young guys usually.
....I think that is a ridiculous generalisation to make. My VW dealership ever since I first bought my GTI 7 years ago has always expressed interest in my car's mods, as have VW Racing, JKM, TTshop, and every single workshop/garage which has worked on my car. I would far rather have people work on my car who have some degree of enthusiasm for it.
I am so far totally happy with my local ATS and, being a small town, I already know who the staff are and they know who I am. As a result, there is a mutual trust.
red robin your comment is laughable and also ridiculous, if you are happy with your local garage because you know them then bully for you but not all people have this option open to them, my so called ridiculous generalisation is based on a lot more facts that your relationship with your local garage.
without listing all the garages you have so successfully used im sure it is great that they are interested in your mods, and note you mention your local vw dealer ? my comment was on garages like kwik fit, smiley, budget, ats etc etc etc,,,, at no point did i mention a vw dealer so stop throwing your toys out of your pram and read things properly before you garble.
i was a tyre fitter with kwik fit for 1 year, then i was a trainee manager with budget for 2 years, then manager for kwik fit again for a while then finally an area manager for budget for 4 years,, so thats around 9 years in the game,,, whats your experience to call my comment ridiculous ?????
thats twice now you have rudely commented on one of my own comments and twice now you have talked rubbish,
all the garages like ats etc are all pretty much the same and swap staff all the time, when someone gets fired they simply go to the competitor who usually take them on,,,, it just keeps going round in circles, it is a cold and dirty job, long hours and tough conditions of which they get paid peanuts for,, i know ive done it,,,, or should i just dismiss all that and listen to your opinion because you have good local garages,,, i comment on things to help people out - after all thats what we are all on here for and i wouldnt be so rude to call peoples opinions ( absolutelly ridiculous ) if you disgaree with someone then fine disagree but dont do it in a way that makes you look like an arse :booty:
(https://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.uproxx.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F08%2Fanchorman-well-that-escalated-quickly.jpg&hash=22115b4692f51bf0bee02d2709de8c7eee19ec91)
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Unfortunately sometimes words and meanings are ambiguous or simply misunderstood and people (including myself of course) kick off. It is the nature of the written word on forums. We are afterall, only human. :smiley:
On this occasion, my response to Scott upset him and I could see it would easily escalate. So, as I started the thread I decided to lock it temporarily in the hope that things would settle down. However, that seems to have thrown oil on Scott's fire! :grin: I thought I had said sorry, but never mind :smiley:
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Scott, seriously, I think you offend too easily :grin:
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I have been a Tyre fitter for 20 years including kwik fit and their is some good and bad ones.
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Teddy is out of the pram ...
http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,54612.0/topicseen.html (http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,54612.0/topicseen.html)
(Oh, and he says you're "pretty sad" for locking the topic, RR... then he's locked the topic!) :signLOL:
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I have been a Tyre fitter for 20 years including kwik fit and their is some good and bad ones.
....That is exactly why I started this thread in the first place.
Kwik-Fit in particular and other chains of tyre fitters have generally a poor reputation. My experience of one ATS workshop has been excellent on 2 separate occasions now and so I thought it appropriate to post my findings and ask if others shared positive experiences (or not) about ATS.
As Andy points out: There are some good and bad ones, as in all chains of retailers etc. Personally, I think it's the staff which make an experience good or bad - They all use very similar tools and tyres are tyres.
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Teddy is out of the pram ...
http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,54612.0/topicseen.html (http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,54612.0/topicseen.html)
(Oh, and he says you're "pretty sad" for locking the topic, RR... then he's locked the topic!) :signLOL:
Jesus, the lad needs to grow a thicker skin. He advocates free speech, then berates people for answering back with their own opinions.
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^^^^
Naturally I appreciate the posts which reassure me that I wasn't entirely in the wrong - Thank You's :drinking: Without them I was inclined to question myself if I was out of order and to feel badly about it.
I have sent scottm72 a PM asking that we forgive and forget and move on. :grouphug:
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^^^^
Naturally I appreciate the posts which reassure me that I wasn't entirely in the wrong - Thank You's :drinking: Without them I was inclined to question myself if I was out of order and to feel badly about it.
I have sent scottm72 a PM asking that we forgive and forget and move on. :grouphug:
I wouldn't have!
He is on the wrong forum to react like that IMHO!
We all argue but thats tooooo much.
Good on you Robin for apologising but don't do it again :signLOL:
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Good on you Robin for apologising but don't do it again :signLOL:
.... :signLOL: :laugh:
That's very funny indeed! I consider myself well and truly told off! :happy2:
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Unfortunately sometimes words and meanings are ambiguous or simply misunderstood and people (including myself of course) kick off. It is the nature of the written word on forums. We are afterall, only human. :smiley:
On this occasion, my response to Scott upset him and I could see it would easily escalate. So, as I started the thread I decided to lock it temporarily in the hope that things would settle down. However, that seems to have thrown oil on Scott's fire! :grin: I thought I had said sorry, but never mind :smiley:
no problem red robin i think with messaging each other we have sorted it out now, my generalisation of these garages is only what i have experienced yes, you are always going to find diamonds in rough areas and each garage should obviouslly be taken on its own standards, the thread query was what do people think of these garages and to that i gave my opinion as i worked and managed them,,,, yes i can only comment on what i have seen and there will be good ones out there, there will be vey good ones out there,,, the fact you have found a trustworthy garage is great and i wish i had a good one near me as they are a lot cheaper to use so thumbs up on your find.
my opinion was just trying to help out but tarring everyone with the same brush was a bit unfair of me i guess but wasnt intended in a bad way,,, as you say lets move on and no hard feelings :love:
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Scott, seriously, I think you offend too easily :grin:
:notworthy:
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I have been a Tyre fitter for 20 years including kwik fit and their is some good and bad ones.
brilliant, exactly right, some good and some bad,,, these garages should pay their staff more money whilst we are talking about it :happy2:
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Good on you Robin for apologising but don't do it again :signLOL:
.... :signLOL: :laugh:
That's very funny indeed! I consider myself well and truly told off! :happy2:
Just in case I was joking and not trying to stir it up!
I am the first to say sorry!
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I have been a Tyre fitter for 20 years including kwik fit and their is some good and bad ones.
brilliant, exactly right, some good and some bad,,, these garages should pay their staff more money whilst we are talking about it :happy2:
....In my neck of the woods (the SouthWest), job opportunities are difficult and wage levels relatively low. Consequently, businesses have to try that much harder and this can encourage higher standards of customer service. I think this is a factor in why my local ATS, and also my VW dealership (until recently a family business), give better service than many elsewhere which we read about. However, people tend to speak much more often about bad points than good points, so that's what we hear about the most.
Also, being a small market town, so many people know each other and certainly know of each other - Everybody seems to know me! So word of mouth reputation is important.
Regarding my local ATS, as I think I said earlier, one of the guys there has a very tidy Mk3 GTI and the manager is also a car enthusiast. They actually know what an AP Racing BBK is and changed my pads for me free of charge when they fitted my Goodyear Asymmetric 2's. They spotted that one caliper piston was a bit stiff, eased it, and a couple of months later when I visited just for a nitrogen top up (they replaced it all) the guy remembered and asked how the caliper was. So I can only report good experiences with ATS so far and recommend them as worthwhile trying.
I expect that all ATS shops wherever they are located, pay their staff at the same rates but I wonder how ATS and say Kwik-Fit rates of pay compare. I don't know how big a chain ATS is or how they are perceived in the rubber world of tyres.
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see if you got me to fit them,it will cause a lot less hassle :signLOL:
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see if you got me to fit them,it will cause a lot less hassle :signLOL:
Shame you live in the middle of bleeding nowhere!!! :signLOL:
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^^^^
Naturally I appreciate the posts which reassure me that I wasn't entirely in the wrong - Thank You's :drinking: Without them I was inclined to question myself if I was out of order and to feel badly about it.
I have sent scottm72 a PM asking that we forgive and forget and move on. :grouphug:
Robin you've been the bigger man :congrats: respect.
Back on topic Ats in Horsham, west sussex, are very good the few times I've used them both for the golf (helped me for free by loosing both rear wheels from the hubs as I could'nt shift them) and tyres for the works van.
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see if you got me to fit them,it will cause a lot less hassle :signLOL:
I
Shame you live in the middle of bleeding nowhere!!! :signLOL:
Best view from work thou
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Ohh yeah. Great countyside up there