warning: long story...(for the short version, just read the text in bold)

I went to Kwik Fit on the 18th (farnham, Surrey) for my Fiat Panda's MOT. Afterwards, I was told by the front desk rep that my car had failed the emissions test. The rep automatically tried to book me in for a repair without any mention of costs. I asked about costs. The rep phoned HQ and then quoted (excluding labour and VAT?) £329 for a catalitic converter + £99 for a lambda sensor. He said it could be "one or the other". This was a lot of money, so I said I would need to think about it. The rep said I would need to decide soon as the "MOT technician would not be in next week" for any potential retest.

I arrived home and discussed the MOT with dad. We noticed various discrepancies in the MOT report:
misspelled numberplate, wrong engine capacity, and most importantly...
it had failed in the first fast idle test (lambda=1.038), but it had passed in the second fast idle test (lambda=1.030), and the report stated that the "overall result exhaust emissions test" was a "pass". But on the front page of the MOT report it said something like "hydrocarbon content exceeds limit", even though the hydrocarbon results were a "pass" on the emissions page.
I took photos of the MOT report, just in case.

By the way, I know 1.030 is not an ideal result, but a pass is a pass.

A bit later we got a second opinion at another local garage, where their MOT tester had a look at the papers and agreed that something was wrong with it. We drove back to Kwik Fit and talked to the front desk rep. I asked him to clarify the discrepancies on the MOT report, but he was evasive and did not give an answer to that, instead suggesting it would be better if I let them repair it and that he might be able to fix it for much less than quoted. It seemed like he was trying hard to sell something (earlier I had overheard him talking to a colleague about how unusually slow business had been recently - maybe he was not meeting targets?). I again tried to point out the discrepancy on the MOT report, but the rep avoided it and suggested I come back the next day to talk to the MOT tester.

The next day:
I went back to Kwik Fit, and after a short wait, talked to the MOT tester (anticipating problems, I secretly recorded this conversation). He was friendly at first but quickly became a bit unpleasant and very evasive. Instead of acknowledging the fault, he kept trying to convince me that all was in order and that the car had actually failed the test. I disputed this.
He kept pointing out the lambda fail for the first fast idle test, and refused to acknowledge that the same document stated a pass for the second fast idle test, and a pass for the overall test results. I kept pointing out that because of the overall pass, there were no grounds to fail the car's MOT test. He rebuked this and said it was "immaterial".
He had literally printed an MOT document that stated an overall "pass" on emissions and then "failed" my car on emissions.
After realising he could not fob me off, he then tried to come up with excuses (like "I pressed the wrong button") and suggested we do a retest. I suggested no retest was needed since the car had already passed. He explained that he could not change the mistake to the test results and that there would have to be a retest, and assured me there would be no charge. I accepted. He offered to do the retest (with a slot open 45 min later, and suggested I drive around in the mean time to make sure the engine was "warm". I did that, and returned for the retest.
The car passed the retest.
They asked for and ripped up my copy of the original test papers (but I have photos), and then handed me the new papers.

I had been calm and polite throughout, but there was never any open acknowledgement of their mistake(?) and not any apology for the inconvenience and time wasted. I think I will go to my local garage from now on. Their MOT prices are much higher, but at least they are honest.

Edited by Budget_Security on 23/06/2018 at 20:33