nuovapanda said:

Its simple... in my vast experiance of many Fiat dealerships over the past 11 years, its the aftersales thats bad. The mechanics often mess things up, simple things always.
The whole network needs to ensure repairs and servicing is carried out exactly as it should be, not missing bits, breaking stuff or under/overfilling oil etc.
Only once in all these years has a dealer managed a proper service as it should be.
Also, when they do mess things up, a simple apology and truthful explanation should follow which also doesnt seem to happen.
None of this is rocket science, and theyve been promising change for years

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Hellcat said:

Main dealer in Pickering put wrong water pump on the brother in law's Cinq sporting... luckily it's a FIRE engine and no extra damage but left him stranded and having to fix it all again... this time he did it himself.

Not saying all garages are like that but simple things like checking the part you are putting on is the correct one would be good. I'm getting a little nervous of my upcoming service because I'll be leaving it in the hands of strangers and I'd like to feel that they will treat it as carefully as they would treat their own...

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They are 'gripes' not cures/remedies/answers?

I have to say a Main dealer near me (which I'll not name as I have a long association with which has otherwise been superb) could not fix a problem on the wifes Stilo after having for some weeks....
Took a recommedation on this Forum to fix myself in 20 minutes (thanks guys!)

Hellcat said:

Not saying all garages are like that but simple things like checking the part you are putting on is the correct one would be good

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That's a remedy.. more supervision of the apprentices.

so you are put in charge (lets say for arguments sake) of fiat dealerships ...what would you do ?

(p.s. more supervision means less productivity...whose paying for that & whose going to tell customer(s) car aint ready on time due to increased supervision)

Hellcat the nearest local main dealer to me is pickering!!!!! Doh!

Start or increase their 'mystery shoppers' so that they actually know what's going on inside these dealerships. If Fiat UK knew how some of these dealers were being run they'd have kittens. Pendragon (former Evans Halshaw/Reg Vardy) seem to have some of the best brains in the business. I've never heard excuses as varied as I have from them.

mystery shoppers are expensive (garages aint stupid & can usually sniff out a 'rat',they also 'talk' to each another or get a 'whiff' of a potential mystery shop on its way) they are carried out but normally by telephone.

So, what you are saying is put up or shut up... a very typical Fiat attitude.

Other makes manage to have decent dealerships, why are Fiat always at the bottom of any survey of dealers?

Fiat should be asking how they can improve the UK network.

nuovapanda said:

So, what you are saying is put up or shut up... a very typical Fiat attitude.

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No I never said (or suggested) that........i'm genuinally asking how you would improve things at dealers.

Mystery shop wont work for reasons I stated above.

As for other garages well techs move around between makes so cant be techs at fault.If something went wrong on a car at a fiat garage you can well say 'stupid fiat grease monkey' but that tech might of only been there for few weeks & before that was at BMW for 20 years etc. Likewise many techs leave fiat garages for other makes etc

nuovapanda said:

Fiat should be asking how they can improve the UK network.

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They already are...

have been for a while now but nothing seems to of changed

Swift way to improve perception of dealers. Allow faulty cars to be booked in within a couple of days. Not "oh I can't do anything before 2 weeks Tuesday". I heard the lady on the service desk say something like this in December when I ordered my 500. This is an abiding memory from when I had FIATs previously. Make it easier to get the cars into the 'shop much sooner, and that includes servicing.

Regards,
Tony.

tonywalk said:

Swift way to improve perception of dealers. Allow faulty cars to be booked in within a couple of days. Not "oh I can't do anything before 2 weeks Tuesday". I heard the lady on the service desk say something like this in December when I ordered my 500.

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Why couldn't she do anything though? If workshop is busy they might not have anyway they can work on another car. Then customer comes back to pick up their car and it hasn't even been started.

The Beast said:

Why couldn't she do anything though? If workshop is busy they might not have anyway they can work on another car. Then customer comes back to pick up their car and it hasn't even been started.

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But that's the point. There should be a bit extra workshop capacity to take care of the gremlins swiftly and to ensure you can book in for a service same week.

Oddly, I thought the thread was asking for suggestions on how to improve the FIAT dealership experience.

Regards,
Tony.

tonywalk said:

But that's the point. There should be a bit extra workshop capacity to take care of the gremlins swiftly and to ensure you can book in for a service same week.

Oddly, I thought the thread was asking for suggestions on how to improve the FIAT dealership experience.

Regards,
Tony.

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It wasn't it just sort of floated off topic onto it.

But extra workshop capacity is easy to ask for but how much. How many extra techs should a garage take on? Then what about when there isn't so much work and there are more techs to try find work for. You can't hire 3 extra techs because at some point you will be busy and 3 extra techs would be handy.

There are what appears to be simple answers for almost all the problems people have with dealers. But if the answers are so simple why have they not happened?

I'm not saying anyone should stop suggesting possible solutions. Just don't expect them to have the reply "thats it! It seems so obvious now."

There are problems with the dealer network nobody would argue it. Hell I see it everyday. Usually the biggest is the lack of communication. Easy answer is for everyone to talk to each other but even something as simple as that is not a easy as it should be.

Hellcat said:

Main dealer in Pickering put wrong water pump on the brother in law's Cinq sporting... luckily it's a FIRE engine and no extra damage but left him stranded and having to fix it all again... this time he did it himself.

Not saying all garages are like that but simple things like checking the part you are putting on is the correct one would be good. I'm getting a little nervous of my upcoming service because I'll be leaving it in the hands of strangers and I'd like to feel that they will treat it as carefully as they would treat their own...

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when is your service due by the way

This doesnt seem to be going anywhere so I will relate two tales of and Audi and VW dealer I know of... both were experience of long term friends btw.

My mate has a 1998 A6, it has over 190,000 miles and he bought it 5 years ago from a fleet company. Since hes owned it he has serviced it himself and its not seen an Audi dealer for all that time.
A few months ago, he found some rust in the roof... he called Audi to ask if this was a common fault. They asked him to bring it in, he told them it hasnt been serviced by them for 5 years, but they still said theyd have a look.
They saw the rust and booked it in there and then for a completely free repair. During repair they phoned him twice to say they were having problems with the paint finish and match, but kept trying. In the end he has his car repaired free and it looks like it is brand new... go and see if Fiat would do that!

Second car was a Mk4 Golf, a mate at work noticed an oil leak... he phoned VW, they agreed to bring him a car to his workplace and collect his within a couple of days. They found a porous gearbox casing, replaced it very quickly and let him keep the loan car free of insurance charges etc. Then when repaired they returned his car to work and collected the loan car.

I hear stories like this about many dealers, but never Fiat, its always moans. But, we still put up with it because of the nice cars.. if Fiat made cars like Daewoos and Hyundais they would have gone bust by now as no one would buy them!

Did the dealer pay for the repair on the Audi or was it still covered by the paintwork warranty?

VW story just sounds like a decent dealer. Could proberly give you a story almost the exact same from the last few days here.

that's nothing lol i gave a customer a free wheel trim from a trade in little scuffed that's all completely free was gonna chuck it out anyway

and today i put some oil in an alfa for nothing it was in for code problems

or is that just cos i'm nice lol

all thou on a more serious note we have done more expensive repairs on cars using the details of say a load car for warranty before now keeps customers happy about things that shouldn't really brake but unfortunately have just out of warranty or whatever

also sum times depending what the problem is if fiat are contacted buy a dealer they will pay even thou the car is out of warranty all manufacturers will do this if it's a fault that will give them a bad name if they don't do something about it

My mates car,I know this bloke,my dad had this old ford,my mates dog has got a volvo etc etc

so what! Question I asked (that only tonywalk has attempted to answer so far) is how would YOU improve fiat dealerships.Not interested in anyone else,alot of cars have a much larger mark up therefore you can afford to seem to be generous.Fiat are built to a specific low price,end of the day they & the dealers run a business not a charity.My hoover is 2 years old & motor is gone....any chance of a contribution? What other trade/business do the public ask/demand contibutions...plumbers,houses,shopping,gas,electric,....NONE!

nuovapanda said:

I hear stories like this about many dealers, but never Fiat, its always moans.

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I personally saw Fiat write of £4000 due to a fault in a customers car that the customer directly caused himself & admitted it! Because he had brought his last few cars from Fiat they paid the bill(wrote it off)...£4000 I was f*cking raging & couldn't believe it & the guy didn't even say thanks

Daily I see (and personally deal with) similar claims (not to same high value) and done one today for just over a grand on a 4 & half year old car.Personally I would of said no as it was well out of warranty but again the owner was a good customer to fiat.

tonywalk said:

But that's the point. There should be a bit extra workshop capacity to take care of the gremlins swiftly and to ensure you can book in for a service same week.

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I agree totally Tony but having a tech idle is a big no no even for 15mins!

Dealership managers have to reach impossible targets mainly set by group managers who have little or no idea of the modern car.Profits are often more important than customer satisfaction which is often done off the individuals own back who will only recieve a thank you from the customer...but its a genuine thank you that makes the individuals extra effort worthwhile

I'm not trying to shoot down anyones ideas in flames but be realistic & maybe (just maybe!) something can be done?