Perrys of Amersham - 2 months later

The Local BBC radio station have had me on twice now to talk through this and are still pursuing, they do seem good and won't let the issue drop, but Perrys to date are taking no notice, so heres the next stage.......

Dear Sir / Madam

I put the case of my Stilo (K.....) into the hands of the BBC following my dissatisfaction with the way your Amersham branch treated me on 7th August. I have been on their show twice to discuss the issue with them and they said they have contacted you regarding this matter without a response to date. They have told me they are still pursuing this issue for me.

I have now had interest shown in my case from a National Motoring publication, but they have requested I write to you first asking for full refund and then they will look into this issue further if I am not fully satisfied with your response.

All interested parties have been advised of the situation that occurred which was that I was advised by the Assistant Service Manager David Cardy that the work required to my front suspension would be covered by the third year warranty. He also stated this again on the morning the car was dropped off for the work. Four hours later I received a call from him stating that the front suspension needs lubricating and because no actual parts were broken it would cost £157 to lube or £85 to reassemble without fixing. I asked why I was never advised there was a potential cost and I was informed they didn't know what they would find until they had investigated. I said I was never told this on the two occasions. I agreed to have the work carried out as I was not willing to pay £85 for nothing. I checked I only had two choices and this was confirmed £157 or £85, take your pick.

I then telephoned yourselves and spoke to Mrs Sykes who said she would refer the matter to Rod Portnall and request he investigates the matter and contacts me. Ten minutes later Matt rang me from the dealership and said he had looked into situation and the best he could offer was a £27 discount as a goodwill gesture, he even apologised for the oversight of no one warning me there may be a cost involved when the car was booked in. I view this £27 discount and apology as acceptance by Perrys of Amersham that they were in the wrong and if any form of customer service actually existed this work should have been carried out free of charge as it was your error not mine in misadvising me twice.

I look forward to hearing your views regarding the above and take this opportunity of advising you that anyone who contacts you from any media organisation has my permission to speak on my behalf. Also I will be publishing this email as an open letter on a few motoring forums on the internet.

Thank you

Why doesn't Fiat just fix the bloody thing for free and be done with it!

Talk about bad customer relations.

I get cross because this is where the Japanese and the Koreans clean up: they'd give you a decent warranty, honour it, fix the car and leave you happy and content, and prepared to buy another one of their cars. Sensible or what!

I can do angry, and frustrated. Fiat builds very good cars, and then cops out in aftercare. This is as important as the original car itself. Why don't they realise this!

All credit to Perrys they have agreed to a full refund following my email. They said they cannot get into whether the service man said it would be covered or not and that they acted to the warranty procedures throughout, but as a good will measure they will refund me in full.

My faith has been restored a little although its taken two months of chasing to get the cash back.

I put it down to my great email

It always worth complaining if your not happy, whats the worst that can happen

Good email or letter helps too

But will you be going back to them again?

I'm thinking of getting my Punto serviced soon, before I sell it am going to ring around the locals tomorrow for pricing etc.

No, as they didn't say anything about come back, etc. I don't think I'd risk it, although thats now a no go for me there and Curries in Watford.

So left with Souls in MK, Pinneys in Luton and the new Hemel dealer.

Anthony Betts in Hemel have another place (non-Fiat) on Greenhill Crescent just down from my work.