General waterpump, palmers watford and fiat uk..

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General waterpump, palmers watford and fiat uk..

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settle in kids, it's a long story, that starts a long time ago...

so last year send the car in for the third year service and first MOT, at Glynn Hopkins, romford:

https://www.fiatforum.com/panda-new/95241-3rd-year-service-1st-mot.html

the intresting bit in there is the coolant pump, which has failed, and required replacing, which after a little wrangling, was done free of charge, under warranty. note the comments from the service manager there.....

anyway fast forward to this years service, all is fine, until i am told the pump is leaking again:

https://www.fiatforum.com/panda-new/135237-4th-year-servicing.html

now at the time i was a little annoyed, the part is less than a year old, and has done about 8000 miles since being put in......the service managers comment from last year come back to haunt me......

so back on the phone to Glynn Hopkins, i explain the above, and:
"well sir, the cars out of warranty so it's not covered"
"how much warranty would you have given the part you replaced"
"only till the end of the cars"
"what? 10 days?"
"yes"
..........................."so you arent able to do anything"
"no, you'd be told to jog on"..........
......"doesn't it seem odd that such a new part, in a low mileage car should go wrong? i got a 10 year old import thats still running perfectly""
"japanese engineering.....better"
"ok, bye"

so by now i'm a little miffed, and somewhat angry.....i email fiat uk. now to be honest, didn't expect much, after all i've fired off a few before to no avail, as have a few others, and my very long diatribe would have made excruiating reading for any poor soul at slough....but still....i sent it, and sure as eggs is eggs........no reply, so a month later (early april) i call fiat uk, and get a chap who although doesn't deal with this sort of thing, knows a person who does, mark in customer care, i explain it all to mark, who patiently listens, and opens a file, "give me a day sir, i'll get back to you".....yeah ok...

next day "sir, can you take you car into palmers fiat, they'll check it all over"
later that day, it's in, and i'm talking to matt, at the service desk, "we'll put it up on the ramp, and have a look, and take some photos of the pump" cool....yep there's def a leak in there, i'll report back to fiat, and they'll call you"...ok cheers

a few days later, mark "sir, call up palmers, arrange to get the car in , we are picking up the bill for the replacement"........ outstanding!!!!!

this morning drop the car into mark at palmers fiat at about 9am, go home, about 11am, get a call "sir the cars ready, can collect after 10/15 mins as is being valeted".....stunned silence from me....ready in 2 hours and without prompting, a full on clean!!!

so, all done, and i have to say, very impressed with mark at fiat uk,(y) quick and efficient at sorting an issue, i don't recall actually stating either on the phone or in email that i wanted them to pay for the replacement, was more disappointed it had gone wrong so quickly...

and a big thanks to matt and palmers fiat, watford for sorting the repair so quickly, despite me having to cancel a booking a few weeks ago at short notice(y)

btw, the problem stemmed from a failure of the gasket, and/or the incorrect installation of the pump.........."jog on" indeed.....:mad:

anyway, there endeth a long, and possibly boring, story....:)
 
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so back on the phone to Glynn Hopkins, i explain the above, and:
"well sir, the cars out of warranty so it's not covered"
"how much warranty would you have given the part you replaced"
"only till the end of the cars"
"what? 10 days?"
"yes"
..........................."so you arent able to do anything"
"no, you'd be told to jog on"..........
......"doesn't it seem odd that such a new part, in a low mileage car should go wrong? i got a 10 year old import thats still running perfectly""
"japanese engineering.....better"
"ok, bye"

Man people like that annoy me. Lets not TRY and help the customer. Lets just go out of our way to **** them off.
 
I have a feeling that the comment about 10 days warranty on the pump is complete tosh. Aren't replacement parts guaranteed for a year, especially Fiat parts fitted by a Fiat garage?

Failure of the gasket. Hmmm, wonder if they didn't clean it all off the block last time....

Still, good result!
 
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Re the comment about Jap engineering, I went in to complain at the dealer I used to use about my rear suspension creaks and rattles and was told in no uncertain terms, its a Fiat, they all rattle, if you dont like it buy something else...

What a bunch of idiots.
 
Yep, i've already had the water pump replaced a few months back on my 100hp, not even a year old yet.

As for the warranty, generally thet are correct. any part replaced within the given warranty period will only be covered until that warranty expires. If you have a car out of warranty and pay for the part yourself, then you'll get parts warranty.
 
Yep, i've already had the water pump replaced a few months back on my 100hp, not even a year old yet.

As for the warranty, generally thet are correct. any part replaced within the given warranty period will only be covered until that warranty expires. If you have a car out of warranty and pay for the part yourself, then you'll get parts warranty.

Thing is usually you can take them to a small claims court and argue that a new part should last a reasonable amount of time and win on those grounds. A waterpump is not something that people would expect to go in a years time especially as it's already been replaced once.
 
Fiat personel are not the worst:
Few years ago I used to drive a Volvo XC. After some 80k km I could not do wheel alignment. Returned to dealer - car still under waranty, motorplan - and the SERVICE MANAGER told me 'this is normal with those cars..."
I traded it in for a MB ML. After sometime the front resonator - block of rubber attached to sway-bar - relocated itself. The dealer refused to fix it beacuse "it is aftemarket piece of equipment", despite the star logo on it and MB part number. Surelly the premium brands consider their customers complete !@#$ - fill yourself!
The best one was when I booked the ML in for the gearbox. On collection I found that nothing was done about the gearbox but the leggy :D 'service advisor' tried very hard to convince me that everything is fine. She even mentioned that the car was WASHED the car for me... :confused:.
I traded it in for 100HP and took the difference in cash:). So far do good.
 
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