(G) No SPEEDO ,REV COUNTER ,PETROL OR TEMP GAUGES

I live in Spain and have a 2002 Stilo JTD had a problem with the drive on my air con unit, it caused vibrating and a very noisy engine when air con was switched on, mechanic said the drive on unit was the problem and fitted a new one, vibration now gone but when I dorve the car away I noticed my gauges were not working so took car straight back he inspected it all over the engine but could not solve it, He then took it to Fiat this morning and he is now telling me it is the complete unit that holds the gauges that is at fault he had another one there and when he connected it up at the back all the gauges worked. He then told me that the cost of the unit was £327, but if the old unit goes back to Fiat they charge £188, Does this sound true or have I got to ask some questions regards this matter ?????

If it was OK when you took the car to him, then he's obviously done something to it, make him sort it for you, why should you pay.

He also said that Fiat told him that this part was a problem and this often happens ???

im sorry but talking logially here, you left him to fix your air con and your dials worked, you got it returned to you with broken dials, this is his responsibility and this is reinforced by him stating "fiat said this is a common problem" leading you on to believe it wasnt him. stand your ground and you will save yourself a few pound

This happened to me after a service, they had forgotten to clear the service light and I happened to notice when they were clearing it that the fuse box lid (under the steering wheel) was open - I think this is where they plug the examiner in.
Any way, at home I noticed not all the fuses were fully located so I pushed them all in and all the gauges came back to life

on my car it is av contact behind the cluster that is getting loose all the time, then this happens.