Hi,
This is an edited copy of a letter that I am poised to send to Fiat. I would be interested in hearing your views...
MY ADDRESS
10th July 2007
Fiat Group Automobiles UK Ltd
Customer Services Department
240 Bath Road
Slough
SL1 4DX
Dear Sir/Madam,
I’m writing to you because I feel that I have been unnecessarily charged for work carried out on my Fiat Stilo 2.4 Abarth 3 door Selespeed and have been unable to resolve the issue with NAME OF MAIN DEALER.
On Tuesday 19th June I explained to both the service reception staff and the technician that my car was slipping out of third gear whilst under load. Additionally I informed them that because the fault only happened after the engine had warmed up and that three independent companies (Angel Tuning, MIJ Performance and Kwik-Fit) had advised me that I had a slight oil leak from the engine and a small amount of oil weeping from the gearbox, if I were them I would check the oil levels in engine and gearbox first as it seemed to be the logical first step. I even proffered a theory that the fault had something to do with the gearbox oil pressure and that in third gear the input and output rpm were similar causing a drop in pressure which was being exasperated by low oil levels, this was then causing the gearbox to go into a redundant fail-safe mode and selecting neutral to allow towing.
The technician took a short test drive and experienced the fault himself after which I was advised that they couldn’t find the cause and they would refer the matter to Fiat Technical and contact me later that day to advise. When I asked if they had checked the oil levels as I had asked I was told that it was completely unrelated to the fault.
Unfortunately they failed to call me back so one week later I contacted them and was asked to bring the car back for Wednesday 4th July. It would seem that this delay was rather fortunate as it allowed time to gather further evidence to support my theory about the oil levels.
On this next visit I decided to take control of the situation and told the service reception staff that instead of investigating further I wanted them to do as I had asked and check the oil levels in the engine and gearbox and to top up as necessary. This request was met with sceptical looks so I explained that since my last visit the fault had become worse with the gearbox slipping out of third gear at lower rpm, gear changes taking longer, there was now a patch of oil on the road where I park my car and that all of the evidence was pointing toward the gearbox oil level being the cause of the fault.
Reluctantly the staff conceded and agreed to carry out my wishes although I was told that “checking the gearbox oil level was like adjusting the internal mirror to fix an engine”.
After finally doing as I had been suggesting all the time the gearbox faults vanished and the issue was resolved. There was no offer of an apology and instead I was charged £183.59 labour for their wild goose chase which I feel is unreasonable, especially considering that the cause of the issue could have been diagnosed by simply topping up the gearbox oil as I had repeatedly stated.
For this reason I have enclosed a copy of this receipt which I respectfully ask to be refunded.
I would also like to take this opportunity to raise a few other concerns. After finally agreeing to check and top up the gearbox and engine oil I was invited to look under my car where the technician pointed out that the oil leaks were coming from the gearbox driveshaft and a broken engine oil sensor and that these need to be dealt with first. I asked him if he would check the levels and top up so that we can rule out the oil leaks as the cause of the gearbox first, he refused stating that he considered the car to be too dangerous to test drive due to potentially low engine oil levels. I told him that if he didn’t want to test drive the car then I would as the issue (and presumably the leaks) had been experienced for at least one month and the oil levels would then be topped up prior to driving.
Again I was pressured to have the sensor and driveshaft seal replaced first and that if I wanted to drive my car I would have to sign a disclaimer. Frustrated, I agreed to the work being carried out at an estimated cost of around £160. I was then informed afterwards that I had only been charged an additional £58.60 for the oil sensor as the technician had discovered that the gearbox leak was not due to the driveshaft seal as reported and that he “thinks” it might be due to some internal seals which would cost £422.14, I told them that I was not prepared to spend that much money on a hunch and as the gearbox leak was very slow it could be lived with. I was also informed that my engine and gearbox covers had broken and would cost an additional £208.14 to replace as they were not prepared to put them back on even though there had been no problems with them in the past, so I now have an exposed engine and gearbox just waiting for a stone to get trapped in the drive belt.
On another occasion I discovered that my air conditioning was not working correctly and was unable to cool the air. I was charged £86.95 to charge the system with a dye to determine where the leak was occurring only later to discover that every Stilo that has had this problem was due to a known fault with a connecting pipe which breaks due to the engine moving on its mounts under load. In fact the issue is so well known that I found out about it after just three months of ownership and that Fiat subsequently redesigned the part in question. This of course begs the question why didn’t the technicians (who must know about this fault) check this first before charging me for an unnecessary investigation?
I have only been a Fiat owner and a customer of NAME OF MAIN DEALER since January of this year and during this time I have spent £1,063.37 with them. I feel that on this occasion they have let Fiat and me down and I trust that you will do your best to restore my faith in your cars and main dealers.
Yours faithfully
MY NAME
P.S. After typing this letter I decided to check the engine oil level (I’d love to check the gearbox too but the dipstick is on top of the gearbox underneath the car) and to my horror it wasn’t even registering on the dipstick and needed two litres of oil which makes me think that they didn’t bother to check the level either before or after replacing the cracked sensor and stopping the leak. Also, what was a very slow gearbox oil weep has now become a full blown leak but I am unable to determine whether this is due to bad luck or the technician’s efforts!
This is an edited copy of a letter that I am poised to send to Fiat. I would be interested in hearing your views...
MY ADDRESS
10th July 2007
Fiat Group Automobiles UK Ltd
Customer Services Department
240 Bath Road
Slough
SL1 4DX
Dear Sir/Madam,
I’m writing to you because I feel that I have been unnecessarily charged for work carried out on my Fiat Stilo 2.4 Abarth 3 door Selespeed and have been unable to resolve the issue with NAME OF MAIN DEALER.
On Tuesday 19th June I explained to both the service reception staff and the technician that my car was slipping out of third gear whilst under load. Additionally I informed them that because the fault only happened after the engine had warmed up and that three independent companies (Angel Tuning, MIJ Performance and Kwik-Fit) had advised me that I had a slight oil leak from the engine and a small amount of oil weeping from the gearbox, if I were them I would check the oil levels in engine and gearbox first as it seemed to be the logical first step. I even proffered a theory that the fault had something to do with the gearbox oil pressure and that in third gear the input and output rpm were similar causing a drop in pressure which was being exasperated by low oil levels, this was then causing the gearbox to go into a redundant fail-safe mode and selecting neutral to allow towing.
The technician took a short test drive and experienced the fault himself after which I was advised that they couldn’t find the cause and they would refer the matter to Fiat Technical and contact me later that day to advise. When I asked if they had checked the oil levels as I had asked I was told that it was completely unrelated to the fault.
Unfortunately they failed to call me back so one week later I contacted them and was asked to bring the car back for Wednesday 4th July. It would seem that this delay was rather fortunate as it allowed time to gather further evidence to support my theory about the oil levels.
On this next visit I decided to take control of the situation and told the service reception staff that instead of investigating further I wanted them to do as I had asked and check the oil levels in the engine and gearbox and to top up as necessary. This request was met with sceptical looks so I explained that since my last visit the fault had become worse with the gearbox slipping out of third gear at lower rpm, gear changes taking longer, there was now a patch of oil on the road where I park my car and that all of the evidence was pointing toward the gearbox oil level being the cause of the fault.
Reluctantly the staff conceded and agreed to carry out my wishes although I was told that “checking the gearbox oil level was like adjusting the internal mirror to fix an engine”.
After finally doing as I had been suggesting all the time the gearbox faults vanished and the issue was resolved. There was no offer of an apology and instead I was charged £183.59 labour for their wild goose chase which I feel is unreasonable, especially considering that the cause of the issue could have been diagnosed by simply topping up the gearbox oil as I had repeatedly stated.
For this reason I have enclosed a copy of this receipt which I respectfully ask to be refunded.
I would also like to take this opportunity to raise a few other concerns. After finally agreeing to check and top up the gearbox and engine oil I was invited to look under my car where the technician pointed out that the oil leaks were coming from the gearbox driveshaft and a broken engine oil sensor and that these need to be dealt with first. I asked him if he would check the levels and top up so that we can rule out the oil leaks as the cause of the gearbox first, he refused stating that he considered the car to be too dangerous to test drive due to potentially low engine oil levels. I told him that if he didn’t want to test drive the car then I would as the issue (and presumably the leaks) had been experienced for at least one month and the oil levels would then be topped up prior to driving.
Again I was pressured to have the sensor and driveshaft seal replaced first and that if I wanted to drive my car I would have to sign a disclaimer. Frustrated, I agreed to the work being carried out at an estimated cost of around £160. I was then informed afterwards that I had only been charged an additional £58.60 for the oil sensor as the technician had discovered that the gearbox leak was not due to the driveshaft seal as reported and that he “thinks” it might be due to some internal seals which would cost £422.14, I told them that I was not prepared to spend that much money on a hunch and as the gearbox leak was very slow it could be lived with. I was also informed that my engine and gearbox covers had broken and would cost an additional £208.14 to replace as they were not prepared to put them back on even though there had been no problems with them in the past, so I now have an exposed engine and gearbox just waiting for a stone to get trapped in the drive belt.
On another occasion I discovered that my air conditioning was not working correctly and was unable to cool the air. I was charged £86.95 to charge the system with a dye to determine where the leak was occurring only later to discover that every Stilo that has had this problem was due to a known fault with a connecting pipe which breaks due to the engine moving on its mounts under load. In fact the issue is so well known that I found out about it after just three months of ownership and that Fiat subsequently redesigned the part in question. This of course begs the question why didn’t the technicians (who must know about this fault) check this first before charging me for an unnecessary investigation?
I have only been a Fiat owner and a customer of NAME OF MAIN DEALER since January of this year and during this time I have spent £1,063.37 with them. I feel that on this occasion they have let Fiat and me down and I trust that you will do your best to restore my faith in your cars and main dealers.
Yours faithfully
MY NAME
P.S. After typing this letter I decided to check the engine oil level (I’d love to check the gearbox too but the dipstick is on top of the gearbox underneath the car) and to my horror it wasn’t even registering on the dipstick and needed two litres of oil which makes me think that they didn’t bother to check the level either before or after replacing the cracked sensor and stopping the leak. Also, what was a very slow gearbox oil weep has now become a full blown leak but I am unable to determine whether this is due to bad luck or the technician’s efforts!