Got a call this afternoon from Fiat dealer, it is "imperative" that we get your car as soon as possible - a "safety recall". They told me that the head gasket had to be replaced and this had to be done as a matter of urgency as dealer could end up being liable for repair costs. I took the car to them this evening. They appreciated my getting it to them so promptly. They lent me a Grande Punto 1.4 Active Sport ( very nice) although I had to get them to put petrol in it! I am the one being inconvenienced here! Hopefully Tango will be discharged on Friday afternoon.
Is it likely that this head gasket replacement could affect the long term reliability of the car?
Should I be compensated in some way for this hassle?
Thanks
D
ps
The path of true love never runs smooth!!!

Loads of 500's are getting this done,nothin to worry about.

compensated,why? your getting loan car (+ petrol) not exactly hassle.

I am not really annoyed about the head gasket as I suppose thanks to this forum I have been well informed. I read in an earlier post that Fiat are giving £250 vouchers to owners that have had to get this work done. Is this the case? Should I be compensated? Well the car is only 1000miles old, I have taken 2 hours of my time in traffic congestion to get car to garage ( they had no driver this week). Fiat have to try harder in light of poor aftersales as shown in past surveys. I dont want to winge. I really like my 500 it deserves success. The loaned GPunto seems like a very good car also. I am realistic - cars are manmade therefore things can and will go wrong but it is how the are put right that is the lasting impression.

The Fiat attitude is generally: you survived, so what's the problem!
One day they'll realise that a little TLC, especially as they are addressing a different customer base, might not go amiss.
However, the days when manufacturers really cared about their customers are long over, except perhaps with some of the Koreans who want to expand their market share.

Fiat have been handing out dosh left right & centre in my opinion to keep customers happy,but does it? If any car manufacture thinks a £50,£100 or even £250 voucher would make me buy another car after the present one then they are wasting their time.

Dont get compensation for a bus/train being late (thus late for work & pay docked) or power cut or phone line going down........oh no thats a lie you do £1.26 per day thanks BT you tight w*nkers

dt900....I agree with your last post "it is how the are put right that is the lasting impression",any garage that had no drivers that week needs a f*ckin kick up the arse,whats wrong with techs/salesmen/other staff picking the car up...I have done it many times.

T14086 said:

Dont get compensation for a bus/train being late (thus late for work & pay docked) or power cut or phone line going down........oh no thats a lie you do £1.26 per day thanks BT you tight w*nkers

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You get a refund on the Tube if your train is over 20 minutes late.

dt900 said:

I read in an earlier post that Fiat are giving £250 vouchers to owners that have had to get this work done. Is this the case?

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'fraid not The £250 in vouchers was only offered to people whose cars were delayed, not those who had already taken delivery.

dt900 said:

Should I be compensated?

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For what exactly?

The only inconvenience you have experienced is 2 hours of your time taken up in taking the car back to the dealership, so unless you had to take time off work (resulting in loss of pay) to do that it has cost you nothing.

Please don't think I'm singling you out, as I'm not, I'm just completely sick of the Compensation Culture we seem to have adopted from the US. There are people in the world living with starvation, war, poverty on a daily basis and we think we are hard done by and demand financial recompense when completely trivial things happen

<--- Gets off Soapbox

T14086 said:

whats wrong with techs/salesmen/other staff picking the car up...I have done it many times.

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Totally agree with that

I've lost count of the amount of times I've collected customer's cars.

It all depends on the attitude of the individual the customer deals with. Real concern and help more than makes up for the inconvenience (as long as there is a substitute car provided), but a casual brush off can lose a repeat customer for ever.
We all know cars can go wrong; it's the response that matters.

went to collect car this afternoon. Engine has been built up and car is running but there is a problem. Apparently the car wont rev out and the engine management warning light is on. Also my cars computer wont talk to diagnostic computer. The service person says that this is only the second head gasket they have done and they are still learning!! Should I start to get maybe a wee bit worried? No more work on car until Monday.

Correct me if I'm wrong someone, but I believe that if they have three goes to correct the problem and it's still not fixed you have the right to demand a new car.

I agree with the comments on here bemoaning our ''compensation culture' BUT.......

In this case Fiat is making a nice full profit on these cars; it is trying to attract a new ownership base; and it should have been more vigilant in enforcing quality control procedures in the Polish engine factory.

I feel sorry for those owners who have their brand new car which has cost them £10-12k put at the mercy of the local dealer for a major warranty job less than a month after driving out of the showroom.

I am sure there are some very good Fiat trained mechanics out there who will do an excellent job - but there will be some absolute clowns as well! To tell a customer that it's the first one they have done and they are still learning is pathetic!

Good luck to all those affected.



Mike

Ulpian said:

Correct me if I'm wrong someone, but I believe that if they have three goes to correct the problem and it's still not fixed you have the right to demand a new car.

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No

mjs4x4 said:

I agree with the comments on here bemoaning our ''compensation culture' BUT.......

In this case Fiat is making a nice full profit on these cars; it is trying to attract a new ownership base; and it should have been more vigilant in enforcing quality control procedures in the Polish engine factory.

I feel sorry for those owners who have their brand new car which has cost them £10-12k put at the mercy of the local dealer for a major warranty job less than a month after driving out of the showroom.

I am sure there are some very good Fiat trained mechanics out there who will do an excellent job - but there will be some absolute clowns as well! To tell a customer that it's the first one they have done and they are still learning is pathetic!

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well we all have to start/learn somewhere! however I feel it was a poor choice of words to use that doesn't exactly inspire customer confidence!

A few points;

profit is small on the 500.

Quality control can always be improved,to be honest it has improved but any slip ups are always left to the dealer to deal with....& the irate customer

Dealership should always entrust the very good trained techs to do this type of work especially as you rightly say Fiat are doing their upmost to improve image & product.

Profit on the 500 is small?

Well - I accept the old adage small cars = smaller profits but in the case of the 500, Polish labour costs + zero discounts mean that Fiat must be doing ok on this one - at least for the time being!

Contrast that with the 21% discount I was offered on a Panda 100hp.

mjs4x4 said:

Profit on the 500 is small?

Well - I accept the old adage small cars = smaller profits but in the case of the 500, Polish labour costs + zero discounts mean that Fiat must be doing ok on this one - at least for the time being!

Contrast that with the 21% discount I was offered on a Panda 100hp.

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Profit by Fiat and profit by dealer are 2 very different things, which are we talking about?

As I said in an earlier post a dealer i know quite well said he sold a pop the other week and only made £200 on it, I am sure fiat are making decent money on them but the dealers certainly aren't

A head gasket issue on a brand new car?

Note for 'the Beast'.

I was talking about FIAT profit - not dealer profit. I have no knowledge of Fiat's policy toward the dealers on the 500 - but I suspect dealer margin is small and Fiat is keeping a bigger slice of the margin than usual - to try to compensate for some of the financial disasters of recent years!!

Selling cars at full price and making people wait weeks for the privilege is fine if you can get away with it - but make the ******* things right in the first place!!!

I hope that this little episode and the bad PR it has generated for FIAT have led to an improvement in QC.


Mike

mjs4x4 said:

Selling cars at full price and making people wait weeks for the privilege is fine if you can get away with it - but make the ******* things right in the first place!!!

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LOL.....I suggest you take a look at other manufactuers recalls,Fiat have alot less than other so called 'quality' makes. At least (for once!) Fiat acted quickly.

Agreed - all manufacturers have recalls - usually because a design fault leads to a longer term failure and there is a need to check similar models. It is pretty unusual for a bunch of duff headgaskets to make it through to the production line though - and judging by the prompt action Fiat is taking they must be pretty sure they would fail.

Mike