i have really come to hate my lil car

its had wiper problems juddering across the screen from day one
its had a milege fault with it flashing
its got a strange fuel filling problem
had a squeak on the steering which lead to be a clock spring
then after fitting said clock spring the car locked up coming of a roundabout and i had to use force to move the steering wheel to stop me driving into a brick wall

and to top it off even though two of the items are very safety related i cant reject the horrible thing, it gets better i work for the dealer to and im not allowed to contact customer relations got to sort it in house, all i want to do is say how very dissapointed i am in the car

Have you tried contacting fiat uk with your problem regardless of working in a dealership ?
Surely no one in this day and age is blackmailed so to speak when they purchase a new car (i cannot believe it!)

They sound like minor problems that would be fixed by a decent dealer without much drama.

Maybe you should be hating your dealer and not the car

-_aj_- said:

i have really come to hate my lil car

its had wiper problems juddering across the screen from day one
its had a milege fault with it flashing
its got a strange fuel filling problem
had a squeak on the steering which lead to be a clock spring
then after fitting said clock spring the car locked up coming of a roundabout and i had to use force to move the steering wheel to stop me driving into a brick wall

and to top it off even though two of the items are very safety related i cant reject the horrible thing, it gets better i work for the dealer to and im not allowed to contact customer relations got to sort it in house, all i want to do is say how very dissapointed i am in the car

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Take it somewhere other than the place you work, you have rights as a purchaser that are not diminished by the fact you bought it from where you work. As posted above the niggles you have should be and can be resolved under Warranty and you should insist the work is done. They are minor problems easily remedied, ur management seem like very poor FIAT agents TBH....

I can only go along with whats been said. This doesn't sound like proper problems with the car rather your employer. Don't be afraid to contact CS worst case senario is a nice little pay out from a tribuneral.

-_aj_- said:

it gets better i work for the dealer to and im not allowed to contact customer relations got to sort it in house, all i want to do is say how very dissapointed i am in the car

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It makes no difference where you bought the car and the fact you work there. Contact Fiat C/R and make some noise.

if they do not fix the problem to your satisfaction put it in writing you are going to reject the car as unfit for the purpose for which it was bought. You can get a template letter from trading standards website.

I worked as DP (dealer Principle) for many Fiat dealers for ten years . A dealer cannot stop you from contacting CR as a customer, just because you work there. and a good employer would never say that

Butt, for good employer/employee relations try another dealer. they have to deal with you. its part of their bonus scheme with Fiat that they have to treat you as if you bought the car from them.

You need to get tough and make noise.. tell them you know someone in the motoring press who is interested in your story..

Never take no for an answer.. thats what they try to do . Make you go away.. let them know .You won't

Good luck

cambridgepunto said:

It makes no difference where you bought the car and the fact you work there. Contact Fiat C/R and make some noise.

if they do not fix the problem to your satisfaction put it in writing you are going to reject the car as unfit for the purpose for which it was bought. You can get a template letter from trading standards website.

I worked as DP (dealer Principle) for many Fiat dealers for ten years . A dealer cannot stop you from contacting CR as a customer, just because you work there. and a good employer would never say that

Butt, for good employer/employee relations try another dealer. they have to deal with you. its part of their bonus scheme with Fiat that they have to treat you as if you bought the car from them.

You need to get tough and make noise.. tell them you know someone in the motoring press who is interested in your story..

Never take no for an answer.. thats what they try to do . Make you go away.. let them know .You won't

Good luck

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Quality advice from someone "in the know" I'd take that!

Your employer/dealer is breaking the law in denying you your statutory rights as a consumer.

thread should be changed from 'hating my 500' to 'hating my employer':devil:

well i got it back today

the steering issue is sorted but again my wipers arent they judder and catch on themselves and nothing is curing it

and im going to phone fiat tomorrow

thanks for the encouragement

out of interest, is the car actually yours (legally)?

-_aj_- said:

well i got it back today

the steering issue is sorted but again my wipers arent they judder and catch on themselves and nothing is curing it

and im going to phone fiat tomorrow

thanks for the encouragement

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Clean the windscreen and wipers with vinegar and newspaper, then use the screenwash on it a lot and DON'T put any more products on it after that. Fixed my wipers after they were literally jumping across the screen for no apparent reason.

[email protected] said:

Your employer/dealer is breaking the law in denying you your statutory rights as a consumer.

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The main reason the "employer" is stopping the "employee" in going to Fiat CR is that it will affect his volume bonus.

The Volume bonus is a payment the dealer gets for selling a number of cars per month. Customer service problems, among many other factors, can affect that bonus.

I imagine with the 500 they do not want any customer relations problems as the motoring press can find out and they want the 500 to be squeaky clean image wise

But yes it is also breaking the law on Statutory rights, but thats not the whole picture

well as i am having more and more problems after customer relations were more than helpful on the phone

the vinegar trick doesnt work, meths hasnt worked, proper cleaner from auto windsreens hasnt worked :bang:

i love the car yet hate it

I have had the judder issue...simply swopped the blades from another car & it was fine......funny thing was the blades from the 'judder' car were fine on the donor car

I don't know whether it was on this site (was the poster Milfy?) but a possible cure is bending the wiper arms slightly to reduce/increase the pressure.

hate it, i am beginning too, the problems i have had with mine and had to have fiat uk assist and they are no more better than the dealer.

problems:
wiper shudder
washer jet keeps working way loose
microphone replaced already as faulty
usb port playing up, no media when stick in
trouble starting, shuddering at idle
clunking near n/s front wheel
vibration from n/s under bonnet and when changing gear at low speed
mileage flashes
wipers replaced, no resolution
left heated mirror replaced
heating on feet is pants, not very warm

i wish i could reject this car and have a new one, its 1.2 sport and done 2000 miles

jakedeano said:

hate it, i am beginning too, the problems i have had with mine and had to have fiat uk assist and they are no more better than the dealer.

problems:
wiper shudder
washer jet keeps working way loose (think ice caused it on mine)
microphone replaced already as faulty
usb port playing up, no media when stick in
trouble starting, shuddering at idle
clunking near n/s front wheel
vibration from n/s under bonnet and when changing gear at low speed
mileage flashes
wipers replaced, no resolution
left heated mirror replaced
heating on feet is pants, not very warm

i wish i could reject this car and have a new one, its 1.2 sport and done 2000 miles

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I have noticed all of these on my 1.2 but they seem to be just characteristics of the car. The heating to the feet is abit feeble in this cold weather.
Anyone know if this new update also helps with the shuddering at idle?

mine has been in about a month ago and i mentioned the shuddering and poor start and they said there isn any message on the computer or errors and no update available, so update wont help mine, wish i could get rid of it, oh and forgot to mention ice on inside of window when cold, and before anyone says its been cold, i have only ever experienced this when i have had bangers and the car has been leaking and then it condensated and frozen, and as far as heating i have it on full red constantly and on speed two and it only comfortable, not red hot as my old car was, also if there is a little bit of rain outside, then car constantly mists up, feel like i have got one of the original 500s from the 50's with just new clothes on. Its easy by the way for any of you to say the ones who have problems are being picky, but if yours is all great then its esy to say that, but when you put your faith in buying a new car for reliability and trouble free motoring then it pretty heart breaking when its not right and you cant afford to loose money changing it, and in fact why should anyone have to loose money changing by trading it in, and why should i have to live with these problems day in day out.

jakedeano said:

wiper shudder
wipers replaced, no resolution

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My wipers were shuddering for ages when I first got the car, all I did was give the windscreen and blades a good clean with vinegar and newspaper, then washed it all with just water. Then I just kept washing it with water, nothing else. Mine are completely shudder free now.

I have, however, noticed that the foot level heaters aren't that great. On my old Metro they used to blast out super hot air to the feet level vents and they got so warm that people often complained about them. On the 500 my feet don't heat up very quickly, but that's not been an issue for me, and the rest of the heating system has been OK. Do you have standard heating controls or climate control?

I've also had the flashing mileage but that has stopped since I now start the car by letting all of the dash lights go out before turning the engine over. With regards to the USB problems, have you tried other USB sticks? The formatting on certain memory sticks can cause problems with the computer reading the files. I've been lucky with mine so far.