Venters said:

Also some of the paranoia displayed in this thread is hilarious.
Top gear test drives. Get over it. It's a 500 not a 599.
I've let an apprentice drive the marea when it was new. No esp, more than twice the power of the 1.2 and I wasn't worried. Maybe that makes me stupid. but I'd rather be stupid than worry about stupid stuff.

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And this is not the 599 forum

Sorry, just by 2-pence worth

The dealer is who the original agreement was with. Who they choose to get to work on it on their behalf is their bag ... but, as they have messed up twice already - they should really be more helpful.

My other half's Golf had a starting issue after having its service, they had 2 goes at it - and then we complained, they came out to us, took our car, gave us a curtesy car until they resolved the issue - and sent an letter to apologising about the grief afterwards ... This is the level of service I would expect.

Also making a 25-mile round trip each time is not funny.

Murano16v said:

And this is not the 599 forum

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No pulling the wool over your eyes is there.


Like I've already said. If people want to cause themselves more hassle than they need to that's up to them.

If people want to try get me to bite. Well keep going and see if you can manage it.

FireballXL5man said:

Sincere apologies that you've now got a red face. But don't you think that a main dealer's approved and certified bodyshop, where my car is now going could do a better job than some guy with a van and a gazebo that is positioned over the car to be resprayed, probably in the open air? I know that's how they do it because I saw him, or a colleague at work on a car outside.

Finally, as for the "paranoia" that you mention. I don't think that I or anyone else who has been good enough to reply has been paranoid. You are however entitled to your opinion and I respect that. I did after all ask the original question to get other peoples opinions on how they would feel in my position.

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Well yes that's obvious. But in one post your saying they were taking it to there bodyshop so what relevance has a man with a gazebo got to do with anything?

Paranoia is a fear of something that can happen. So suggesting they are going to take it out on your car is paranoia.

Venters said:

No pulling the wool over your eyes is there.

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No way, but what I meant was it's all relative in terms of your wealth. A 500 could be a major purchase whereas a 599 may not be.

Venters said:

Well yes that's obvious. But in one post your saying they were taking it to there bodyshop so what relevance has a man with a gazebo got to do with anything?

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Venters, either you've misread my posts or I didn't make myself clear. Apologies if it's the latter.

I'll explain again.

The man with the gazebo's company doesn't have a bodyshop. Just a van or two with paint mixing/spraying equipment and a gazebo. Having been told quite clearly by the Fiat dealership that his work was sub-standard, he (or his boss) was going to drive my car to the Fiat dealership's main bodyshop for the job to be re-done to a much higher standard, by the Fiat dealership, like it should have been done in the first place. It was that which caused me to insist that gazebo man, or his boss had no further contact with my car, especially driving it.

If you still think that's being paranoid, then you and I will have to agree to disagree.

Final installment.

I personally took the car to the main dealer's Birmingham bodyshop on Monday as the bodyshop manager who was going to collect my car was unavailable. I pointed out the paintwork faults to a member of the staff, these being poor colour match, extremely heavy swirl marks and "tide-mark" (where re-spray met original paint). He took lots of digital photos. Fortunately, the sun was shining brightly, so the faults were more obvious. I collected the car today and the new paint (the whole tailgate) is as close to perfection as you could ask for. The car looks brand-new again. I'm very glad that I insisted that the quick-fix spray company (brought in by the winscreen fitting company) didn't get the chance to "put their work right" and had nothing further to do with my car. They'd tried the best with the limited equipment they had, but obviously it required a proper approved bodyshop to rectify the situation.

Success!

FireballXL5man said:

The man with the gazebo's company doesn't have a bodyshop. Just a van or two with paint mixing/spraying equipment and a gazebo. Having been told quite clearly by the Fiat dealership that his work was sub-standard, he (or his boss) was going to drive my car to the Fiat dealership's main bodyshop for the job to be re-done to a much higher standard, by the Fiat dealership, like it should have been done in the first place. It was that which caused me to insist that gazebo man, or his boss had no further contact with my car, especially driving it.

If you still think that's being paranoid, then you and I will have to agree to disagree.

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I think we have had a misunderstanding. Although I'm confused as to why the dealership would not take the car themselves. It does seem very strange.

Venters said:

I think we have had a misunderstanding. Although I'm confused as to why the dealership would not take the car themselves. It does seem very strange.

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No problem Venters. I also think we have had a misunderstanding, maybe caused by me not explaining things as clearly as I should. But it has been a bizarre situation.

I was astonished last Monday when the car was due to be taken to the Fiat main dealer's Birmingham bodyshop by a senior member of the dealerships Birmingham branch. He didn't turn up to take my car, as apparently he was tied up with inspectors who had turned up out of the blue and needed to do a check on the bodyshop (!) Instead, someone from the "quick-fix" re-spray company (not "chips-away", but similar) appeared, introduced themself to me and informed me that they were going to take my car to the Birmingham Fiat main dealer's bodyshop. I politely declined their offer and told them I'd take the car there myself, as I needed to point out all the paintwork faults. I did this and I also insisted on collecting the car from the Birmingham bodyshop myself. I wanted to be as sure as I could that the car was going to be dealt with by the Fiat dealership's bodyshop with no further involvement from the quick-fix re-spray franchise.

As I said, a bizarre situation. Thankfully, it's now been resolved.