sonia cachia
New member
On the 25th July 2002, I bought me a FIAT BRAVO (Year of Manufacture: 2000) at the price of 6000 Malta Lira (around 15,000 Euros). At first, it seemed to be a very good car and I was happy with the service it was giving me.
Extra money had been paid to have colour-coded bumpers and yet to my dissatisfaction as days went by the paint from the bumpers started flaking off.
Then to make matters worse, at around May of this year, the air conditioner started to give me problems: it was not cooling at all!! To my great disappointment, at Fiat service garage (Valley Road, B’kara) I was told that I had to wait till September for it to be fixed since the evaporator had to be imported to Malta. It is surely not fair that I paid extra money to have an air conditioner and yet I couldn’t enjoy this necessity during the Summer season. Please note that I had to stay without my car for a few days until evaporator was fixed (no replacement was given to me during these days).
In the meantime, I was also having problems with the key code. As soon as I turn the key to start the car, the orange button of the key code lights up and remains on until I have to switch off the engine and then put it on again. Again I went to Fiat garage and was informed by the foreman in charge that they would change some parts related to the key code. As a matter of fact they kept on giving me new keys or trying to fix my old ones. All this proved to be useless because up to this present day when I start my car, I still see the orange light flashing. Please note that I had to go to Fiat garage six or seven times to fix this problem.
Just a week before my guarantee was due to end, the rev counter started fluctuating first going up to 4,000 revs and then down to 1,000 revs on its own while I am driving and especially when the car was idling. Yet again, I took the car back to Fiat garage and after waiting for a couple of hours, the throttle was changed. I was lucky this time that my car was still under guarantee so it was changed free of charge otherwise I was told that I would have had to pay around 200 Malta Lira (around 500 Euros) excluding labour.
This was happening in mid-July, yet by the end of September, the throttle started revving like crazy again for no reason at all. This is ridiculous that the throttle needs to be changed again, after just two months of it being replaced.
On the 30th September, I took the car back to the Fiat garage and was told to leave my car again for them to check out both the key code and the reason why my car was revving pointlessly. I left the car there for three days. Obviously, the car started having the same problems all over again.
By this time, I was getting frustrated by the whole situation and on Monday 6th October, I went to speak to the Garage manager. He told me to contact the Fiat General Manager, and make an appointment so that he would be informed about the problems I am having with my car. In the meantime, he told me to take the car back to them on Wednesday morning to check it again. Thursday afternoon I had my car back and was told that they couldn’t find what was wrong with it. However, back on the road, the car continued to give me the same problems.
On Friday 10th October, at around 7pm, I received a phone call from the General Manager after having left my number with his secretary. I was expecting that as a general manager, he would take my complain seriously and would arrange an appointment with his customer. However, he was not interested at all in meeting me. He just wanted to know what was the purpose of me contacting him in the first place and then said that he would speak to the Garage Manager himself and get back to me the following Tuesday. And yet I thought that Fiat management is customer driven and customer friendly. The General Manager is surely a good example of the opposite approach.
It is a sad fact that according to Fiat staff members and also through the information gathered while talking to other dissatisfied Fiat customers that the air conditioner and throttle seem to be a standard defect of Fiat cars. It is also quite dissatisfactory that it took Fiat staff members more than three months to fix the air conditioner, and in the case of the key code and throttle they are still not capable of detecting the problem. I would also like to point out that the two car services were carried out at the Fiat garage service so that at no point in time could I be confronted by Fiat staff that some other mechanic was checking my car.
Up till a year and a half ago, I used to think that FIAT CARS were reliable and that is why I bought my car from your company. I also thought that the follow up service would be by far better and efficient. However, now I have come to a point where I feel not only that Fiat cars are not reliable but that they are also unsafe to drive. I am determined not to drive my NEW FIAT BRAVO (just one year and 3 months old) in this state.
Concluding, as a customer, I must say that I did my utmost to give my car regular service, kept it clean and in good shape. It is definitely from the manufactures’ side that even though my car looks new yet it is really a WORTHLESS VEHICLE which is absolutely unsafe to drive and which is leading me to a point where I do not want to drive my car anymore. I feel that after all the hassle that I have been going through, it is my right that the FIAT COMPANY reimburses me in full amount of 6000 Malta Lira or with a new Fiat car with the similar specifications like the Fiat Bravo which I had bought, which must be checked thoroughly in Italy and sent specifically for me.
I hope that this letter will be given its due consideration and that I would be contacted by Fiat personnel. Should this contact not be done within a period of 15 days, legal action would be taken.
Whilst thanking you in advance.
Sincerely
Sonia Cachia
Malta
Mobile Number: +35679267747
Email address: [email protected]
Extra money had been paid to have colour-coded bumpers and yet to my dissatisfaction as days went by the paint from the bumpers started flaking off.
Then to make matters worse, at around May of this year, the air conditioner started to give me problems: it was not cooling at all!! To my great disappointment, at Fiat service garage (Valley Road, B’kara) I was told that I had to wait till September for it to be fixed since the evaporator had to be imported to Malta. It is surely not fair that I paid extra money to have an air conditioner and yet I couldn’t enjoy this necessity during the Summer season. Please note that I had to stay without my car for a few days until evaporator was fixed (no replacement was given to me during these days).
In the meantime, I was also having problems with the key code. As soon as I turn the key to start the car, the orange button of the key code lights up and remains on until I have to switch off the engine and then put it on again. Again I went to Fiat garage and was informed by the foreman in charge that they would change some parts related to the key code. As a matter of fact they kept on giving me new keys or trying to fix my old ones. All this proved to be useless because up to this present day when I start my car, I still see the orange light flashing. Please note that I had to go to Fiat garage six or seven times to fix this problem.
Just a week before my guarantee was due to end, the rev counter started fluctuating first going up to 4,000 revs and then down to 1,000 revs on its own while I am driving and especially when the car was idling. Yet again, I took the car back to Fiat garage and after waiting for a couple of hours, the throttle was changed. I was lucky this time that my car was still under guarantee so it was changed free of charge otherwise I was told that I would have had to pay around 200 Malta Lira (around 500 Euros) excluding labour.
This was happening in mid-July, yet by the end of September, the throttle started revving like crazy again for no reason at all. This is ridiculous that the throttle needs to be changed again, after just two months of it being replaced.
On the 30th September, I took the car back to the Fiat garage and was told to leave my car again for them to check out both the key code and the reason why my car was revving pointlessly. I left the car there for three days. Obviously, the car started having the same problems all over again.
By this time, I was getting frustrated by the whole situation and on Monday 6th October, I went to speak to the Garage manager. He told me to contact the Fiat General Manager, and make an appointment so that he would be informed about the problems I am having with my car. In the meantime, he told me to take the car back to them on Wednesday morning to check it again. Thursday afternoon I had my car back and was told that they couldn’t find what was wrong with it. However, back on the road, the car continued to give me the same problems.
On Friday 10th October, at around 7pm, I received a phone call from the General Manager after having left my number with his secretary. I was expecting that as a general manager, he would take my complain seriously and would arrange an appointment with his customer. However, he was not interested at all in meeting me. He just wanted to know what was the purpose of me contacting him in the first place and then said that he would speak to the Garage Manager himself and get back to me the following Tuesday. And yet I thought that Fiat management is customer driven and customer friendly. The General Manager is surely a good example of the opposite approach.
It is a sad fact that according to Fiat staff members and also through the information gathered while talking to other dissatisfied Fiat customers that the air conditioner and throttle seem to be a standard defect of Fiat cars. It is also quite dissatisfactory that it took Fiat staff members more than three months to fix the air conditioner, and in the case of the key code and throttle they are still not capable of detecting the problem. I would also like to point out that the two car services were carried out at the Fiat garage service so that at no point in time could I be confronted by Fiat staff that some other mechanic was checking my car.
Up till a year and a half ago, I used to think that FIAT CARS were reliable and that is why I bought my car from your company. I also thought that the follow up service would be by far better and efficient. However, now I have come to a point where I feel not only that Fiat cars are not reliable but that they are also unsafe to drive. I am determined not to drive my NEW FIAT BRAVO (just one year and 3 months old) in this state.
Concluding, as a customer, I must say that I did my utmost to give my car regular service, kept it clean and in good shape. It is definitely from the manufactures’ side that even though my car looks new yet it is really a WORTHLESS VEHICLE which is absolutely unsafe to drive and which is leading me to a point where I do not want to drive my car anymore. I feel that after all the hassle that I have been going through, it is my right that the FIAT COMPANY reimburses me in full amount of 6000 Malta Lira or with a new Fiat car with the similar specifications like the Fiat Bravo which I had bought, which must be checked thoroughly in Italy and sent specifically for me.
I hope that this letter will be given its due consideration and that I would be contacted by Fiat personnel. Should this contact not be done within a period of 15 days, legal action would be taken.
Whilst thanking you in advance.
Sincerely
Sonia Cachia
Malta
Mobile Number: +35679267747
Email address: [email protected]
