Technical Do Desira like to try it on?

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Technical Do Desira like to try it on?

kevb0444

New member
Joined
May 11, 2006
Messages
21
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Location
Great Yarmouth
Hi all…I had to take my 53 Sie to Desira (Gt Yarmouth) today to have the calipers replaced under warranty as they had fudged up. Anyways when I came to pick up the car they told me that the nearside front bearing needed doing as well. I asked if my warranty would cover it and after about 15-20mins faffing on the phone they told me it would so I booked it in. The woman handed me my keys and then said “oh by the way….when the mechanic bought your car back after testing it, he put on your hand break and snapped the hand break cable. We’ve had a look at the cost in it will be around £200. Do you want me to book that in as well?”
Well I couldn’t believe it. I said it was fine when I bought it in. She said she new and recommended that when I take it away, to leave it in gear when I park. I said “hang on so you broke the cable and now I have to pay for it”. She said that she didn’t break it. It snapped when the mechanic put the hand break on. I asked if it was covered on my warranty and with out checking she told me it wasn’t. I asked what I was supposed to do and she said that she’ll book it in next week. I told her I couldn’t drive it because if I got stopped by the police I could get in a lot of trouble. She told me I couldn’t leave it where it was and told me to drive it away.
I asked to speak to the service manage and she asked him to come to reception. He walked in, all cocky, and with out even asking what the problem was he said “I’ll tell ya what. I’ll be generous and we’ll go 50/50 on it” He knew what to say before I even told him about the problem. I told him that wasn’t good enough and he said he could do no more. I asked him if I could have a courtesy car over the weekend and he told me I couldn’t as I hadn’t booked it in and they didn’t have any spare anyway. I’d had enough at this point and handed him back the keys and told him I was going home to seek some legal advice. He wished me good luck so I told him I’d heard about garages like this before and he just smiled and told me he’d worked in loads like it.
I got home and called Trading Standards who were shocked to hear how a main dealer had acted so badly. They told me that as the cable broke whilst in there care then they have to repair it for free. They gave me a ref Number and told me to get on to them. I phoned the Desira back and told them I’d spoken to Trading Standards. Told them that under the Supply of Goods Act they where liable to pay for the repair. I warned them that I would take the matter higher. After hearing all this the Service Manager put me on hold for a wile and then came back and told me they’d replace the cable for free and do the wheel bearing at the same time on Monday. I asked about a courtesy car and was told I could have one as one was due back today and WAS free all weekend.
I can’t believe they had so blatantly tried to rip me off. And what really got on my nerves was when I came to pick the courtesy Car up they were ripping off some other poor sod. Apparently wile they were working on his car one of his keys had stopped working (on a 52 Punto) and they need to order him in a complete set of new ones. I wonder how many more things go wrong on peoples cars at this dealership.
 
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Not sure. I hope they will. I'm gonna make a formal complaint in writting to them and Desira. I just hope they don't fudge my car up on Monday when they replace the cable and the wheel bearing that needs doing.
 
that is really disgraceful. glad ya sorted it out. i try not to go to Fiat if there are problems and just go to nationals as they know us. but if fiat near us did that i would be disgusted
 
Yeah good idea. I just can't get over them lying like that. If i hadn't had said anything i wouldn't have been offerd 50/50 and had to pay the lot. If i'd taken the 50/50 i wouldn't have had a courtesy car. They knew they had one free over the weekend and were just BSing me. Did i just look stupid to them? I found out later (talking to some people at work) that they had sold someone a new car and when it arrived it had a dent the size of a tennis ball in one of the doors and they refused to replace the car (it had already been paid for) and offerd to fill the dent at (guess what!!!) 50/50. They also sold a used car as "perfect condition with no bad history" only for the new owner to discover it had been in a smash and been filled, repaired and re-sprayed. I only wish i'd known all that sooner. Hopefully TS will do something about them.
 
I would ask to take my car to another garage to have it repaired to be honest, if they were that low to try and scan you whats to say they wont remove a vital component which makes your car refuse to start in a few weeks time?

Then you'll have to go back and suddenly it won't be covered by warrenty and they'll try charge you £500 :eek:
 
Well once i get it back i won't be going there again. Pus they'll do the work for free and i can't be dealing with trying to get them to pay bills from another garage.
 
Well i was thinking of that... i'll give Phil Mitchell a ring. He could go over the car and that tw*t of a service manager at the same time.
 
thats crazy i would of took the keys and drove the ****er thorugh their showroom window and park it in the reception and said sorry my handbrake failed

when i had warrenty work done on my petrol tank by reg vardy took them 3 days to do the work which was alright welli picked the car up and drove it around, my mate kept flashing me to pull over, he saw petrol gushing out everywhere when i turned, basically they didnt put the seal at the top of the tank in properly, took it back to them next day and they gave me an apology and got on with the work there and then, 3 hours later was all done

thats service :)
 
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