Picked my new Marea Weekend 1.8 115 ELX from them yesterday. Great service, down to earth and helpful and just all round nice guys. David, the owner, did me a lovely deal on the Marea and the p/ex of my Sei Sporting and as a goodwill gesture because he couldn't get the new rear wiper motor it needed before I came to pick it up, he's given my a free MOT in October

http://www.angliaautocentre.co.uk

I've not used their garage services yet, but I have heard they are very good, and of course, being independent, they are a darn site cheaper than the money grabbing Desira in Norwich !

Desira in Norwich are ratted a good one iirc

I used to use DBS Desira in Bury St Edmunds (same family, different company) and I knew Sam and Joe Desira inparticular, very well. They did (and still do) provide a great service, and I'm not just saying that because my ex brother in law (and one of the UK's top FIAT mechanics) is the service manager there

Desira in Norwich (and Diss & Gt Yarmouth) are good but not as good as DBS IMHO. Their sales people are more pushy and over bearing (obviously comission rather than customer driven) and their service is not as good.

I will use them for parts where necessary but would never use their service facilities. They quoted me £350 for a new radiator and an MOT on my Seicento Sporting last year. after some digging, I found the place where they obtain the rads's (Serck Marston), bought one myself for £50 cash, bought the coolant and slipped my kid brother (who at the time was also working for Desira in Diss) a few quid to do it. By the time I had the MOT done at a dedicated MOT garage in Norwich, I had saved myself over £160 on what Desira quoted me !!

They also over charge in other area's. For example, we all know that a 2.0L 20v cambelt isn't cheap. One of the main reasons is the labour. FIAT used to say it was an engine out job, hence the 11-13 hours labour costs. My kid brother did one and told me that all they do is suspend the engine and boot it over and it's done in less than half the stated time, but they still charge the "menu" price. PowerFiat do the same job, same technique but charge less than £500.

And now I know what they pay their staff and how they treat them, I won't use them again for servicing or repairs.

Shame really, because they used to be really good.

I had my brakes done on my gt turbo here,took 3 days and cost £250 but also got a courtesy car so i wasnt too miffed. I also had a boost problem which they looked at but couldnt solve.To be honest i think they are good,the staff are friendly and helpful,but higher performance cars need a specialist.They charge £25+VAT for using their diagnostic computer which i thought was excellent compared to the £60+VAT Desira were gonna charge!!

Re: Fiat garage 'suffolk'

Roberto said:

Picked my new Marea Weekend 1.8 115 ELX from them yesterday. Great service, down to earth and helpful and just all round nice guys. David, the owner, did me a lovely deal on the Marea and the p/ex of my Sei Sporting and as a goodwill gesture because he couldn't get the new rear wiper motor it needed before I came to pick it up, he's given my a free MOT in October

http://www.angliaautocentre.co.uk

I've not used their garage services yet, but I have heard they are very good, and of course, being independent, they are a darn site cheaper than the money grabbing Desira in Norwich !

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Well I've just had a nasty experience!
Just bought a Panda second hand - was assured it would have 12 months warranty and the 15mm chip (i measured it when we test drove it) in the screen (right in the drivers eyeline) would be remedied.
On picking it up I noticed we've only been given 6 months warranty and there was a 'YES' in the advisories box on the new MOT certificate. When we asked the salesman about it he said there were NO advisories. We asked him why it said YES if there were no advisories.He said he'd go and check with the 'on-site' MOT tester. He came back a few minutes later and said he'd asked the tester who'd said he'd made a mistake and written 'Yes' by mistake beacause he'd had so many vehicles with advisories he'd done it out of 'force of habit!' - but assured us our vehicle had no problems. Now, dear forum subscriber, remember that NO ADVISORY SHEET WAS ATTACHED TO OUR MOT....
We didn't like the story so we went straight home and checked with VOSA. There HAD INDEED been an advisory on our car... IT WAS FOR THE CHIP IN THE WINDSCREEN! - Recorded by the tester as 'less than 10mm'. Although we weren't happy about the salesman's 'story', we thought we'd get it fixed and put up with it. Autoglass was in the area and got here within hours, except he wouldn't mend it as he measured it as 15mm - JUST WHAT WE MEASURED IT AS BEFORE THE M.O.T! (SO DID THE CRACK SHRINK 5MM THEN EXPAND AGAIN AFTER THE MOT? or did someone say 'pass this dodgy windscreen, they won't bother about it for a year and when it fails next time they'll think the crack got bigger since the last MOT)
So we put all the points in an email and sent it to the owner. I'm not saying who he is at this time but i'll let you know how much of an 'honest joe' the owner is , if and when he deals with our dispute fairly. I'm not daft enough to call the salesman a liar, but if he isn't, then the MOT tester MUST BE. There may be some of you sceptical folk who will suggest that , rather than go and find out from the MOT tester why 'YES' was listed on the advisories and NO ADVISORY NOTES WERE SUPPLIED, the salesman simply went for a walk down the yard and made up a pack of lies, and in the fullness of time you may be proved right. VOSA have vowed to investigate further if the outcome is not satisfactory, and if what I'm saying is true, then SOMEONE has committed FRAUD. The salesman might have got away with this sort of thing hundreds of times in the past but we've learned not to leave anything to chance when dealing with people who might hold the pusuit of dosh in more esteem than seeing poor punters like myself given a fair deal, so as well as getting my son , a policeman, to measure the crack in the screen before it was MOT'd, I ALSO VIDEO'D THE WHOLE CONVERSATION WITH THE SALESMAN , which you'll be able to see on YOUTUBE If we are not completely happy with the outcome of this unnecessary episode:devil:

And this was at the Barford Fiat centre?

Most Easterly Pandas said:

And this was at the Barford Fiat centre?

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No, this wasn't Barford.
All I want is the warranty I was promised, and a legal windscreen before the end of next week or the police will be involved.
Does anyone know of an honest dealer where you don't have to resort to 'covert video' just to get what you were promised?
It was only because I'd heard such terrible stories about 'this' dealer that I turned the camera on during all conversations i had with them.
I haven't a clue why they'd make a customer go elsewhere with dodgy dealing when I actually like the product and want to buy!
I'm sure Fiat UK wouldn't be happy that a few sharks were muddying their name in 'this' town.

greenarrow said:

No, this wasn't Barford.

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why post in this 3 year old thread then, should be in a thread with the dealers name you are moaning about

:yeahthat:

Putting it here looks like your slagging the good lads at Barford off

Bought a new Cinq back in 95 from here - excellent service and gave a good p/ex price to get the business.

Went past the other day and they have lots of cars in, looked really busy, will have to go in again some time and see if they are still all good!

PuntoSporting16VCool said:

Bought a new Cinq back in 95 from here - excellent service and gave a good p/ex price to get the business.

Went past the other day and they have lots of cars in, looked really busy, will have to go in again some time and see if they are still all good!

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Yes, drove past on Tuesday afternoon and they had alot of cars on the front