Recently had a dent removed (or most of it) from my GP's hatchlid. Noticed today there's a section of the inner hatchlid stripped of paint and one of the small holes has been deformed. Definitely because of the dent removal guy shoving something inside the hole. Photo to follow soon.

Car is due for first service next week so will get them to have this fixed. Normally I would just let it go, but there's a chance of rust further down the track if left untreated. More importantly what's really ******* (edited!) me off is that whoever did the dent removal must have knew he had damaged the paint, and yet I was not told of this and had to find out myself.

Some of you may be aware of the amount of grief I've had with Fiat and my dealer for the past few months. This time I've had *******(again!) enough - once the damage has been fixed I'm never going to go back to that dealer again

It seems that fiat have still major problems with customer service. Fiat UK customer service is deplorable and i will not be buying another Fiat or my partner after spending over £17000 in the last six months.

Its a shame as the cars are great but the customer service is:bang:

Bloody hell that's lame, I think that lot have given you more than enough grief already (Rick Damelian isn't it?)

At least this issue wasn't with the car itself for a change, I'm curious to know how your story would have panned out should you have bought your car somewhere else.

What's the next closest dealer to you Kev?

Turbodiesel said:

Bloody hell that's lame, I think that lot have given you more than enough grief already (Rick Damelian isn't it?)

At least this issue wasn't with the car itself for a change, I'm curious to know how your story would have panned out should you have bought your car somewhere else.

What's the next closest dealer to you Kev?

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Well I should point out the following:

• As I implied normally I wouldn't fuss over it because eventually the car is going to get scratched anyway. But what really angers me is that I paid money to have something fixed, and not only is it not completely fixed, but its in an even worst state than when I dropped it off + nobody had the guts/courtesy to tell me about it.
• I don't think its the actual dealer that did the damage; I'm assuming they outsource the PDR to someone else, or just pass it to the bodyshop down the street. That means the dealer may not be aware of the damage, so strictly speaking may not be entirely their fault. Nevertheless the dealer should have at least checked the work being carried out before its returned to the customer. And when I said I've had enough, even though the dealer may not be at fault this time, this problem is partly because of them, and seriously, I think I've reached my tolerance threshold.
• I hate to sound like a real fussy customer with nothing else better to do but to hassle the dealer, but I think I'm just fairly exercising my rights as a full paying consumer. They (or their agents) damaged my car - they get it fixed up - simple as that. If they're going to blacklist me and/or hide whenever I show up (yes its Rick Damelian), then so be it, I'll just head somewhere else.

There used to be an Alfa/Fiat dealer at Rushcutters Bay near where I live but they've moved/closed down some months ago. Closest one now would be Sydney City Alfa at Zetland..

luvduvs said:

Closest one now would be Sydney City Alfa at Zetland..

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Mate works there

T14086 said:

Mate works there

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Yeh might give that dealer a try - does he/she work in Sales or Service or Other?

Here's the photo:

Red = stripped of paint
Green = chunk being scrapped off
Yellow = deformed hole + stripped of paint

He,tech.

Whereabouts is that on the hatch? It's hard to tell from that pic, but from what I can see it doesn't look good.

Kev, have you been going straight to the service department every time there's an issue or do you go through the dealer first? Sometimes the sales department can be good but the service bad and vice versa.

Turbodiesel said:

Whereabouts is that on the hatch? It's hard to tell from that pic, but from what I can see it doesn't look good.

Kev, have you been going straight to the service department every time there's an issue or do you go through the dealer first? Sometimes the sales department can be good but the service bad and vice versa.

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Its the bottom edge of the hatchlid so when its opened it swings to the very top (the picture was taken with the hatchlid opened and I included some branches/leaves ). Yes I personally think its pretty bad because you would have needed quite a bit of force to chip that much off.

I haven't dealt with the sales guy after I bought the car (except my futile attempts to try and get a Dualogic handbook). Everytime I'd gone back I dealt with the Service department. So previously when I mentioned dealer I meant the whole dealership in general, and probably not the best choice of words

I would be very surprised if dent removal was carried out by dealer as its a specialist trade that takes years to learn,it will be more likely to be outside contract.

T14086 said:

I would be very surprised if dent removal was carried out by dealer as its a specialist trade that takes years to learn,it will be more likely to be outside contract.

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Yes that's what I'm suspecting:

luvduvs said:

Well I should point out the following:

• I don't think its the actual dealer that did the damage; I'm assuming they outsource the PDR to someone else, or just pass it to the bodyshop down the street. That means the dealer may not be aware of the damage, so strictly speaking may not be entirely their fault. Nevertheless the dealer should have at least checked the work being carried out before its returned to the customer. And when I said I've had enough, even though the dealer may not be at fault this time, this problem is partly because of them, and seriously, I think I've reached my tolerance threshold.

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and fair enough they might have caused a bit of damage in order to get (most of) the dent out, but at least fix it up before giving it back to me, right?

I don't expect they'll panel beat the damage, just put some touch up paint on it to hide it and prevent it from rusting later on.