In my recent experience, I have come to the conclusion that poor service is not caused by the dealer network.

It is endemic within the whole Fiat organisation, from the top down.

I recently have had a lot of dealings with Fiat UK, and have emailed the Managing Director a couple of times for his direct intervention. At first it looked as though progress would be made and I was quite optimistic, promises were made that seemed reasonable and timely. The only problem was that these promises were never delivered at all.

I raised specific concerns and questions that I was assured would be answered fully. However,none of my queries were ever answered to a satisfactory level. Indeed, most of my queries were never answered at all. The main problem is that they (inc Fiat UK MD) don't seem to care about this at all.

I find this absolutely appalling and totally unacceptable.

To offer some sort of goodwill, they have offered to perform a normal service on the car FOC. BUT THAT MISSES THE POINT.
Customer focus is something that Fiat seem incapable of demonstrating, or they are actually completely incompetent.

I can not blame my local dealer at all, they have been very good. In honesty I can now see why dealers get a bad name, it is the fact that they take direction from a bunch of half wits who are totally ineffective in their jobs. The same people who make promises and then consistently fail to deliver, and are simply a waste of space. They are quite literally oxygen thieves.
I now fully see that the dealers (in my newly formed opinion) work very hard to gain customer satisfaction, but are totally held back and let down by the larger corporate machine

If this is the standard of customer support, then Fiat will not survive as a brand name. Customers will not return, and new customers will not be won over.

Put very simply, it is pathetic.
I fully intend to vote with my feet.

Comments are welcome.

Now we are talking, time to get together as an organised group, UK / Worldwide FIAT Owners? Maybe try to get some fact based TV or Radio airtime? Shame them, where appropriate, back up the good dealers,(we have anecdotal stuff on that)
How about Top Gear? Or any other high profile Motoring show?

Up for it?

i think you severely misunderstand how the industry works.

fiat dealers are just the customers of fiat uk, they are not run by fiat so how can they "take direction from a bunch of half wits"? a dealership is usually part of a chain that is privately owned. direction will come from the chain's owners and board. the chain will buy cars from one or more manufacturer suppliers based in the uk, thats why a dealer can change the cars it sells without changing its name or staff or location, they simply sign a contract with a new supplier and start selling different cars. car manufacturers dont tell them how to operate, dealers are independant and can do pretty much what they like.

fiat uk will not be very concerned by your communication for several reasons. for one you are not a customer of fiat uk, you have never bought anything from them. fiat uk's customer service is there to support its customers, which is dealerships not individuals. fiat uk do not even make the cars, or have anything to do with the cars at all. they arent responsible for the problems you have with the car or the dealer.

if you buy some milk from asda and you arent happy, would you contact the dairy where it was made, the guy who drove the lorry to deliver it, or would you go back to asda?

another example, my company make radiators, we sell them to merchants, merchants sell them to installers. if an installer gets a faulty radiator and they arent happy with the way the merchant treats them, wtf has that got to do with the company i work for? we make the radiators, thats all. if an installer tries to contact us we wont even reply to them. if they arent happy with the merchant they can buy elsewhere, thats nothing to do with us. we cant tell the merchants what to do, if we tried they'd buy radiators from someone else. if anything we have to bribe merchants to sell our radiators and we have to be careful not to upset them, i'm sure its the same in the car industry and fiat uk can say very little to the dealers for fear of losing contracts.

Fiat should take more interest in how there name and 'brand' is perceived. In my experience it is often with ridicule. The problem with fiat is they generally dont seem to care either for owners/drivers or franchises.

A very good idea.

My dealer has very good people, who manage to be jolly and personable when up against some quite cross members of the public. But Fiat itself is a distant and inept organisation here in the UK, and probably worldwide, as far as customers are concerned.

I read on a string here (GP section I think. Sorry contributer, can't remember the location exactly) that this bloke's Mini - his wife's, but never mind - has had three new steering racks

BMW replaced the first two for half the cost and the last for free. AND QUITE RIGHT TOO. Why not all three I ask myself? But still, the point is, BMW wants to maintain its reputation and get repeat sales - and this is the way to do it. Fiat seems to be happy to sell a new car to a new customer, and then drop them like a stone as soon as a problem arises, especially outside the warranty period.

Most of the members of this forum love Fiats, despite the customer support. If back up was really good we could love the cars and the company, and that would make Fiat unassailable in the market.

The Japanese have (had?) an excellent customer support record, and that was a good reason for their success, ditto the renaissance of Skoda.

Its no good Fiat organising sumptuous launches for new products, and having designers run their hands over the seductive curves of their latest car - if the things then leak and the customers are cold shouldered. Or if the computer that designed the B car forgot that humans have feet on the end of their clutch legs

No, its a good idea to try and get the management to realise thy are not selling kitchen chairs, but expensive products with which many people have an emotional as well as a financial relationship. Being let down in a relationship leads to much heartache and misery. See this Forum:devil:

PS. I think jug, you should care about the quality of the product you make, and the feelings of the end user.

jug said:

i think you severely misunderstand how the industry works.

Click to expand...

I actually work within the automotive industry, but in the commercial vehicle sector as a tier 1 supplier (as a development Engineering team leader). So I do know more than most about Engineering and how customer support works.

The concerns I raised were a Fiat UK thing (which is why I contacted them ) It was them who specified what work, with what parts to use and the supply of these parts to my local dealer (and I do know how dealers operate too)

So I absolutely did contact the right people.

Customer services are there for the customer, namely the end user too - just to get that straight as well.

I am not naive enough to think that anything is made in Uk for my car - like I said, I do know the industry.

Your comparison to Asda milk is both ridiculous and completely different in almost every respect. And is almost pointless.

This is the reality, Fiat and VOSA forced a safety recall to my car (which severely inconvenienced me as spare parts were not available for nearly a week ) - the dealer was performing the instruction given by VOSA and Fiat. So was totally at their direction in terms of the technical fix and work schedule.
I asked for information and clarification, I was then PROMISED this information by Fiat UK (as these people raised the recall and had the details of the solution) - to which they completely failed to deliver.

That is essentially why I think they are incompetent, what other conclusion can I come to???

Fiery thread touching all FIAT Customers (note CAP "C")
StiloSte IS a FIAT Customer, may not have bought new I dont know, but these days big companies, whatever they do, manufacture, service or advertising, place megga importance on Customer and Public perception.
This is the essence of it... FIAT dont! And I mean FIAT the group and FIAT UK. They have made plenty noise about fixing these things where Customers become product terrorists in the pubs. 1 unhappy Customer tells 10 others, i happy Customer tells half that. So its up to the Customers to get the point across. Even the Italians stopped buying FIAT in the huge numbers they used to, hence the shake up, the proof is in the pudding.

I say again, can we, should we, would we want to do something to publicise Customer displeasure, for the right reasons, to improve the FIAT breed, reputaion and product?

It would also improve our re-sale values.

Ffoxy said:

StiloSte IS a FIAT Customer, may not have bought new I dont know,

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if you buy a brand new fiat from a dealership you dont buy it from fiat, thats the point, you bought it from a dealer, and the dealer has nothing to do with fiat.

there are 2 aspects to your concerns, the product (fiat's cars that have nothing to do with the dealers) and the service (independant dealerships that have nothing to do with fiat). you cant group them together. if you're unhappy with both aspects that is fine, but dont call them both "fiat".

Ffoxy said:

can we, should we, would we want to do something to publicise Customer displeasure, for the right reasons, to improve the FIAT breed, reputaion and product?

Click to expand...

if you feel so strongly about it obey market forces and do not buy a fiat, then the demand for fiats has dropped. that is the best way to send a message to the decision makers at fiat. you cant write a letter or use publicity to show you arent happy, end of the day all they care about is sales figures.

if you own a fiat the message you are sending is perfectly clear "i'll buy your cars". in that case why should they change anything? fiat only want to sell cars, and thats what they're doing. if people didnt buy them they would have to change, so if you really feel so strongly then vote with your feet and buy another brand.

i complain about the cars and the dealers all the time, it hasnt stopped me buying 3 fiat bravos in a row so i deserve what i get as far as the cars are concerned, BUT it has stopped me going to the dealers unless i have no alternative (i'd rather drink my own wee). thats better than writing a letter to a dealership's owners demanding that they stop telling lies to make money.

That takes too long JUG. Get it in the Press and on the TV I say.

Pussyfooting around gets nothing done.

Quality control out of the factory is the problem, and ditto when these below par cars leave the dealers.

Anyone selling FIATS is something to do with FIAT by association, you cant wash your hands and say "it's not me mate".

We have 2 FIATS :-
A 1.2 Stilo Active, Wifeys, which only had the airbag prob which I fixed cos the dealer couldnt after trying 7 times, nothing else wrong (except the front spring mod).
A 1.9 Sporting GP which had a couple of niggles which have gone right all on their own!

Now I may be lucky, or maybe we treat our cars well... but other on this Forum have not had the same experience, and it is those unfortunates, who paid good money for what they thought would be a decent motor that need a public airing for their displeasure.

Rant over....

As the first post clearly states, I am targeting Fiat UK ie Fiat, not the dealer network.
And Fiat UK represent the company that makes the car, it is one and the same.

I have written to Fiat UK, not the dealer. They are a separate enterprise and they cannot help in what I wanted.
The buck stops fairly and squarely with Fiat UK, and they have been derisory in their response and support.

And as the first also states, I DO intend to vote with my feet, and I have told Fiat too - along with the reasons why.