bloody fiat

[sammiboo]

not long been back from taking my car into fiat in rochdale.

I only needed my door handle to be repaired as a cable or catch or something had broke.

They charged me £50 odd quid to get it looked at - then about an hour or so later "miss harper theres a problem..." they informed me my brake pads were almost down to metal so that said they desperate needed changing for safety so i agreed another £128 for the pads.

an hour later "miss harper there seems to be more of a problem..." one of the calipers had ceased so they needed to spend some time working on it....

30 mins later "miss harper..." arrgggghhhhhhhhhhh the brake pipe had apprently coroded so needs replacing...

after spendign over 4 hrs there more like 5 hrs, and made £235 lighter i finally got in my car looked over at the passenger side and a big bloody scratch in the metal trim on the door so get out the car and back in the fiat and tell them so they come out and look when they open the door on the insde of the door more scratches so they say i will have to come back in the new and they will get a "paint specialist" to repair the damaged paint work.

THey say it would have to be a wednesday but if it is when i am at work could i argue for a courtesy car otherwise i will have to take time off work and its their fault i would have to go back??!!

 

[timr69]

You should be able to get a courtesy car from them although it will probably need to be booked in advance.

You should've known better than to let them do the other work.
Just say thanks for letting me know and then get it done somewhere else.

The standard brake pads are £29.95 + VAT and delivery from Alternative Autos.

 

[Stu DemonD]

Jeez, Sammi - Merry Christmas

I have always got a courtesy car from my dealership, whatever the type of work being undertaken - warranty, service, etc - so I would push heavily for that. Be aware that they may not be available until 8.30am, possibly, so even if one was available, you would still be late for your new job.....

 

[sammiboo]

tim - i have never had any work done by fiat not on any of the fiats i have had - i didnt want to go to a back street garage to get the handle repaired and have them strip a door of a uncommon car, if it was the bravos of the punto thats different but not this car - i just didnt expect all that work needing doin and if they were looking at the door - how would they know the pads needed doing

must admit brakes are loads better but still.....

 

[timr69]

Fair enough getting the door done by Fiat but you should tell 'em to get lost when they want to do stuff like brakes. It's relatively easy to do yourself or with a mate and you'll save a packet.

Any normal backstreet garage could do your brakes for a much lower hourly rate than a Fiat garage.

 

[jamie86]

Sammi- garages always try to find other things wrong with your car thats how must make their money.......

Eg. My engine mount broke and they tried getting me to buy all new brakes and tyres as well......

Needless to say went elsewhere and got it all a lot cheaper!

 

[Vimto2000]

Fiat normally have a check list of items they check every time you take it in. They have done that to my car everytime i took it in. But i go to the Reg Vardy one in Stockport, they're ok. Got all the work done from them apart from brakes and new wheels. They give me a courtesy car just for a £5 cos of the insruance but as long as i book the repair when they have one free!

 

[The Negotiator]

When we first got our scenic we went to get some new tyres a few weeks later. They said "your pads are low" so my dad smiled and took the car home. He got out the jack and tried to take off the wheel, hmm, they put the bolts on tight! He undoes 4/5 (or 3/4, I assume there's 5 but not 100% sure) but the last just won't come off, he gets out a huge lever and with the help of next door's mate (a mechanic and tyre fitter lol) we took it off, yep, cross-threaded the nut badly! Of course they said we did it and it's a long story of how we had it sorted in the end.

Ok, not sure why I have written that other than to say sorry Sammi, it happens to everybody I guess.

 

[dave]

i said brake pad was low when i see them, nobody listens to me you can see them through the wheels.
as for doors, door pannels are simple on any car any garage could have done it proubly the linkage from handle had popped off. or a brother could have done it

 

[sammiboo]

i dont remember you saying they were low??!!

 

[dave]

i dont remember you saying they were low??!!

see i said nobody listens to me

 

[timr69]

Didn't they check to see how worn your discs were too?

 

[sammiboo]

yeah said they need doing in the near future

 

[dave]

Didn't they check to see how worn your discs were too?

i thought they had quite a big lip on them that might have tapped off, they proubaly never had any and wanted to do the brakes now so they could boost this years sales figures

 

[panda_gal]

hey dave u can be my personal mechanic I still aint put any anti freeze in my car yet how much do i need to put in it also needs a bloody good clean its covered in mud

 

[dave]

hey dave u can be my personal mechanic I still aint put any anti freeze in my car yet how much do i need to put in it also needs a bloody good clean its covered in mud

it should have anti-freeze in all year around, so if its been regular serviced it shound be ok till you come down.

 

[panda_gal]

cool its got full service history daryl can clean it lol

 

[Alex]

Sorry to hear that sammi. All dealers have VIC (visual inspection checklist) that gives about 50/60 things they should check each time you take your car in for any reason, its a bit of an insurance policy for them just in case something happens and you say to them: "you should have told me about this". But many dealers use it as a way to get money out of customers.

 

[arc]

not fun

tho when they said the pads were low, you should've said thanks and then get some uprated pads and discs!

do coupes not have a low pad warning light on them, i would've thought they do *shrug*

 

[dave]

do coupes not have a low pad warning light on them, i would've thought they do *shrug*

he means a pretty red light sam