Won't 'name and shame', as it's likely to get the forum owners into hot water (I believe..... certainly this is the case on other forums I read).

However, it's a word of warning to those with Selespeed type cars....

The car in question is a late Alfa 156 2.0TSpark Selespeed. It's an import registered on a 56 plate, but was built earlier, so came with a TSpark engine and the pre-facelift body. Not that this is important.

Anyway, last November, the gearbox started playing up - wouldn't select anything other than 1,2,R and N.

As it is covered by an aftermarket warranty, I sent it to my local Alfa / Fiat specialist, who diagnosed the fault and recommended a new actuator. (Amongst other things - the airbag light was on, so they quoted a silly price to 'diagnose' the issue, and they wanted to replace some suspension arms - on a car with 29k miles on it which had only passed an MOT with my trusted local mechanic a month earlier.... but that's another story!)

The work was eventually authorised and I finally got to collect my car around 3 weeks after handing it over to them.

Last week, the Selespeed system started leaving a pool of fluid all over my drive, so I did a bit of investigation - removed the battery tray and cowling over the system to have a good look at it. (See photo attached....)

At this point, I realised the unit wasn't just 3 months old at all - so I returned with the car to the specialist, told them of the leak, and raised my concerns about the unit - to be told 'Alfa supply refurbished exchange units'.

Left the car with them and did some research.... Alfa supply brand new boxed units, at a price £600 less than they charged. This was confirmed by a couple of specialists and a main dealer - one specialist charged only £900 for a new one!

At this point, they called me to tell me the bill would be £150 to replace the 'high pressure hose'.... at which point I went what I believe is called 'postal'....

A quick word with Consumer Direct got me all the legal stuff to challenge them..... one letter and an email later, they'd been given 10 days to remove the old unit and replace with a shiny new one.

I believe they must know I've caught them scamming me, as this was agreed to remarkably quickly (within an hour). The car is being collected in the morning.

If anyone really needs to know which Alfa / Fiat specialist to avoid in my area, feel free to message me..... but I'm sure it wouldn't take a genius to work out who it was. (Although, if you do, please don't post it here!)

Just worth a bit of a warning - if you're having something replaced that's buried deep in the grubby bits of the car - make damned well sure you check it really has been replaced with the promised bit ASAP.

We very nearly bought a 156 Selespeed a couple of weeks ago, but tales of woe on the Alfa Owners site brought me to my senses. Incidentally, a bit late now I know, but they have a very long thread about recommended garages that specialise in Alfas.

Interestingly, they also suggest that Alfa only supply certain components as complete units that FIAT will supply the bits of, if that makes sense.

I understand your concerns about criticising garages on a Forum, but if you have documented and/or photographic proof of wrong doing I don't see the problem. If in doubtl, however, consult a Moderator.

So why did they reacon high pressure pipe needed changing then? Only had to change it on a Dual-logic I've got as the pipe got damaged in a prang. They're fairly solid also.

They reckoned that the high pressure hose had 'perished'.

To be honest, I can't really comment on that bit - other than to say it would have been prudent to suggest replacing a dodgy looking hose when (if?) they had the car in pieces.

The alarm bells started ringing for me when I started to remove the battery tray to get a better look at things - it was obvious, to me, that it had never been out of the car.

Whatever they did first time, it wasn't replacing the actuator, merely a bodge to get it going again.

I suspect they saw 'warranty' and bumped the price to the astronomical level, because it was someone else's money I was spending.

High pressure pipe on most Selespeeds is Metal as far as I'm aware.

Panda's.

Interesting.

I haven't actually looked at the car from underneath - crawling around in a mixture of rainwater and Selespeed fluid didn't appeal for some reason.....

(I hate removing the undertray from 156s, and suspect this is why most used examples no longer have one....)

The important thing is that it should be properly fixed this time - if not they're in very hot water, as Trading Standards are likely to investigate. As are my warranty company and credit card provider (who have suspended the transaction with a view to a chargeback if it isn't properly sorted)

Excellent use of your consumer rights. Many people would just "let it go".

Hope they get it right this time

:yeahthat:

Sort the sods out!

We'll see.... I pick it up in the morning.

It's usually the wife's car, but she doesn't do enough mileage to test it in a short timescale - sadly (yeah, right), this means I'm letting her use my company Prius for a couple of weeks, and I'll be giving the 156 a good test.

Any update?

All appears fine - I've swapped cars with the wife, so have been using it for my business calls this past few days.

Don't want to say it's sorted until I've done a few hundred more, though....