Yes i had to go fetch the car on wednesday they phoned on tuesday lunchtime to say it was ready 2 hours later hire car was snatched back.... that left me to arrange my own transport to go fetch it from dealer 30miles away...
so far i have done about 70 miles in it seems ok no leaks or wayward temp guage no noises when cold started (but it was ok til 600miles clocked previously)
Never had any response from fiat customer services from letter of complaint that was sent long time ago nor have i had calls from them in the last 3 weeks i was unable to get hold of chris smith who had mentioned something re compensation (convieniently forgotten about)!!!
Hopefully i will have no further trouble but if i do it will be part ex'd quicker than you can say "clio" or "corsa" lol

good to hear, we await no more developments from under the bonnet....

I had terrible service/treatment from a Mercedes dealer in Reading once. Truly stank. Doesn't excuse FIAT group, they need to fix their customer service department in the UK

Funny, when FIAT release a great car, it attracts customers, dealers and FIAT customer service UK suck all ownership joy away. When FIAT releases mediocre cars, customers won't come near them because they remember FIAT customer service.

So FIAT, carry on destroying the bottom line in the UK.... Idiots.

Simple cost analysis would have said "drop a new engine in, send the old one to be analysed and reconditioned".

mark1962 said:

Well i hope to hear something soon, the pistons should have arrived today so i hope the dealer is getting the engine rebuilt ASAP,i am getting fond of the hire car (corsa sxi).
I heard today what happened re the cardiff dealer i expected the car to go to after the first dealer mishaps....seems cardiff got ticked off by fiat, dealer felt fiat dragging him down reputation wise (they also deal with Mazda)

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After reading your posts I think the way you've been treated is appauling and was particularly interested in hearing about this Cardiff dealership issue....

I live Pontypridd, South Wales which is very close to Cardiff and a few minutes away from Cars4u. I bought our Fiat from our nearest Fiat dealer in Cardiff called Victoria Park Motors. Its the only Fiat/Alfa Romeo dealer in Cardiff and its recently been closed. I was wondering why their Fiat/Alfa franchise was removed I assumed it was because Fiat UK closed them due to poor customer service. Its extremely inconvenient now cos the "nearest" dealer is in Bridgend. I cant believe there is no Fiat dealership in Cardiff - the capital of Wales!

PS: I would appreciate if you could give me more details about why it actually closed...

can only say what i was told by a colleague in work who used to work in the trade somewhere ..parts i think... who said he had info that the cardiff dealer felt his name was being dragged down by fiat... but before i get into trouble this is hearsay.
Anyway here is my update:-
Done about 500 miles since car back, all seems well engine is quiet and appears more lively (could be my imagination) there are no leaks that i can find so all appears ok...
Never did get a written letter from fiat at all during or since...so i still say their customer services stink....

hey there, Just been reading through the thread and i am sorry to hear about the car. However, i am going to disagree with the "All new car dealers suck" somment. I am a new car dealer and worked with FIAT up in Yorkshire for 4 years. Yes some dealers are utter rubbish, but NOT all. Chapmans Of Pickering pride themselves on doing their utmost to help customers, weather it is a fiat or not. Yes dealers can be Arseholes sometimes but bear in mind the few that aren't. and as for car supermarkets... buy cheap get cheap i think that saying goes. have you thought this might be why the dealer wasnt very helpful, maybe cos you shopped them around and then went for the deal that maybe saved and extra tenner?! just thought i would stick up for the new car dealers who are any good at their job. Sorry to go on!

There is good n bad in most things....but i still believe that fiat treated me very badly from start to finish without any written apology or form of compensation (not even a free service) car has now covered total of 2500 miles (1500) since engine rebuild, on the whole it has been faultless since and because of that i have held on to the car but.... i will never buy another NEW fiat and that is down to fiat customer service not the cars.....you would have thought they would have learned from their mistakes by now...has to be why they feature so poorly each year in JD Power surveys

I can only agree, the Fiat Customer Service's SUCK. They must be rated as some of the most ignorant people in the country. ( I assume they are hand picked by Fiat ).
Back in January we bought a Panda Sporting (pre-reg). On the V5 it stated the car was a Dynamic, which made it a nightmare trying to get the car insured as the dynamic costs less that the sporting. So i had 2 options.
1) Insure the car as a Dynamic, doing this meant i was cutting my own throat if the car were written off, or if the insurer found out they could do me for misrepresentation or for giving them fraudulant info.

2) Was to get the V5 changed, which involved contacting Fiat C.S. **** i've met some idiots in my time but they were streets in fromt of anyone else
Yow explain that (A) i've bought a panda sporting. (B) the V5 says it is a Dynamic...........can you please help me. Sorry sir was the reply my computer says its a dynamic. ok says I what bloody fairy waved a wand over it and changed it into a sporting. The reply I dont know sir. at this point I had steam shooting out of my ears and blood running out of my nose. I now asked to speak to the next one up the tree as i was fed up dealing with the monkey, and was promptly told to put my enguiry in writing .......I did after telling her where to put her phone STILL NO REPLY.

I was fortunate, a salesman who said he cared about his customers (liar) and sister-in-law who is a lawyer, the reason for the caring salesman.
Prob now solved, but not due to anything Fiat C.S. did.......why do Fiat keep saying that they intend sorting out the probs with there C.S. and yet do sod all about it
FIAT IF YOU TREAT FOLKS BADLY THEY WONT COME BACK.....ITS YOUR LOSS

join the club mate they really are badddddd

mark1962 said:

car has now covered total of 2500 miles (1500) since engine rebuild, on the whole it has been faultless since and because of that i have held on to the car

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glad to see the car has been ok since

Just read this lot and it sounds horrendous. You must be far more patient than me, i would have done a Terminator in the dealers after being pushed that far:devil: . But i suppose it was not the dealers fault, it seems they were just waiting for the green light from fiat.

I hope your Panda lasts well from now.

fiatdownunder said:

Chapmans Of Pickering.... and as for car supermarkets... buy cheap get cheap i think that saying goes. have you thought this might be why the dealer wasnt very helpful, maybe cos you shopped them around and then went for the deal that maybe saved and extra tenner?! just thought i would stick up for the new car dealers who are any good at their job. Sorry to go on!

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He bought his car elsewhere so deserves **** service?



Disgraceful.

mathew said:

He bought his car elsewhere so deserves **** service? disgraceful

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absolutly right, regardless of where you buy the car, the service offered should be of high standard, bought ours at thames slough, continental and curries have been very good with warranty and service work everytime they've had it in. they didnt care where it was bought, perhaps they feel a certain sense of proffesional pride in their work.....

its the fiat customer services that suck...i was never having a go at individual dealers...my car should have been fixed within 2 weeks with an exchanged engine.... i should have been supplied with a courtesy car while this was done..i wasn't....6 miserable weeks i put up with nothing but contempt and disregard from fiat... hence the statement that i won't buy another "new fiat"...like any business you have to have customers to buy your products

fiatdownunder said:

as for car supermarkets... buy cheap get cheap i think that saying goes.

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I bought mine from a car supermarket and had no problems. Tremendous service

Can i see facts and figures which back up the above statement please