General That didn't take long.....................

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General That didn't take long.....................

spacecowboy

Team eRotica
Joined
Apr 25, 2003
Messages
231
Points
50
Location
Sunderland
Well, car is exactly 2 weeks old, 617 miles on the clock and it made it's 1st visit to Reg Vardy Fiat/Alfa this morning. For some reason, what exactly I'm unsure, my baby needs a full new exhaust system!!! Two weeks and I'm pi**ed off already.

My mates left the garage too, I'll get stuck with a basic Punto as a courtesy car instead of some nice posh car that he used to wangle for me [:(!]

Not happy!

04 Punto Sporting
1.4 16v
Broom Yellow
 
He said something about a bracket being broken at the front end, and the whole thing needed replacing due to it being a one piece exhaust.
They are doing it under the warrenty.

04 Punto Sporting
1.4 16v
Broom Yellow
 
A few months ago I had the back box fall off my Mk2 ELX 8v, and I asked at Qwik Fit, who said the whole lot needed replacing, although thier diagram had two parts! Took it to my local dealer Wilson Purves in Crawley, who replaced only the back section, and at a cost of £1 more than Kwik Fit wanted for the rear bit only.

I'd be surprised if the new 1.4 has a single piece exhaust if all the others have multi-section ones. Anyway, since the dealer or Fiat is paying it doesn't matter so much... But far from ideal if its a single section that needs replacing if any of it goes wrong at a cost of hundreds I guess.

Punto Mk2 ELX
 
the system has the manafold with cat and then the silencer secton thats just on the 1.2 8v dont know about the 1.4 ill have a look later on the work shop manual

cheed%20burn%20in%202.gif
 
Hmmm, I'd forgotten about this post...

I'm now led to believe that it is NOT a 1 piece exhaust. I'm also still waiting for the parts to arrive at the garage more than a month later.

I'd almost forgotton, thanks for the reminder..... [:(!] :D

04 Punto Sporting
1.4 16v
Broom Yellow
 
LATEST UPDATE:

OK, the three exhaust parts arrived 10 days ago. I mentioned on the phone last week that there were other faults waiting to be looked at and I asked if he wanted to see the car before hand so he could order anything he needed, he replied "no mate, we will sort it out for you on the day". I repeated my question twice and each time he responded with the same answer.

Faults are hole in roof lining, rattle from under passanger seat, rattle from fuse box cover, three external paint chips, 3 chunks out of passenger side skirt, bonnet catch broken, door seal portruding and the doors don't seem to be lined up with car (as well as the main fault of needing a complete new exhaust).

So I drop it off this morning.......mentioning that I'm not too happy at having had to wait three months for the parts to arrive. I would like to say I was suprised when the girl behind the desk told me they didn't keep roof linings in stock and that the paint guy doesn't even work on a Wednesday, but I wasn't, which is sad really.....

But what can you do eh? This is my third car from REG VARDY FIAT/ALFA in SUNDERLAND (a bit of negative advertising there...). They just say it's not their fault, it's Italy's fault! I'm a defeated Fiat owner now, I've lost the will to argue my point with them. I'm just going to hope that they can fix this batch of faults within 3 visits maximum.

Off to look for a diesel BMW 330ci Sport this weekend..........

04 Punto Sporting
1.4 16v
Broom Yellow
 
Blimey, if that was me I would of demanded my money back or a brand new replacement car!!



Punto 55 SX all in black... That's my bitch!
 
OK, the garage just called.

Good news first: They say they fixed the bonnet catch, the door seal, the rattle under the seat and the rattle from the fuse box cover.

Bad news: They replaced the complete exhaust but the new one has a hole in it!!! All they could do was patch it! That's another 3 month wait I bet!!! The roof liner has to be ordered (now there's a suprise) and the paint bloke doesn't work on a Wednesday (well we already knew that didn't we).

The joys of Fiat ownership!!! [:(!] [:(!] [:(!]

04 Punto Sporting
1.4 16v
Broom Yellow
 
You know what really did it? The first day of having the new car I noticed a knocking sound when pulling away (around the point the clutch bites), this resulted in the garage telling me I needed a complete new exhaust. Well, guess what! The knocking noise is still there this morning. New exhaust, complete with hole and patch, and the f**king knocking noise is still there!!! [:(!] [:(!] [:(!]

I'm finishing early today, off to see MR JOHN McCORMICK, GENERAL MANAGER of REG VARDY FIAT/ALFA in SUNDERLAND - COMPLAINT HOTLINE TEL: 0191 5165300 (More negative advertising!) and see where I stand. I think I'm still within my rights to demand a replacment car?

Deep breath.........

04 Punto Sporting
1.4 16v
Broom Yellow
 
You seem to be having a shocking bit of bad luck with your car! [:0]
I pick up my punto today (exactly the same as yours)...Fingers crossed it doesn't all go horribly wrong! [:(!]
 
Cars must be part of the sales descriptions act, i.e. a item bought must be up to its intended use. Therefore, I believe you should be, although I haven't got time to look up the specifics because I have school soon!

Best of luck.

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Uno 1.0ie Start. Standard.
Uno_sign.jpg
 
Out of interest, do we have any legal experts here? Does anyone know what my rights are? The car is 3 months old on the 2nd June and it has 4015 miles on the clock. The faults were reported during the 2nd week of ownership.

Thanks, Paul

04 Punto Sporting
1.4 16v
Broom Yellow
 
Ask your local trading standards, I would want a new car. Also ask one of the national newspapers. Try The Sunday Post, Raw Deal PO BOX 6816. DUNDEE.DD1 1WB or e mail [email protected] they get good results. Don't try the local papers, they get to much money from Vardy in Adverts. Good luck. Tansy
 
Trading standards get my vote also, decent and free advice, they will tell you probably as above, "sale of goods act", look it up on the internet aswell.

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Uno 1.0ie Start. Standard.
Uno_sign.jpg
 
Ok, spoke to Trading Standards. They say I should speak to the garage and tell them I'm not happy with the car and that I've given them a reasonable chance to fix it. If the garage refuse to replace the car (Trading Standards advise they will refuse) then I need to involve the finance company and manufacturer.

Off to the garage later, results to follow............

04 Punto Sporting
1.4 16v
Broom Yellow
 
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