BAD = Picaddilly motors

Currently reading:
BAD = Picaddilly motors

Ben1978

New member
Joined
Jun 18, 2011
Messages
10
Points
5
Location
Harrogate
Iv just recently bought a brand new Fiat panda - its such a good car but the dealer I bought it from was the worst I have ever dealt with - in 15 years and 12 cars.
So Piccadilly motors were so amature and incompetent Both the dealer principle and the sales manager couldnt respond and were incapable of dealing with my complaint. The sales manager even told me he would ring me and went off on holiday.

I shall do some research before getting my next car and I hope that there are some better more profesional Fiat dealers near me!!
 
Hi,

I would never and haven't questioned anyone's entitlement to annual leave - but if after a letter of complaint, and two Emails and then being told that I would be rung on the friday and then finding out the following thursday (after two more Emails from me) that he went on Holiday on the Monday i think I had a right to be unhappy.
I have worked as a retail manager for 15 years and I'm well aware that things go wrong - its how you handle it. If after my original letter of complaint I had gotten a phone call and an apology I would have happily dropped it - I had to wait just under three weeks for an answer.

I had two complaints with them - first they told me I was OK to cancel my direct debit on my former car (that they were gong to settle) I was told Yes and then about ten days later I got a letter from Toyota finance asking why I hadn't paid and was threatened with a charge.

The second was that I couldnt get credit in my name and they kindly offered to get the credit in my fathers name -Which I have pointed out was very good of them. When we went to collect the car I was told I couldn't sign the V5 because the finance was in my dads name - fair enough! So I asked the sales team (2 of them) would it be a problem with the insurance I had just got with me not being the legal owner or registered keeper - they both told me it was fine. So I rang my insurance company to ask to change my insurance and they told me that under these circumstance I could not legally insure the car - I lost a fairly large deposit.

I mentioned all this in a letter to the dealer principle and the sales manager rang me back - as I missed his call I sent an Email telling him sorry and i would be available all the next day and the day after morning - he emailed back to say he would ring on the friday - he didn't, and was on holiday the following week - It took a further week of emails and being fobbed off before someone actually rang me.

In amongst all this I arranged to have my servicing done else where so their eventual offer of my first service free was rejected - largely because I had lost trust in them.

But, I am not unreasonable and as I said as a retail manager doing 45-55 hours a week I would never question someone's right to have a holiday. I just know from personal experience that if a mistake is made (and mistakes happen all the time) its the way you handle it. I also kow that behavior breeds behaviour and I was fobbed off by two of the most senior people in the building.

I would imagine that if you go here and don't have a problem its fine, but if you do I wouldn't trust them to care enough to rectify it in a reasonable time frame.:)
 
I have written a letter of complaint to Fiat UK and put it in an Email. Is Fiat HQ somthing different? Im trying to get contact details for their mnaging director so I can forward all Emails and correspondents to them too! :mad:
 
so your complaint is against 2 individuals and not the hole garage, maybe thread title should reflect this?

To be fair, if you have poor dealings with individuals (irrespective of the industry) then it's only natural for people to want to disassociate themselves from the company.

On the flip side, many of us will praise a particular garage but in reality it will be because we've had good service from 1 or 2 members of staff. Some of the other members of staff could be complete and utter tools for all we know!
 
On the flip side, many of us will praise a particular garage but in reality it will be because we've had good service from 1 or 2 members of staff. Some of the other members of staff could be complete and utter tools for all we know!

Absolutely, although I do think the variation in 'dealer standards' varies wildly. How can you have 5 star rated dealers and 1 star. To me anything below a 3 deserves a 3 month or your out warning. Why should a customer pay the same amount of money for 1 star service.....defies belief!
 
Last edited:
Absolutely, although I do think the variation in 'dealer standards' varies wildly. How can you have 5 star rated dealers and 1 star. To me anything below a 3 deserves a 3 month or your out warning. Why should a customer pay the same amount of money for 1 star service.....defies belief!

I quite agree. IMO the biggest challenge Fiat have got is trying to make their service level more consistent. There are good garages out there but unfortunately the brand IMO is being dragged down by incompetent ones as customers only tend to remember the bad things.

From personal experience I have found Fiat main dealers in both South Wales and Devon to be wildly different in terms of the service level/quotes provided - it's just not on really.

Anyway, hopefully the OP will have some luck dealing with Fiat Customer Services.
 
Back
Top