General Did our new car bypass quality control alltogether?

[Gaston]

Am I the only one who thinks your dealer and your experience has been a bit crap? If I pay thousands on a product I expect it to work and do the things it was designed to. If I talk to somone representing a company I expect them to tell me the truth as opposed to not believing what they say. If I spend thousands and the product immediatly fails I would expect the company to bend over backwards to resolve the issues asap. I guess I am totally unreasonable to expect to pay for things that work......

ps - 1st post - love the forum...

 

[keeforelli]

im off to pick my 500 stop start from the garage this morning- stop start warning light issue- they have had it one day!!...very quick turnaround

i hope this has been fixed!!!...so thats 2 stop starts (i think?) on the forum, and both in the garage with a similar issue?...eeek!...thats 100% of us-

i wonder this is affecting alot of them?

 

[306maxi]

Am I the only one who thinks your dealer and your experience has been a bit crap? If I pay thousands on a product I expect it to work and do the things it was designed to. If I talk to somone representing a company I expect them to tell me the truth as opposed to not believing what they say. If I spend thousands and the product immediatly fails I would expect the company to bend over backwards to resolve the issues asap. I guess I am totally unreasonable to expect to pay for things that work......

ps - 1st post - love the forum...

Firstly, welcome to the forum

What could Jim's dealer have done better?

 

[306maxi]

You do realise that no where in your contract with the purchase of the car does it state that the dealer MUST give you a car of the same value for a courtesy car. Nor does it say the dealer has to give you a courtesy car to begin with. Tbh, i agee with 306maxi. If i were the dealer, i probably wouldnt have given you one. It was nice of the dealer to give you a car in the first place, but when you go crapping on about how its not good enough i dont see your argument. Do you complain when the seats are not comfortable in the waiting area of the Fiat Service too? Not like home where you've paid good money? Seriously man, you're acting like a child. And when you say someone pays for it, yer the dealer in this case? And do you think the dealer would fork out top dollar to have you satisfied? 1 of the many customers? I can assure you they'd rather spend the money elsewhere, such as fixing your car as soon as possible.

The dealer gave you a car in response to a warranty claim. Not as a trade. You make it sound as if they've given you a completely different car...

Listen i dont want to start a war here, but you just have be a bit more realistic. Sorry if ive offended you in anyway, but i thought it was worth mentioning.

You're completely right. What courtesy cars does your local dealer supply? Fiat Regatta's?

 

[danger girl]

You're completely right. What courtesy cars does your local dealer supply? Fiat Regatta's?

Dacia Sandero's at mine

 

[JimR123]

Um, I should perhaps point out that those guys having a dig about the courtesy car thing (and ironically calling me childish) are having a dig about an old topic, as the dealer replaced the [what we call] rubbush courtesy car with a new 500 lounge, so we were ok with that.

Please understand that my grievance is with the whole "buying a new 500 experience", not with the dealer itself.

Sure, the first courtesy car wasn't to our liking, but that was sorted after a few days, by the dealer.

 

[JimR123]

im off to pick my 500 stop start from the garage this morning- stop start warning light issue- they have had it one day!!...very quick turnaround

i hope this has been fixed!!!...so thats 2 stop starts (i think?) on the forum, and both in the garage with a similar issue?...eeek!...thats 100% of us-

i wonder this is affecting alot of them?

Was it the "generic failure" and "ss deactivated" lights that came on for you?

Any idea what was done to fix it? And please do let us know if it continues to stay fixed!...

 

[306maxi]

Um, I should perhaps point out that those guys having a dig about the courtesy car thing (and ironically calling me childish) are having a dig about an old topic, as the dealer replaced the [what we call] rubbush courtesy car with a new 500 lounge, so we were ok with that.

Please understand that my grievance is with the whole "buying a new 500 experience", not with the dealer itself.

Sure, the first courtesy car wasn't to our liking, but that was sorted after a few days, by the dealer.

Things break Jim, you just have to deal with that. If my car had something broken when I first got it I wouldn't have been happy but I would have at least understood that it's not an easy thing to do to fix electronic problems especially in this day and age.

 

[JimR123]

Things break Jim, you just have to deal with that. If my car had something broken when I first got it I wouldn't have been happy but I would have at least understood that it's not an easy thing to do to fix electronic problems especially in this day and age.

I appreciate that things break. But, I don't think the customer should be the one to suffer for the defects. Considering how soon it "broke", we've reason to believe that it never worked properly in the first place. If a manufacturer produces a product that is faulty, they should be the ones to be inconvenienced. Meaning, that they, or their representatives (i.e. a dealer at the manufacturer's expense) should be doing everything they can to make the problem go away.

 

[JimR123]

Another update on the problem, in case anybody here is actually interested in 500's, rather than just having a go at somebody...

It seems that the warning light only (so far) comes on when the car is "cold" (not been used for a while, rather than chilly), and we reverse it off the driveway.

If we keep the engine running for, say, 2 minutes, and then turn it off and on again, the lights go off (perhaps this is why it's called a stop and start? ).

We started to think that perhaps it was just that the manual was wrong, and that when the car is in "I'm not going to auto-stop because I'm not ready" mode, the "generic warning" and "ss deactivated" warning lights came on instead of just the other "ss" light, as documented in the manual.

However, we've had the lights come on, and then continued to drive for about 30mins without the lights going off again. Once we stopped the engine after that, and restarted, the lights stayed off. ...until it had been left unused for a long period of time again.

 

[306maxi]

I appreciate that things break. But, I don't think the customer should be the one to suffer for the defects. Considering how soon it "broke", we've reason to believe that it never worked properly in the first place. If a manufacturer produces a product that is faulty, they should be the ones to be inconvenienced. Meaning, that they, or their representatives (i.e. a dealer at the manufacturer's expense) should be doing everything they can to make the problem go away.

And how pray tell do you know that they're not doing everything that they can do to resolve the issue?

Also how can you not be the one to suffer? It's your car that's broken, it's not the dealers car, it's your car therefore you're the one who's losing out.

I like others on this thread feel you're being unreasonable and expecting a miracle.

 

[MissR]

When my Dell turned up and wouldn't even turn on I rang and was told it would be sent away to be fixed. Luckily I paid on my Mastercard so told them to stick it and would reclaim my money from the credit card as I didn't see why I should get something fixed that had never worked to begin with. They soon sent me out a brand new one (kind of wish they hadn't though as had millions of problems and now hate it with a passion) Please all avoid when I finally put it on ebay!
Things do go wrong but manufacturers generally don't seem to do much to keep the customer happy, an apologetic bunch of flowers or something would keep people happy as it'd look like a genuine apology rather than a fob off.

 

[306maxi]

When my Dell turned up and wouldn't even turn on I rang and was told it would be sent away to be fixed. Luckily I paid on my Mastercard so told them to stick it and would reclaim my money from the credit card as I didn't see why I should get something fixed that had never worked to begin with. They soon sent me out a brand new one (kind of wish they hadn't though as had millions of problems and now hate it with a passion) Please all avoid when I finally put it on ebay!
Things do go wrong but manufacturers generally don't seem to do much to keep the customer happy, an apologetic bunch of flowers or something would keep people happy as it'd look like a genuine apology rather than a fob off.

The thing is the dealer will want to actually fix the problem before they start saying sorry etc etc. I liken it to me cheating on my wife and giving her a bunch of flowers and then still cheating on her The dealer will rightly want to resolve the issue properly before they give any sort of compensation.

I agree with your handling of your issue with Dell, if something is DOA (dead on arrival) you should get a new one, but the problem with cars is that they can't just pull another one out and give it to you because there are options and different colours and so on. It's a very different kettle of fish.

 

[eki]

Um, I should perhaps point out that those guys having a dig about the courtesy car thing (and ironically calling me childish) are having a dig about an old topic, as the dealer replaced the [what we call] rubbush courtesy car with a new 500 lounge, so we were ok with that.

Please understand that my grievance is with the whole "buying a new 500 experience", not with the dealer itself.

Sure, the first courtesy car wasn't to our liking, but that was sorted after a few days, by the dealer.

I am having trouble understanding your point of view. Please indicate to me where abouts in your new car contract does it say that if there is a warranty issue that the dealer or Fiat has to supply you with an equivalent car let alone a loan car.

 

[JimR123]

Dells are notorious for being unreliable and their customer service rubbish. Unfortunately, they spend more on marketing than on quality control, it would seem. Personally, from having experience with computers, I would have gone straight back to the shop and demanded a refund on the basis that nobody could say that it did what it was supposed to do. Done it before with a laptop (a HP, I think).

Back to the car thing... I still don't get how our car ever got into our hands, as the problem is quite easy to replicate, and so should have been picked up by either Fiat at the factory, or the dealer during the PDI.

Maybe it's just one of those issues that annoyingly doesn't surface when you test it quickly, but does upon normal usage. Either way, something just isn't right, and I still believe that paying 10 grand for something that you don't get to keep is just wrong.

...Unless you're buying a Ferrari FXX, in which case it's just nuts. Maybe this is the 500 s'n's marketing model...

[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_FXX[/ame]

 

[306maxi]

Maybe it's just one of those issues that annoyingly doesn't surface when you test it quickly, but does upon normal usage. Either way, something just isn't right, and I still believe that paying 10 grand for something that you don't get to keep is just wrong.

Huh? Who says you're not going to get to keep it?

 

[MissR]

Oh yeah it is a different kettle of fish, I agree entirely, but I can't believe all the comments on here around the theme of 'your lucky to get a courtesy car'! If I was a dealer I'd make sure I'd give them the best courtesy car from the outset along with a token of some sort to show that Fiat is a good brand and they take pride in the quality of their products. Maybe I've worked in marketing too long but as the rule is that all customers complain and only 1 in 10 talk about a good experience. If they had turned Jims bad experience around by giving him a good car first off and a token gift he'd be more likely be saying...
"Had a problem with my 500 took it back to the garage though and they've been great! Gave us their 500 as a courtesy car and even gave us a bunch of flowers/restaurant vouchers really pleased with the service aren't Fiat/Dealership brilliant, will definitely buy from them again. Go there if you're looking at buying soon"

 

[Murano16v]

Looks like these stop "n" maybe start models are not worth the hassle for the small gains to be made. On todays busy roads you need the confidence to be able to go for small gaps in traffic. Might see a few S&S 500s being rear ended. Personally I think it would just irritate the hell out of me.

 

[MissR]

Oh and Eki, maybe Aus doesn't have trading standards but over here (quote) "The law considers that the seller of the goods is always liable for breaches of contract, such as goods being faulty." and they must be 'fit for purpose'. If they're not they will have to supply a replacement.

 

[306maxi]

Oh yeah it is a different kettle of fish, I agree entirely, but I can't believe all the comments on here around the theme of 'your lucky to get a courtesy car'! If I was a dealer I'd make sure I'd give them the best courtesy car from the outset along with a token of some sort to show that Fiat is a good brand and they take pride in the quality of their products.

What's wrong with a Grande Punto though? it's a car, it's certainly not inferior in terms of size or engine compared to a 500.

THe 'you're lucky to get a courtesy car' comments are more to do with the attitude Jim seems to be showing towards the dealer.

He had a car and he was mobile while they were sorting the issue out