Fiat garage problems

[Bigmatty]

I have had loads of problems with my Stilo, all starting in Feb this year when the garage replaced my whole engine due to high oil consumption. Since then I have had many breakdowns and recoveries back to Desira in Norwich where I have had throttle body, throttle potentiometers, coils and the whole ECU replaced unnecesarily.
Eventually they traced the fault to a damaged main cable connector from ECU to the engine etc. Unfortuanetely cables are not covered under warranty, but as I pointed out to them the only way this cable could get damaged is by incorrect fitment and as they needed to unplug this to fit the engine etc. they probably damaged it. They denied damaging it and said I could have unplugged it and damaged it!
I complained and they then reluctantly agreed to pay the £200 for cable still leaving £245 for labour.
Do you think this is fair or could I take this further?

 

[bozzy]

They either accept the fault in it's entirety or not. By accepting responsibility for the cables thay have accepted responsibility entirely.

They cannot pick which bit they want to pay for.

 

[kev1]

the Desira group is known for their "quality" service. personally I drive further to a decent garage just to aviod them

I agree with the previous post that by offering to replace the faulty part they are accepting responsibility that the part was defective in the first place

Argue like hell and get Fiat GB on to them

 

[NumanR]

Did Desira fit the engine?

 

[Bigmatty]

No, a Fiat dealership in London called Ancasters did the engine cx, but I moved to Norwich so Desira took over when the faults started occuring early March, only a month after the engine cx. Ancasters would not admit any liabilty as they said Desira had been playing with it too long now, because the damaged cable has only just recently been found.

Either way one of them did the damage and my family has been inconvienienced like hell and put in danger when the engine kept cutting out over a period of 6 months, but I can't prove who did it.

 

[NumanR]

So who has paid for the cable?

 

[Bigmatty]

Desira in Norwich on a good will gesture.

 

[Stilo_ste]

When they have done it, get the key and drive off with a thank-you. Don't mention the labour until they do, and then argue and say no. As mentioned above, ring the fiat customer service number and get them involved if you need to. Engine fit would be covered by at least one years warranty. Sale of goods act 1974 - again. Covers all this quite easily,I'd have thought, but it would not be against Desira

One question I have is about your old engine, was it a 'special' engine, tracked for faults by Fiat - as they replaced the whole engine and not the sub component that was causing high oil consumption? Many car engine manufacturers 'trial' new engines in customers cars without their knowledge, but they are usually quite keen about changing the whole engine if anything untoward happens (so they can recover all the parts for analysis). I know it happens.