Looking for revenge on Arnold Clark

[Keith-130mph]

Hi everyone, I am a Stilo JTD 115 owner, I bought my car from Arnold Clark in Oldbury Birmingham. I've have countless problems with my car since I bought it the worst ones being very bad MPG, the car cutting out when it feels like it( worryingly it did it on the outside lane on the M5) and the bake brakes seizing.
I had took the car back to Arnold Clark all together on 10 occasions to fix it and all they ever did was plug in the computer and say it was fine. Eventually I had a massive shouting fit in the middle of the garage after they had my car for 3 days and never even bothered having a look at it.

I spoke to trading standards because the car was obviously broke before I bought it, and even Nissan finance who own the finance on the car and they just want nothing to do with it.
I took the car to another garage and it seems the back brakes were seized to the brake disk and it cost me £400 to get it fixed. The car feels a lot livelier and the mpg has gone back to normal as well. The engine even seemed to stop cutting out for a while until recently.
I want to warn every one about Arnold Clark's bad customer service and stop them from using them until they start to treat all customers fairly.:bang:

 

[PNL]

Not the first time Arni has got bad press on here

welcome to the forum mate and the stilo massive ..come on down to the stilo boards so we can sort your problems out for you [hopfully]

 

[bozzy]

What year is it, and where in Brum are you?

Welcome to the forum btw.

 

[T14086]

I want to warn every one about Arnold Clark's bad customer service and stop them from using them until they start to treat all customers fairly.:bang:

Cant be that bad otherwise they wouldn't be second biggest independant chain in UK.

Did you ever find out what the error codes were when they put the diagnostic machine on the car only theres loads of solutions to this type of fault in the stilo section.

(you dont say what year the car is? warranty? dealer 30day warranty etc)

 

[bozzy]

Cant be that bad otherwise they wouldn't be second biggest independant chain in UK

Not really a good indication of customer service though T. British Gas/BT for example.

 

[T14086]

dont start me on british gas (deep breath deep breath!)

 

[Venters]

I want to warn every one about Arnold Clark's bad customer service and stop them from using them until they start to treat all customers fairly.:bang:

As T said they wouldn't be the second largest independant dealer network in the uk. The largest dealer of second hand cars in the UK because they are rubbish. Every dealership can and will have problems, I myself have had disputes with an Arnold Clark dealership over repairs doesn't mean that everyone should boycott the entire network.

The problem doesn't stem from the Dealer name rather the individuals that you deal with. However if you do go back into the dealer in question maybe point them in the direction of this forum, maybe seeing what customers have to say will make them think. Rather than not letting them know where they are going wrong other than a public rant in the middle of the showroom which always has staff looking at the customer like they are some kind of aggressive thug. Rather than looking at their own shortcomings.

 

[T-Jet 120]

lol i went to arni in oldbury, said they would get back to me about a price on a GPS. still waiting 4 weeks on.

 

[T14086]

The problem doesn't stem from the Dealer name rather the individuals that you deal with. However if you do go back into the dealer in question maybe point them in the direction of this forum, maybe seeing what customers have to say will make them think. Rather than not letting them know where they are going wrong other than a public rant in the middle of the showroom which always has staff looking at the customer like they are some kind of aggressive thug. Rather than looking at their own shortcomings.

Must admit I do more than my fair share of complaining....but there are ways of going about it.Most important thing is 'get your facts right' take your time to be armed with all relevent information to back you up...be polite & point out where you believe they have gone wrong (were all human!) ...I just got a bill cut from £562 to £329 by pointing out a few inaccuracies but I wasn't cheeky about it & as a result I made a few good contacts incase I ever need them again

 

[mountainmachine]

End of the day its a problem with that specific dealership, and could be something like a misunderstanding, you've not answered some of the questions that would enable people to help you. We've all had issues with garages, its hard to trust someone when you know nothing about whats going on, wither its plumbers, electricians or mechanics. Some of them give their trades a bad reputation and everyone gets tarred with the same brush.

 

[Keith-130mph]

Hi everyone, I am a Stilo JTD 115 owner, I bought my car from Arnold Clark in Oldbury Birmingham. I've have countless problems with my car since I bought it the worst ones being very bad MPG, the car cutting out when it feels like it( worryingly it did it on the outside lane on the M5) and the bake brakes seizing.
I had took the car back to Arnold Clark all together on 10 occasions to fix it and all they ever did was plug in the computer and say it was fine. Eventually I had a massive shouting fit in the middle of the garage after they had my car for 3 days and never even bothered having a look at it.

I spoke to trading standards because the car was obviously broke before I bought it, and even Nissan finance who own the finance on the car and they just want nothing to do with it.
I took the car to another garage and it seems the back brakes were seized to the brake disk and it cost me £400 to get it fixed. The car feels a lot livelier and the mpg has gone back to normal as well. The engine even seemed to stop cutting out for a while until recently.
I want to warn every one about Arnold Clark's bad customer service and stop them from using them until they start to treat all customers fairly.:bang:

I forgot to mention the car is an 02 plate,

 

[Keith-130mph]

Thanks for everyones comments, I think some of you are probably right that it is the individuals at the dealers rather than Arnold's themselves, but also you would think they must do some sort of training for customer services to help with their reputation and stuff?

The error messages never once showed up on the diagnostic computer even though the car has continuously cut out the only thing the garage ever found was a split valve which they replaced 2 weeks after I bought the car. I did ask them if their mechanics actually ever look at an engine instead of using computers which obviously don't find everything. All they said was if we look at the engine and can't see anything we charge you instead of your warranty.

 

[Keith-130mph]

I'm from Quinton Bozzy
P.S. Is that your Stilo in the picture under your name?

 

[Venters]

Thanks for everyones comments, I think some of you are probably right that it is the individuals at the dealers rather than Arnold's themselves, but also you would think they must do some sort of training for customer services to help with their reputation and stuff?

No amount of training can change personal attitudes.
TBH if people knew a lot of the internal policies of Arnold Clarks they would be surprised how honest and helpful the old man wants us to be with customers.

Doesn't alway carry through to the individuals sadly.

 

[T14086]

Keith...cant speak for down south but arnold clark has a new purpose built training centre up north & use many other venues.Appears to me you came across a few that need bit more training

Anywa,diagnosis should consist of the following;

Initial inspectial of probable causes.
Examiner checks on errors & active diagnosis.
Examiner select & recorder tests if required.
Examiner scope/meter functions if required.

Theres more to reading the codes....codes can mislead & often do.

I take it you have 3rd year warranty or some other form of contracted out warranty...if so read the booklet for exclusions of which there are many & you may be liable for payment depending on fault.Its a grey area i'm afraid.

Look through stilo tech section for some possible answers.

 

[Keith-130mph]

I agree The Beast I have read a lot of the little pictures and notices around the garage while on my many days of waiting around for repairs. I think the old man would be a little miffed if he saw how some people aren't keeping his integerity alive

 

[Keith-130mph]

T14086 thanks, I bought the extended 2 year warranty when I bought the car, the warranty doesn't cover just the diagnosis tool on its own but if they find a fault which there [SIZE=-1]definitely[/SIZE] is, its will all be covered under the warranty. On some occasions they have managed to get it done so I haven't payed but then other times they charge me for everything. I think it depends what side of the bed they got out of.

 

[T14086]

It shouldn't be like that though.If a component fault is found then you pay nothing but if its (for example) a wiring fault you pay.I see this problem alot but its not the garage fault as they need authority from warranty company.

The fact you have been to garage few times without success to me means you need to see service manager & talk to him about this re-occuring fault.Remember they can call on fiat tech advice & even request a field engineer to call if required.

 

[Keith-130mph]

I tried to speak to the service manager(Rob )and all he said was the same as the rest of the staff, he even accused me of lying about how many time the car had been in with the problem before I spoke to him so I had to bring in the paperwork from the previous visits as he amazingly couldn't find them in their files(oldest trick in the book and no one falls for that any more). He had another look at the car for free as I had origanally had it on finance and the finance company had to order them to have another look for free. Surprise surprise the same old rubbish. They don't seem to be arsed to do anything and they wonder why people bad mouth them? I once saw a women stand on the desk in the garage and threaten to scream until someone fixed her car. As they had had it for a week and still not even looked at it!
You tell me how to deal with people this incompetant, I even tried fair trading and they still did nothing.

 

[T14086]

Contact Fiat customer helpline,explain the situation