im so sorry my problem is nothing compared with with yours I hope you soon get it resolvedI believe every word you have written Gordy29. You are not the only one who is desperate.
I broke down on April 26th in the South of France in my van. I am a lady in my 70’s who has been recently widowed. I was travelling alone with just my young rescue dog for company.
I waited five and a half hours on a busy road junction before a low loader picked me up. I was then taken to a Fiat dealership an hour away. It was too late for the van to be looked at that evening, so the following morning the mechanic did a diagnostic test on it but could not find the fault.
I was low loaded again to the bigger ‘parent’ garage another 45 minutes away. When I got there the service manager didn’t want the van. I insisted that as it was still under warranty with only 9,125 miles on the clock…they had to accept it.
The van was taken off the lorry but put in a hotel car park next door. I was told they could not look at it until they got permission from Fiat Technical France. I said this was rubbish, as if I had broken down at the roadside someone would have inspected it,,,,as they had already done do at the first garage!
My van was left for 9 days without anyone looking at it at all. When I complainEd to Fiat Assist International/Allianz they said they had been told by the garage that someone was checking it regularly! I said this was NOT true. (I was still staying in it) at that stage). Still nothing was done.
Eventually work was started but the fault could not be found. An E-Tool had to be sourced from the U.K!
It is now six and a half weeks since I broke down and my van is still in a garage in Castres, France.
Yesterday I was informed by Allianz that Fiat is still waiting for some parts to complete the repair and they won’t be available until 21st-28th JULY. - That will mean my 21 reg van will be off the road for over 3 months.
The fault is with the automatic gear box. - A valve problem. They are waiting for the delivery of joints/seals to finish the repair. I am going to attempt to ask them to put a new gearbox in when I try to get hold of someone senior in the company on Monday. If they cannot do the repair in a reasonable amount of time then they need to look at replacing the whole unit…..which will not need the joints/seals.
I would never recommend anyone to buy a Fiat vehicle again after this dreadful experience. At the moment I am still stuck in France, as repatriation by train, plane or even driving by car from the South of France to the SW of England is not an option with a young rescue dog who gets car sick.
I would never have attempted this trip if I had been in an old vehicle. I felt I was being quite responsible in a new van. If anyone has any suggestions of how to move this matter forwards/contact details for someone senior in Fiat, I would be very grateful.
General Now Desperate
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General Now Desperate
im so sorry my problem is nothing compared with with yours I hope you soon get it resolved
I read a press article the other day.
Somebody wrote to a UK national newspaper.. they had a failed component on a 5 year old Mercedes.. MOT failure.
Part Unavailable
After 'the Press ' got involved part magically appeared..
The Journo said they had a similar result with FCA in March.. a 500x - Jeep
So it appears there are backlogs and RedTape that can indeed be overcome
A met a ' Korean vehicle owner' who had endured 6 months and counting waiting for a component to be manufactured in Korea to match his vehicles build spec.
Somebody wrote to a UK national newspaper.. they had a failed component on a 5 year old Mercedes.. MOT failure.
Part Unavailable
After 'the Press ' got involved part magically appeared..
The Journo said they had a similar result with FCA in March.. a 500x - Jeep
So it appears there are backlogs and RedTape that can indeed be overcome
A met a ' Korean vehicle owner' who had endured 6 months and counting waiting for a component to be manufactured in Korea to match his vehicles build spec.
Katerina
New member
Thanks Gordy29. I will keep everyone up-dated on here.My next course of action is versecrazy is to name and shame. I have an Instagram post ready to put on line if I don’t get any joy on Monday. I will also be contacting Which Consumer Group, various motorhoming magazines….and anyone else I can think of!
I’m off on holiday to scotland Monday without my Motorhome hired a caravan when I’m back the week after I will be taking legal advice and action against my dealership not fit for purpose etc why don’t the clubs take up this terrible way Motorhomes complaints are dealt with or is it the revenue from adverts and glossy flannel
Katerina
New member
I am glad I found this forum. Thank you for the welcome Ben, and thank everyone else for your support so far. I promise to remain an active member….not just someone who only ‘appears’ when they need advice.
Pretty poor customer service for a company as large as it is now, being part of the Stellantis Group with around 16 other car brands under it's wing.
Short of taking legal advice or contacting the Media I don't know.
In the past when one of my customers asked my advise about buying a new car instead of their old reliable one, I used to say next time you go for a drive up the motorway look at the average age of the broken down vehicles!
Katerina
New member
If all else fails Bugsy Mike I will be taking legal action. My godson has offered to do this for me. He is a barrister and KC, so it will be Fiat that will be paying lawyers, not me!
I wonder if anyone from fiat is interested or informed what is written in these forums these aren’t just vehicles or Motohomes to us they holidays dreams and love of seeing something new and exciting days to come
My experience of buying a new Fiat based motorhome was GYMFO Got Your Money F**k Off. Unfortunately Fiat have the monopoly and that is the reason for so many problems through the years. I really hope it's sorted soon it's disgusting how you have been treated.
At one time that approach was just associated with back street car salesmen, but now big companies have become so powerful they don't give a "fig" .
Many years ago when working as a foreman at a Dealership I would have cause to contact the vehicle importers about an issue on a certain model of car, only to be told "This is the first we have heard of it and no one else has that problem", then later whilst attending a "works training course" chatting to others in the trade it would soon become apparent that I was far from being the first with that problem!
I think that’s certainly the stance of the motorhome builder, as they’re selling something on that’s a year older, or more, than wehn first sold…as this issue keeps coming up, it does seem that the manufacturer considers the date sold to the converter start date.
And who could blame them if it’s a chassis cab built on date, even if it’s not registered, but converted then sat on a sales lot for ‘x’ amount of time.
Wehn dealers take a chassis cab for conversion, say to a hook loader or recovery, it’s the van dealer sending out for the work, based on an order, and then registered to customer. Effectively the van is staying within it’s approved dealership from sales pitch, order, conversion and sale.
The reason Stelantis has cornered the market was, initially, that converters wanted a relatively cheap, but versatile, base. Fiat offered the largest variations in model range and were considered more reliable than the press would have us believe. Nowadays, no one gives a toss and it’s always someone else’s fault. No one wants to pay or take responsibility for anything, even their own products and publicity and the threat of legal action is the only recourse we now have
In the 1970s as foreman at a Mazda Dealership we had a problem getting the correct part for a B1600 Pick up going by the date first registered, finally we got the part by Vin.number, but the customer was not happy as it was several years older than he thought due to it languishing in the showroom unsold all that time!
That was my intention only to have a rude awakening what goes on in the motorhome industry.
Or at a compound…we found loads of Chrysler Avengers at the Peugeot garage compound! Now a dealership gets round it by pre-registering…but this whole, sale from, build and sit around to be sold, is almost like having three middlemen and none of them taking responsibility like the three monkeys
My 1990 registered Ducato with a Swift Habitation needed 1988 parts... Cambelt , etc
This is far from a new problem.
I am sure 'Dealerships' are carrying less and less parts stock though.
This is far from a new problem.
I am sure 'Dealerships' are carrying less and less parts stock though.
yup, where’s before brexit, they’d get stuff ordered wehn you wanted it, on ‘special’ if Warrington didn’t have it, now they’re all put on ‘back order’ till they have a large order to justify the import process. It’s not just Fiat, the Citroen, VW, Seat dealers round here having same issues. Friend waited two months for a seat adjuster on their Golf Live, and the cars only a few months old. I’d have knicked it off one of the showroom cars! And my mum had to waited four for a speedo drive! Talk of the devil, she’s ringing me
A lifetime ago, working at a Rover dealer, the vehicles were all supplied 'on consignment'. After a set time, if not sold, we had to pay for them, but they could remain in stock, unregistered. Part of my job for several years, was to keep an eye on ageing stock, and incentives were put on them to sell them before they ran out of time. Often they would become hire cars or demonstrators, but age and spec could prevent this. This is why colours are bland, and vans were always white. Stock vehicles only in easily saleable colours. Warranty started at date of first registration, regardless of age of vehicle.
The system might be different, and consignment times will be shorter, but I think the dealers selling to converters should be paying for the vehicles, but not stating them as 'sold'. Then when the vehicle is registered, the warranty starts.
It is possible that Fiat are selling the base vehicles direct, or just through the nearest dealer, but a special arrangement should be in place. There may be a time limit though, where Fiat expect the vehicle to be registered within a maximum timescale of supply, or the warranty reverts to date sold, not registered.
The system might be different, and consignment times will be shorter, but I think the dealers selling to converters should be paying for the vehicles, but not stating them as 'sold'. Then when the vehicle is registered, the warranty starts.
It is possible that Fiat are selling the base vehicles direct, or just through the nearest dealer, but a special arrangement should be in place. There may be a time limit though, where Fiat expect the vehicle to be registered within a maximum timescale of supply, or the warranty reverts to date sold, not registered.
All of your replies have been very informative and interesting I don’t feel it’s just me ,being trusting and I really did not realise what a big problem this is with fiat l no things do go wrong I was in the electrical repair business for50 years but my customers were never treated in such a off hand disrespectful way