DupedinDevon
New member
Hi all,
Apologies in advance for the lengthy ramble! Looking for advice/experience with the following associated with the Duologic gearbox:
I purchased a 2013 Fiat Qubo 1.3 Multijet Mylife a couple of weeks ago from a garage and on a long journey within three days of receiving the car had to be towed home. Within about 5 mins of being on the motorway, the check transmission warning came on. I got off the motorway and pulled over, started the car again 15 mins later and this did not come back on. Fast forward two hours, still on the motorway and it comes on again. Almost at my destination so now off the motorway and hoping to make it the ten mins to the car park to look at it again. Nope. Now I'm getting messages saying 'reduce gear changes' (driving in automatic mode, stop start traffic, so.......). I'm now in a traffic jam due to an accident and go to put it into drive again to move on and get the message 'gear unavailable'. From then on the car refuses to engage with drive or reverse so I'm sat blocking traffic. Towed home, car picked up by the garage that sold it to me as still under warranty.
Two days later, while in the courtesy car that they provided, this breaks down (causing me to miss my holiday!). I call the garage and ask what is happening with my car and am told that the error happened as the brake and the throttle were being pressed at the same time!! I've been driving over 20 years, have owned and hired several automatics in that time and was pretty offended by the suggestion that I had been driving an automatic with both feet or that my right foot was now so wide that I was depressing two pedals at once unbeknownst to me! Also never had the handbrake on still while pressing the accelerator just to be clear. BUT to rest my mind, as I have never driven a car with a Duologic system, is it easy to misuse it? Read the Duologic manual and accordingly, starting the car in neutral with foot on the brake before shifting into automatic mode, taking handbrake off and then using the accelerator. I had probably driven the car a total of 220 miles by this time but most of that was on the motorway with little to no change in speed/not having to put it in neutral or reverse so very little interaction with the gear stick overall.
The garage have refused my request for a refund going for the la la la not going to acknowledge your email and pretend not to hear you on phone calls approach instead telling me it is being delivered back to me today 'repaired and working perfectly'. We shall see. Terrible track record, been on BBC for selling dodgy vehicles and with a history of legal action against them. Unfortunately I was not aware of this until a search on Companies House highlighted their previous trading names (three) otherwise I would have steered clear.
Please if it sounds like I have been doing something wrong here can someone let me know? Honestly I smell bulls**t especially given other people's experiences with this garage but need some peace of mind as the last two weeks have made me doubt everything.
Thanks.
Apologies in advance for the lengthy ramble! Looking for advice/experience with the following associated with the Duologic gearbox:
I purchased a 2013 Fiat Qubo 1.3 Multijet Mylife a couple of weeks ago from a garage and on a long journey within three days of receiving the car had to be towed home. Within about 5 mins of being on the motorway, the check transmission warning came on. I got off the motorway and pulled over, started the car again 15 mins later and this did not come back on. Fast forward two hours, still on the motorway and it comes on again. Almost at my destination so now off the motorway and hoping to make it the ten mins to the car park to look at it again. Nope. Now I'm getting messages saying 'reduce gear changes' (driving in automatic mode, stop start traffic, so.......). I'm now in a traffic jam due to an accident and go to put it into drive again to move on and get the message 'gear unavailable'. From then on the car refuses to engage with drive or reverse so I'm sat blocking traffic. Towed home, car picked up by the garage that sold it to me as still under warranty.
Two days later, while in the courtesy car that they provided, this breaks down (causing me to miss my holiday!). I call the garage and ask what is happening with my car and am told that the error happened as the brake and the throttle were being pressed at the same time!! I've been driving over 20 years, have owned and hired several automatics in that time and was pretty offended by the suggestion that I had been driving an automatic with both feet or that my right foot was now so wide that I was depressing two pedals at once unbeknownst to me! Also never had the handbrake on still while pressing the accelerator just to be clear. BUT to rest my mind, as I have never driven a car with a Duologic system, is it easy to misuse it? Read the Duologic manual and accordingly, starting the car in neutral with foot on the brake before shifting into automatic mode, taking handbrake off and then using the accelerator. I had probably driven the car a total of 220 miles by this time but most of that was on the motorway with little to no change in speed/not having to put it in neutral or reverse so very little interaction with the gear stick overall.
The garage have refused my request for a refund going for the la la la not going to acknowledge your email and pretend not to hear you on phone calls approach instead telling me it is being delivered back to me today 'repaired and working perfectly'. We shall see. Terrible track record, been on BBC for selling dodgy vehicles and with a history of legal action against them. Unfortunately I was not aware of this until a search on Companies House highlighted their previous trading names (three) otherwise I would have steered clear.
Please if it sounds like I have been doing something wrong here can someone let me know? Honestly I smell bulls**t especially given other people's experiences with this garage but need some peace of mind as the last two weeks have made me doubt everything.
Thanks.
