General Service, Belt and Pump at Stoneacre Rochdale

[heliophile]

Quick review...

Agreed a price of £420 for a "platinum" service, timing belt and water pump from Stoneacre Fiat in Rochdale for my 30,000 mile 1.6 120 MJ. Not my usual place, but lots cheaper than Lookers Stockport where I normally go.

Dropped it off Wed morning first thing.

First call was later that morning to say the front brake pads and disks were "minimum 80-90% worn and needed replacement".

I said respectfully that's hard to believe based on mileage, and 6months earlier they were 40% at MOT.

I was then told they must have been "hard miles" since the MOT (err, no) and then that "the inside ones might be much more worn than the outside" (what?).

I politely declined for them to replace, despite dire warnings about it being for my own safety.

Next call later that day. Having trouble "timing the engine" and won't be ready until Thursday. Err, OK.

Next call that evening. They have discovered a part in the belt kit is wrong (later said to be the tensioner) and they need a new one from Italy. Will be Sat for the parts, Monday pickup.

They gave me a Panda courtesy car and £25 of diesel and eventually I picked it up Monday. No further mention of the brakes.

I had the brakes checked at Lookers and they came back 55% worn.

So not much impressed about what they told me on the brakes - though about par for the course. And I suppose I have to give benefit of the doubt on the belt, but whole thing left me with a bit of a bad taste and some perhaps unfounded suspicions that I wasn;t getting the whole story.

Won't be going back.

 

[cainy1989]

order the part from Italy? I highly doubt that seeing as yours is an MJ and multiple cars across multiple manufactures use that engine not sure where there get off saying that, but I suppose thats better than the " 300% worn " brakes you had

not a bad price for all that to be fair, I got a quote of around £460, still cheaper to buy the bits yourself and get em fittted, I got parts from shop4parts at about 70% off what fiat where charging me, they wanted £65 for the water pump, got one from shop4parts for £25 + 10% FiatForum Discount

 

[Andy Monty]

Search the garages section I had stoneacre of doncaster try scare tactics on 2 apparently illegal front tyres and worksop.. well search for my garage posts :bang:

 

[rubadub80]

£420 for the timing belt, pump and tensioners? Sounds expensive. I took my 150 MJET to a very good independent Alfa Garage that done it all in for £325 and using the proper kit. In fact my local Fiat stealers wanted just £330 all in.

I chose the Independent in the end as when I went in there for a track rod end for my old Brava they wanted £60, and then told me that 9 times out of 10 they dont use the Fiat Parts as they are so expensive! I thought going to a main dealer was so genuine parts were used?!!

 

[heliophile]

order the part from Italy? I highly doubt that seeing as yours is an MJ and multiple cars across multiple manufactures use that engine not sure where there get off saying that, but I suppose thats better than the " 300% worn " brakes you had

not a bad price for all that to be fair, I got a quote of around £460, still cheaper to buy the bits yourself and get em fittted, I got parts from shop4parts at about 70% off what fiat where charging me, they wanted £65 for the water pump, got one from shop4parts for £25 + 10% FiatForum Discount

Thought it sounded fishy. I wondered if they'd messed up the belt and were actually waiting for new valves/rockers.

Good tip on the parts, I just wanted a one stop shop though

 

[heliophile]

£420 for the timing belt, pump and tensioners? Sounds expensive. I took my 150 MJET to a very good independent Alfa Garage that done it all in for £325 and using the proper kit. In fact my local Fiat stealers wanted just £330 all in.

I chose the Independent in the end as when I went in there for a track rod end for my old Brava they wanted £60, and then told me that 9 times out of 10 they dont use the Fiat Parts as they are so expensive! I thought going to a main dealer was so genuine parts were used?!!

It would have been a lot just for the belt/pump, but £420 included the service, which would have been £200 on its own.

 

[heliophile]

Search the garages section I had stoneacre of doncaster try scare tactics on 2 apparently illegal front tyres and worksop.. well search for my garage posts :bang:

Will do ta

 

[heliophile]

UPDATE: Service, Belt and Pump at Stoneacre Rochdale

The service manager at Stoneacre contacted me after reading my original post. He was concerned about the apparently incorrect information I'd been given about the brakes needing replacement (I was told 80-90% worn at 30k miles) and was keen to know for sure if his staff had made an error.

He offered to replace the pads for free if I brought the car back, whatever their condition, and to show me the wear for myself.

I took him up on his offer, and long story short the wear on pads and disks was pretty much 55% as Lookers had told me. Stoneacre had definitely been wrong and I accepted his apology.

All in all I was very impressed by this service manager's very pro-active approach to customer service and taking the time to try and rectify a mistake. It reflects well on Stoneacre and as a result I'd have no qualms going there in future.

The power of the forum in action!

 

[s130]

Re: UPDATE: Service, Belt and Pump at Stoneacre Rochdale

This is great to hear.

With Fiat Service/Garages coming plump, bump, bottom in a recent 2012 (respected ?) survey I'm even more surprised that a dealer service/manager has ever heard of the Fiat Forum let alone bothered to come here and look, let alone respond.

There may be life yet in the Fiat Service network.

Having said this a plump rock bottom rating is not what I like to hear, see and even less experience.

I've been around/visiting/customer of/etc. Fiat UK dealers for 40 (yes 40) years and over that period I have to say that progress has been made but ONLY in certain longer/older brand dealers. Some newer dealers have also shown promise.

The bottom line is this. Fiat in the UK have a low share of the market. This means that many businesses wanting to make money will not be looking to a Fiat franchise. Those that do often use the Fiat franchise support as a "kick-off" platform to get them established as legit traders and then move (in the UK) to GM, Ford, etc. to increase their market share.

All this results in a general lower quality of support and service (sales excluded) for many Fiat customers.

Having said this there are some excelent Fiat dealers out there as many here will testify to, but sadly the few good/excellent dealers will not compensate for the damage done by the majority.

Harsh view/append. Yes and intended. I just wish Fiat UK looked at these club sites, kicked their dealers hard AND most importantly understood their Fiat customers.

My dream. Several days with the head of Fiat UK and his staff to give them some eye openers as to where here in the UK they have got it all wrong.

I still have one or more tickets open with Fiat UK (one very much safety related) and over a year later I've heared nothing.

Ho hum.

If they carry on at this rate then it will only take a small succession of customer/product issues with the 500 to completely damage the UK brand name and their subsequent withdrawl from the UK market. (like Lancia).

Hope it never happens.

 

[RobW]

Re: UPDATE: Service, Belt and Pump at Stoneacre Rochdale

Andrew Humbstone has just been replaced by an American so hope that will brng some needed changes to Fiat dealers customer service and pricing

This is great to hear.

With Fiat Service/Garages coming plump, bump, bottom in a recent 2012 (respected ?) survey I'm even more surprised that a dealer service/manager has ever heard of the Fiat Forum let alone bothered to come here and look, let alone respond.

There may be life yet in the Fiat Service network.

Having said this a plump rock bottom rating is not what I like to hear, see and even less experience.

I've been around/visiting/customer of/etc. Fiat UK dealers for 40 (yes 40) years and over that period I have to say that progress has been made but ONLY in certain longer/older brand dealers. Some newer dealers have also shown promise.

The bottom line is this. Fiat in the UK have a low share of the market. This means that many businesses wanting to make money will not be looking to a Fiat franchise. Those that do often use the Fiat franchise support as a "kick-off" platform to get them established as legit traders and then move (in the UK) to GM, Ford, etc. to increase their market share.

All this results in a general lower quality of support and service (sales excluded) for many Fiat customers.

Having said this there are some excelent Fiat dealers out there as many here will testify to, but sadly the few good/excellent dealers will not compensate for the damage done by the majority.

Harsh view/append. Yes and intended. I just wish Fiat UK looked at these club sites, kicked their dealers hard AND most importantly understood their Fiat customers.

My dream. Several days with the head of Fiat UK and his staff to give them some eye openers as to where here in the UK they have got it all wrong.

I still have one or more tickets open with Fiat UK (one very much safety related) and over a year later I've heared nothing.

Ho hum.

If they carry on at this rate then it will only take a small succession of customer/product issues with the 500 to completely damage the UK brand name and their subsequent withdrawl from the UK market. (like Lancia).

Hope it never happens.

 

[s130]

Re: UPDATE: Service, Belt and Pump at Stoneacre Rochdale

The last guy, Humbstone was supposed to do this as well.

More often than not execs are paid/rewarded on short term measurable criteria like increasing sales/market share. Often to do a proper job you need to kick ass, dismantle the bad structure that exists and start again. This will not for a long while increase market share, customer satisfaction etc. etc. So execs who do this (I wish) will never get their rewards/bonus so what needs to be done never gets done.

Back in the 80s/90s I rember a Fiat Zone Service manager who was outstanding. Would bend over backwards to satisfy you no matter how trivial your problem/issue. Always asked to meet the customer who was having warranty work done or had questions etc. Since he left I've never seen a Zone Manager, been invited to meet one or let alone had a dealer offer to let me contact the Zone Manager.

Also, having built a fairly strong relationship with certain dealer Service Managers over the years, many who came from other manufacturer backgrounds, some of them said that the Fiat UK Technical Support to dealers was a abysmal compared to what they were used to with Ford, GM etc.

As always I live in hope and remain loyal to the brand.

 

[T14086]

I hardly think this (or any other forum) will change Fiats views after all in the last 8 years they have been very successful unlike a lot of other manufacturers and I dont think there is a single manufacturer who wish they didn't develop the 500 let alone holding the patents to many systems used throughout modern cars.

The problem is greedy dealership chains who set targets too high for service managers to reach, this leads to a knock on effect down the chain and telling customers parts need changed when in reality they don't.Any productive bonus scheme is open to abuse.

UK technical support is first class & they can only provide help to it's dealerships from information supplied from Italy. On the other hand the UK can inform Italy of it's customers concerns but whether they listen or want to act on certain concerns is another matter.

Fiat forum probably only represents 0.25-0.5% of Fiat owners, if forums were that powerful I would be on the BT, gas, sky, electric, council tax & political forums 24/7.

 

[s130]

UK technical support is first class & they can only provide help to it's dealerships from information supplied from Italy. On the other hand the UK can inform Italy of it's customers concerns but whether they listen or want to act on certain concerns is another matter.

I can only report/comment on what a couple of service managers have told me about manufacturer support level to the dealer based on their experience compared to other manufacturers. NOTE! I'm not saying that Fiat UK dealer technical support is bad, but it may not be up to the level of other UK based manufacturers.

At the end of the day all this stuff is basically relative and as in all things in life your experiance may vary.

For me, I have (as said before) at least one ticket (safety) outstanding with Fiat UK for (I think but can check) for near on a year now (if not longer).

This should not be allowed to happen, but it does, time and time again. Not the first time and certainly won't be the last time.

I'll stick with Fiat, support them but also give them stick and kick them when required. If after 40 years with Fiat I don't do this then any new Fiat customer with a problem not satisfactorily sorted will NEVER return to the Fiat/Alfa brand.

Like I said Fiat UK has always been "sales", "sales" and more "sales" based. One car sold has to be fully and unconditionally supported with perfect customer care, technical and parts support for 10 years plus!

Fiat have never cracked the Fleet market where these cars get swopped out every three years. Most Fiat dealers have to rely on Joe public who are cash strapped, keep their cars for 5+ years and expect top quality servce and value for money.

Not sure Fiat UK understand that last paragraph.

 

[T14086]

I'll stick with Fiat, support them but also give them stick and kick them when required.

Lol, know what you mean....we get so frustrated but we 'love' them:bang:

I do think Fiat (Italy) should listen more but isn't that the Italian way? I agree that sales is almost an 'obsession' but after market services are somewhat lacking in some departments.

 

[RobW]

We just want a warranty and after sales service that does what it should do

I don't need bunches of flowers or double espresso with biscotti, I dont even want my car valeted or a current model loan car.

I want the car serviced to schedule with genuine parts and Selenia oils

And I dont want to be shafted for brakes that dont need replacing

It really isn't much to ask

 

[heliophile]

We just want a warranty and after sales service that does what it should do

I don't need bunches of flowers or double espresso with biscotti, I dont even want my car valeted or a current model loan car.

I want the car serviced to schedule with genuine parts and Selenia oils

And I dont want to be shafted for brakes that dont need replacing

It really isn't much to ask

It really isn't - I couldn't agree with you more.

Some other things I can do without at service:
- my seat readjusted
- my radio retuned to Cr*p FM
- being charged for washer fluid

 

[Andy Monty]

I had stoneacre charge me for washer fluid it was full when I went in there was almost all out war after they first to try to mug me for 2 tyres there was a good debate in the waiting area ;-)

 

[Madasadad]

Is a timing belt and a water pump af 30000 miles to be expected!