Miss Bentley's paintwork blog

[Miss Bentley]

I am now sufficiently mad to deal with this - the Rottwieller has been unleashed.

I too have serious paint work defects which I registered with Fiat in July. I haven't had any response from them since then, so I rang today - they haven't even listed the complaint!!!

I am now awaiting a phone call from a manager - let's see how long that one takes.

I have dirt under the paintwork in at least 3 places.
There is a funny swirl on the rear passenger panel.
The panel joins are rubbing at the rear of the car and paint is missing.
It has quite an orange peel finish in places.

The mechanic at my local garage (not Fiat) asked me if the car had had a respray since I got it - I replied not to my knowledge.

I am not happy that around 5 panels of my car will need to be reprayed.

Watch out Fiat - I am going for the jugular.

[Aus500]

By the sounds of it, your local dealer network is fobbing both yourself and Bexx off when it comes to the paint work on your cars. There is one little magic word which I would advise both of you use next time you are talking to your respective dealership managers and it sounds like they are just going through the motions.

Ombudsman.

And if you are still unhappy with their responses, follow it through. Present your facts in an impartual manner in writing and seperatly from each other. If you can find more poeple with the same problem, the Ombudsman my even launch an inquiry (and working for a Commonwealth orginisation, I can tell you, you do NOT want an inquiry raised againt you) through your relevent motor traders assosiation. Fiat know this, and will try very hard to avoid it, as negitive media attention on a new model tends to stick and smear the following lines, no matter how good they are.

Hope this helps.

Cheers
Matt

[Miss Bentley]

Thanks for that. Believe me - if needbe I will go the the press, ombudsman or anyone who will listen.

I received a phone call this afternoon from someone who I initially assumed was a manager. It turns out he was at the same level as the last person I spoke. He then told me tha a manager would call me back today- it is now 5.37pm - I may be cynical but I don't expect them to ring now.

They are already talking about just respraying the car - I have told that I want a factory finish. I will not allow them to spray areas of my car as I know that the finish will almost certainly be different.

I also asked if this was a common problem and was told he had heard of no other cases - yeah right.

[Aus500]

There may be more people with the same sort of problems as yourself than you think. Just a quick dig around will find you a fair few people on this forum alone. Give them a PM when and if it gets that far, and I'm sure that they will be more than happy to put their names to paper if required (espeically if it gets them a free respray!).
Good luck and all the best.

[debbiej]

Originally Posted by Miss Bentley

Thanks for that. Believe me - if needbe I will go the the press, ombudsman or anyone who will listen.

I received a phone call this afternoon from someone who I initially assumed was a manager. It turns out he was at the same level as the last person I spoke. He then told me tha a manager would call me back today- it is now 5.37pm - I may be cynical but I don't expect them to ring now.

They are already talking about just respraying the car - I have told that I want a factory finish. I will not allow them to spray areas of my car as I know that the finish will almost certainly be different.

I also asked if this was a common problem and was told he had heard of no other cases - yeah right.

i can not believe what i have been reading about your car's problems,if i were you i would phone fiat back and tell them that if they have not offered you a suitable outcome by the end of this week,you will be bringing your car back in to them along with a large white board listing all of the problems, and parking it at there entrance, and inviting the local papers along.
it worked for me when i took on the building firm that had chucked my house together,they left me no other choice,it was a tad imbarrising to have my picture taking up half of page two in my local paper , but it got the job done and to my standards.good luck!
p.s I have got my 1.2 lounge due in at my local dealers at the end of sept,fingers crossed everything is ok with it,or they wont know what has hit them,you pay good money ,you expect a good quality which i always believed fiat had!

[Mark Elvin]

A GOOD bodyshop will be able to sort the problems so you will never tell the car has been worked on.

A bad one will result in a job of the standard they did t mine, ultimately resulting in a replacement car!!!

[Miss Bentley]

Trouble is as you found - how do you tell a good body work place from a bad one.

What happens a few years down the line and the paint starts to deteriorate in patches.

This car is my pride and joy and was never meant to be sold but handed down to my children eventually.

[Miss Bentley]

Originally Posted by debbiej

i can not believe what i have been reading about your car's problems,if i were you i would phone fiat back and tell them that if they have not offered you a suitable outcome by the end of this week,you will be bringing your car back in to them along with a large white board listing all of the problems, and parking it at there entrance, and inviting the local papers along.
it worked for me when i took on the building firm that had chucked my house together,they left me no other choice,it was a tad imbarrising to have my picture taking up half of page two in my local paper , but it got the job done and to my standards.good luck!
p.s I have got my 1.2 lounge due in at my local dealers at the end of sept,fingers crossed everything is ok with it,or they wont know what has hit them,you pay good money ,you expect a good quality which i always believed fiat had!

You are right - sometimes you have to endure the embarrassment to get the outcome you want - its the stress that goes with it that is the problem.

A manager from Fiat Customer Care rand this morning and I am now awaiting a phone call from the dealer.

She assured me that my car had not been damaged and repaired since leaving the factory and that to her knowledge there were no other cars with a similar problem.

[Mark Elvin]

Originally Posted by Miss Bentley

from the dealer.

........ and that to her knowledge there were no other cars with a similar problem.

Tell her to have word with Martin Delaney, he knows of at least one other!!!!

[Aus500]

Originally Posted by Mark Elvin

Tell her to have word with Martin Delaney, he knows of at least one other!!!!

Start collecting these names, mate, as they will come in handy later on whilst stating your case to the dealer/Fiat customer care when the time comes. Being able to validate your case stright up leaves them with no (well, less) room to move and argue their case.