Zalina
New member
To: Sergio Marchionne, CEO Fiat Group Automobiles 250 Via Nizza 10126 Turin, Italy
The beginning
It was love at first sight ... I still remember the moment I saw her the first time in Helsinki. I couldn’t sleep and eat waiting for her to arrive in my city. I'd been standing still breathless and drooling when I occasionally saw her during my holidays in Europe. Relying on pure reason and declining the heart call I thought she wont survive in russian winter on russian roads. Some cynics insist that it had more to do with stopping the advance of the German army in World War II than anything the Soviet Army did. We even have a national song about how bad our roads are. Anyways, let’s go back to my romantic story. Finally realizing that love cannot be faked, I sold my old car and hooked up with my brand new baby – an ice-white Fiat 500. So we stet up a new life together, with happiness and joy, riding on the streets of St. Petersburg, catching admiring glances and waves, giving my phone number away to the men driving lexus and making the whole world a happier place. It seemed like it was never going to end. Well, until one day… It was The Day of her First Service Check. My baby was under warranty, so the first service had to be done at an official Fiat dealer in Russia. My friends told me not to deal with Sollers, but it was my baby’s home place and some stupid patriotic sentiment brought me there.
First Service
I called Sollers, the official dealer and service centre for Fiat in St Petersburg to make an appointment. I had to explain the operator that ‘500’ is a model of my car because they had no idea such a model existed. I think the fortune send me a signal at that moment, but I ignored it. It’s the biggest car dealer in the city and my baby deserves to have only the best! The first service almost went smoothly, they just forgot to top up the engine with oil after changing it.
Second Service
We had been together for six months when the cruel winter came. However, my baby stood firm: she was starting on with a half key turn, warming me up and lighting my way to home when I was coming late. Our troubles started soon after the second service. One day the engine oil disappeared. It had been at the high level and suddenly turned out to be low. The Sollers mechanics just struggled and said that they think it should be this way. After many testing and several trips to the service centre during two months the leakage was found – a crankshaft seal. Lucky me, it was a warranty case. The operator made an order for a new crankshaft seal from the Fiat factory and we waited for one month for it to arrive. After one month I called to Sollers. They told me to come over. I immediately did but had to wait in the workshop for 4 hours only to find out that the warranty engineer had forgot to order a crankshaft seal for me, so he said that now (after one month and 4 hours of waiting) I can go home: no seal, no installation. I wrote a complaint to the head quarters of Sollers in Moscow and got a reply from Ms Marina Bessonova, a client expert. She recommended me to change the workshop. What an amazing advice!
I went to another Fiat official service centre AutoPremium, where I ordered a new gasket and 2 months later it was finally replaced. However, the oil keeps disappearing. I went back to AutoPremium and they found a leak - stuffing box and a breakdown of supports damper. The stuffing box was ordered under the dealer warranty, saying that it is factory flaw and originally my baby is been installed a defective part, which cost me 3 month of public transport use and lots of wasted time in the workshops. However, they refused to service the suspension under the warranty because it doesn’t cover the suspension for some strange reasons. My warranty is still on until may 2012.
Most Recent Service
I was on vacation in Italy in September 2011 where I bought the bearings for my baby because it’s two times cheaper than the same parts at the official service centre in Saint Petersburg. In the beginning of October I replaced the supporting columns and a few weeks later I was told to replace the stuffing box. It took two days for the mechanics to change the box. It seems to be replaced, but they forgot to top up the engine with oil after. Sounds familiar? That’s probably why I hear a crunching sound when steering that mechanics couldn't identify. Anyway, on the way home I heard a knock and my baby started to vibrate on a highway at 110 km/h. I pulled off and found out that the front wheel was screwed on with two screws and the other two had fallen off. I was just lucky to be alive. All AutoPremium said was “we are sorry”.
Conclusions and Results
- The car does not break by itself, the cause of all my painful experiences are unskilled workers of official Fiat dealers. It’s the carelessness, irresponsibility, an unwillingness to work and impunity of the official dealer. I believe that my still under-warranty car has been broken by the service centres.
- In the last 10 months I spent 26 days at the workshops.
- I’ve driven more than 1000 km and 20 hours to and from the workshops.
- A few times they forgot to top up the engine with oil in and now I have to double-check their work myself.
- The entire ceiling in my ice-white Fiat 500 is stained with the dirty fingers of those stupid mechanics and requires dry cleaning.
- I'm not sure my baby ‘s suspension has been serviced at all. Probably they replaced those spare parts with second hand ones.
- It is by my mere luck I am still alive. I'm trying not to be paranoic.
Questions to the CEO of Fiat S.p.A.:
1. Mr Marchionne, if you ship your cars to Russia, could you choose your dealers carefully and provide a decent and secure service?
2. My happiness is in your hands: should I break up this romance with my baby after everything we have been through or here is a chance for us to work it out and live happily ever after?
Still with love,
Zalina Orlenko
The beginning
It was love at first sight ... I still remember the moment I saw her the first time in Helsinki. I couldn’t sleep and eat waiting for her to arrive in my city. I'd been standing still breathless and drooling when I occasionally saw her during my holidays in Europe. Relying on pure reason and declining the heart call I thought she wont survive in russian winter on russian roads. Some cynics insist that it had more to do with stopping the advance of the German army in World War II than anything the Soviet Army did. We even have a national song about how bad our roads are. Anyways, let’s go back to my romantic story. Finally realizing that love cannot be faked, I sold my old car and hooked up with my brand new baby – an ice-white Fiat 500. So we stet up a new life together, with happiness and joy, riding on the streets of St. Petersburg, catching admiring glances and waves, giving my phone number away to the men driving lexus and making the whole world a happier place. It seemed like it was never going to end. Well, until one day… It was The Day of her First Service Check. My baby was under warranty, so the first service had to be done at an official Fiat dealer in Russia. My friends told me not to deal with Sollers, but it was my baby’s home place and some stupid patriotic sentiment brought me there.
First Service
I called Sollers, the official dealer and service centre for Fiat in St Petersburg to make an appointment. I had to explain the operator that ‘500’ is a model of my car because they had no idea such a model existed. I think the fortune send me a signal at that moment, but I ignored it. It’s the biggest car dealer in the city and my baby deserves to have only the best! The first service almost went smoothly, they just forgot to top up the engine with oil after changing it.
Second Service
We had been together for six months when the cruel winter came. However, my baby stood firm: she was starting on with a half key turn, warming me up and lighting my way to home when I was coming late. Our troubles started soon after the second service. One day the engine oil disappeared. It had been at the high level and suddenly turned out to be low. The Sollers mechanics just struggled and said that they think it should be this way. After many testing and several trips to the service centre during two months the leakage was found – a crankshaft seal. Lucky me, it was a warranty case. The operator made an order for a new crankshaft seal from the Fiat factory and we waited for one month for it to arrive. After one month I called to Sollers. They told me to come over. I immediately did but had to wait in the workshop for 4 hours only to find out that the warranty engineer had forgot to order a crankshaft seal for me, so he said that now (after one month and 4 hours of waiting) I can go home: no seal, no installation. I wrote a complaint to the head quarters of Sollers in Moscow and got a reply from Ms Marina Bessonova, a client expert. She recommended me to change the workshop. What an amazing advice!
I went to another Fiat official service centre AutoPremium, where I ordered a new gasket and 2 months later it was finally replaced. However, the oil keeps disappearing. I went back to AutoPremium and they found a leak - stuffing box and a breakdown of supports damper. The stuffing box was ordered under the dealer warranty, saying that it is factory flaw and originally my baby is been installed a defective part, which cost me 3 month of public transport use and lots of wasted time in the workshops. However, they refused to service the suspension under the warranty because it doesn’t cover the suspension for some strange reasons. My warranty is still on until may 2012.
Most Recent Service
I was on vacation in Italy in September 2011 where I bought the bearings for my baby because it’s two times cheaper than the same parts at the official service centre in Saint Petersburg. In the beginning of October I replaced the supporting columns and a few weeks later I was told to replace the stuffing box. It took two days for the mechanics to change the box. It seems to be replaced, but they forgot to top up the engine with oil after. Sounds familiar? That’s probably why I hear a crunching sound when steering that mechanics couldn't identify. Anyway, on the way home I heard a knock and my baby started to vibrate on a highway at 110 km/h. I pulled off and found out that the front wheel was screwed on with two screws and the other two had fallen off. I was just lucky to be alive. All AutoPremium said was “we are sorry”.
Conclusions and Results
- The car does not break by itself, the cause of all my painful experiences are unskilled workers of official Fiat dealers. It’s the carelessness, irresponsibility, an unwillingness to work and impunity of the official dealer. I believe that my still under-warranty car has been broken by the service centres.
- In the last 10 months I spent 26 days at the workshops.
- I’ve driven more than 1000 km and 20 hours to and from the workshops.
- A few times they forgot to top up the engine with oil in and now I have to double-check their work myself.
- The entire ceiling in my ice-white Fiat 500 is stained with the dirty fingers of those stupid mechanics and requires dry cleaning.
- I'm not sure my baby ‘s suspension has been serviced at all. Probably they replaced those spare parts with second hand ones.
- It is by my mere luck I am still alive. I'm trying not to be paranoic.
Questions to the CEO of Fiat S.p.A.:
1. Mr Marchionne, if you ship your cars to Russia, could you choose your dealers carefully and provide a decent and secure service?
2. My happiness is in your hands: should I break up this romance with my baby after everything we have been through or here is a chance for us to work it out and live happily ever after?
Still with love,
Zalina Orlenko
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