General Fiat Customer Service WORST EVER!

[roocarl]

Clot am I???

If you actually read what i said I did get off my arse and do something about it!
I HAVE BEEN TO 2 DEALERSHIPS!

I HAVE PHONED UP!

I DID REGISTER!

It was only after exhausting those options i used email

I have read a few websites that the car to be released in March ?
ok that might be wrong but I just want either there customer service team to reply, or a dealer to reply if they dont know fine a polite we have no info on release date/prices would suffice not too much to ask is it?

and if you honestly believe Fiat 500 owners are not influenced by Brand/Image your an idiot! or we would all be driving pandas or cars with lil style/image
Nothing wrong with that im sure pandas are great cars reliable , decent drive economical
But most people buying a 500 are buying into the Brand !!!
the fiat 500 brand that reflects retro cool, heritage, classless, flair , fun.and im sure the owners could come up with a few more??

look I dont want to make it a slanging match I just honestly believe if enough people tell Fiat there service is bad they will hopefully improve and by the sound of it i am not the only one recieving poor service and i hope we could all agree better knowledge, service would be welcome!

and I am sure there are good fiat sales guys out there But I can only go on my 5 attempts of getting a reply/info which were all rubbish end of!!

 

[BluePixie]

I know what you mean about having no updates. I was the same, always calling to see when it would be here. Problem I guess is that they are all busy and haven't got the time to call everyone every week. Kinda calling to say it still not here.

Fair doos
I think it was more the fact that its 5 weeks sooner than they told me originally

 

[Nuova500]

Hey, what you need to remember is that Fiat have a long and proud history of providing appaling customer service. Its been talked about since the dawn of time and your hissy fit isnt going to change anything, they have a place in various surveys to keep (right at the bottom) and arent going to give it up easily. However, rest assured that some dealers and even the odd person within Fiat are trying to change this, but its going to take ages... Ive been promised "change within Fiat" since 1997

Can I suggest a phone call to either Scrogg at Wessex garages, or Westover Salisbury and speak with Dan... they seem both to know their stuff.

 

[T14086]

Clot am I???

If you actually read what i said I did get off my arse and do something about it!
I HAVE BEEN TO 2 DEALERSHIPS!

I HAVE PHONED UP!

I DID REGISTER!

It was only after exhausting those options i used email

I have read a few websites that the car to be released in March ?
ok that might be wrong but I just want either there customer service team to reply, or a dealer to reply if they dont know fine a polite we have no info on release date/prices would suffice not too much to ask is it?

and if you honestly believe Fiat 500 owners are not influenced by Brand/Image your an idiot! or we would all be driving pandas or cars with lil style/image
Nothing wrong with that im sure pandas are great cars reliable , decent drive economical
But most people buying a 500 are buying into the Brand !!!
the fiat 500 brand that reflects retro cool, heritage, classless, flair , fun.and im sure the owners could come up with a few more??

look I dont want to make it a slanging match I just honestly believe if enough people tell Fiat there service is bad they will hopefully improve and by the sound of it i am not the only one recieving poor service and i hope we could all agree better knowledge, service would be welcome!

and I am sure there are good fiat sales guys out there But I can only go on my 5 attempts of getting a reply/info which were all rubbish end of!!

why dont you buy a toyota or merc then, they apparently give excellent customer service?

 

[306maxi]

Clot am I???

If you actually read what i said I did get off my arse and do something about it!
I HAVE BEEN TO 2 DEALERSHIPS!

I HAVE PHONED UP!

I DID REGISTER!

It was only after exhausting those options i used email

I have read a few websites that the car to be released in March ?
ok that might be wrong but I just want either there customer service team to reply, or a dealer to reply if they dont know fine a polite we have no info on release date/prices would suffice not too much to ask is it?

and if you honestly believe Fiat 500 owners are not influenced by Brand/Image your an idiot! or we would all be driving pandas or cars with lil style/image
Nothing wrong with that im sure pandas are great cars reliable , decent drive economical
But most people buying a 500 are buying into the Brand !!!
the fiat 500 brand that reflects retro cool, heritage, classless, flair , fun.and im sure the owners could come up with a few more??

look I dont want to make it a slanging match I just honestly believe if enough people tell Fiat there service is bad they will hopefully improve and by the sound of it i am not the only one recieving poor service and i hope we could all agree better knowledge, service would be welcome!

and I am sure there are good fiat sales guys out there But I can only go on my 5 attempts of getting a reply/info which were all rubbish end of!!

You never mentioned anything about physically going to the dealers in your first post?

I bet if I call Fiat CS tomorrow morning at 9am I could get any info I want. If I emailed I'd still be waiting a couple of days later I'm sure.

 

[T14086]

Hey, what you need to remember is that Fiat have a long and proud history of providing appaling customer service. Its been talked about since the dawn of time and your hissy fit isnt going to change anything, they have a place in various surveys to keep (right at the bottom) and arent going to give it up easily.

Right on, being at the bottom is cool thesedays

 

[306maxi]

Hey, what you need to remember is that Fiat have a long and proud history of providing appaling customer service. Its been talked about since the dawn of time and your hissy fit isnt going to change anything, they have a place in various surveys to keep (right at the bottom) and arent going to give it up easily.

Definitely. Who wants to be in the middle and not get a mention when you can be at the bottom and get a mention every year?

 

[roocarl]

Totaly agree Nuova it is depressing trade in time! but it is good having sold your own car puts you in a much stronger purchasing position, I also have a Yamaha , excellent service & big up to BRACKLEY YAMAHA who have a lovely 500
There are loads of companies out there offering great service and in the very tough year ahead these may be the companies that ride the credit crunch better than others !
The only exception to bad customer service that is so bad its good has to be McDonalds!
you know its going to be awful u expect it and anticipate how bad it can be lol
when u ask for no cheese or ice with your drink or a smile!
but then when your paying £3.79 for a meal u kinda expect it lol
and a genuinley happy moment when u unexpectedly recieve great service at one lol
But back on point call me old fashioned but spending over £10k i do expect it!

 

[Nuova500]

Exactly, trouble is those pesky folk at Citroen are having a good go at being rock bottom too and the posh folk at Alfa Romeo... I wonder how Abarth will fare?

 

[306maxi]

Exactly, trouble is those pesky folk at Citroen are having a good go at being rock bottom too and the posh folk at Alfa Romeo... I wonder how Abarth will fare?

Abarth are doing a great job with their website

 

[OrangeSport]

Lets face it the car industry is on its knees this year down 40% sales thousands being laid off

Not for Fiat - it's making more £s than ever at the moment

Can only go by what I've seen so far:

Pre-purchase: Dealer was great
Post-purchase: Dealer great. Small problem sorted straight away. Free loan car. Also free fluid check etc after a few weeks.
Post-purchase: Fiat Customer Service great. Emailed them re the same small problem as the dealer. Good communication & they agreed the work immediately.

So, for me, no problems to date.

I also registered to have details of thr 500c emailed to me & received nothing. No big deal though - I don't want one....

 

[Heidi]

My experience of Fiat is good .... go to dealer, get brochure, peruse at home, decide stylings, phone garage and arrange test drive, go on test drive, ask all the questions, go home, think about it again, phone up to make appointment, go in and order car. Wait 7 weeks with no contact at all, then get a phone call to say car is on the boat, get phone call to say car is here, pick up car, get told of damage to paintwork, get courtesy car, car fixed, free mats and tank of petrol, get phone call a week later, then 3 months later asking if all is well with the car (westover bournemouth incase you are interested). Spot on!

EDIT : Orangesport - you posted whilst I was composing but sounds like you had a similar experience to me.

 

[roocarl]

wished I lived nearer Essex then Orange sport , would try your dealer
But hey enough of moaning for today I will try phoning again tomorrow, hopefully more luck!
Apologies if i offended anyone I just had a really bad day today
I went to see an old friend to find out his son was killed In Afganistan recently who I also knew quite well very sad, and fiats bad service lack of response came at the wrong time !
Hey there are worse things in life than being ignored by a car company !
I think I will have a couple of glasses of Jack now to toast the memory of a brave young man who went back to save an injured friend in his para regiment to come across over 100 taliban he stood no chance!
god knows why we are even over there....

 

[Heidi]

Don't think you offended anyone ....... no-one tends to fall out for long on this forum which is why i've stuck around for 8 months.

Sorry to hear about your friend's son, it must be very hard for him to deal with, the loss of a child.

H.

 

[306maxi]

Totaly agree Nuova it is depressing trade in time! but it is good having sold your own car puts you in a much stronger purchasing position, I also have a Yamaha , excellent service & big up to BRACKLEY YAMAHA who have a lovely 500
There are loads of companies out there offering great service and in the very tough year ahead these may be the companies that ride the credit crunch better than others !
The only exception to bad customer service that is so bad its good has to be McDonalds!
you know its going to be awful u expect it and anticipate how bad it can be lol
when u ask for no cheese or ice with your drink or a smile!
but then when your paying £3.79 for a meal u kinda expect it lol
and a genuinley happy moment when u unexpectedly recieve great service at one lol
But back on point call me old fashioned but spending over £10k i do expect it!

Funnily enough I usually tend to get good customer service at McDonalds.

I agree mostly with what you're saying but you don't seem to understand that the way you approach things has an effect on what customer service you receive. I've worked in the customer service industry for far too long and I know the best way to go about getting what I want

Seriously though we're talking a pre-release product so contacting a dealer and chatting to someone is very much a hit and miss affair so contacting Fiat CS is your best bet and the quickest way of doing that is to phone them. As others have stated problems can happen with emails, if you speak to someone on the phone you will get an answer there and then.

It's not about accepting bad customer service, it's about actively going out and getting good customer service rather than sitting and waiting for it to come and bite you on the arse Sometimes you get lucky and you find someone who will go out of their way to help but at the end of the day that doesn't necessarily make the product any better.

Sorry to hear about your friends son.

 

[Nuova500]

You havent offended anyone, I do hope you get what you want in the end

 

[roocarl]

Thanks Maxi that makes a lot of sense , I will take your advice in the morning!
& thanks Heidi my friend is getting over his grief by buying a pub last week and wanting me to do the signs.
Well as they say people handle grief in many different ways and his logic is a pub will keep him busy with happy people around him and take his mind of it !
By the way Heidi love the spec on your car/colour and i bet thats a lot of fun around Bournemouth town .

 

[PandaCraig]

I had two very different Customer Service experiences last friday from the same dealership.

Firstly the negative: I noticed a stone chip on the roof of my car so popped into a dealership I was passing which wasn't the one I purchased my car from to but a touch-up stick. Although the service I recieved from the reception was good the service from the parts desk was well below the standard I would expect. The guy serving me made it out to be the end of the world that I didn't have my paint code even though it was a 30 second job on the computer to look it up, then not even a thank you when I payed up!

And the good: I popped round to the Arbath side to check out the 500 and GP and was greeted by a salesman who went out of his way to talk to me about the cars about the 500C and make me feel welcome in the showroom even though I made it obvious I had no intention of placing an order, he even offered me a test drive in the A500 Essesse!

This is from the same dealership!

I manage a business and wouldn't accept my staff delivering bad customer service so it shouldn't be accepted for a company taking in excess of £10k off most of us! As for a salesman not knowing about a product (500C) thats down to the dealer training and not getting the staff enthused about the brand and products they are selling. Fiat only have less than a dozen basic lines to have knowledge about and sub catagories there of, so if they don't know about a product they should find someone who does, thats what i'd expect from my staff and we have over 2500 products to know about!

 

[Gempop]

My Dealership (chesterfield) were nice, arranged several test drives (cos i'm under 21 i couldn't borrow it for the afternoon, but they let my mum) and when i finally ordered they threw in mats and a key cover.

but, i am slightly annoyed that they havnt kept in contact much since

A month ago the very same dealer wouldn't throw any mats in for me, I got NOTHING (and I tried!). I am now miffed.

However they did phone almost every day with an update, I can't really fault the service.

Still miffed though... told me they would be losing money on anything they gave away. When my Mum bought her smart, they couldn't give her enough freebies

However, same can't be said for the Fiat dealership in Sheffield. I was ignored when I went in.
I know I look young for my age, but there is no need to ignore any potential customer.
I'm glad I kept it local with Chezzie though, we've now had 3 cars from Autoworld and each time they were great.

 

[nottsfiat07]

Never bought a fiat from autoworld in chesterfield but we did go there for servicing and warranty work for several years, never found the service desk very helpful or friendly when we went in, until we had cause to tell fiat about one issue, after that they were falling over themselves. This was a few years ago tho.

Ive always found mcdonalds to be fine, whereas KFC seem to employ a special kind of person thats the human equivalent of a 1980s fiesta popular... whcih was like a car but didnt have anything as standard that you would actually want.