Hooray for the STAR car

After our traumatic journey home to Cornwall on Wednesday a lot of you lovely Blippers have been asking if the car has been fixed.

The short answer to that question is NO!

For the longer version please read below: We won’t be offended if you can’t be bothered to read any further as we realise no one is really interested in our car problems apart from us. But Ann does like a good rant every now and again.

Anyway after having paid £355 for a pick-up truck to bring us back to our nearest FIAT dealership, it turns out that our nearest FIAT dealership is no longer a FIAT dealership!

In almost three years of getting the car serviced, repaired, etc at the garage where we bought it, have FIAT ever told us this is no longer a FIAT dealership? They have not! And incidentally when we do a google search it still shows as our nearest FIAT garage.

The new part needed for the car costs over £120 which would be covered by the warranty if it were fitted at a FIAT dealership, the nearest of which is now apparently Truro, about 25 miles away. However, when the very lovely mechanics at the ex-FIAT garage phoned the Truro garage to explain the problem, they were told that they wouldn’t be able to do anything till 3rd Feb and they didn’t have a courtesy car to give Ann. And of course there is still the problem of how to get the car to Truro – pay for another pick-up truck seems to be the only option??!!

To say Ann is furious is an understatement. I’ve had to listen to a lot of rantings! She doesn’t normally do confrontation but sometimes one just has to make a stand on principle!!!

So, Ann phoned ‘FIAT customer care’, explained the problem and asked if the ex-FIAT garage could fit the part today under the warranty? She was told NO. Then she asked if because the Truro garage couldn’t do anything until 3rd Feb could she have a courtesy car? She was told NO. She asked how she was supposed to get the car to Truro, because the car had developed a fault that was covered by warranty, and she was told that was her problem. Then she asked why she had not been informed that the FIAT dealership nearest to her was no longer a FIAT dealership. The ‘robotic’ call centre worker just kept repeating; ‘Your nearest centre is Truro. We cannot do anything until you take your car there. Your nearest centre is Truro. We cannot do anything until you take your car there.’

....................At which point Ann said to the ‘robotic’ call centre person, ‘I know this isn’t your fault but you really aren’t being very helpful. Surely FIAT should inform their customers when a dealership closes down? Does that mean that every time I’ve had the car serviced it hasn’t been at a FIAT dealership so that would invalidate the warranty anyway?’ ‘Robotic person took a note of Ann’s phone number. Haven’t a clue why because in a day and a half no one has phoned her back.

Anyway Ann decided that to get the car to Truro on another pick-up truck, wait until 3rd Feb for car to be fixed & probably not fixed under warranty it would be cheaper, less hassle, less time consuming and easier, just to pay for it to be done today at the ex-FIAT garage.

Unfortunately the part didn’t arrive at the ex-FIAT garage today (but that’s not the mechanics fault) so it looks like it’s going to be Monday before it’s fixed.

However, FIAT – be warned??!!! Ann is not going to let this drop. She travels a lot by herself with me, but she says I don’t count and tries to buy a new car every few years because she wants reliability.

Anyway, that’s enough ranting for one day............................

..........................I’ve been blipped next to the STAR car because Ann’s very lovely boss let her use it, so that she could go and do a Tesco shop.

And that’s it for today folks.

Happy weekend Blippers. xxx